I LOVE to learn. I always have, but hated school and never got excellent grades. I read science-type magazines, travel/world culture mags, research random topics that catch my interest, try new things, go new places, just to learn about new things!
Other people I know don't seem to be interested in things like I do. They only seem to want to do what their friends are doing or what they are used to doing, and are absolutely not interested in learning about new things just for the heck of it. They have their focus (for example camping and hiking is big in this area and that might be someone's main hobby) I do not have a main focus that I have ALWAYS enjoyed doing or that I specialize in (except marketing which does not count :P)

I know it's probably good to want to learn and try new things but I feel like a weirdo, because what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied), and I don't seem to have much in common with others. PLUS on top of this it seems like the only people who are like this are men! I have never met a girl like this!
Anyone else know what i'm talking about?

oh yes...

.....I can almost do alot of things.

Alexandria

Oh yeah, we are neighbors to a point, I live in NC also, north of Charlotte

No you are not weird. I think there are many more people just like us. Hmmmmmm. Maybe a good bit of the people on Jeopardy are ADD. Anyway, I have always liked to read and learn things. Sometimes they are insignificant I will probably ever use that knowledge.

I too can become obsessed with a new hobby or something I need to learn. I've taught myself many things, database programming and writing programs before every thing is WYSIWYG.

There is nothing around the house I don't think I can't do, heck I've about remodeled it. I can do Electrical, plumbing, some framing, sheet rock and recently taught myself to do tile. Reminds me, I watch a lot of HGTV and things like This Old House.

I also can relate to the hyper-focus you call it obsession of different things. I have done it with golf, fishing, rebuilding a car. All this was before I knew I had ADD and needless to say it was a strain on my marriage, so if you are married try not to let the obsession change how you interact with your family.

Of course because of all these things I can do, I for now would really like to be a contractor and possibly build houses and my dream would be to create a housing community designed for families and kids where hopefully they could be kids like when I grew up in a simpler time. I have signed up for a class on obtaining my residential license.

So, yes we are similar in many ways and you never know when something you learned that you consider trivial will come in handy.

Sorry for the book, but keep on learning. Oh yeah, I am starting to think I know more about adult ADHD than my therapist

Absolutely.

I think I'm pretty much the same. Learned many things, switched from one to another: climbing, music, technology, gardening, photography ...

"what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied)".

I've exactly the same approach and feel about things ...

what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied)

That is totally me! I'm a trivia fanatic and obsess on whatever it is I want to learn about at the moment until I get bored and move on. If I'm researching something online; I don't rest! I obsess over every article I can find.

I LOVE to learn. I always have, but hated school and never got excellent grades. I read science-type magazines, travel/world culture mags, research random topics that catch my interest, try new things, go new places, just to learn about new things!
Other people I know don't seem to be interested in things like I do. They only seem to want to do what their friends are doing or what they are used to doing, and are absolutely not interested in learning about new things just for the heck of it. They have their focus (for example camping and hiking is big in this area and that might be someone's main hobby) I do not have a main focus that I have ALWAYS enjoyed doing or that I specialize in (except marketing which does not count :P)

I know it's probably good to want to learn and try new things but I feel like a weirdo, because what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied), and I don't seem to have much in common with others. PLUS on top of this it seems like the only people who are like this are men! I have never met a girl like this!
Anyone else know what i'm talking about?

Sounds like me

Absolutely.

I think I'm pretty much the same. Learned many things, switched from one to another: climbing, music, technology, gardening, photography ...

"what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied)".

I've exactly the same approach and feel about things ...

exactly. I know *almost everything there is to know, on almost every topic. I simply love learning. It's almost like my brain craves learning. Once I've gotten all I can out of something, I'm onto the next idea. Drives my husband bonkers.

What drives me bonkers is arguing with someone that does NOT know about something especially after I'd spent HOURS researching.

You are right. And what's incdredible is that, if somebody LOVES learning things the way we do, then he/she is categorized as "attention deficit disordered". How can we possibly learn things so fast, if we are not paying some kind of attention?

I think that ADHD is not the right term for this dirsorder: in fact, I think it is more like a "differently focused" attention, or something like that, not just plain inattention.

