Chapter 1: Understanding ADHD and Creativity

Maintaining focus when you have ADHD can often seem like an uphill battle. However, what your mind truly requires is rest and restorative sleep, rather than medication or caffeine.

During high school, my friend Diego (nhrn) and I were both brimming with imaginative thoughts that frequently landed us in trouble. While I labeled my impulses as "creativity," Diego identified his as "ADHD."

To be honest, I envied Diego’s diagnosis, as it granted him access to a steady stream of focus-enhancing pills (like Adderall). However, witnessing how the medication sapped his vibrancy, I was determined to navigate my chaotic mind without any substances.

Unfortunately, my brain was not keen on being "controlled," constantly shifting my attention from one task to another—especially when I had something cooking on the stove. For years, I flitted between various colleges, jobs, and productivity methods. Even after dedicating over 3,000 hours to intensely focus on creating my first book, "365 Comics," I still felt fragmented by ADHD, leaving me hopelessly disorganized.

Chapter 2: The Break-Nap-Sleep Strategy

For the last thirty-one years, my experiences with ADHD have alternated unpredictably between good and bad days. Recently, I've been developing a theory that seems to hold water: ADHD is essentially creativity that’s been deprived of a good night's sleep.

This is evident in the statistics I’ve tracked on Notion over the last thousand days.

The findings suggest that good sleep enhances creativity, while poor sleep leads to ADHD symptoms. Moreover, by incorporating intentional breaks and naps into my routine, my daily productivity score often exceeds 8/10. This approach has proven so effective that I’ve distilled it into a simple three-step process that I repeat as necessary throughout the day:

1. Break: When distractions start to creep in, I close my eyes and take thirty seconds to breathe deeply until I feel centered.
2. Nap: If I find myself stuck or frustrated, I lie down and allow my thoughts to drift until a solution presents itself.
3. Sleep: I disconnect from technology after 5 PM, settle into bed at sunset, and read something relaxing to wind down, ensuring I fall asleep peacefully and wake up refreshed the next day.

In essence, ADHD can be viewed as a struggle to transition from tiredness to productivity. You can’t move from point A to B without first reaching Zzz.

If you found this narrative engaging, you can discover more comics and video resources on Instagram @fthelines and on YouTube. Alternatively, subscribe to receive updates whenever I publish new articles. Thank you for reading! — Andrew