If you give a mouse a cookie, the book says, he goes to findmilk, spills the milk, finds something to clean it with, and in the process of that gets further and further away from getting what he really wanted, which was simply a cookie. And, at the end, he has nothing to show for all his time but mess–and exhaustion. Managing distractions is not just for the mouse–it is for all of us, but easier said than done in this era of multiple distractions! ADHDers expend a lot of energy — but without managing the distractions, they don’t have a lot to show for it–and wind up feeling unproductive and frustrated.