I like the way you phrased that Carlos...:)
Too bad no one sees the good in that outside of ourselves....<sigh>

Same here; I have expertise in informational programming and complex mathematics but have gained specialties in dozens of other fields; just off the top of my head, over the years I've learned a great deal in:
Astrophysics,
nuclear physics,
quantum physics,
quantum mechanics,
classical mechanics,
computer programming,
government,
politics,
biochemistry,
pharmacokinetics,
chaotics (chaos mathematics),
history (as it applies to politics and government),
juris prudence (American juris prudence),
digital art design,
(... etc etc etc)
And, I have a lot of skill in writing fictional and nonfictional literature, as well as public speaking. Of course, I only focus on those things for a brief time before I move on to something more interesting (or distracting). ADD, I think, is a double edged sword; it is dabilitating for me because it greatly obstructs my ability to function in areas with alot of stimuli (like lively offices or positions of management with alot of chaos). But, at the same time, mainly due to the condition, I can absorb (and, more importantly, apply) information more quickly than anyone I've ever met.
Of course, at the end of the day, what counts is how we feel about ourselves.
How do you feel?

-- Allen

...
Too bad no one sees the good in that outside of ourselves....<sigh>

I do. And I'm not the only one.

I just thought of another example...I don't know who all has social networking site (myspace facebook) but on the part where you enter you interests, I have to edit mine every few months and I NEVER see people change theirs! I'm sure all my contacts think i'm crazy or something...

I'll join this club, I'll fit in well.

most definitely

... if I had actually finished learning all of the languages that I started to learn.... then maybe I could be the uncontested ruler of the world right now... *sigh*

(mwa ha)

Location: Pluto - The 9th Planet

Did you know every few years Pluto is actually the 8th satellite to sol while Neptune becomes farther? Fascinating... I learned that when I was about 6 years old and none of my friends cared... :( actually the ADDults didn't care either.

Most definitely. There isn't anything I can't do... once... and as long as it doesn't take too much time.

Did you know every few years Pluto is actually the 8th satellite to sol while Neptune becomes farther? Fascinating... I learned that when I was about 6 years old and none of my friends cared... :( actually the ADDults didn't care either.

I think it's interesting! I would probably start talking with about that if i knew you and you brought that up! Then again i'm a weirdo...lol

Did you know every few years Pluto is actually the 8th satellite to sol while Neptune becomes farther? Fascinating... I learned that when I was about 6 years old and none of my friends cared... :( actually the ADDults didn't care either.

Yeah, I think that I had heard that before. It's been awhile though, and I forgot about it. :)


Of course, since pluto's *not a planet* anymore, I guess it doesn't matter. :( :(

Methinks that there were some scandals involving the Neptune lobby....

I know what you're talking about completely. Drives my wife absolutely crazy.

Mincan,

I DID know that about Pluto, and its weird angle to the plane in which all the other planets are revolving around the sun.... And then the thing that I think is SO COOL is that Uranus is actually rolliing along, not spinning along (as in, it's got one pole always in daylight and one always in darkness.... The theory, as I recall, is that something came along and disrupted Uranus, causing one of its moons (Pluto) to fly off, which helps to explain why Pluto is so different in its chemical makeup and so much smaller than the surrounding planets.

Yes, I'm a complete hyperfocuser, just careening from one new interest to the next. My aesthetician (ok, for the guys' sake, the woman who :rolleyes::o waxes my eyebrows....) has ADD. She describes herself as "never bored." Yup, that's me, too.

Sandy

naturechick, I think I love you. I'm getting married soon, but I'm sure she'll understand. :D

Oh just kidding. You just described me perfectly. I just go from one thing to the next, but learn so much about it so quickly. However, never enough to be considered an expert. Then I get bored and move to something else. I'll even come back to the one thing, but never stick with it. I always get bored.

I have always been very envious of people who have their "thing". They love doing it and they are great at it. It is a part of their identity. I've always wanted that, but never came close to achieving it. I have fears of always being a jack of all trades. Someday I really want to just be good at SOMETHING!

