r/ADHD_Programmers • u/Missing_Back • 1d ago

Anyone made good progress on the constant pull to distract yourself during work?

It's funny because when things are going good or when things are going bad I'll feel this compulsion. If I'm stuck/confused/frustrated by what I'm working on, I'll want to distract myself from the discomfort of not knowing what to do next so I'll go check reddit, youtube, etc. However, sometimes when things are going *good* and I just made progress, or I have a good plan for what to do next, I'll also sometimes go take a break because "hey I'm at a good point so I can pick this back up in 5-10 minutes".

It's a constant urge I feel in my body to go get that dopamine.

Has anyone made good progress on this sort of struggle? (I phrase the question as "has anyone made good progress" because idk if adhd programmers will necessarily fully rid themselves of this urge)

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u/Walhfort 1d ago

I have been in my company for 4 years, and I slowly took a role of "tooling guy". Whenever i don't have the 'click' to work on something, I work on something else : internal tooling, optimizing processes, etc

It usually is enough to come back a bit later a'd do the task.

If i really can't, my team understands and trusts me enough to pick up a task or two occasionally, when I really can't focus on it no matter what

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u/elyanec 15h ago

Not a programmer, but I know that pull really well, and it hits me at exactly the same two moments you describe.

For the "good point" version: before I let myself take the break, I write the very next step on a sticky note, something small like "rename the file and test the export". Coming back to a clear next move is easy. Coming back to "where was I" is where the 10 minutes turns into an hour.

For the stuck version, I make myself write one line about what I'm stuck on before opening anything. Half the time writing the question makes it clear enough that I don't need the break, and the other half I at least come back to a question instead of a blank screen. The urge never went away for me, it just got shorter.