You could certainly look into temp or contract work for very short duration one-off projects, etc. That kind of work is out there, but setting up a pipeline to get it reliably is probably hard.
> Programming is the only thing I can do - and the only thing that makes me enough money to survive.
I think you may want to re-evaluate this. Some people with ADHD do better in environments where they are on their feet, actively doing work, rather than sitting at a computer screen. It sounds like you need a job that you can still do even when you are not at your mental/emotional best, and where minimum focus is mandatory but not hard to achieve. Programming may just not be that job, or not all the time.
There are now lots of "gig economy" jobs that you can do whenever you want to do them. They're not always the highest-paying, but in exchange for that you get a ton of flexibility. Maybe you could parley some of those into a hybrid approach - work in food-service or as an Uber driver or something else that is lower-paying during your downturns, and do short-term contract work during your upswings.
Plus, if you feel like a failure - and it kinda reads like you do now - having some small successes in another field could help you turn that feeling around.
Have you actually tried this? To me this creates an enormous liability of doing a horrible job at whatever 1 week project is received.
Is there actually 1-2 week projects?
If they end up not getting done, are they really going to be happy with a “Sorry it didn’t get done and I’m out of commission for a month”?
The up and down trends don’t really happen on a schedule. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get a surprise 2 day productivity boost and then can’t work for 3 weeks. And then this contract explodes.
I know my tone is like I’m trying to pwn your advice. I am skeptical, but if anybody has more to say about these concerns, I would like to hear them.
> Programming is the only thing I can do - and the only thing that makes me enough money to survive.
I think you may want to re-evaluate this. Some people with ADHD do better in environments where they are on their feet, actively doing work, rather than sitting at a computer screen. It sounds like you need a job that you can still do even when you are not at your mental/emotional best, and where minimum focus is mandatory but not hard to achieve. Programming may just not be that job, or not all the time.
There are now lots of "gig economy" jobs that you can do whenever you want to do them. They're not always the highest-paying, but in exchange for that you get a ton of flexibility. Maybe you could parley some of those into a hybrid approach - work in food-service or as an Uber driver or something else that is lower-paying during your downturns, and do short-term contract work during your upswings.
Plus, if you feel like a failure - and it kinda reads like you do now - having some small successes in another field could help you turn that feeling around.