It has actually affected my life greatly (not going to get into it, my novel is in the new member area). It's not just small interests or hobbies, but careers, goals, schooling, etc. I seem to get too far into something before I get bored. I almost wish I'd grow tired of whatever it is at the time much sooner. Then I wouldn't lose all of the time and money, and it would be far less mentally destructive.

Jumpin' Jack Flash it's a gas gas gas ... !

It is scarey just how much alike we all are, like i could have written anyone of these posts. Even though i am 42 and just in the process of being diagnosed as i write this , it is amazing how i have managed learn to live with my brain and its limitations. Take the boredom problem for example, after much trial and error 3 unfinished degrees and small fashion business, i settled on renovating property. Each job is more challenging than the last, now i can do most trades and i am starting to build and develop as well as just renovating. I find as a woman a big challenge of mine is with relationships. Men often get threatened by my massive capabilities and i often find i have to hold myself back to protect their egos. I also get bored with people very easily, its like as soon as i have "worked them out" i just turn off. The friends i do have are into similar things where something different is always happening. I get annoyed by small things, like when i go out to eat with my b/f and he insists on ordering the same thing all the time. In fact i have virtually no habitual routines, which makes live at times very inefficient and housework impossible. I can relate to the too much stimulus part of a previous post, if i have too much on the go, nothing gets done at all, i spend all day running between 10 different tasks never finishing anything. I think my inattention is getting worse which is why i am going down the Dx path, hopefully medication will help me settle and focus so i can live the rest of my live with a bit less struggle. I also cant emphasis enough how much this site had added to my awareness, and helped me to stop giving myself such a hard time.
There is hope out there, even if it has taken me 42 years to get to this point. For me fully understanding what i am dealing with means i can live the rest of my life accepting who i am. And for those that don't accept me, well too bad really, as far as im concerned its their loss!!

peace to all,
RABBIT

Did you know every few years Pluto is actually the 8th satellite to sol while Neptune becomes farther? Fascinating... I learned that when I was about 6 years old and none of my friends cared... :( actually the ADDults didn't care either.

Another apparently weird thing is that, due to the slight flattening of the Earth, the water of the Mississippi river springs is actually closer to the center of the planet, with respect to the water of the river mouth. That is, the water goes away form the center of gravity.

I know why's that, but nevertheless it does look weird ...

Another apparently weird thing is that, due to the slight flattening of the Earth, the water of the Mississippi river springs is actually closer to the center of the planet, with respect to the water of the river mouth. That is, the water goes away form the center of gravity.

I know why's that, but nevertheless it does look weird ...

*adds this to list of things to learn......

I LOVE to learn. I always have, but hated school and never got excellent grades. I read science-type magazines, travel/world culture mags, research random topics that catch my interest, try new things, go new places, just to learn about new things!
Other people I know don't seem to be interested in things like I do. They only seem to want to do what their friends are doing or what they are used to doing, and are absolutely not interested in learning about new things just for the heck of it. They have their focus (for example camping and hiking is big in this area and that might be someone's main hobby) I do not have a main focus that I have ALWAYS enjoyed doing or that I specialize in (except marketing which does not count :P)

I know it's probably good to want to learn and try new things but I feel like a weirdo, because what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied), and I don't seem to have much in common with others. PLUS on top of this it seems like the only people who are like this are men! I have never met a girl like this!
Anyone else know what i'm talking about?
Hey, thanks for verbalising something I also feel. :)

This sounds like me too, sort of. I love learning new things, and once I've learned enough for me, I get tired of it. I may not learn things thoroughly, but I know bits and pieces about a lot of things. Really useless information too, but it sticks in my head.

This is why I've never had a real career, by the time I know something well enough to actually work at it, I'm bored.

I watch Dirty Jobs and think, that would be cool, going around learning all different kinds of work.

My current focus is reading, and I'll get into a series and have to read all the books in that series. And if it's historical fiction, I have to research the history. My "to read" list is loooong.

