While the medical model describes ‘inattention’ as an ADHD trait, it is typically understood that having ADHD does not mean that someone has a lesser ability to focus or attend – instead, adult ADHDers have an abundance of attention and their executive functioning differences change the way they can regulate it.
Attention allows us to focus on different parts of our environment. Our executive functioning system works to tune out or filter unnecessary noise in our environment so we can attend to something in particular. It’s like having a spotlight in a dark room – everything outside of the light fades away and gets filtered out. ADHD brains are aware of everything going on in their environments – instead of a spotlight, it’s as if all the lights in the room have been turned on and you can see everything that’s going on.
This awareness of our surroundings is likely an evolutionary mechanism to survive – when we were hunter-gatherers, the ADHD gene could hear small movements and spot things in the horizon.
Hyperfocusing is an ability that is unique to people who have ADHD. This is when someone with ADHD gets completely absorbed in a task or activity and loses sense of time. It is can be a period of productivity, stimulation, or creation. This happens as the ADHD brain has a different reward system – it can get a strong rush of dopamine from a task that is very stimulating.
There are three different sources that can pull our attention and make it more difficult to focus:
What’s going on inside of us, like thoughts, feelings, memories or body sensations;
Outside triggers in our environment, like noise or lots of things moving in the periphery of your vision;
Challenges with planning and organisation can increase stress and make it difficult to regulate attention as we are distracted by many different tasks.
What can I do?
When it’s difficult to control and prioritise your attention due to outside triggers, you might like to try:
Listening to low level music – nature sounds or brown noises can be a helpful way of tuning into what you’re doing.
Noise-cancelling headphones.
Moving distracting visuals out of sight.
Using bright colours to keep attention (or switching the lighting theme of your device so it feels more stimulating).
When tasks do not feel rewarding or it’s hard to sustain attention:
Breaking work down into chunks or working in chunks (like 25 minutes work, 5 minutes break).
Set SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-framed. You might check in with others about if a goal feels possible to complete.
A short burst of exercise can boost motivation to get started or to keep going, particularly in fresh air.
When you’re distracted by thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, or memories:
Listen and attend to your body if it’s telling you to eat or rest – neurodivergent people will often have a different interoception (the body’s sense of its internal processes) and might not realise how hungry or tired they are until their bodies are feeling an extreme sense of it.
Try brief mindfulness to notice and acknowledge the sensation, and return to what you are trying to attend to. You might like to try out our Mindful Breaks for Focus or Getting Started.
Jot down the thought or feeling – e.g. I’m not good enough to do this, or I’m worried I’m just going to make a mess of this – on a small piece of paper so that you can spend a moment to allow it before returning to what you’re doing.
