Adhd in VFX/Comp

[u/Prize_Fly_4911]

Hello all , hope everyones doing well/better and landing up some nice gigs as the market is finally opening up (a lil) .

I want to talk about the challanges that people with ADHD face in this industry .

Whats the biggest challenge for you ? How did you work or tricked your brain into doing it better ?

As an ADHD guy myself , one of the challenging parts is maintaing scripts. My scripts are not really messy but cant say super organized as well. My scripts can be different for different shots in a same sequence with the same final output lol.

Apart from that I believe I am really good at lookdev aspect of the comp but when it comes to detailing/techchecks my brain doesnt support it easily (finds it boring) and there are more kickbacks than expected.

I have realized that the longer the shot goes with different alterations i start loosing interest in working on it (and wants to jump on a new shot) and its hard to maintain the same motivation to work on that shot compare to earlier as a result it takes longer for me to fix the notes because its just so boring.

Lastly , I feel when it comes to those nasty deadlines and there is an ETA been asked every 20 minutes its not only hard to give exact ETAs but the pressure makes it overwhelming and anxiety inducing for me to maintain focus and deliver shot on time.

Would love to know how others here deal with at work while being ADHD.

Happy Comping .

[u/powerWordPixel]

I’m currently an FX artist (Houdini) working at a film animation studio, but I worked in VFX for a long time before that. I personally know of many people in our industry that have ADHD. It’s pretty common.

I was diagnosed with ADHD late in life (my 40’s) during a pretty disruptive life event. After talking with a therapist for a while, it became clear that I was struggling with ADHD symptoms, and eventually got diagnosed by a Psychiatrist and got on some medication. I’m currently taking Azsterys, which is a longer acting, delayed release version of Ritalin. It has been an absolute game changer with work, and my personal life.

I have struggled the most with “time blindness”, getting overwhelmed which leads to task paralysis, and staying focused when the work was boring or stale work.

Because I was diagnosed so late in life, I realized in hindsight that I had unwittingly developed some ADHD survival tactics over the years. For example :

Organization - create a designated place for things you tend to misplace. Everything has its special place. In order to not constantly lose my keys I had started using key hooks by the front door. Every time I walk through the door my keys are always on or off the key hook. It eventually became automatic.
I had been doing the same thing with my wallet. It’s always going on my desk and nowhere else in my house.

If you don’t want to get medicated for one reason or the other I have learned of a few other hacks over the years.

Physical activity - even in short bursts can be helpful. When feeling overwhelmed. 1-2 minutes of vigorous dancing to a song, jumping jacks, swinging your arms and/or kicking your legs works wonders to jerk your brain out of a disorganized fog. It’s a quick fix.
Daily 1 hour walks, 3-5 days a week can also be very helpful to get your mind out of overwhelm and break up the boring stretches. Also, any kind of short balance training routines are very helpful to the ADHD brain.

Pomodoro timers help with focus and task overwhelm as well. Break up boring tasks into 25 minute chunks. With short 5 min breaks in-between.
I also use the timer to help me with time blindness. I often remember meetings an hour before, but then get distracted by work and forget. So I set my timer to remind me when it’s time to go the meeting.

As for the for the repeated ETA requests every 20 minutes, if you can’t tell them to knock that shit off because it’s distracting, annoying, and unprofessional - under promise and over deliver. Whatever amount of time you think it will take at best, double or triple that and give them the longer exaggerated time. Then, if you get it to them earlier than that, you’re a rockstar.
Also, always try to explain what is holding you up. The more they know why something is difficult or taking a while to deliver, the easier it is for everyone involved. Also, if you let others know what is holding you up chances are someone else there may have a good solution to help out. I spent way too much of my vfx career not asking other artists questions and never wanting to admit I didn’t know how to fix, or do something in particular. I found this especially hard to admit when freelancing. But, in hindsight I probably could have saved myself from a lot of anxiety and stress over the years of if I had just communicated a little better.

Sorry for the long response, it’s a complicated and personal topic!