I have had so many jobs almost all of them considered the, "she can do so much better". Most have been not traditionally womens jobs but I'm not tom boyish (wear makeup everyday, love shoes, love fashion). I have done probably 30 different jobs always looking over the fence as the grass is greener. I currently help bf w/ his buiseness sometimes, sale on Ebay, and petsit. I wish I would apply myself more in the Ebay thing because I really need to make more money with new expenses I have now. With Pdoc, meds, hypnotherapy, and adding on a pschologiist soon.

i settled on renovating property. Each job is more challenging than the last, now i can do most trades and i am starting to build and develop as well as just renovating.

Figures you would be on the other end of the world, as thats what I would really like to do. :( Hmmmmm maybe I could move there and get a job on the how to TV station. It seems more and more Aussies are up here doing home improvement shows. Maybe my southern accent would be a novelty in OZ :)

Jack of all trades? OOOOHHHHHH YYYYYAAAAAA!!!!! That's me! In my line of work (Maintenance Manager) being a JOAT is a way of life. Electrical controls, electronics, computers, motors, gearboxes, air conditioning, heating, welding, properties of metals & other materials, etc. etc. etc.

The problem I run into is the run of the mill daily stuff. Forms, reports, and such. BORING!!! Also on larger projects, when it starts I'm all excited about the new mission, then once the exciting stuff is over with, I loose interest, and it is such a chore to finish the little final details. The only thing that keeps me from screwing my self out of a job is the fact the the guys that work for me know how I am, and they wrap up the little stuff for me.

I LOVE to learn. I always have, but hated school and never got excellent grades. I read science-type magazines, travel/world culture mags, research random topics that catch my interest, try new things, go new places, just to learn about new things!
Other people I know don't seem to be interested in things like I do. They only seem to want to do what their friends are doing or what they are used to doing, and are absolutely not interested in learning about new things just for the heck of it. They have their focus (for example camping and hiking is big in this area and that might be someone's main hobby) I do not have a main focus that I have ALWAYS enjoyed doing or that I specialize in (except marketing which does not count :P)

I know it's probably good to want to learn and try new things but I feel like a weirdo, because what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied), and I don't seem to have much in common with others. PLUS on top of this it seems like the only people who are like this are men! I have never met a girl like this!
Anyone else know what i'm talking about?

Hello me! LOL! I know just what you mean...(especially the girl part..girls tend not to like me or grt my humor? One time I was a receptionist and my supervisor was a woman. She purposfully gave me this thing to type up in Word (keep in mind this was easily 12 years ago) knowing I didn't know much about the editing and stuff. She gave it back to me 5 times with red all over it wanting to add tables and graphs etc...Then...I Rogued....On my way home I bought Word for Dummies read it cover to cover as I sat in front of the computer. I the look on her face the next time she gave me someting to type up....ahhhh priceless....Couple weeks later she "demoted" (from reception, I know, right?:rolleyes:) because I joked and talked to much to the callers!!!

In high school I wanted to take Auto shop..I have a freakish understanding for hoe things work..but my DAD wouldn't let me!!! (whole other issue :))

I never made it to college because I couldn't decide what I wanted to be!! I still can't! It's so frustrating..because I know I'm smart about some stuff..but so clueless to social crap.

So now....the only thing I am noticably good at (I mean noticable by others) Is Pop Culture Trivia!!!:mad: I will consider myself successful when someone uses me as their Dial-a-Friend on one of the tv shows!:)

So yes, I would like to join this club. :p

I suppose I actually am a Jack of a few trades... I worked for a year as a stonemason's apprentice (ruined by back and knees for life! awesome!), I installed all types of flooring for another year (hardwood, ceramic tile (did stone tile as a stonemason) carpet, VC tile, vinyl, etc, probably the stupidest thing to do when you just ruined your knees and back, but then we don't learn lessons very well do we!! ARGH!), and then for a summer I learned how to do drywall/repair drywall, that undercoat of paint, what's it called? oh yeah primer... not very good at painting... I also learned how to do trim and baseboard installation. oh I also worked part time over the years with a cabinetmaker... and helped him install in big office buildings in "Turono" [Toronto]. I also know how to do farm ****, as I lived on a farm for about 6 years... drive tractors and attach machinery and shizza like that... hmm what else... oh yea .. oops went back and forgot oh yea... sorry.

