In these times, most human brains have been deeply affected by digital addiction and the corporate fracking of human attention. But let’s say your executive dysfunction seems a bit (or more than a bit) “extra.”

If you didn’t grow up with ADHD but sometimes question if you have mysteriously acquired it as an adult, it is possible that your prefrontal cortical functioning has been affected.

This can happen from exposure to trauma. Fear circuitry abnormalities from post-traumatic stress can affect your focus, clarity and organizational skills—or shut-down the process altogether. This is more common than you might imagine and a type of writers’ block that is often misunderstood.

And, if you’re a woman—you might actually have ADHD. Because many neurodivergent women are not “hyper” and are able to mask, they can go undiagnosed their entire lives—or until menopause, when the shit really hits the fan. Regardless of the label or cause, symptoms that get in the way of your writing are beyond frustrating.

Once recognized, some aspects of neurospicyness can also be superpowers.

When you learn to leverage your passion, you can actually have hyperfocus and boundless creativity. ADHD writers are often idea factories—able to rapidly generate ideas and come up with brilliant and often surprising nonlinear content, making unexpected connections, and building vivid, immersive worlds.

Learning to work with your unique neurological system is a process, where you learn to identify your motivators and triggers and master strategies that bring relief—and even joy.

One such hack is leveraging “INCUP” a mnemonic created by Dr. William Dodson. INCUP stands for Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, and Passion—five key motivators that spark action in the neurospicy nervous system and make it possible to crush task paralysis.

Check out psychology researcher Dr. Sara Tookey’s description of INCUP:

https://www.truenorth-psychology.com/post/unlocking-adhd-motivators-the-incup-framework