ADD--or Ruthless Efficiency?

I was very hyperactive as a child. When I have recited various childhood activities--such as attending a spaghetti dinner where I repeatedly accidentally kicked the woman across from me because I couldn't sit still--my wife has attributed this behavior to ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). She thinks I still have ADD now. For instance, one of her family members posted a link for an ADD test. I started the test--the very long test--and by the first five minutes, I was able to infer from the questions what the common attributes of ADD were, as well as to realize that I have never suffered from this malady. Now, I could have spent twenty more minutes to confirm something that I already knew, but what would be the point of wasting the time? So, I stopped the test in the middle, which my wife still brings up as confirmation that I have ADD.

I have been thinking about her charge, and the more I think about it, the more firmly I decree that I do not have ADD, but REP (Ruthless Efficiency Power), which can sometimes be mistaken for ADD. People with ADD often lack control over their attention span; people with REP, on the other hand, can control their attention span just fine, but they voluntarily refuse to concentrate on things that are stupid, useless, or over which they have already achieved a competent mastery. (Admittedly, I have not researched ADD in order to establish this distinction, but since I have REP and obtained mastery over ADD through taking the ADD test, I refuse to concentrate on researching ADD further.) Far from being a "weakness," REP is a testimony to practicioners' astute judgment in discerning how to spend their time most efficiently and effectively.

A noteworthy recent example of this ruthless efficiency: when I was playing "Final Fantasy: Mystical Quest" (see last entry), I noticed that every battle scenario involved me hitting the "A" button for "battle," then the "A" button for hit, then the "A" button for "continue," then the "A" button for "battle," etc. Sure, after my character was poisoned in battle, I might want to select the "heal" button so that I could cure him of poison, but if I did that, he'd just get poisoned again within two turns, so why not just have him grin and bear it? Then, my character would win the battle, and I'd just click on the A button so he could fight the next battle, and the cycle would repeat. So, I did what any self-respecting REP person who was also a graduate student would do: I got out a book and read while I kept hitting the A button. Occasionally I would glance up at the screen to confirm that my character was not yet dead, or that he still hadn't rescued any maidens yet, and then go back to reading. I think keeping my brain occupied with a book actually enabled me to play the game longer than someone who had nothing to do but press the "A" button; game play productivity actually went up, as did my scholarly activity. Far from treating this as a "disorder," we should acknowledge it for the gift that it is. It's time that we no longer give REP the bad rep of ADD.