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Additional Posts in Lawyers with ADHD
Well this is new and fun.

Has anyone tried Modafinil for ADHD?
Nope, just over here taking years off of my life either stressing about not being able to work or putting my adrenal system into overdrive to meet a deadline that became a fire drill because I couldn’t get started earlier. Rinse and repeat.
This is where I’m at and I’m frustrated because I really want to improve my physical and mental health but I keep nuking myself.
I completely understand that. I feel like relying on the state of panic negatively impacted my health before I started to slow down. Sometimes, intentionally slowing down & reminding myself WHY I want to get something done (whether money, advancement, etc.) helps motivate me. I know it seems counterintuitive, but slowing way down seems to help me reset my brain and nervous system, personally. I know it can be different for everyone.
What specifically do you mean by “slow down”?
I’ve totally been there and I agree the fire drill—to-lull nature of the job makes us addicted to adrenaline and practically useless when there isn’t any urgency. Also, in terms of ADHD, non-urgent, non-interesting work that takes hours and hours to complete is arguably the hardest kind of task to motivate our brains to start. You need to hack your way through this one. I’ve tried a ton of different “hacks” and still struggle with this issue, but some days are better than others and some hacks do in fact help.
Many people find the pomodoro technique helpful (set a timer for 15 minutes, work during that time, and then take a 5 minute break when the 15 minutes ends). The hack is tricking your brain into just starting the task because working for 15 minutes is much more palatable than thinking about the entire 10 hours of work you need to do for the project. And because inertia creates momentum, usually that first 15 minute set gets the ball rolling into a good hyper focus session for a few hours.
If that doesn’t work for you, another hack I highly suggest is body doubling. You can either use a website like focusmate, or even better, if you have a co-worker friend that you trust, set times on your calendars to be on zoom or teams together and during that time you just work on your own projects. You don’t talk to each other during this time, you just work on your own thing. I love this hack because it’s actually amazing how focused I get when I can see someone else working right in front of me and my camera is on, so there is accountability on my end if I’m goofing off.
See if either of those help!
Pro
Look at fast paced, quick turnaround transactional work that might (might) have better work life balance in the future after you have accumulated some wealth where you are.
Yup. I didn’t know I had adhd when I fell into my practice area (business immigration). It’s super fast paced and always seems like there’s something urgent. And thank god it’s that way or it never would’ve sustained my interest and motivation.
I simply ensure i am constantly in a fire drill. But yes i very much relate. I am good at this where im bad at everything else that "requires discipline" because this alone seems to consistently demand hyperfocus.
Rising Star
Do the math of how much you need to make before you can consider other ventures. Student loans, house downpayment, decent cash nest egg.
Rising Star
@A2, that’s rough. The benefit of in-house isn’t just WLB, it’s the equity comp. Cash goes out quick, but RSU’s silently grow. That’s realistically the only way to buy in a VHCOL today unless you’re bringing in 7 figure comp
Totally relate on the panic/fear-based motivation. It’s draining !
Pro
I was terrible at plaintiff’s and defendant’s civil personal injury litigation that could drag on for years.
Much of what I do now is long-term care Medicaid applications, which moves very quickly. It is much better for me since by the time I am bored with that matter it is over. That being said, I meet with clients in the evenings and weekends often. But, that is at my choice because I am much more likely to have their undivided attention then.
I know what you mean. Left BigLaw and almost miss the adrenaline! I keep myself challenged with interesting side jobs when I have time, but like having my much less stressful FT role to fall back on.