To one with ADHD, boredom is not a minor annoyance—it is pure existential torture. People with ADHD are precisely those for whom a boring job is a sufficient condition for clinical depression. It’s a matter of degree.

ADHD is not defined by a lack of love of your job.

Yes. Often in conversation people don't speak in absolutely precise terms, and especially about stuff like this. You are 100% right that that feels tautological when spoken about in that way, and I think it's a real issue with the way that ADHD is understood both amongst people who have it and people who don't.

The difference is, it may be tough for someone without it to focus on boring things. But they still can. But for folks with ADHD, it works a bit differently: first of all, sometimes your brain just kinda decides something isn't interesting, even if you consciously feel interested in it. And so you feel this paralysis, where you both really want to do something, and also just can't do something. Neurotypical adults can go "this sucks but I am gonna do it even if it's uncomfortable" and still get it done, but ADHD folks can be absolutely debilitated by being unable to accomplish tasks, even if they're important.

I have ASD and ADHD and for me the problem isn't an inability to focus on boring tasks. It is a compulsion to be doing something other than whatever it is I'm currently doing. It isn't just work related tasks either. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, I always feel compelled to be somewhere else doing something else.

For example, in work situations, I'll do things like take a programming job writing C++ code and then slack off all the time to study Python. It gets particularly bad if I'm distracted. Open office environments are the worst for me. I'm absolutely crippled by them.

Outside of work, if I go on a dinner date, I'll not talk to the woman and rush through the meal because I feel compelled to leave. I hate sitting through movies because I feel trapped, so I'll watch movies on streaming services instead and watch them in 10 to 20 minute increments.

The compulsion to be elsewhere has gotten a lot worse as I've gotten older. The only three things I've found that kind of help are Adderall, Cannabis, and listening to Isochronic Tones while I'm working. None of them work all the time though.

Have you tried a "dopamine" (see: habit/reward) fast?

I've found I can temporarily hard-reset my "go go go" inclinations, by starving my behavior-reward system of hyper-stimulus (i.e. anything modern; e.g. internet at all, media/music/video, books, rich food, comfortable things, things that I'm "moved" to do). It's basically a "monk" mode where you only surround yourself with relatively low-stimulus stimulus (for example, rich, complex, and tasteful meals would be replaced with bland, tasteless, only-whats-necessary-for-nutrition meals). And this would extend to every single thing in your life (by force), until your reward pathways have downregulated back to a more productive state.

I've found it helpful to do on days without medication (weekends), so at the very least I don't become a soulless robot over the years, and still retain some semblance of a personality (and individual choice).

> Isochronic Tones

I've been inadvertently doing this with Voicemeeter. You can activate "cross channel," and mess with the equalizer, so any sort of music you listen to has that same stimulating "wave" that keeps you in the loop.

On medication, it definitely stops me from hopping around, and going down dead-end alleyways.

Ketamine really cuts through that compulsion, to the point where I find I get stuff done when I take it. It's very much a trade-off between capability and contentment, and it's nice to be enjoy the moment once in a while. I wouldn't be commenting in this post if it weren't for that fact lol.

Same here. The impuls to do other things is controlling me and cannabis and adderal are the only help. Its frustrating because people feel i want to do something else.

Everyone forgets things, but amnesia is still a distinct condition. Everyone has times when they're less motivated, but it isn't depression. Everyone bleeds when cut, but that's not the same as hemophilia. Everyone has headaches, but that's not the same as being prone to migraines.

In all of these cases, the key practical difference is in the extent and impact of the issue. Is the trouble focusing on boring tasks something that's annoying but manageable, or does it get in the way of finishing school or holding down a job?

Physical issues often have a known mechanism that exacerbates the problem. We don't have a great understanding of mechanisms behind most mental health issues at the moment, so both diagnosis and treatment are based on symptoms. I understand there's research showing that ADHD is highly heritable and related to specific structural differences in the brain; I'm not sure how strong the evidence is, but it definitely points to some mechanism behind the condition.

It's not hard. It's often impossible. Even when it's boring but super, super important. And even worse, they KNOW it's super, super important but their brain CAN'T DO IT. Even when it sometimes causes severe problems or issues for them - until it hits panic mode, then the adrenaline can make it possible. But often that is too late.

So true for me. Sometimes i delay things to the point that the crush me. For example taxes… my big luck i am not in prison for paying them that late. Bigger luck i can compensate my adhd with money. …. Thing that suck is the zero tolerance i get when telling people i got adhd and thats why i pay that late. They lough in my face. But a friend of mine with depression is taking super seriously… bur he also arguments like „ give me time to pay this or i kill myself“ ….

The people around you can keep on increasing the social pressure / punishment incentive and make the adrenaline levels high more or less permanently. It ends when you burn out and/or do a mass shooting.

For a neurotypical person, focussing on a boring task is like holding an ice cube - it’s uncomfortable, but not too hard to do it.

For an ADHD person, focussing on a boring task is like holding your hand on a hot stove - your brain won’t even allow you to _attempt_ it because it’s so obviously a bad idea.

Your quote is more literal than you think. It's not "finds it hard to focus on", it's "can't focus on". With ADHD, in many cases, part of your brain will decide without you whether or not you can concentrate on a thing, and you cannot push past it.