ChristinWhite,
@ChristinWhite@lemmy.world avatar

Audiobooks have been a massive help to me, both for the information and often the distraction. Thing is, a lot ADHD people — from what I’ve experienced and other ADHD people I’ve talked to — don’t listen to books the way neurotypical people do either. In this case, it actually works in our favor.

When I listen to a book at a normal speed there’s just too much time between the words and ideas and my brain checks out with a million distracting thoughts. If I want to listen to a book and actually get some level of comprehension, I have to be playing it at 2.5–3x speed (depending on the narrator and subject matter). Doing that provides enough stimulation to keep me engaged in what I’m listening to.

It does take practice though, you have to start slow, 1.5 –2x speed and increment upward, people who hear something I’m listening to and say it doesn’t even sound like English. It also took some time to really adapt to paying attention, the first ten books or so I listened to two or three times back to back just to get it all but by the end of that I was good with most material. Drier informational non-fiction can sometimes still require a second listen but not usually.

Completely aside from that, having something I can flip on to keep my brain engaged when doing boring tasks like driving and cleaning also helps me keep up my motivation and minimize procrastination.

Your library probably has audiobooks through Libby or another app, I think it’s worth a try and others have told me the same thing. Try alternating some of the books mentioned above with fiction or something else that really interests you.

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