Based on his biographies, I think that Feynman had ADHD. He never demonstrated an ability to do things because he thought he should do them. And, as this story shows, trying just resulted in a demotivated and unproductive Feynman. On the other hand he accomplished great results when pulled by desire. Especially in the form of play.<p><i>Surely You Must Be Joking</i> does a great job of showing how he kept coming back to play throughout his life. Everything from lock picking at Los Alamos, to playing the bongo drums.<p><i>What Do You Care What Other People Think</i> has an extended description of the creation of Appendix F about the shuttle disaster. See <a href="https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm" rel="nofollow">https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm</a> for that. As someone who has been in the state, it is clear that he was in a state of hyperfocus. I've never matched what Feynman could do, but it comes as no surprise to me that he'd realize that he could get away with learning about a topic others didn't want him to learn, because he could do so quickly enough that they wouldn't believe that he'd possibly have learned it.<p>I highly recommend both books, Appendix F, and of course, <a href="https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm" rel="nofollow">https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm</a>. (If psychologists had followed up what he said 50 years ago, the Replication Crisis would have been discovered 40 years earlier than it was. Oh well, missed opportunities.)