“I am lazy and I can’t focus…right?” by Meredith

It is widely thought that ADHD causes a lack of focus. It’s even right there in the name: “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.” While difficulty concentrating is a common symptom, it is often the result of us being focussed on something else. In fact, ADHD can also cause something called hyperfocus, which cognitive neuroscience specialist Kathleen Hupefeld and her colleagues (2019) describe as “episodes of long-lasting, highly focused attention.” They explain that in clinical reports, many patients describe a hyperfocus episode as “falling under ‘hypnotic spells’ as they become immersed in an activity,” especially if it is something related to their hobbies, and that patients often experience “distorted time perception, failure to notice the world, and difficulty stopping an activity and switching to a new task” during these episodes. (Hupefeld et al. 2019).

Unfortunately, we cannot control what we hyperfocus on, which means it can often hinder productivity instead of helping it. This is why at six years old, my little brother—who also has ADHD—could not sit down for ten minutes to do his homework, but would go sit alone in his room, start a 5000-piece LEGO Star Wars set, and not come out until 5 hours later when it was done. Later, he also began playing guitar. What started as one lesson a week quickly spiralled into playing for hours on end every day. While people with ADHD are known for cycling through hobbies at a rapid pace, this one has stuck for him. When he is not playing, he is thinking about the next time he can play. It is the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up and the last thing he does before he goes to bed. Unfortunately for me, he chose to take up the electric guitar and purchased an amp whose quietest setting is “deafening.” It makes me miss the Lego days!

While hyperfocus can hinder us from focusing on the tasks or conversations that we “should” be doing, it can also be a superpower and a gift (I know that the “ADHD is a superpower” sentiment can feel corny and cause eye-rolls, but stick with me). It encourages—or almost forces us—to pursue careers and life paths that bring us the most joy in order for us to be successful. For example, my brother’s ability to hyperfocus on building complex LEGO structures has evolved into a passion for engineering. He is entering his second year of (the very competitive) Queen’s Engineering program, with very impressive grades from his first year and an excitement to build his knowledge and work on new projects. Additionally, through his countless hours of practice over the last decade, he has become an extremely gifted guitar player. He even started a band (where he is the lead guitarist), and he won first place in a competition for talented Queen’s guitarists.

Now let’s look at the second half of the name: “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.” People with ADHD are supposed to be zooming around from task to task and jumping off the walls, yet why do we often feel so stuck? Why do we frequently get accused of being lazy? Not only are there misconceptions about ADHD, but there are also certain aspects of the disorder that many people are either unaware of or mistake for something else.

Executive dysfunction is a challenge that many people with ADHD experience, but that is not widely known about or understood by people who are unaffected by ADHD. Essentially, it is the ability to maintain control and appropriately problem-solve to work towards and achieve a desired goal (Sonuga-Barke et al., 2008). So what happens when those circuits malfunction? For those with ADHD, that can often look like disorganization, time-blindness, emotional dysregulation, forgetfulness, and decreased response inhibition, which Dr. Sonuga-Barke (2008) explains is “the ability to inhibit an inappropriate . . . response in favor of a more appropriate alternative.” People with ADHD also often experience task paralysis, where you struggle to initiate a task, often because it is boring or overwhelming. Combining decreased response inhibition with task paralysis can explain why you may really want to go to bed at a good time, and you know you have to be up early, but instead, you sit on the couch watching Love Island for hours. You tell yourself, “I just want to start the next one to see what happens after that cliff-hanger, and then I will turn it off,” but then 50 minutes later you click “next episode” again. And again. And again. And you can’t even enjoy it. As Dr. Sharon Saline explains, “Shame and pressure only make paralysis worse, while compassion and structure help create sustainable pathways to move forward” (2025). Before I understood what was happening to me, shame and pressure were my go-to responses. You lie there and feel tired and ashamed and frustrated and guilty and stressed about all the sleep you should be getting and how tired you will be the next day and how you told yourself you weren’t going to do this tonight. “JUST GET UP!” you think, while you stay all curled up in the blankie.

It is difficult to describe what executive dysfunction feels like to someone who doesn’t have ADHD using simple everyday tasks that they get done with ease, so instead I will explain it using an impossible task: What if I told you that I am currently holding a $100 bill? Now, I am feeling generous today, so I am going to give this $100 bill away for free. It is yours for the taking; all you have to do is take it out of my hand in the next 5 minutes. That seems easy enough, right? Or it would be, if this were not a written blog post and you were actually sitting right in front of me. So, you see, even though I am telling you that you can easily come and take this money from me, and you really want to do it, it is physically impossible for you to come get it. However, in this hypothetical scenario, I have offered to everyone else that I will e-transfer the $100 to anyone who sends me an email, and nobody knows that you were not given this option. People are not going to see why you could not take the money; they will only see that you chose not to. So, they will accuse you of being lazy, unmotivated, not caring, not trying, and eventually you may start to believe it yourself. Now imagine that $100 is getting an assignment done, making a doctor’s appointment, going to the grocery store, turning off TikTok to do something productive, even everyday tasks as simple as getting out of bed, hopping in the shower, or making a meal. It is not that we do not want to do these things or that we are too lazy, or unmotivated, or do not care, or do not try. It is not always a choice. It can feel like there is an actual barrier keeping us from doing these tasks, which most people do not understand because, to them, the barrier is not just invisible; it is non-existent.

