What To Do When Hyperfocus Works Against You

Adults with ADD are both blessed and cursed with the ability to hyperfocus.

Hyperfocus is a unique ability that we have to focus so intensely that the rest of the world temporarily disappears. It's the the opposite of boredom. Instead of having difficulty concentrating or getting started, the hyperfocused ADDer has trouble shifting focus away from the interesting subject at hand.

Hyperfocus can be a really good thing. If you're highly interested in what you're concentrating on, then the ability to hyperfocus is an asset. It can help you get through a difficult task, like a report for work or a household problem that needs to be fixed.

It can also help tremendously during creative periods in which your juices are flowing and you're having fun writing, painting, crafting, or expressing yourself in an artistic outlet.

This positive hyperfocus is what I call "being in the flow." You enjoy what you're doing—whether whether it's work, problem-solving, or being creative. You're productive and you enjoy not only what you're doing, but also the fact that you're making progress. Your thoughts and actions are flowing.

However, hyperfocus can also be a bad thing. Adults with ADD often go into hyperfocus mode when a stressful problem or situation presents itself, and the inability to tear yourself away results in more stress. This can happen when writing a paper for school, trying to solve a problem at work, attempting to fix a broken gadget, or even surfing the Internet.

Negative hyperfocus is what I call "being in the stick." It's really about an inability to shift focus, and the frustration that results. You want to finish a task or make progress but your frustration in the situation has you feeling unable to move on. You become determined to do what you set out to do at any cost. (Perfectionism often causes negative hyperfocus.)

In this state, you keep telling yourself, "Just two more minutes. I've got to get this." But it's never just two more minutes. Your thoughts and actions are stuck. You don't feel good about making progress. You feel compelled to finish what you set out to do at all costs—including losing sleep, skipping meals, and compromising your mental health.

In short, positive hyperfocus feels good and makes you happy. Negative hyperfocus feels bad and makes you stressed.

Negative hyperfocus is very difficult to break out of. It takes a lot of awareness and a healthy dose of rationalizing self-talk. Forcing yourself (yes, forcing yourself) to get unstuck by stopping and de-stressing is essential to breaking the pattern.

It helps to remember that in that stressed out and frantic state, the things you actually accomplish are often inferior to what you would accomplish in a relaxed state. Operating from a calm and centered place is sure to produce better results than operating from a stressed and frantic place.

So the next time you find yourself hyperfocusing, stop and check in with yourself to determine if you're fantastically flowing, or stressfully sticking.

Ask yourself: Do I feel good about what I'm accomplishing, or am I just stressed out? If the answer is "I'm just stressed," then take a step to break the pattern. Walk away.

When do you find yourself being in the stick of hyperfocus? How do you break out of it? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Comments

[Bonita]

Hi, Jen!

When a person is hyperfocusing, is it possible that s/he may not even realize that this is happening, much less whether it is the flowing or sticking type? Sometimes it is with a JOLT that I look at the (evil) clock and realize that LOTS of time has passed, and my day is gone. *sigh* AHA moment!

[alane]

Some ways I get rid of hyperfocus is if I hear a telephone ringing or a doorbell ringing, a alarm, or if I starting to drift off to sleep. When I am in hyperfocus mode it is harder for anyone to break me out of the cycle and tend to ignore everybody.

[R Kuperson]

Bonita - I think you've hit the nail on the head - most of us are simply not aware.

For 15 years I've sought a means to "wake up" out of hyperfocus both positive and negative and I've had some success. Unfortunately for me, meds amplify hyperfocus with the increased attentiveness but I I take them anyway because the overall benefits far outweigh this one side-effect. My hyperfocus trigger is so sensitive, I can lock onto single spoken word's impact on a conversation regardless whether it's positive or negative. I effortlessly turn the conversation away from the issue and make it about the word (and ME).
It takes a lot to knock me off my runaway train and back to reality; I don't ever recall being aware when it happens.

