The shinies. To anyone with ADHD this is probably a pretty familiar term. to those without a shiny problem, let me take a moment to explain.

The shinies has become a kind of made up definition for anything that draws your attention from the task at hand. It has been picked up by the ADHD community, especially the adult ADHD community, as our own way of describing the response we give when something interesting, but unrelated to what we’re doing comes along. I’ve seen the term used on graphic shirts, bumper stickers and coffee mugs. I hear it used in general conversation and I use it myself.

Cute little phrases like “I have ADH… Oooh! shiny!” Are fairly common. In conversations with my friends who also have ADHD you will frequently hear phrases like “I got shinied”, “I’m busy fighting of the shinies” or “I’ve got a bad case of the shinies today.” All meaning that we got distracted and went off on a tangent. Whatever we were supposed to be doing has been forgotten, a least for the moment while we fulfill our insatiable need for more information.

In my own experience most people with ADHD are very much like the Absent minded professor. We crave information. Not necessarily information on any given topic, but rather information on everything that interests us, the downside to this is that we also tend to have higher than average IQ’s, so our interests are broad and wildly varied.

We do not mean to be scatterbrained. In all honesty we usually are not. Most people with ADHD think in much the same way your computer handles its software, we’re multitasking at all times. For a moment, one thought is in the forefront. while it is, we give that thought 100% of our attention. Nothing else in the world is important. At the same time, the other 10 or 12 things we’ve got “running in the background” are still there, and every once in a while our minds shift to every one of them, making sure that the process is still running smoothly. This process works well for us. We’re working on many things at the same time, updating pieces of information on all the tasks at hand every few milliseconds, then moving back to the major task at hand.

The problem arises when something new is introduced. At that point everything a person with ADHD has on their mind must be re-prioritized. The reaction to this can be very negative. In my own experience when someone forces my mind from a task that I’m focused on it is actually disorienting. I go through a moment in which my vision blurs and all thoughts simply stop. I can’t focus on the distraction, not am I still working on what I was doing just a moment before.

In extreme cases where I’ve become hyperfocused, the “switch” to a different thought process can be physically painful and nauseating.  It feels as though my thoughts are shattering and each of the pieces must be reorganized before I can move on to whatever causedthe interruption.  At that point, getting back “in the groove” can be impossible.  Instead of moving one thought to into fucus, my mind jumps randomly from one to another, almost like someone channel surfing on a television and I have to take a walk or move to some other mindless task until I can regain my composure.

These are the downsides of having ADHD, but there are positive aspects as well.

When I am focused on a subject I can and will devote every waking moment to getting it done.  the drive to complete the task at hand can be intense enough that I will forgo food, water and sleep to complete it, and complete it perfectly.  Most people with ADHD are at least a bit of a perfectionist so second-rate is unacceptable.  If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right, and do it right the first time.  We’re too busy with a thousand other things to have to go back and revisit the issue.

A person with ADHD is often the perfect “Go to Guy”.  We are problem solvers by nature and in an environment where we are allowed to use those skills we usually excel.  Most of my most pleaant work experiences were in positions where I never worked on one project for an extended period, but rather was presented with a new set of challenges on  daily, if nt hourly basis.  the ability to be thinking about more than one thing at any given time is a definite advantage in situations such as this.  you don’t have to teach someone with ADHD how to multitask, we were born doing that.

So how do you avoid the shinies?

Unfortunately there is no “one-size-fits-all” answer for this question.  Each of us has our own ways of doing it.  for me it means breaking down the innumerable tasks I have during the day into very scheduled and measured pieces.  Each one of these tasks is easily accomplished and therefore completed quickly.  I allow for the fact that I go off on tangents and keep a text document open to jot ideas down in.  These notes help me to remember what needs to be handled at a later date, without allowing me to try to do them now, which otherwise would have made my entire day unproductive.

For example;  I am currently in the process of straightening up the office I share with my wife.  both of us have ADHD, neither usually remembers to put things away when we’re done with it and the ensuing clutter has become chaos.  I cannot work in these conditions.  My thoughts keep going bakc to what I need to be cleaning, rather than what I should be writing.

The solution?  Instead of taking a day or three off to clean the entire space, I set a goal for each day.  Day one ws to clear out the two boxes I’ve had sitting on the floor since we moved in.  Day two was to clean off the desktop.  today is to organize my book case. Each of these tasks take about two hours.  but two hours is not an unreasonable amount of time lost in a day and leaves me with plenty of time to get the other things I must complete in a day done as well.

My wife installed a program on her computer that she calls her “Shiny Stopper”.  It blocks access to instant messenger software, the Internet and email.  This allows her to work without distraction for one hour at a time.  At the end of the hour, she takes as long as she needs to surf the ‘Net, answer emails and discuss writing with her critique partners from across the world.  Does it work?  It does for her.  She manages to do everything she needs to do in a day and still write over 2 thousand words in an evening after work.  It’s a good average for a deadline crowded author and she publishes a novella every two months or more.

In the end we all deal with distraction in our own way.  I’ll come back to this subject in the future, but for now there are a hundred things glistening in the back of my mind, and my schedule says that it’s time to move on to the next one.

Until next time…

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