What do you do when you struggle to engage? In this episode of Rhythms of Focus, we explore how wandering minds-especially those with ADHD-can find a gentler, more sustainable path to meaningful productivity.

We'll explore a "Visit" as a unit of work, a simple, agency-enhancing practice that transforms focus from a battle into a series of mindful, approachable steps.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

- Why honoring your mind’s natural rhythms can unlock creativity and reduce overwhelm

- How the “visit” approach helps you engage with work through curiosity, not force

- Practical ways to build momentum and agency-one gentle step at a time

Key takeaways:

- Try a “visit”: Show up for a task, even for just a deep breath, and decide your next step from there

- Use rhythm, not rigidity: Let daily, mindful visits build sustainable progress

Plus, enjoy a piano performance of Beethoven's Sonata number 14, second movement, a result of a series of visits.

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Links

• Waves of Focus: Guiding the Wandering Mind

Keywords

#ADHD #WanderingMinds #MindfulProductivity #Agency #GentleFocus #CreativeMomentum #VisitMethod #Neurodiversity #RhythmOverRigidity #SelfCompassion

Transcript

Is a wandering mind really about a lack of discipline? What if it's instead more about being deeply attuned to the present moment, experiencing The Now with vivid intensity? When we see it that way, we might be more inclined to honor our mind's, natural rhythms rather than fight them. We might then be able to connect with a kinder, more effective approach to guiding our focus.

One tool that I suggest in helping to do this is called a Visit.

The Now and the Not Now

Today's episode begins with a common joke in the ADHD community. It goes something like this. There are only two forms of time, the Now and the Not Now. That's the joke. I do think it's funny. This exists and everything else doesn't.

But this insight, captures really the deepest truth of the issue at hand.

This is the source of the river, the beginning of the story for many wandering minds. We have this magnified view of the present moment, the Now vivid, urgent, demanding attention. Meanwhile, this Not Now, whether it's next week's deadline or tomorrow's grocery list or something that's off in the past, these can feel mythical.

Magnified Awareness

Imagine looking through a magnifying lens. At its center, everything is vivid and detailed, but then the edges blur into this obscurity. This magnified mind works similarly, not in space though, but in awareness. We amplify the Now, making it rich and intense. While the Not Now --future plans, past commitments, meanings outside of our current awareness-- these fade into this distant haze.

This heightened focus can be both a gift and a challenge. On the one hand, it allows for deep engagement and creativity. While on the other, it can make navigating daily life feel overwhelming. Imagine walking around with magnifying lenses over your eyes all day.

This magnified awareness can be the centerpiece of a wandering mind's beauties and troubles.

There are many ways that a magnified awareness can lead to so much of what we see, and I'm sure I'll get into several of these in future episodes. For the moment though, I'd like to highlight that our emotions themselves are huge. The emotions of worry of, "I don't wanna" of, "I'd really rather do that"- all of them in this massive size- become consuming.

They become our worlds. The feeling of working against them, such as when some important task is projecting dread, or even the difficulty of transition from one state to another, from one work to another, from the couch to somewhere else. We're often faced with that internal sense that says,

"No."

Introducing a "Visit" as a Unit of Work

As I mentioned in the introduction, there is this particular tool that I find to be powerfully helpful, a wonderful ally for a wandering mind to deal with this magnified world.

It helps in managing procrastination and the difficulty of engaging in as well as finding play and a sense of agency and much more.

It brings a gentler approach to focus. Rather than forcing yourself into action, we're looking for some way to be deliberate, but at the same time flexible.

This unit of work is called a Visit.

Now, what do I mean by a visit? Well, a visit is this.

First, choose some focus, something you want to engage with, whatever it is. It could be something fun, or it could be something you're dreading or anything in between. An example could be playing a game it could be dealing with taxes. Whatever it is that you decide.

Second, be with that focus. Either go to it or bring it to you.

Third, not at all necessary but preferable is to set distractions aside.

Fourth, stay for at least one deep breath of time. That's it. One deep breath.

What you've done is brought yourself to the Edge of Action. You're not forcing yourself, you're not making yourself do anything beyond being there for that single deep breath. At this Edge of Action, you can take a step forward as easily as you can take a step back.