Sadly, I don't recall ever breaking the stranglehold of hyperfocus entirely by myself. I've slowly melted out of some, drained of energy and emotion, but not by becoming aware. My experience shows that the circuit-breaker for me must be external -- I need to be hit over the head; figuretively speaking.

Most effective but least convenient for me (and my daughter) has been a coach, someone whose assessment can be trusted, to physically say, "Hey, you're spiralling. Walk away." My wife is our coach and I would love nothing more than to unburden her from this emotionally trying task because I don't always respond co-operatively (put mildly). She gets the job done, but not without cost. Likely due to my upbringing, diplomacy has little effect on me. Currently only sternness in voice and bluntness of word can crack the hyperfocus wall. My daughter, on the other hand, responds very well to comforting and encouragement.

I apoligise for the lengthy comment.

Aside from coaching, I've found repeated, disruptive distractions have a strong effect. At my computer I have a full-screen popup every 20 min. showing "On task?" in a small, unassuming yellow text on blue background. I despised it for months, but it's now my best friend. My co-workers are impressed that I'm not ashamed and "took control" of my situation. It's been years since the last episode of a work-related stick-spiral. Also, my Dr. (the late Atilla Turgay) suggested that in the long-term, the repetitive distraction may "train" my brain to anticipate or seek distractions while hyperfocussing - which could ultimately weaken the hyperfocus grip without damaging to it's usefulness.

At home, where my hyperfocussing can impact everyone, I often pre-emptively use timers when tackling tasks that have a large hyperfocus potential. Short timers. When the alarm goes off I simply take a short walk to evaluate the task's progress. I may or may not be in a stick, I'm certainly never aware, but the distraction seems to prevent lock-in, especially spirals. If I'm indeed in a stick, I don't seem to stay there very long and I most certainly don't get to the hair-pulling stage any more.

Lastly, by not setting "completion metrics" but rather "temporal goals" then frequently disrupting the activity, I'm making progress toward reducing the frequency of hyperfocusing when it's potentially detrimental. I once tiled a very difficult room over 5 days by doing it in short time-blocks. By setting limits on how long I'd work rather than how much I'd accomplish and taking many forced assessment breaks, I experienced only a single "stick" which lasted only a minute (saved by the bell).

After recently watching the movie "Mary and Max", I'm now planning to hang a card from my neck (Max wore a "facial expressions" book) while at home that has some BOLD keywords to help me out of the verbal-sticks. My goal is to have my wife and daughters simply point to the card instead of having to verbally club me on the head.

--

Note on timers: I use a wind-up egg-timer and an electronic dual-timer with separate H:M:S buttons; setting these is effortless. I've tried voice-message timers; very inconvienent - better for long-term reminders. Most other "smart" timers (especially on cell phones) take too many taps, scrolls and menus - they piss me off and aren't very loud. However, I do use my cell-phone timer when needed.

[Janet Hirschhorn]

I agree about loosing track of time. When I am trying to tear myself away from something, I have two questions I ask: What else could I be doing right now; or, is there something I could be doing that is a higher priority than this at the moment? Since priorities change with the time of day and other circumstances this helps me stay real.

[heyshippy]

I have a love/hate relationship with my hyperfocus. It's great when I can turn it on during the work day and zone in on my work, but extremely detrimental when it turns on by itself at home or at work. I haven't been able to control it either without some outside intervention.

I recently married and before my wife moved her things in, we had to clean my apartment. OH THE CLUTTER!!! My place wasn't filthy, just cluttered. During this monumental task, we realized the vaccuum cleaner was broken. It was 11:00 PM and my wife walked in the room to see me in the middle of the floor with the vaccuum taken apart.

"What are you doing?" She said with a cockeyed grin on her face.

"Fixing the vaccuum." I muttered.

"Ok." She said with her toungue planted firmly in her cheek. "If that's what you need to do to feel productive."

I'm very blessed to have found her. She's a 4th grade teacher and maintains a very structured classroom environment while managing to obtain her student's trust and respect. I'm POSITIVE this is why she's able to help me get out of the stick.

