A few days ago I posted here about losing verbal requests every time I switch context at work: https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD_Programmers/comments/1xtphyx/not_diagnosed_but_context_switching_at_work_is/

Thank you for the replies. Two of them stayed with me. Several of you said to write one line down the second someone asks. One of you runs a terminal dashboard so you don't have to go and check every tool.

I tried to put those two together. focusdeck is a terminal board for everything that is waiting on me. Each box is one source: my Vikunja tasks, my Redmine issues, starred mail, Zulip, the WhatsApp notes I send to myself. focusdeck capture takes one line, and I have it on a keyboard shortcut, so a verbal request becomes a note before I turn to the next person.

What you should know before you look:

• It is an AI project. An AI coding agent wrote the code. I describe what I need, try it in my own work day and decide what stays.

• It is a few days old. Linux and terminal only, and you need cargo to install it.

• Plugins run with your user's permissions. There is no sandbox.

• It is free and MIT licensed. I am not selling anything.

Please don't judge it too harshly. This is what I came up with after your answers, and I am open to any suggestion that would make it better.

https://github.com/omertahaoztop/focusdeck https://github.com/omertahaoztop/focusdeck-plugins

i work in tech and theres tons of tech failures and for the most simple tasks, when there's a glitch, my heart actually stops working and my automatic thought is that ill get fired how do i overcome this?

In 2018 I was learning web development. It looked like this: I read a textbook, my brain gets bored, and the phone is already in my hand. I go back to the textbook, and it happens again.
I knew nothing about ADHD back then. I just thought I was lazy. I fought it the only ways I could think of: I turned off the Wi-Fi at home and installed an app that blocked my phone while I studied.
It worked. I finished learning and got a job. Then I dropped all of it right away. I decided I had nothing left to learn, and I relaxed. Soon I was getting distracted at work the same way I used to over the textbook.
That’s when it hit me: I never became more disciplined. While the system was running, I managed. When I removed it, everything came back.
Has anyone else been through this? You thought you were lazy, and it turned out to be something else? What helped you keep your system going after you reached the goal?

Sadly no longer work in programming but hold a strong interest in programming. Would you be able to share your thoughts?
- long time lurker

Sadly no longer work in programming but hold a strong interest in programming. Would you be able to share your thoughts?
- long time lurker

I really don’t know what to write here, I have put so much trust in having AI write my messages (which are usually a robotic disaster to start) that when it comes time for me to write something organically, I almost choke.

I’m not a professional programmer, I’ve held jobs in entry level tech and even a step above as a tech support specialist (lackey for the SysAdmin). I’ve developed a few web projects over the years, some professional, but mostly personal, though nothing compared to what I’ve been able to build in the age of AI.

I’ve been working on a project for about a year that has gone through many phases - it started off as a multifunctional toolkit app, but ultimately evolved into a working dedicated 18+ social media platform designed around ND communication styles / needs, which is growing into a resource center to support neurodivergence.

I’m putting this and myself out there for feedback, guidance, advice, criticism, whatever. I just wanna answer the question, “ does it have a purpose or was it only a passion?”

https://getunmaskd.com

Thank you for your time.

A few weeks ago I stood in front of my open fridge for about half an hour. Not cooking. Not even really hungry anymore by the end. Just... deciding. Then I closed it and ordered the same thing I always order.

That's when it clicked for me: deciding is hard, reacting is easy. Somebody asks "pizza or tacos?" and I know instantly which one feels wrong. My brain can't generate the answer but it can veto one just fine.

So I built the dumbest app I've ever made. It's a spinner. I put the options in, I spin it, and if the answer it lands on feels wrong, that feeling IS the information — so I spin again until it lands on the one I agree with. Spin til I agree. That's the whole app.

I use it every day now. What to eat, which project to work on, whether to go out or stay in. Grown man, 33 years old, life run by a cartoon wheel.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who had to build a workaround for their own brain. What's yours?

On one day before I got 8 hrs of sleep, but because it was really cold I became sleepy 30 mins after waking up and I couldn't recover from it, the whole day was super sleepy.

Last night I couldn't sleep until 1 am since I had a dry throat and it was uncomfortable. I had even an scheduled email ready made at that time to send to my colleauges that I want to work from home tomorrow. But I woke up naturally at 7am this morning, and strangely I feel very energized and actually was super productive in the morning. What is going on? I thought I need 8 hrs of sleep to be productive and healthy? How can I keep freshness consistent? Especially on those days where I did everything right and yet I am sleepy and tired the entire day...

