Pre-taking medication, here's what my personal experience trying to focusing looks like:
I have some really interesting, but lengthy text that's really important for me to read for class. No cell phone, cleaned my room, put on specialized focus music, jot down all my random thoughts on a notepad, got myself a cup of coffee and made sure I eliminated all distractions.
I then proceed to read the first two or three sentences before I realized I have been mindlessly scanning the text with my eyes like I'm reading, but instead I am doing the equivalent of watching a movie. I'm 100% zoned out and in la la land.
I realize this, so I stop, refocus, repeat. I realize I did it again, stop, refocus and try reading out loud. I'm annoyed because I'm saying the words out loud but not comprehending it.
I meditate for 30 seconds to calm my mind, try to refocus and repeat. I finally get through it after about 30 minutes.
Here's how my personal experience looks with medication:
I pick up the damn paper, read it and summarize it with notes in 5 minutes.
In the past few years the internet have been busy trying to attribute completely normal human quirks to ADHD, ADD and various levels of autism. We see these "Only people with X will understand this" and it's something stupid like forgetting why you entered a room. I don't know if neurodivergent people increasingly seeks out online "forums" like Reddit and Imgur, but they seem to be populated entirely by people with ADD, autism and depression (and Furries, but that feels less problematic). All are on a mission to convince anyone who stumble into their realm that they too have a disorder.
Understandably people want to help when they see someone struggling with the same things they did, and I'm not suggesting that you don't seek out professionals if you think you might have a disorder, but we need to stop labeling completely normal behaviour as problematic.
Just like people without various disorders can't relate well to those with e.g. ADHD, people with the these disorders also understand neurotypical behaviour way less than they think they do. A large number seems to struggle with separating "normal" quirks of the brains and their diagnoses.
Correct. People with focus issues do not necessarily have ADHD. That requires meeting a defined set of diagnostic criteria, including that it has an impairing effect on an individual's life.
Also, just because it seems like a simple lack of focus to you externally, that does not mean the person does not have a disorder.
> People with ADHD are differently wired in their brain
I am not sure that is objectively true in the sense that people think. If so, the condition would have a much more objective diagnostic process. I have been professionally described as ADHD, had an fMRI (unrelated reason), and my results came back perfectly normal.
I know n=1, but the data doesn't necessarily suggest that ADHD is some kind of organic, neurological disease.