The only way I've done it on my own is by developing and maintaining habbits designed to avoid the hyperfocus-a-sourus.

Going to bed at the same time every night, turning the TV, PC etc off. Setting the pop up reminders at work, spreadsheets to track my own productivity, that sort of thing.

But there's nothing I've found that will break the stick once I'm in it but an outside source.

Thanks Jen, for bringing up this topic.

[Cindy]

Thanks for the article. The comments are great too. I am 45 and just discovering hyperfocus and how it has pretty much ruled my life. It has served me well at work - I am very productive, tenacious with long-term projects, and used to pull all-nighters with ease. But ignoring sleep, proper mealtimes, friends, dating, etc. has taken its toll. Other things like unfiled tax returns, overdue car repairs, etc. have also weighed on my conscious for a very long time and now I understand why I ignore these things. I didn't understand before - I just beat myself up for being lazy/unfocused etc. And of course, the hardest hyperfocus to break out of, like you mention, is the negative, stress-driven type which I've had a lot of these last few years. I can really appreciate being "in the stick". I use a timer on my watch and on my cell phone, but in the height of stick I just turn them off and keep doing what I was doing. Now I think I'll use a louder timer and set it across the room so I have to actually get up and walk to shut it off. I also really like one of the commenters' theory that multiple breaks may in time train one's brain to break out of the hyperfocus more easily. I can't tell you how much relief I have after reading this article and the comments.

[Bryan]

I have ADD inattentive disorder and am a college student. The cons of hyperfocus have so far outweighed the benefits. I rarely sleep, am routinely depressed and can barely keep up academically. What I have learned is hyperfocus cannot be controlled. Instead it is a driving force. When under hyperfocus, I have been able to do manual labor for hours without pause, build and create huge projects, and make very well thought out plans. Hyperfocus has also kept me up to extreme hours on nights where I am physically exhausted. I think it is a special gift that comes with a price. I just hope I can find a way to make a living with my condition. Something that seems more and more elusive.

[Jordan]

I tend to hyperfocus on video games everyday. I can't seem to get anything worthy done when doing this. Even when i go to bed I pull out my Portable and start gaming away because I can't think about anything other than, "I've got to get this one item or beat this one dungeon first". It keeps from sleeping until I just can't stay awake any longer. I then wake up groggy and late (11 or 12 mostly) in the morning still focused on the game like I didn't get enough done.
I can't seem to force myself to go to sleep when I need to. I can force myself to get some things done that need to be done throughout the day, but at night when I don't have anything important to do, my focus is lost. I need to figure out how to get to sleep by the latest of midnight if I'm going to be worth anything in these next few months.

[Aaron]

I don't even want to type this comment, but I feel compelled to. :)

My therapist only recently mentioned the possibility that I might be dealing with adult ADD. Up until that time I had never thought of it, but since then I've seen how my hyperfocus on things has a great effect on my life. The reason I ended up on this page is I googled "negative hyperfocus". I get so focused on the negatives of my job and my life that I can't seem to break away. I'm honed in on one thing and don't know how to stop thinking about it. It drives me and drives me until it drives me crazy.

My therapist has suggested that I talk with my family doctor about medication, but I haven't done a lot of research on that. I'd like to think I'm wise enough to realize there are no silver bullets in life, but it might just be worth a shot to see if it helps. I'd love to see what life is like with diminished hyperfocus because I'm not so sure I have any idea.

[tess]

I am 61 and finally figured out what it is I am doing. I have been embarrassed and yelled at by family who are trying to bring me out of my hyperfocused state. I can’t hear them. I would say I have ADD, when I am bored in conversation; I drift and can no longer hear the person. My mind drifts to subjects that interest me. This behavior has annoyed many and embarrassed me. I am too old to change now, I am used to it. During conversations that are getting tiresome, I self talk, "Pay attention, or you will pay the price." I just told a child who seems to be experiencing what I have experienced all my life, that they have my sympathy. I know what its like. I did really well in school, but poorly in new relationships. Oh Well.....