[reuben364]

On medication for ADHD, it helps in the short term, but I still struggle to commit to working on things in the long term. I either get bored or forget or find a new shiny.

My job involves static analysis and I have an interest in PLT, so I've found some papers (Abstracting Abstract Machines) that I'll read through and get a rough idea. But to truly understand things I have to implement the ideas, but the scope of what I want to do expands so fast that I get demotivated and eventually move on.

Categories for the working mathematician, Software Foundations, contributing to mathlib are all things that I sort of start working towards and cannot force myself to get to any meaningful conclusion. At the same time starting so many things is how I slowly accumulated the foundations necessary to even approach these things.

It doesn't help that I also have PDA autism, which leads any sort of structure I try to impose on myself eventually becoming too stressful. I feel like I've reached the extent that modern medicine (I'm just short of max dosage of XR Ritalin) and therapy I can afford can help me.

[diggan]

> On medication for ADHD, it helps in the short term, but I still struggle to commit to working on things in the long term. I either get bored or forget or find a new shiny.

Could just be that you're a "scanner" rather than you having some condition. Barbara Sher wrote multiple books about the subject of "I want to do everything, what's wrong with me?" and while the book I read ("Refuse to chose") is filled with lots of empty platitudes and overly positive language, I think the core idea discussed in the book is reasonable.

A somewhat neutral/borderline negative (but realistic) review of the book can be found here: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/book-review-refuse-to-choos...

I'm not saying it'll solve the problem, but maybe there are "issues" that shouldn't be considered issues, related to you getting bored and so on.

[reuben364]

At first glance that does seem to match my temperament. I love this quote as I have recently discovered it working for me

  If you want to think clearly, be calm and be smart; schedule a Micro Nervous Breakdown at least once a day.

not sure if that is healthy though.

I guess with regards to mental health DSM type issues vs other issues, it is difficult to untangle for me. It may not be an actual disorder, but it certainly causes me distress. It's like being a science enthusiast that can't move past reading pop-sci articles (but wants to).

[Jensson]

> But to truly understand things I have to implement the ideas, but the scope of what I want to do expands so fast that I get demotivated and eventually move on.

This is your motivation doing its job, instead of wasting your time on such low reward per effort tasks it tells you to do other things, this is how motivation works for regular people. Pills doesn't change this, so unless your motivation loves to learn and understand new topics the pills really wont help you get there.