Hyperfixation, Hyperfocus, and ADHD

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Are you ever so engrossed in an activity you love that you completely lose track of time? Does it seem like you lose sense of where you are and what’s happening around you? And when you snap back into the reality of what’s going on around you, are you disoriented? People with ADHD and neurodivergence are more likely to experience this heightened state known as “hyperfixation” than neurotypical children and adults. Hyperfixation is defined as full immersion in something of interest to a point where a person appears to ‘tune out’ everything else. It can be prolonged, recurring, and sometimes even obsessive. Hyperfocus is more of a flow state that is shorter in duration and more spontaneous. While both may aid productivity, both can hinder it as well. In particular, hyperfixation often draws people into unproductive, procrastinating activities, which is what makes it both exhilarating and frustrating.

What Is Hyperfixation?

Hyperfixation, it seems, is a double-edged sword: a great capacity for effective performance on interesting, high-value tasks on the one hand and a great capacity for avoiding things by disappearing into pleasurable distractions on the other. Hyperfixation, with its intense focus, can lead to working tirelessly on something so that you are fully engaged by it. Your experience is pleasurable, firing up those dopamine pathways so that there’s a reward inherent in what you are doing.

But, you may be so engrossed that you’ll lose track of time and miss appointments, meetings, classes, or phone calls. When someone is hyperfixated on a task, it can be tougher to switch to something else, leaving other things incomplete. You have entered your own private world and you stay there happily coasting along until something jolts you out of it. Because hyperfixation is usually associated with something that’s fun or easy for you, it can often lead to task avoidance.

How can you harness hyperfixation as a productivity tool more often while not letting it become a mechanism of avoidance and procrastination? Nurturing executive functioning skills such as prioritization, time management, and self-awareness can help you apply the power of your hyperfixation more efficiently.

ADHD Hyperfixation vs. Hyperfocus

The terms ADHD hyperfixation and hyperfocus are often used interchangeably, but they refer to two different things. Hyperfixation can be seen as an intense passion about an enjoyable activity such as a hobby while hyperfocus often reflects strong concentration on a task.

ADHD hyperfixation refers to an intense and often prolonged state of concentration on a particular activity or object that a person finds enjoyable and interesting. Because hyperfixation is fueled by a deep passion for the activity, it can quickly become an obstacle to productivity. When you’re fully engrossed in an activity that you lose track of time, you may neglect bodily needs, other tasks, or obligations. Then, after it’s over, you may feel like you’ve awakened from an intense dream or even a trance.

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On the other hand, hyperfocus is task-driven and is often accompanied by clear goals and a sense of purpose. It’s less about enjoyment and satisfaction and more about getting into the flow of an activity. It’s a state of being fully engaged in a task for which you have a clear sense of direction. Hyperfocus is linked to increased productivity and a sense of accomplishment.

Both hyperfocus and hyperfixation may be challenging to regulate. If not managed well, they can get in the way of daily living. That’s why learning to manage these states is important, especially for people with ADHD and neurodivergence.

Use Hyperfixation to Your Advantage

Productivity is an important aspect of life for kids and adults alike. However, it’s a process that many folks with ADHD and neurodivergence struggle with, especially when hyperfixation gets in the way. The best way to cope with hyperfixation is not to fight it by forbidding certain activities, but rather to use it to your advantage. Making work or school stimulating can capture your focus in the same way as your favorite activities. By finding a job that caters to your interests, an individual with ADHD can truly shine, using hyperfixation and/or hyperfocus to their advantage.

Identify and investigate

Learn more about your pattern of hyperfixation by increasing self-awareness. Notice the signs of hyperfixation. What does it look like for you to become unaware of your environment? How much do you overfocus on small details? How long does it occur? Do you neglect self-care? How do you respond to interruptions and switching to other tasks? Notice when you tend to engage in hyperfixation by examining the situation and your motivation. Are you focusing on an interesting task or avoiding something unappealing? This type of reflection builds your capacity for self-awareness or metacognition. Thoughtful self-evaluation will help you monitor when hyperfixation takes over and what you can do to exit mindfully from an episode.

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Plan, Prioritize, and Proceed

Start by distinguishing between hyperfixation and hyperfocus. Noticing when you have an abundance of attention for one area and a lack of concentration for another will give you a greater sense of control over behaviors that seem to take on lives of their own. Use techniques to increase your awareness of time and how it passes. Set up several alerts using a variety of tools–your phone, your computer, notification banners across the screen, analog clocks, or timers.

1. Make a plan: Do a brain dump of all of the tasks in front of you for the day or the week. Put a star next to the ones that could be pleasurable. These will naturally have more dopamine associated with them, seem more pleasurable, and have greater innate rewards attached to them. Hyperfixation is more likely to happen when you do them. Then mark the tasks that seem more daunting with a check. How can you find something rewarding in those? This will help you engage with them more readily.
2. Prioritize key items: Create another, shorter list from this larger one where you order the items in terms of urgency (upcoming deadlines, crises, etc. that you have to do now). Then mark the ones that are also important (these have a lot of value but there’s no emergency). When something is marked urgent and important it becomes a top priority.
3. Proceed to work: Work in intervals with planned, structured breaks to keep yourself on track and limit the negative aspects of hyperfixation. Break down your day into blocks of time no greater than 90 minutes and assign the top three urgent tasks to each of them. Flag the ones that can be rolled over into the next day. Set two timers for your work periods and stop when they go off—no matter what. After 90 minutes, take the break your brain needs to avoid going into hyperfixation or hyperfocus. Leave yourself Post-its to remind you what you were doing so you can return to it.
4. Find an accountability buddy: You don’t have to address the challenging, over-absorbing aspects of hyperfixation or hyperfocus alone. Ask someone in your life who understands ADHD and cares about you (a family member, friend or colleague) to check in within you periodically at times or during activities when you are prone to hyperfixation. This can help you break up these periods. If this person also has ADHD, you can support each other as well. Helping somebody else with their hyperfixation or hyperfocus patterns can assist you with self-regulation too.