Getting diagnosed is somewhere on my "maybe to do" list but I'm not sure it's even worth to try.
I’d 100% recommend you go for a check. For me, the main outcome has been getting rid of the nagging feeling that my potential is wasted in making up for shortcomings.
Now it’s no longer “I am bright and curious, and this compensates my {lack of consistency, periods of “writers block”, reduced attention to detail}”. It’s hard to explain without direct experience how cleanly those problems you’ve been trying to white knuckle all your life just… stop. It’s not a personality change, it’s much closer to allergy meds letting you breathe, the bad symptom goes away.
The only con is that once you get the meds there’s work to be done. The productivity tips and books you’ve likely heard all your life and were unusable now can actually be put to practice… but you haven’t done it yet.
So it’s like you stop being bedridden but if you want to be fit you still have to go the gym. It’s just that now going to the gym is a task you can realistically approach, and that in itself is a game changer.
I spent decades hoping for the ability to invoke those bursts. Days of unexplainable block until a deadline was really close, so the anxiety spike could trigger a few hours of focus. I then did the work of a week in an evening/night, and back to square one.
It REALLY wasn't fun continuously worrying that people will think I'm slacking off while an invisible barrier kept me from working.
E.g. doing a rough structure and hen it feeds my brain in the background, helps when the burst comes :)
It's not that much the deadlines for me though, really just need to have good days where I suddenly lock in.
Also helpful: boring "entertainment". Stops me from browsing twitter, boring enough to peel myself away from very easily again. E.g. twitch streams or sitting outside.
>I'm alread doing the work, just more often in a deadline panic mode.
Yup, that's the right mindset. Figuring out proper time management as an adult is non-ideal, but it is a _much_ better problem to have than working always in a panicky rush or not at all.