But here's something that you can do, and you can start in the next 10 minutes:



Focus on two doors, if you work at home--your front door and your office door. I mean that literally, like a door with hinges.

First is your front door. Train your friends not to stop by and not to call, at least not during the day. It may take a while, but eventually, they catch on. But even when they know the program, they will still come by occasionally. When you're doing something that requires your ADD hyperfocus, put a note on the outside door that says, “To all friends: Do not come in. I am working on a project and cannot be distracted. Call me and leave a voicemail because I will not pick up my phone.” Simple?

"But what if there's an emergency?" you may ask. Well, if that's the case, they'll come in anyway, don't worry. When you have an office at home, the fact is that people know you're there, so they want to stop in or call because it's on their minds. That can be quite enticing for someone with ADD, so you have to get non-ADD people to understand. Post the note.

You won't need a note on your front door, if there's someone around or someone else at home that can act as your buffer. But if there's no one else around, put a second note on the door to your office. This note is for anyone who ignored your note on the front door and came into the house anyway. It's also for anyone in the house who might forget that you're in the middle of working on something. So put a note on your office door, too

People who know you have ADD will understand that you're doing this to accomplish things. It seems a little rude at first, but it is one of the most powerful methods of controlling your time, and people don't mind, after you explain to them why you're doing what you're doing. That's tremendously powerful.

But a lot of people feel guilty about closing their doors. Or, they'll say, “Oh gee, maybe I'm going to miss something.” That can work in two ways. Your ADD can make you so distracted that you're afraid you're going to miss something or you can realize that measures to control your time provide the kind of support that you need to get something done faster, so that you can get back out there more quickly to see what's going on.

The main idea is to control your time, which is crucial for those of us who have ADD. We have to control the distractions that can be controlled and work with the others. If you need to focus and don't have a particular project that you're working on, if you're just brainstorming ideas or in the initial phase of just setting something up, you still need to block out time when no one can distract you. With ADD, you have plenty of distractions without other people adding to the situation. That's why hyperfocus is so important to ADD people and why controlling who can distract you and when is vital to your success.