Delaying Gratification

A common difficulty for people with ADHD

This morning as I walked to work, I played Pokémon Go, as is my ritual. However this morning was special because I accrued the last few XP points I needed to finally reach level 41.

Ascending from 40 to 41 took me almost exactly four months.

I like Pokémon Go for a lot of reasons: I like Pokémon, I think the concept of the game is fun, I like the distraction and motivation while walking and I’ve learned to love the delayed gratification inherent in it.

To illustrate how far I’ve come, and how far I have to go, I’ve created this graph. It represents how much XP in total a player will have at each level.

The red dot represents where I am now (roughly 26 million XP). I accrued that over about 2 years of serious play. Another 26 million XP (totaling 52 million) would land me at level 44 (purple pentagon). To get to 50, I have a long road ahead of me.

“The inability to persist in a boring task is a sign of immaturity,” writes Russel Barkley in Taking Charge of ADHD. Of course playing Pokémon Go isn’t always boring (sometimes it is), I think it still serves as a good analogy.¹

It’s going to take me for-freaking-ever to get to level 50 at this rate. So what’s the point? Why don’t I just give up?

People with ADHD, myself included, feel this way about many things—learning to read, to write, math facts, sewing, free throws, a musical instrument—more often than not, any interesting outcome starts with pure skullduggery. And yet many of these skills are central to living a fulfilling life. So what can people with ADHD do to work toward delayed gratification tasks?

Increase the Stimulation

Sustaining attention is a central difficulty of ADHD. “Keeping our eyes on the prize.” But removing distractions with the intention of bolstering a student’s attention may actually be counter-productive.

Research shows that students with ADHD make fewer mistakes on worksheets printed in color than those in black and white. Researchers have also demonstrated that students with ADHD do better on their math homework when listening to rock music.

Increase the Novelty and Fun

In one of my favorite posts, we’ve talked about play as a motivator. Remember to keep games positive, simple and fun. Keep things novel by thinking about who, where, and when menials tasks are done. New settings can keep the vibes flowing.

A Biologically-Based Difficulty

You may wish to resist the urge to gameify everything for your child or students. You may resist my advice here because “not everything in life can be fun.” Well, to that I say a) why not? and b) why don’t you try it?

Remember that people with ADHD have a biologically-based difficulty in delaying their gratification. Yes, an asthmatic will have to breathe all their life, and a person with cerebral palsy will have to get around, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve medication, support and accommodations.

1. You might also argue that playing Pokémon Go itself is a sign of immaturity, and I won’t argue with that point here