Breaking the Ceiling

Today at 14:48 (a.k.a. 2:48 PM), I logged that I was going to see if I could find some information on energy transition and roof maintenance at the site of our neighbourhood’s interest group. (My partner and I just bought a fixer-upper house and are in the middle of renovating it.)

I proceeded to read all available information on their website.

Questions popped up and alarm bells started ringing, since I didn’t recognize my partner’s plans for making our home gas-free anywhere.

No notes were taken during this time.

Next, I moved on to learning about heat pumps. I was processing what I read in my head, and more questions and concerns arose. I came to the vague conclusion that we were at risk of being f*d if we went through with our plan and let the grid operator remove our gas connection.

Again, I took no notes.

I stopped taking in information after maybe an hour, when my head was buzzing and some fuses in my brain definitely burned.

Why hadn’t I taken any notes? Now I’d have to have a partial do-over just so I could articulate my concerns to my partner later that day. (Which I wouldn’t, because my brain was already fried)

The answer is simple: I didn’t set up my tools beforehand.

My ADHD brain hates friction, and once it’s on the fast lane, that’s it. When I’m in the flow of reading and answering questions in my head, no way I’m interrupting that by opening a note-taking tool, be it digital or analog, to jot things down.

Before I start researching something, I need to (1) set a timer at about 45 mins so I stop before I get stuck in a burnout groove, and (2) open a note, preferably side-by-side to my browser if I’m working from my laptop, so taking notes is as frictionless as possible.