Written by Holley Hillis Beauchamp, PMHNP-BC
You have an email you've been meaning to answer for three days. It isn't particularly complicated, and realistically, responding would probably take less than five minutes. You know it needs to be done, you've reminded yourself repeatedly, and at this point, the amount of time you've spent thinking about answering it is considerably longer than it would take to actually write the response.
Meanwhile, you somehow spent four hours researching a new hobby last night. You compared products, watched tutorials, read reviews, and developed a fairly detailed understanding of something you knew almost nothing about earlier that afternoon. You may have even created a spreadsheet. You were focused, motivated, and completely absorbed in what you were doing.
So why can you concentrate for hours on something that interests you but struggle to start a task that genuinely needs your attention?
For women with ADHD, this inconsistency can be one of the most frustrating and misunderstood aspects of the condition. It's also one of the reasons ADHD can go unrecognized for years. After all, if you can focus intensely when something interests you, doesn't that mean you should be able to focus when something is important?
Not necessarily. ADHD isn't simply an inability to pay attention. It's a condition that affects how attention, motivation, and executive functioning are regulated.
And sometimes, the difference between being completely absorbed in something and being unable to get started has very little to do with how much you care about the outcome.
ADHD Isn't Always a Lack of Attention
When people imagine ADHD, they often picture someone who is easily distracted, constantly moving, or unable to concentrate for very long. While distractibility and difficulties sustaining attention are co