The brain wired by ADHD often presents the owner with a uniquely paradoxical ADHD equation: the short version reads “proficiency = failure”. The long version is “proficiency = routine = boredom = mistakes = failure”.
In one study, children with ADHD and children without were parked in front of a computer screen and told, “When you see a dot appear on the computer screen, click the mouse”. The researchers then measured the response times of the children, as well as the how consistent each child’s response time was from dot to dot.
When the dots appeared at random, unpredictable intervals, the response times of the two groups were the same, as was their consistency. However, when the dots were made to appear at consistent, predictable intervals so that the children knew when the dots were going to appear (eg. every 2 seconds), something odd resulted:
- the response times and consistency of the children without ADHD improved
- the response times and consistency of the children with ADHD worsened
Typical brains improve efficiency with predictable, patterned, routine stimulus. ADHD brains do not. This is not news to those who have ADHD.
The ADHD brain can easily attend to situations that require them to be alert, on edge, guessing. In fact, their brains need those factors in order to pay attention. In variable or novel circumstances the ADHD brain performs as well as any. It’s when things get predictable and routine that they often begins to malfunction.
Compared to a normally functioning brain, where proficiency predicts success, with ADHD proficiency often predicts failure. Hence the paradoxical ADHD equation mentioned above:
“proficiency = routine = boredom = mistakes = failure”
Automatically labelling Johnny “lazy” for making mistakes in something that he has “done a hundred times” isn’t an informed assessment; because the reason that Johnny is making mistakes now is BECAUSE HE’S DONE IT A HUNDRED TIMES. The predictable routine has led directly to his inattention. He is not purposefully being “lazy”, “stubborn”, or “rebellious”. Johnny's brain literally disengaged once there was no sparkle, novelty, challenge, or adventure left in the process. Once his brain didn’t really HAVE TO pay attention, it truly COULDN'T pay attention.
Apply this phenomenon to a career, relationship, finances, or other important areas of life. When these become routine, people with ADHD often either walk away from the situation, or make or add risk to the scenario to spice it up a little. The first option is an attempt to “free" themselves from the mundane routine, the other an attempt to “salvage" it. The ADHD equation makes it is easy to see why people with ADHD can often achieve success in life but, once there, find it much harder to retain it; and why, as a group, they have higher employment turnover, divorce rates, bankruptcies, incarceration, etc.
Unfortunately, a third option - making a conscious attempt to purposefully revitalize the perceived dullness of routine - is rarely contemplated, let alone attempted; even in areas of life which truly mean the world to them. Having an ADHD brain simply makes it too hard to conquer routine on one’s own. This is one way that a treatment option, like coaching, can help the individual with ADHD; it helps them discover their own unique spice of life and add a dash of it to the areas of life that truly do matter, so that the attention required to maintain success in important life domains is achievable.
Written by: Dan Duncan
When the dots appeared at random, unpredictable intervals, the response times of the two groups were the same, as was their consistency. However, when the dots were made to appear at consistent, predictable intervals so that the children knew when the dots were going to appear (eg. every 2 seconds), something odd resulted:
- the response times and consistency of the children without ADHD improved
- the response times and consistency of the children with ADHD worsened
Typical brains improve efficiency with predictable, patterned, routine stimulus. ADHD brains do not. This is not news to those who have ADHD.
The ADHD brain can easily attend to situations that require them to be alert, on edge, guessing. In fact, their brains need those factors in order to pay attention. In variable or novel circumstances the ADHD brain performs as well as any. It’s when things get predictable and routine that they often begins to malfunction.
Compared to a normally functioning brain, where proficiency predicts success, with ADHD proficiency often predicts failure. Hence the paradoxical ADHD equation mentioned above:
“proficiency = routine = boredom = mistakes = failure”
Automatically labelling Johnny “lazy” for making mistakes in something that he has “done a hundred times” isn’t an informed assessment; because the reason that Johnny is making mistakes now is BECAUSE HE’S DONE IT A HUNDRED TIMES. The predictable routine has led directly to his inattention. He is not purposefully being “lazy”, “stubborn”, or “rebellious”. Johnny's brain literally disengaged once there was no sparkle, novelty, challenge, or adventure left in the process. Once his brain didn’t really HAVE TO pay attention, it truly COULDN'T pay attention.
Apply this phenomenon to a career, relationship, finances, or other important areas of life. When these become routine, people with ADHD often either walk away from the situation, or make or add risk to the scenario to spice it up a little. The first option is an attempt to “free" themselves from the mundane routine, the other an attempt to “salvage" it. The ADHD equation makes it is easy to see why people with ADHD can often achieve success in life but, once there, find it much harder to retain it; and why, as a group, they have higher employment turnover, divorce rates, bankruptcies, incarceration, etc.
Unfortunately, a third option - making a conscious attempt to purposefully revitalize the perceived dullness of routine - is rarely contemplated, let alone attempted; even in areas of life which truly mean the world to them. Having an ADHD brain simply makes it too hard to conquer routine on one’s own. This is one way that a treatment option, like coaching, can help the individual with ADHD; it helps them discover their own unique spice of life and add a dash of it to the areas of life that truly do matter, so that the attention required to maintain success in important life domains is achievable.
Written by: Dan Duncan
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