The Predominantly Inattentive Type [07/12/2008 17:16:03]

diagnosis

So. It turns out I actually do have attention defecit disorder.

What does that mean? Well, basically the DSM-IV lists nine symptoms of innattention and if you collect six or more then you win the "Inattentive" label. If you like to fidget and run around and have trouble waiting your turn, you're also eligible for "Hyperactive" or even "Impulsive", but I settled for Predominantly Inattentive.

Back in March, I was really struggling to balance my business and the contract work I took on. Finally, I decided I was sick of being overwhelmed by things that really shouldn't be that difficult, so I went and talked to a doctor.

treatment

I've been taking Vyvanse for three and a half months.

It's helped a lot.

I was playing a lot of poker at the time, mostly as an escape, so one of the first changes I noticed was that I went from a losing player to a small winner. Before, I'd deposit $50 or so and burn through it in two weeks playing small stakes sit and goes. I made my last $50 deposit on April 16. A month later, I'd grown that bankroll to $288.31.

Of course, I have more productive things to do than play poker, and I soon realized I was able to deal with a whole lot more work without feeling that need to escape.

Today, for the most part, I'm caught up on both the cornerhost support work and my client work.

I even managed to handle all five of the top five cornerhost priorities I posted to the cornerblog back in March. That's probably the first time I've ever posted a list of goals and managed to complete all of them in any reasonable amount of time.

I still have a long way to go. For one thing, I still haven't filed my taxes for 2007 (as usual, I requested an extension). I've got years of unfinished goals and projects to go through.

I no longer find the huge workload overwhelming, though. It's just a matter of prioritizing and planning and then doing the work.

blogging and ADD

One of my big priorities is writing. I've always wanted to be the kind of writer that goes around learning cool things and explaining them other people.

If I haven't written much lately, it's because I have mixed feelings about blogging. So much of what I've posted in the past, though, was about me just trying to get the ideas out so I could explain things to myself.

In fact, I've been sitting on an outline of a completely different article about my experiences with Vyvanse. It's longer and in-depth and well organized, and is less about me and more aimed at helping others.

The only problem is, it really takes a lot of time to write well, and I've still got a bunch of "high priority" stuff I need to handle first. So instead of spending a lot of time to write well, I've just not posted anything.

But there is also some value in just getting some ideas out there, even if they're not well-formed. I miss just rambling like this, about whatever comes to mind.

So... I figure I'll start posting again here just as an impromptu journal (same as it ever was), and eventually, when things calm down, maybe I'll post some longer, standalone articles somewhere else.

Meanwhile, now that I can think straight, I think it's time to set some long-term goals.