You Have Probably Experienced This

Hyperfocus is the ability to concentrate on something so hard that you lose track of everything else going on around you...

The concept of hyperfocus always feels strange to me, because, for the most part, my attention is all over the place. One minute, I’m reading an article about the Second World War, and then my mind drifts, and I start to imagine what it was like to live during those times.

As an African, I know I’d have been among the 45,000+ Nigerians drafted and forced to fight on the frontlines, clearly against my wishes. Or maybe I’d have been close enough to the administrative groups in my society to avoid being shipped across the Atlantic. Would that have mattered? Maybe. Maybe not.

Okay, let me back up a bit. The point here is that I deal with fragmented attention, but then I also tend to get lost in a particular activity. For example, just yesterday, I was playing Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) on my laptop. What started with the intention to “blow off steam for a few minutes” saw me sitting for at least two hours, flicking buttons and relishing a seemingly never-ending wave of dopamine.

This doesn’t only happen when I play games. It happens when I write, read, see movies, think, and/or engage in other activities.

Some people refer to this state as “lock in.” To lock in is to enter a state of deep focus, typically when taking on a task or goal that requires intense concentration. It is all about removing distractions and staying committed to a task at hand.

But framing hyperfocus as “lock in” would miss the most critical aspect of it. Let me explain. To lock in, you have to take deliberate steps to accomplish a particular goal or task. For example, you could decide to lock in to complete an assignment that you’ve been putting off, and that is due tomorrow. For this, you’d most likely put your phone away, turn off the television, and just focus on the assignment.

This is where the difference lies. In the personal instances I gave earlier, I did not have to take any deliberate steps with any end goals in mind. I did not have to consciously shut any distractions away to help me focus on whatever I was doing. It just happened.

I just started something, and then got lost in it. I’ve read a book for over five hours, and I did not, at any point, feel the need to do something else or get distracted by anything, even when a million things were happening all around me.

This is what hyperfocus means. It is highly focused attention that lasts a long time. It is the ability to concentrate on something so hard that you lose track of everything else going on around you. You may feel hungry, tired, or thirsty, but the activity you’re engaged in overshadows all of it.

A lot of people experience this; they get sucked into something for hours and come out the other side wondering where their day went. Hyperfocus is very common in people with neurodivergent conditions like ADHD and autism, and many of them have no idea. They may just think that they’re “really into things.”

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If any of this sounds familiar, you are not alone, and you are definitely not weird. Many Nigerians are living with the same experience, trying to make sense of their own minds without any support.

That is part of what Project Neuroharmony is trying to change. We are a social impact initiative focused on raising awareness about neurodiversity and neurodivergent conditions in Nigeria, and building a community for neurodivergent Nigerians.

You can find us across social media platforms and on Substack.