You are describing ADD the same way the video is. You see the future, you plan for the future in your head, but you don't do anything about the future. When the guys says ADHD people can't plan for the future he means you can't do things that help you in the future. The whole point is that you don't get upset. You know its going to suck if you don't get something done. You know you could start now. Maybe you plan to start tomorrow. The point is you don't. You don't feel the pressure to act until its too late or nearly too late. That is ADHD.
It's an interesting characterization of ADHD I've never considered. I absolutely have ADHD, but personally don't have this chronic problem of being able to "plan" for the future but not to follow through on my plans (provided I am sufficiently motivated toward the goal). I procrastinate like crazy, but in the end I follow through on and tend to achieve my goals.
For me, ADHD has always mainly been about 1) impulsivity and 2) lack of sustained focus (although this can fluctuate with my level of interest in what I am trying to focus on).
Impulsivity is related to "thinking about the future" because people with ADHD can often make poor decisions in the moment without seeming to consider about negative consequences for the future. But that doesn't stop them from, say, planning to get into graduate school (long term goal) and then taking the steps they need to do so.
I've always thought of the procrastination bit as being related, but definitely not the "hallmark" trait of ADHD.
What I am getting at is, I don't think that if you have the particular quality OP described necessarily means you have ADHD if you don't have some of the other classic symptoms. Procrastination and motivation issues can exist without ADHD.
I agree with you about the OP. I am not saying they have ADD. They seamed to be latching onto the idea that ADD people can't plan for the future. Like the fact that they think about the future and understand the negative consequences of inaction means its not ADD.
Planning to get into graduate school and then taking the steps they need to can happen with ADD. For an ADD person its just going to go differently. The application is going to be finished on the last day. They might not apply to all 3 schools they wanted to because they didn't have time on that last day. They will have many late nights where they start and finish a project they should have worked on for a week or more. Their high test scores will help make up for bad project scores. Long term educational goals were easier for me because the University supplies a series of impending deadlines that I can run into. Life goals are harder.
Goals you care about are another thing altogether. I call it hyper focus. Tonight I will spend way too much time configuring a new 3d printer. I will be so intently focused on it that I neglect other things that I should be doing. When you care about something the dopamine release is greater when you accomplish things and that is enough to activate an ADD person. Then the problem is shutting them off. I have been thinking about my garden almost constantly for the last 5 days.
For me my ADD's worst symptom is how everything gets equal attention in my brain. If I go out to eat I listen to every conversation. I watch the servers, the bartender, the people walking in and out. Most people seam to be able to pay attention to one thing and ignore the rest. I can't do that. I need to put myself in some form of isolation. If I am actually interested in something then all the distraction won't take me out of the task they will just frustrate me. Of course I am medicated and have been for years. Its worse when I am not medicated.
Yeah, that's a good point with the graduate school example. I just got into the program of my dreams, but it basically took me like a year longer than I originally intended to apply (decide exactly what I want to study, research programs, contact potential mentors, take entrance exam, write essays, get all the necessary files/transcripts in order, etc. for 8 different schools). It was not a smooth process for me and the tendency to save things the last minute was a pretty big factor in my delay getting there.
So there is probably some element of that "time myopia" this professor was talking about. I just took issue with the suggestion that people with ADHD can't act properly with the future in mind--in my experience, I care about the future and its consequences (albeit I didn't much when I was younger) and will eventually act in my own best interest, even if the way there is...sloppy. Anyway, I see now that that is not what you meant.
Side note, I have that inhibition problem, too. Its really embarrassing being out with people and having someone talk directly to you and you can't really follow what they're saying because you're also paying attention to the conversation at the next table, the waiter with the funny tie and wondering why he seems so frustrated, that weird burning smell, etc.
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u/lapagecp May 30 '17
You are describing ADD the same way the video is. You see the future, you plan for the future in your head, but you don't do anything about the future. When the guys says ADHD people can't plan for the future he means you can't do things that help you in the future. The whole point is that you don't get upset. You know its going to suck if you don't get something done. You know you could start now. Maybe you plan to start tomorrow. The point is you don't. You don't feel the pressure to act until its too late or nearly too late. That is ADHD.