Militant Vigilance

In his forward for The Disorganized Mind, John J. Ratey, M.D. mentions that "militant vigilance" is necessary for ADHD sufferers to deal with their deficits. I can definitely attest to this, as it is the one area in which I am sorely lacking. The simplest tasks seem impossible because of my inability to maintain this vigilance.

For example, the other day I was involved in a discussion with other attorneys about ADHD. A very well-meaning person suggested that problems with missing court hearings and deadlines could be solved by using a PDA to record dates. Unfortunately, I knew from personal experience that having a PDA and calendaring software did not help me, because often I never made the proper entries in my calendar. I would be on the phone or opening mail, but I would be distracted and would not record the pertinent information at that moment. Yet if I did not write it down right away, the information would be lost and I would get a call from a judge a few weeks or months later asking where I was.

Something is missing, and it's not the tools. It's an awareness issue. Yet even that is insufficient to describe it, because sometimes I'm aware that I should write something down and yet I can't get myself to do it. This ties into something Nancy Ratey, the author, discusses in Chapter 7 on Impulsivity. People with ADHD often have an inability to learn from past mistakes. They lack a "working memory or judgment or a way to evaluate consequences...." Nancy mentions this in the context of ADHDers speaking without thinking, but I think it fits with my issues also. Of course, it seems counterintuitive to think of sitting and not doing something (like recording a phone call) as impulsivity, but the working definition by Ratey seems to fit.

Anyway, all thoughts on this subject are welcome.