Hyperfocus is the opposite side of the ADD coin, so to speak. The ADD individual can vascillate between the distractions of ADD and the hyperfocus mode where intense fixation on stimuli blocks out distraction. That hyperfocus can glue a teenager to a video game for hours where time evaporates, or result in nigh levels of problem-solving, invention, or creativity.
I don't think of ADD as what the letters stand for: Attention Defecit Disorder. I think a better label, if there must be one, is Distraction Syndrome. Itrefers to a non-neorotypically functioning brain that is capable of intense concentartion and achievement, often in performace or inventive arenas, and which, the rest of the time, takes in stimuli all-at-once, wh ith acute awareness of things most people around them might miss.
It's not a bad thing. I know a top-flight ADD pelvic surgeon who saved many women's lives because he could remain in that hyperfocus mode throughout six hours of a scheduled two hour surgery. He was Chiel of Staff at our local hospital after spending part of his career at Scripps, where he taught his techniques to visiting surgeons. I know other ADDers, ex-military special ops (SEALs, Rangers) whose ability to hyperfocus after taking in everything and determining "right now" without prolonged analysis what to be done next saved lives on the battlefield.
You don't need to be diagnosed ADD or on meds to hyperfocus in this way, which is different from developing the self-discipline of intense concentration. It's just "there" in some individuals who might be undiagnosed or on the edge of the ADD syndrome but coping with life extremely well, their ADD traits unnoticed by all but those with background and training, or other ADDers themselves.
In an NFL kicker, hyperfocus could be a good thing.
