The disorder is poorly named because many people have no absolute deficit in attention. Rather, they have a problem modulating their attention — that is, turning it on, keeping it on, and turning it off. Many people with ADD focus quite well, just not selectively or consistently enough to please everyone they need to please.

ADHD and Boredom

• Boredom is kryptonite for people with ADHD, making it nearly impossible to engage with boring tasks.


• Medication like amphetamine allows individuals with ADHD to focus, acting like eyeglasses for the nearsighted.


• Medication doesn't enable something they wouldn't do before, but rather something they couldn't do before due to their ADH

You have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it. Your will, in other words, is not a manifestation of your character that you can deploy without limit; it’s instead like a muscle that tires. This is why the subjects in the Hofmann and Baumeister study had such a hard time fighting desires—over time these distractions drain

The work ahead of you is all about building this inner strength, and I do mean building, because people with ADHD come with structural problems. They may have once used their ADHD to function, to see above the problem, to get the oh-crap-it’s-due-tomorrow-at-6am-and-now-it’s-11pm paper written at the last minute, but they can’t seem to pull it off