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by michael_j_ward 1283 days ago
Despite seeing myself almost precisely described in that video and the original article, and despite having been diagnosed with ADHD as a college student...

It's hard for me to believe that there exists persons that won't / don't identify with that description, and thus the cause of my executive dysfunction isn't ADHD, but just a failure to cultivate habits of discipline.
2 comments
LocalPCGuy 1283 days ago
People who are gifted definitely do just what I think you are saying - they blame their failures on their own personal inabilities to cultivate habits. And because they are smart, they were often able to compensate for potential ADHD symptoms throughout school and while young, and so it's often ruled out and not even considered until they are adults (and then often not considered because they "did good in school" etc.) Obviously not everyone who thinks they are gifted actually is, but talking about those that are here.

As one of those persons (tested 98th percentile on SAT in 8th grade, for example, and was in gifted or advanced classes until I just got bored of "extra work"), I think it is important to really consider this and reflect on whether or not something like ADHD could be at play and getting in the way of life goals. The rejection sensitivity dysphoria mentioned in the article, while it is not a diagnosed condition (won't find it in the DSM), does describe one of the states of mind of a lot of people with undiagnosed ADHD because of a lot of negative conditioning for many years, being told they just didn't have enough willpower to do things "right".

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ojkelly 1283 days ago
They exist, and there’s usually a mourning period when you have to truly grapple with understanding things really are harder for us.

“a failure to cultivate habits of discipline” is an _outcome of ADHD_. Executive dysfunction is preventing the cultivation of habits, not to say it’s impossible but they’re usually connected.

A useful trick here is to accomodate the lacking parts of the ADHD brain, with external consequences and external timekeeping.

External accountability and consequences such as a gym buddy (who you don’t want to let down), or needing to get your work done to get paid (so you can eat).

And external timekeeping is critical because we are time-blind [0]. Whether it’s a calendar, setting reminders, etc.

“People with ADHD know what to do, but they can’t do what they know.”

[0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JowPOqRmxNs

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