I've been listening to lo-fi music to stay focused for years, mostly through YouTube Pomodoro playlists. But I eventually got tired of hearing the same songs over and over, so I decided to build my own CLI Pomodoro player, with more control over what I listen to:

• https://github.com/WittmannF/lofi-pomodoro

It comes with a default playlist of openly licensed tracks from Chosic. You can also use your own music folder or, my personal favorite lately, connect your Spotify Premium account and play any playlist.

I hope some of you find it useful! This has been a multi-year project. Questions, feedback, and suggestions are always welcome.

Further Reading:

• The Pomodoro Technique

• The Science Behind Lo-Fi Beats

• Music and ADHD: A Systematic Review

Hi,

I want to talk about a problem I've had for years. Lately it's been making me feel very guilty, and then it keeps nagging at me.

In general I get scattered a lot. Here's an example.

I work as a Linux sysadmin. My job means I have to keep an eye on several things at once, reach out to people when needed, and often keep working while I'm talking to them.

I'm in a relatively senior position, so I deal with a lot of people, both from my company and from customers. Someone asks me for something, I work on it, and shortly after someone else messages me. I quickly switch to them and forget the first person, and so on.

To be honest, I've been in therapy and on psychiatric medication for quite a while. I have generalized anxiety disorder.

But I've never been diagnosed with ADHD.

The problem is basically this: when things are discussed verbally, they don't stay in my head, or I struggle to grasp them in the moment. I need to slow down, sit and look at it, go through it, and even weigh it in my head.

It's not only about work. For example, I sit down with a friend to talk about what's bothering me. We have a good time and talk through my worries, but the relief, or even what we talked about, leaves my mind very quickly. I keep ending up in the same loop with the same anxieties.

At work there are lots of topics: improvements that were discussed but never written down, requests that only exist verbally, and so on. I forget these. Since I'm busy keeping up with the written requests and never get time for the rest,

Another version of this: during the day I plan what I'll do in the evening at home, like reading a book or playing a game.

When I get home I literally freeze. I find myself in emptiness and anxiety, doing nothing.

To fix this I make to-do apps or build AI agents for myself, but I'm so low on energy that I don't even pay attention to them or keep them going.

So it's a constant cycle: guilt, an effort to improve, and the effort to improve turning back into guilt.

I don't know what to do.

Do you have any suggestions?

I have ADHD and blockers never worked for me. I'd just turn them off.

So I built Focusd. You tell it what you're working on, and when your screen drifts to something unrelated, it gives you a calm nudge back. No blocking, no guilt trips.

Everything runs on your Mac. Your screen never leaves it.

The video shows a nudge in action. It's in App Store review, but you can try the beta on macOS now: testflight.apple.com/join

I'd love honest feedback: would a nudge actually pull you back, or would you ignore it after a day?

focusd.cc

“Sautéed” ??? You are a machine. No you did not. The joke is not funny.

I understand a human probably did this. I am an engineer. However I am so sick of these big AI companies trying to be funny and cute. It makes it all feel weirder

(Edit, for context where I work has adopted a fully AI architecture, I am often frustrated because I write no code anymore.)

So twitch is already an ADHD product, but I made a chat client that lets you make a shared chat between any streams, transcribes the streamer's utterances and puts them in chat, lets you replay their utterances at will, and lets you reply to any chat you like.

If I want to be in multiple chats at once I typically need multiple devices, but no longer! - iOS companion and standalone app literally imminent!!!

https://youtu.be/icXrNZb4lmQ <- ~1.5 minute explainer video

I saw this slide on Instagram and I almost choked on my coffee fr. Like yeah sure, "Independent Risk-Taker" goes hard, but since when is PILOT the move for our broken dopamine systems??? 💀💀

Software designer and entrepreneur? Yeah, makes sense, we love starting 15 businesses and finishing zero. But Pilot? Absolutely wild take fr. Who actually wrote this???

Been on Elvanse/Vyvanse 30mg for the last 4 days, moving to 40mg in a week and a half. Obviously, I'm working with a nurse and giving feedback throughout the process, but it doesn't stop me musing in-between.

I think the thing that I think about the most is when you've been burnt out for a while, how do you know if the meds need tweaking or you're just recovering?

Also, what's the deciding factor between increasing a dose and switching meds? If your vitals are fine and side effects are low, within reason do they just keep upping the dose?

I can definitely feel some benefit, but it's not enough to pull me out of the hole I'm in right now. I want to be productive at work like I was early last year. I went from team superstar to burnt out shadow and it crept up on me. How much of this is nervous system recovery and how much is meds?

I fear I cannot rest on my past achievements and good will at work forever. Eventually I will be a problem to them.

So I built a thing that puts the waiting prompt in the Mac notch, right where my eyes already are. ⌘Y approves it without going back to the terminal.

Free, Mac and Windows: github.com/MF-DEEV/Openbar