how to maintain motivation to create (while living with ADHD)
Before ADHD was a disability, those same people were simply referred to as “daydreamers.” We are prone to getting lost in our thoughts, dreaming in vivid colors of things that neurotypical people simply don’t have access to. We view the world through a different lens, reimagining things again and again to create alternate universes, and extensions to this one. ADHD, which is tagged with “disorder” in its very name, is only a dysfunction in a dysfunctional world. We are the creators and the inventors, and the ones who instigate change because we saw what could be before it ever existed. So that said, to begin this article, let it be known that I do not view ADHD as a disability in the slightest, and in fact, I think of it as the best gift I could have ever been given.
Though, as with all personality types, of course we suffer from some drawbacks. One of those, which I’ll be addressing here, is our rapidly dwindling motivation to continue creating once either a) the hyperfixation has moved along, or b) the initial dopamine hit from the “newness” wears down, and we’re bored. Those of us with ADHD can almost all recall at least one—but usually various—unfinished projects that were at one time eagerly began. We might have been excited to learn a new skill, or perhaps enthused to see a vision move off of the drawing board and become real. Once that’s gone, it can be very challenging to continue, especially when the potential dopamine from starting something new is so tempting.
Because of this habit, many of us fall into becoming the “jack of all trades, master of none;” we’re kinda good at many things, as opposed to having a really refined skill in one particular area. It can be frustrating to not be able to develop a skill to your fullest potential, especially when you have so many great ideas living in your head. It can be an additional challenge to not be able to immediately produce an idea due to a lack of skill, and because that instant gratification isn’t available, the skill-building component of the creation becomes overwhelming. Below I’m going to delve into some things that have helped me continue to be motivated to develop and hone skills over the years, and keep pushing through until I have adequate skills to create what lives in my head.
1. find a new chunk of the skill to learn each time you visit.
You really don’t have to learn each facet to mastery before moving on to another one. Something I assume neurotypical people are great at is learning things in understandable sequences, such as step by step, but let’s face it: that’s not us. It feels tedious for us to learn things in a step by step nature, as it’s less obvious how it’s going to contribute to the vision we have in our heads. Whether you’re playing an instrument or learning to paint, we learn by doing. So do it! Do it and accept that it will be imperfect, but it’s beautiful because it’s yours. Learn the things you need to produce the idea that you have in your head today. Learn something different for the idea that you have tomorrow. Those skills will all slowly combine to build your overall skills, and believe me, with enough practice (though not traditionally sequential) you will be great.
This reminds me of my musical endeavors, when I began learning to play the piano. Traditionally, you learn the structural components and then learn easier to more difficult pieces until you know enough to create independently. This can take years of skill building and practice, which is honestly impractical for most of us. My childlike wonder towards the instrument is what really drove me to continue to practice and become the proficient pianist that I am today. I learned to play songs that I liked, or learned the key I needed to play for the song I had in my head. I might not be able to sight read sheet music, or compose like Beethoven, but I have played enough keys and learned enough about it theoretically that I can figure out how to play/create most of the things that come to mind.
2. get a routine established and stick to it.
Listen, I don’t want to hear it. People with ADHD (myself included at one point in my life) love to use the cop-out of “not being able to stick to a routine” due to forgetfulness or one thing or another. You probably don’t realize how much of your life is already built around some sort of routine. The coffee that you get every morning on your way to work, the time you take your meds, the playlist that you listen to during your nightly shower— all of these things are a part of your routine. When you fragment the routine into its different components, you get what we call habits. Creating strong habits is a fundamental part in developing skills, and believe it or not, it is possible for (even you) to do.
Something that has helped me is rather than creating a specific time structure, simply deciding what day that the skill building needs to occur. For instance, my band Silo Red meets on a specific day/time with out bassist, but when it’s just me and Olivia (who is also my roommate) we don’t have a time assigned to it or an amount of time that we’re going to spend. It’s just Thursdays. This takes some pressure off of the routine because there’s nothing looming over our heads about how long/to what extent it needs to be done. We just need to, at some point, spend some time building our skills. It all adds up, even if it’s just 30 minutes. Decide what day(s) you are going to practice, and hold yourself accountable! Just get in there and make something goddamit!
3. involve other medias.
Maybe you know me. Maybe you don’t. But if you’ve happened to fall into my particular whirlwind of chaos, you’d be unsurprised to know that I’ve fallen into yet another creative hobby. This is common for us ADHD having folks, as hyper-fixations can be rather unpredictable. Use this to your advantage. Did you go through a web design phase but quickly move on to photography? Make a website for your photography business! Do you have a passion for writng that has been on the backseat for awhile? Start a blog to accompany you photography website! (this is not in any way a personal experience…at all…). That way you’re still practicing your craft that you once attended to like a small child, but also interacting with the new media that you are interested in. It’s a great way to stay in practice of things that you truly enjoy, but have lost the novelty in.
4. don’t wear yourself out
It’s so tempting to spend hours and hours refining your craft for a new hobby you’ve picked up. How could you not? There’s so much dopamine to be had, and so much to learn; however, even for neurotypical people, this is a shortcut to burn-out. Once you’ve run your hobby dry of the happy chemicals, and you also get creative fatigue, you’ll almost have no choice but to put it down for awhile. For many of us, we never come back. You can change the cycle, though. Make an effort to hold yourself accountable in spending only a bit of time each day easing yourself into your new craft, and make sure you’re taking adequate breaks. Trust me, it will still be there when you get back, and the quality of work will be so much better when you give yourself the chance to revisit.
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I hope that you found this a bit helpful! Of course, as ADHD is the beast that it is, you will run into roadblocks along the way. If you utilize some of these tips, hopefully you can curb some of the burnout and find some more success. Happy creating!
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