I did not get my ADHD diagnosis until I was in Grade 11. Up until then, I could coast. I relied on my smarts and–most importantly–the rush of the last minute to compensate for my disorganization, poor time management, avoidable mistakes, (and what I thought was) lack of motivation and laziness. This worked for a while, but then the workload and the expectations got bigger, and all of a sudden, I was drowning instead of coasting. The thing is, I was motivated; my grades mattered to me, and I wanted to do well, so what was the issue? After I completed my ADHD assessment, my psychologist told me that it was a credit to my intelligence that I had been doing as well as I had been given, given how low my executive functioning scores were. I started to see an executive functioning coach to help me turn it around, as I knew that I would need to get a handle on this if I was going to succeed in university. She was very nice, and she gave me plenty of good tips, but there was just one problem—she had knowledge of executive dysfunction but no lived experience. This meant that she could provide great tips for getting organized and improving my time management, but strategies only work if you can get yourself to do them. I found myself spiraling even more into the “why can’t I just…” mindset that plagues so many who experience executive dysfunction. I felt hopeless.

Once I entered university, I realized that I would need to come up with my own strategies that would work for me. It took plenty of trial and error, but I learned how to work with my ADHD. I found a routine that worked for me. I made time-lapses of myself studying or completing assignments to keep me off my phone and keep me accountable. I made Kahoots instead of Quizlets because they were more fun, and they encouraged me to make friends in my classes so I would have people to do them with. One day, I had a strong desire to paint my nails, but I really needed to study. Rather than letting this side quest get me off track, I used this for motivation, painting one nail after completing each practice question (4 coats x 10 fingers = 40 completed questions). Once I ran out of nails to paint, I drew flowers all over a page and got to colour in one petal each time I completed a small task until the whole page was full. I was always the kid who would doodle all over her homework, so it is no surprise that this worked well for me. I ended up making it a regular part of my studying and schoolwork, and I now have a notebook full of flowers that serves as a reminder of how much I was able to get done. While I personally do not find body doubling helpful for schoolwork (because I am a people watcher and a talker), I find it very helpful for other daily tasks. I am a yapper, so calling my friend while putting away my laundry means that I can be focused on the conversation and my body can go into autopilot for putting away my clothes. I hate disappointing people, so I make plans with (particularly disciplined and reliable) friends to go to workout classes together. I even have a friend who is 3 hours behind in Vancouver that I FaceTime whenever it is past midnight, and I need help getting off the couch but everyone else is sleeping–we do “3, 2, 1, Up!” and then I show her I am standing. It works every. single. time. I do have to give credit to my daily dose of Vyvanse, but as many ADHD-med-takers know, it is not a miracle drug–we need strategies that support our functioning, and it's all about finding the strategies that work for you.

Conclusion

Most days, ADHD feels like a curse more than it feels like a blessing, but when you learn how to work with it, you become an unstoppable force. It won’t necessarily make life easy, but it will make life doable. Let your hyperfocus lead you to your passions. Let your passions lead you to your career. Let the people in your life into your struggles. Help them understand you and let them help you in a way that works for you. It won’t only help you get things done–it will strengthen your relationships. Remember: You are not lazy. You are not useless. You are not a lost cause. You are not alone. Now, think of something you want to get done today. Ready or not, 3, 2, 1, UP!!!

Works Cited

Hupfeld, K. E., Abagis, T. R., & Shah, P. (2019). Living “in the zone”: hyperfocus in adult ADHD. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 11(2), 191-208. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327943818_Living_in_the_zone_hyperfocus_in_adult_ADHD

Saline, S. (2025, September 15). The ADHD paralysis trap: Why you can’t start—and how to break through. Dr. Sharon Saline. https://www.drsharonsaline.com/blog/2025/09/adhdparalysis

Sonuga-Barke, E. J., Sergeant, J. A., Nigg, J., & Willcutt, E. (2008). Executive dysfunction and delay aversion in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: nosologic and diagnostic implications. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 17(2), 367-384. https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.queensu.ca/science/article/pii/S1056499307001228