Executive Functioning and the Limits of Hyperfocus

The concept of hyperfocus can be summed up in a single tranquil sentence: keep one important, complex object of attention in your awareness as you work.

The most important aspect of hyperfocus is that only one productive or meaningful task consumes your attentional space.

With hyperfocus, there’s often a feeling of compulsion and completionism. Worried you’ll never have this motivation again or may forget the task if you hit pause, you feel you must keep going until you’ve accomplished whatever it is you think you need to do. This can be productive when you’re focused on a project that is urgent, but less so when fo

In any given moment you’re focused on either your external environment, the thoughts in your head, or both. Engaging solely with your external environment means you’re effectively living on autopilot. You slip into this mode as you wait for the traffic light to change or find yourself bouncing around a loop of the same apps on your phone. When you’

your ability to hyperfocus depends on a few factors, all of which affect the quality of your attention: • How frequently you seek out new and novel objects of attention. (This is often why we initially resist a hyperfocus ritual.) • How often you habitually overload your attentional space. • How frequently your attention is derailed by interruption

other words, ADHD makes it more difficult to have appropriate attention at the right time. In different contexts, a lack of focus or hyperfocus can be a problem for the same person with ADHD. Difficulties with transitions in focus, such as disengaging from a task and starting a new one, are also common.