It's no longer about you getting there. It's about you deciding for yourself. Is this a good idea at this moment or not? Weighing whatever emotional world you have in you and around you.

Now, fifth, optionally, you can nudge it forward, you can take that small step if it feels like something you'd like to do. You can take another step and even get into a flow and keep going for as long as makes sense to you. Or

Sixth vitally. You can leave at any time, including after that single deep breath, having done absolutely nothing.

Lastly, seventh, if the work is not done, consider if you'd like to make another visit sometime. And if so, would it be useful to schedule that? It's often useful to do this with some daily pace, and the seventh one takes care of itself that way.

At this point, mark it complete. You've made the visit whether you did anything beyond that deep breath or not.

Again, a Visit can be as short as one single deep breath, or it can extend into deeper work. It's entirely up to you. The key is to be there to fully engage that present sense of agency where you can make a decision for yourself in that moment.

Benefits of a Visit

Doing this might seem odd. What do you get out of it? Especially if you wind up doing nothing?

In directly exposing yourself to the emotions of the work where it can start bubbling up in mind, maybe between visits or just in the moment. Primarily what a visit does is that it heightens your sense of agency. This central concept of agency is about how do you help support yourself, make your own decisions in the moments that make sense to you.

In this way, visits become powerful. They help you gain that curiosity and kindness because they come from a place where you can decide for yourself if this makes sense to you or not, even in difficult conditions. And this is how visits align with how a wandering mind naturally operates.

They can help us to organize our work in ways that honor our unique rhythms, where we are in the moment. They transform overwhelming tasks into approachable moments as they become their own units of work, things that we can manage and orchestrate throughout our days.

When engaged regularly and in a rhythm, for example, daily, we can start leveraging this powerful wave of momentum that we can ride and carry ourselves on. With practice, you can even release your dependency on deadlines.

Instead of battling against our minds tendencies, visits help us work with them, turning this magnified awareness into an ally rather than an obstacle.

Certainly there's more to be said about this. How do you start things? How do you end things? How do you stay with things? How do you arrange the day? And much, much more. But this is a good place to start. Clients and students of mine who have given this a try, especially a daily try, often come away, noting how surprisingly engaging and useful a visit can be.

Take Away and a PDF

As a takeaway, maybe consider some piece of work that you have in your world, whether you dread it or you like it, whatever makes sense to you. What if you tried to approach it as a visit, where you show up, take one single deep breath, and then decide what you'd like to do at that time?

If you want something written down that'll help you walk through this, even show you how to do this with a simple reminder app , head over to RhythmsOfFocus.com/Visit. So rhythms is plural and rhythm starts with RHY RhythmsOfFocus.com/Visit.

And you can enter your email address somewhere on there. You will sign up for the Weekly Wind Down newsletter, and then you'll get this free PDF that'll walk you through it.

A Piano Lesson

Now this idea of a visit being a unit of work was born as a result of a lesson that I'd received from my piano teacher, Marie, years and years ago. She's someone that I respect deeply and more so with every day that passes.

There was a series of weeks where I just wasn't practicing. I thought the lessons themselves were enough, and my teacher Marie thought otherwise and said,

"You know, I understand you're busy. Maybe you're tired. I think you probably have quite a lot to do, and maybe you wanna spend time with your friends, maybe do some homework. Here's what I suggest. No matter how tired you are, how busy you are, if you can physically do so, at least once a day, touch the piano keys. Just touch them."

It seems odd to just touch the piano keys, but she was right. There's something absolutely crucial to that daily visit that happens in any craft, in anything we do.

Even if it's for only a moment, we expose ourselves to the emotions that are there. It helps keep the fires burning and gives wind to the sails. It starts the spark. This idea of touching the keys has since become so much of how I conduct my day and get through to things.

It's the reason why I can have a podcast, play at the piano, conduct my business as a therapist, a psychiatrist, be with my family, and more.

Beethoven's Sonata #14, Second Movement

The following piece of music is a result of a series of visits, it's not my own music, it's not my own composition. It's Beethoven's. It's a lovely piece. It's a second movement of the Sonata, number 14, also known as the Moonlight Sonata, and I hope you enjoy it.

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