The Art of Attention for the Galaxy-Brain - Pseudokanada

Partial excerpts (antilibrary)

The Challenge

One of the defining traits of unmedicated ADD/ADHD is that even subjects you’re crazy about are just as difficult to focus on

In the case of the inattentive subtype, often even the adrenaline from last-minute or mission-critical events isn’t sufficient to help-- as many find out the hard way.

The Pattern

In the same way that different types of fires have different types of extinguishers, e ach productivity strategy and motivation works only  in a certain mood or mindset, and is useless and often counterproductive  in another

your moods probably roughly correspond to classic archetypes and different conceptions of yourself, almost like becoming a different person, and the strategies that work tend to correspond directly to those archetypes

The Trick

Start intuiting which strategy goes with which mood, mindset or personality (and more “type-A” folks will actually be able to note these and remember).

The only thing that can tie all the motivations and archetypes together coherently is a goal that is grand and baroque,   bordering on insane AND/OR a care-free attitude to “f— around and find out ” .  It is better to double down on this trait, you’ve probably had it since you were a kid

Also double down on being super-long-term in these goals and tools. Correctly used, your brain is uniquely capable of making extremely patient, long-term bets and build-ups, at the cost of short-term attention. Learn to allow your mind to  do that and you will see a startlingly more confident and calm side of yourself emerge. A part of all this is incrementally learning not to care about looking janky or wrong or tardy in the short-term.

You can speed this up by consciously doing the opposite of what your negative associations dictate, and further enabling that ability by correctly identifying the archetype you are in and the topic that is likely to get you into flow.  For example, if you’re afraid of tests, ignore the pressing topic, and take a tough test in the topic you’re hyped-up about at that moment--

To further increase chances of long-term success, do the majority of your ground work in a tool that allows automated random or pointed rediscovery.  Focus on being prolific, not perfect. At least privately. Backlinking note-taking apps like Obsidian, Notion, Roam etc. do a great job of this.

let it  become a habit to simply open up the app when it strikes you.

Without medication, you are never reliably  going to have that skill you crave: methodical, fully voluntary focus on the smallest parts of each problem (unless you wait it out for that particular muse to visit, for each project). A faster strategy is to work on your crazy plans with others

when you have a choice, pick a career/field that encompasses several fields at once. This drastically increases your chance of converging interests and flow states, and creating things of value, at least when you’re younger

Get a few friends, collaborators and partners you trust.  When you make money, hire a good assistant, pay them and treat them well--

If you want to work on just one mental issue, by yourself or with a therapist, laser focus on your vastly heightened tendency to feel guilt and on removing people around you who make you feel guilty. This will single-handedly enable everything else you want to try.

If you suffer from sensory overload and anxiety, then controlled exposure or professional exposure therapy, breathing techniques and lifestyle changes (clothes, muscle/fat gain, study room temp, ear buds like flare)  will not cure you but it will help you enough that it will bring a tangibly increased level of peace and tolerance. Don’t underestimate what this can do for your psyche.

remember to have your own measures of impact, don’t borrow anyone else