BTW the REAL phrase goes:
"Jack of all trades, master of none, but sometimes better then master of one."
It was originally supposed to be a compliment according to wikipedia! :P
There goes that learning again...

So now....the only thing I am noticably good at (I mean noticable by others) Is Pop Culture Trivia!!!

Ahahaha. Me too! My husband and friend think it's ridiculous that I can answer almost every question on "Cash Cab" lol.

The first time I heard this phrase, it was

1) being leveled at me
2) by my high school music teacher (read: my exalted god)
3) in 1981

and it has stayed with me ever since. And he was right.

I LOVE to learn. I always have, but hated school and never got excellent grades. I read science-type magazines, travel/world culture mags, research random topics that catch my interest, try new things, go new places, just to learn about new things!
Other people I know don't seem to be interested in things like I do. They only seem to want to do what their friends are doing or what they are used to doing, and are absolutely not interested in learning about new things just for the heck of it. They have their focus (for example camping and hiking is big in this area and that might be someone's main hobby) I do not have a main focus that I have ALWAYS enjoyed doing or that I specialize in (except marketing which does not count :P)

I know it's probably good to want to learn and try new things but I feel like a weirdo, because what I am interested in changes after i've gained most of the knowledge about a certain thing (which is very quickly because I obsess on the topic until I am satisfied), and I don't seem to have much in common with others. PLUS on top of this it seems like the only people who are like this are men! I have never met a girl like this!
Anyone else know what i'm talking about?

this definitely describes me as well!

Yeah, I definitely feel like the proverbial jack-of-all-trades. I flailed about in the IT industry for several years, doing tech support, network administration, systems integration, mentoring, and programming. Never stayed in one position for much more than a year (or less). Being a generalist in that industry is a big disadvantage, as heavily-focused specialists are in demand (and paid well). I spent 10 years stuck at a junior/intermediate level in everything that I was doing.

What I have observed over my life is that when I get interested in something new, I get pretty into it for a while, but I start to lose interest once I feel that I've firmly grasped the basics and can perform tasks competently. Sort of a point of diminishing returns, I suppose.

Once I understand the basics and see the patterns and how they relate, I don't feel like I need to learn much more about it until I actually need to use it, in which case I can look it up or ask a few questions. For me, the challenge and interest are in acquiring a new skill or fundamental knowledge of a field; mastery usually just seems like a matter of spending a lot of time doing the same thing or minor variations of it, and that bores me to tears. Some call it "persistence" or "dedication" but more often than not it just seems like mind-numbing, tedious drudgery to me.

So yeah, I'm a jack-of-all-trades by nature because my brain just tends to start shutting down when I am unconsciously aware that I've reached the point where further gains require a greater investment of time and energy than those gains warrant. Not sure exactly how I sense or determine when the effort outweighs the gains, but it happens with almost everything. There are a few things that I am interested in where this doesn't happen, but they're generally not things that I can make a living doing.

However, I have finally landed a job where breadth of interests and experiences is as important as depth, and that meshes with my interests and hobbies:

Video game designer.

Yeah, I definitely feel like the proverbial jack-of-all-trades. I flailed about in the IT industry for several years, doing tech support, network administration, systems integration, mentoring, and programming. Never stayed in one position for much more than a year (or less). Being a generalist in that industry is a big disadvantage, as heavily-focused specialists are in demand (and paid well). I spent 10 years stuck at a junior/intermediate level in everything that I was doing.

What I have observed over my life is that when I get interested in something new, I get pretty into it for a while, but I start to lose interest once I feel that I've firmly grasped the basics and can perform tasks competently. Sort of a point of diminishing returns, I suppose.

Once I understand the basics and see the patterns and how they relate, I don't feel like I need to learn much more about it until I actually need to use it, in which case I can look it up or ask a few questions. For me, the challenge and interest are in acquiring a new skill or fundamental knowledge of a field; mastery usually just seems like a matter of spending a lot of time doing the same thing or minor variations of it, and that bores me to tears. Some call it "persistence" or "dedication" but more often than not it just seems like mind-numbing, tedious drudgery to me.

