I completely agree with every single point in this article and moreover are actively working, doing the actions suggested and to the extent I do the practices and habits suggested … they work.

My age is 66 and I was told throughout the 60s and 70s, “oh, the testing and SATs say you are in the top 1% to 2% of intelligence (I’m not exotically smart, AND, trust me, there is a pretty long list of characteristics I would wish for my grandchildren over IQ — just trust me on it) … and you are underperforming because you are not applying yourself.” I was told that I was undisciplined and immature (which I think is true).

I got my degree in business and had a successful career. When ADD diagnosis began appearing in 1980s (that’s when I noticed them) … I thought, “oh, I have these symptoms”. So, I asked family and friends, “is this how you experience me?”. Resounding, “dah, YES”.

A few years ago I brought this up to my GP MD at annual physical and he said, “you’ve made it this far, I don’t see any need to medicate something you’ve learned to cope with” and I accepted that diagnosis and opinion.

That said, like college kids using ADD meds as speed to study for exams, if I came across 1/2 dozen low dosage ADD meds (I don’t know how that would happen) … against what I am sure would be the consensus of medical, neurological and biologists … I am going to self experiment (following prescription no abuse) to see for 2–3 days what chemical solution feels like. I wrote this response to see my own self examination words — I guess I have a “libertarian” streak that questions how tightly our culture is “conformist” even down to an old man (totally beneficiary of white male privilege).

Let me change my words. I more than question how much culture does conformist boundary definition. My guess is that the human population of this planet is subliminally conformed to culture beyond our wildest imagination. My guess is even our sociopaths are more conformist than would be assumptive — after all they even learn to manipulate, operate.

In conclusion I have a technique to add to the list in this article. Try gardening. Do all the suggestions above repetitively to the soil, water and plants in a caring way day after day. Talk to the soil, water and plants and love them. As someone who I think is moderately ADD if one is capable of gardening my antidotal evidence is that can be helpful. My gardens so far have suffered neglect abuse but I am determined to progress — it’s good for me and the plants and creatures. Better for me than the earth, but the earth is more loving than I am capable of.