I have ADHD and I don't 'thrive' in periods of stress. Yes, a work deadline will motivate me. And I'll be much more productive towards my work. But the rest of my life will usually fall apart. And when the deadline passes, I will usually crash. This is not 'thriving'. It's just the burnout cycle. - ThreadSky

pwgtennant.bsky.social • 124 days ago

I have ADHD and I don't 'thrive' in periods of stress.

Yes, a work deadline will motivate me. And I'll be much more productive towards my work.

But the rest of my life will usually fall apart. And when the deadline passes, I will usually crash.

This is not 'thriving'. It's just the burnout cycle.

Reposted from Please Follow the Official Guardian Account

Some people with ADHD thrive in periods of stress, new study shows

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neurostats.org•124 days ago

This is how one creates a positive story out of a non-result.

agvbergin.net•123 days ago

Very much this.

The underlying work this article was (loosely ...) based on is predicated on the idea that some kids "remit" or "recover" from ADHD by the time they get to 25. Which I do not buy!

snickettes.bsky.social•124 days ago

yup, exactly this

justinsulik.bsky.social•123 days ago

Also the adhd/deadline threat "worked" ok-ish when I was a masters student, in terms of getting stuff done. But it doesn't even "work" for me anymore, now that I'm a bit older. It's just stress without any productivity boost.

pwgtennant.bsky.social•123 days ago

My theory is that it works for short periods with a defined goal as long as you can relax and recover afterwards. E.g. During a degree.

But when the cycle of stress becomes chronic over many years, you burnout and nothing can motivate you anymore.

justinsulik.bsky.social•123 days ago

Yeah, especially as the range of tasks that academics need to do grows so fast --- more task switching to exhaust the ADHD brain and more tasks to flood out recovery periods.

pwgtennant.bsky.social•123 days ago

Academia is relentless and overwhelming. I would not recommend it to anyone with ADHD!

andrewholding.bsky.social•123 days ago

I agree with this ADHD, or otherwise, single objective focus and stress is the antithesis of the the requirements of Academia. The biggest shift as a PI is not having a small number of jobs to prioritise followed by a rest period to having many unrelenting tasks.

perceived.bsky.social•123 days ago

To expand on that, maybe deadline motivation in ADHD depends on poor recall of outcomes.

Whereas, if you pass a certain threshold of chronic, physical stress responses, you end up with a permanent reminder of the questionable results of pressured work 😬

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