So yeah, I'm a jack-of-all-trades by nature because my brain just tends to start shutting down when I am unconsciously aware that I've reached the point where further gains require a greater investment of time and energy than those gains warrant. Not sure exactly how I sense or determine when the effort outweighs the gains, but it happens with almost everything. There are a few things that I am interested in where this doesn't happen, but they're generally not things that I can make a living doing.

However, I have finally landed a job where breadth of interests and experiences is as important as depth, and that meshes with my interests and hobbies:

Video game designer.

Very well described. I experience pretty much the same feelings.

I think the problem is the ratio between effort and rewardness, associated to what kind of reward is perceived as the best one.

For my experience, it seems that material payoff (e.g. money) is percevied as less rewarding than the pleasure of discovering things, or being able to understand or do what some people do, or being congratulated by someone.

I find that this thread describes me well. Bugs my wife, she thinks I'm competing. I just tend to learn to do things that interest me. I've held numerous jobs over the years although I'm stable in my employment. I work a part time job as a job coach for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. This position tends to increase my "jack of all trades" status.

I LOVE to learn. I always have, but hated school and never got excellent grades. I read science-type magazines, travel/world culture mags, research random topics that catch my interest, try new things, go new places, just to learn about new things!
Anyone else know what i'm talking about?

Im the same. I will read almost anything and love learning new things. I lack the focus to stay with only one thing which is why I dropped out of grad school..

I can understand what your saying about being a "jack of all trades" from my individual subjective perspective. Coincidentally, it is the very topic I had been re-visiting today. It has been an underlying theme of my psyche for most of my life. At this stage of my calling I actively pursue this behavior and no longer dispense much energy to appease fanciful social norms.

Time has a way of cultivating performance and my actions in general are befittingly natural now. My closest approach to achieving nirvana is when I can become engulfed in nature. The face of God is perfect. When I am hiking with my dogs or can catch a ride out to the sea I am at ease and life flows. I can move without worry or guilt mystified at the faultless placement of every element. I think my quest for knowledge and skill are just a mans attempted to impose this upon the society I compete in to survive.

Anyhow, that's my drift! Aloha!

Does anyone else find that they agree with an initial post in a thread, but then about 5 messages in they become bored with the thread, want to post that they are the same way and provide some insight or new information, but don't want to read through all of the posts?

I am very much like this Alex. I am interested in very, very diverse topics and switch around all the time.

One new point - I heard someone describe ADHD not as "A deficit of attention" but as "A deficit of attention regulation."

I thought that fit a lot more.

B

This is soooo totally me. I am ALWAYS trying to learn things... at work especially. I have a fetish for it it seems. The problem is as soon as I learn something I forget it. Sigh!

I can do soooo many things.... apart from fitting in and making money!

kilt

exactly. I know *almost everything there is to know, on almost every topic. I simply love learning. It's almost like my brain craves learning. Once I've gotten all I can out of something, I'm onto the next idea. Drives my husband bonkers.

What drives me bonkers is arguing with someone that does NOT know about something especially after I'd spent HOURS researching.

That'll be me. My family calls me "Lele'rousse" because I know pretty much a bit of everything. :D

I say that I'm awsome at theories. LOL

Yep! jack of all but master at none. Often times, I just don't know how to apply it.

You are right. And what's incdredible is that, if somebody LOVES learning things the way we do, then he/she is categorized as "attention deficit disordered". How can we possibly learn things so fast, if we are not paying some kind of attention?

I think that ADHD is not the right term for this dirsorder: in fact, I think it is more like a "differently focused" attention, or something like that, not just plain inattention.

Excellent! I'm going to steal that. Thats exactly how I feel but I've never put it into actual words.

Does anyone else find that they agree with an initial post in a thread, but then about 5 messages in they become bored with the thread, want to post that they are the same way and provide some insight or new information, but don't want to read through all of the posts?

I am very much like this Alex. I am interested in very, very diverse topics and switch around all the time.

One new point - I heard someone describe ADHD not as "A deficit of attention" but as "A deficit of attention regulation."

I thought that fit a lot more.

B

I like this too. "A deficit of attention regulation" The problem is I'll never remember it when I need to use it.