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There's a big difference between ADD and just not being able to concentrate. Practically everyone has some trouble with concentration, with all the distractions of modern life. All my friends had a hard time writing papers in college, or sitting though a long meeting, or filling out forms. That's just how life is. That's not ADD.
I was diagnosed with ADD a couple of years ago, and I might be an extreme case, but I see a pretty big disparity in my ability to focus compared to most others. For instance, when I would write a paper in college, I could sit down and write a five page essay on King Akhenaten's reformation of the Egyptian religion, but I had to do it straight through because I can't organise my thoughts into an outline. It would still be a really good paper, but I get an F because I couldn't read the half-page's worth of instructions on how the essay should be formatted.
There are a lot of little things, too. I don't watch movies very often because of the effort it takes to pay attention for an hour and a half. When I have to do normal work, like on the computer or something, I often give myself migraines with the effort involved in paying attention to a single thing for 15 minutes. The only way I could get anything done in college was by overloading myself with classes, since if class was going too slowly, I'd just phase out and miss everything. I'd forget about midterms, etc. I spent a whole trig class entering waveforms into my graphing calculator. It's not even like I lose interest. I'm paying attention to one thing, then suddenly my attention slides in a completely different direction and I forget what I was doing in the first place. I'll be in a conversation with someone, then suddenly my attention shifts and I miss the last three sentences they said. It can get really annoying.
For another example, my car was recently in an accident, where someone ran into me while I was waiting for the red light at an intersection. It was the other person's fault, there was no argument, and would pay for any damages. All I had to do was get an estimate and sent it over. But I kept forgetting. After about a month, I got around to doing it, and it turned out that there were a few more steps involed. I had to fill out some forms, talk to the guy on the phone, and work out what to do. Just thinking about it I got totally confused. I couldn't pay attention to it or remember what I had to do next. I basically decided to pay the $1000 bill myself because I couldn't follow the steps necessary to work through it. Finally, my girlfriend and some relatives had to help me out and tell me to do each thing individually. Everything sounds incredibly easy, but I just can't work it out.
I find that when I'm on medication, everything changes. Getting up to take out the garbage doesn't completely disrupt my train of thought, leaving me confused and disoriented. I don't scream and punch the walls when the phone rings. I don't sit and stare into space for long periods without realizing it. There are a few side effects, but it's quite helpful overall.
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