People with ADHD have a hard time starting and then completing even things they do want to do. Everyone with ADHD has a dozen unfinished recent projects they adore, but will probably never finish.

Hyperfocus gets them started, and they go REALLY far with the project, and then it wears out, and the project is neglected thereafter. Even if the person still adores the project and hopes to finish it. Without the hyperfocus, nothing gets done.

This also sounds like the 80/20 rule and/or procrastination. 80% of the thing takes 20 % of the time, and then a feeling of diminishing returns blocks us from doing the other 80% of the effort.

> the project is neglected thereafter. Even if the person still adores the project and hopes to finish it.

I am also curious why this is labeled ADHD. To me this seems to just be “the human condition”.

I guess from what I’ve read in this thread, using the term “ADHD” seems to allow people the ability to forgive themselves for the very human condition of procrastination and/or “not achieving perfect completion”.

For anyone reading this, you can also choose to forgive yourself for not being perfect without the professional diagnosis. At least I definitely do.

You may be right and indeed there's many psychiatrist who openly say that the definition of ADHD and where you draw the line between having it and not is somewhat arbitrary. But if people are struggling and having this diagnosis and these treatments helps with minimal downside then why not use them?

I recently got diagnosed and it may just be that I'm naturally very distractible and bad at paying attention. But if the diagnosis and meds make my life significantly better at minimal risk/cost then what's the harm?

Given it helps, I would not ask anyone to stop what they are doing. I was just curious if it might be more “placebo” than chemical, and clearly both the placebo and the chemicals are useful.

Meanwhile, I was just trying to provide extra data, i.e. it’s possible and acceptable to forgive yourself for not being perfect without any diagnosis.

Hopefully it just provides any one who reads this, one extra strategy to help themselves.

To forgive oneself is not universally easy. In those cases the problem isn't (only) ADH, but other issues. For someone very deep down the rabbit hole it might be the most crushingly difficult first step, indeed.

It really is hard to describe and, to be fair, is certainly only one symptom of ADHD and a dozen other things. This is why a diagnosis needs to come from a professional, but if someone has been struggling to put together the pieces of their own puzzle, there are likely far more behaviors that have driven them to consider this.