From the article: ADHD and Motivation
Do you ever experience a sense of paralysis associated with a task or project – wanting to get started yet unable to make progress forward in any manner? And if you do get started, do you have difficulty maintaining your drive and persisting in your effort? It may begin to feel nearly impossible to get anything done! This can quickly lead to overwhelm, procrastination and avoidance and ultimately results in problems with productivity.
What strategies have you found helpful in getting started and sustaining focus on a task that is overwhelming or just plain boring? Please share your own experiences and ideas. Share Your Experiences
The Stereotype Persists
- The irony is I've helped hundreds of people start and achieve new goals. Yet I have struggled - even failed - to reach mine. Reading the article that stimulated these responses was very helpful. Case in point: over the weekend I had the opportunity to "pitch" a book in progress about a life coach (me) grappling with ADHD (confirmed by a psychiatrist). After a 2 minute pitch the agent's dismissive comment was, "How do you know you're just not lazy?"
- —Guest Life Coach with ADHD
Doing It My Way
- In my last few years at work, I was a nonconformist but when the cutbacks came I was one of the last ones to be let go. When I got the job, I had improved my health quite a bit through diet, sleep and exercise and that made the Adderall more effective. I also had simplified my life and staying late or going in on my day off to make up for being late every morning or procrastination didn't affect my personal life much. During off hours it was quieter in the office and easier to concentrate. I exercised and/or practiced a mindful walking technique at lunch time that extended my lunch period a little but the extra clarity and relaxation was worth it. Through an assertiveness course I learned to handle disagreements with my boss a lot quicker and better. Usually I would just send a concise email to him stating my position/opinion etc and then just try to not argue if they disagreed. The training helped me ignore the inevitable criticism you hear all your life when you are ADD/ADHD.
- —molsof
Music Motivates
- The one thing that motivates me in cleaning my house is putting on music that I enjoy. I lose myself in the music, distracting myself from the unruly task of cleaning, to believing I'm out dancing having the time of my life. Before I know it all is clean and we all enjoy the smell of a clean home. With a clean house it makes you feel invigorating and able to accomplish just about any task.
- —Guest sandra
Great to Know
- I have realized and accepted the fact that my son has ADD and I am dealing with it the best I can, but show my frustration at times. I was never aware that the laziness and lack of motivation was connected to ADD. I have not turned to medication yet and don’t want to, but I am considering it more and more, especially if medication will help his motivation and promote being proactive.
- —FrustratedFather
Motivational Difficulties
- I have been trying to clean up my den. PAPERS drive me crazy. For weeks now each day I say ok I’m going to clean this mess up. Do I ? NO! Even when I was a kid Sat was cleaning day before I could go out with girlfriends. My best friend Debbie would come over and help me. I was just tooooo overwhelmed by the mess. And since it seems like it doesn’t bother me much and I live alone, I don’t seem to care. Now, I have invited a friend for dinner just so I would clean up, but not that often. Maybe you can explain more. I do take 15-20mg of Dexadrine for the ADHD. P.S. The funny thing is I do love to clean for work, especially seniors’ homes. The dirtier the better. Why is that? I’m 59 yrs old.
- —Guest valerie j c
Asking for Help
- It can become very frustrating and overwhelming to start a project and stay on task. I will either ask for help or frustrate my way through somehow. Also when there is no help too much time is wasted and at the end of the day nothing is accomplish. Just to add a comment I procrastinated to get started. Thanks.
- —Guest SJ
ADD
- One thing I find helpful is...for example...if I look at the kitchen table and it's usually filled with things that need to be put somewhere else..I get discouraged and overwhelmed...but if I just pick up one thing and do something with that one thing, and don't think about the whole table, eventually the whole table is cleaned up, just focus on one object at a time.
- —Guest mandy
con't
- Now I'm going to play psychological warfare with myself (telling myself positive things whilst I think negatively) and attempt (yes attempt) to 'just do it'. Sorry about spelling or grammar errors, I decided to just type this instead of using spell check or similar. idk if this will help anyone, but at least I think someone can identify with this.
- —Guest ProcrastinatingPrincess
Oh So True!!!
- I am doing it at this very moment, while in my head, I'm thinking, 'you have stuff to do'. I have recently been diagnosed as, get this, having 'the cognitive functioning of someone who has ADD/ADHD'. Further more, I'm reading this, shaking my head in agreement. (yes shaking, not nodding). While typing my side comments, I'm thinking 'you are doing it again'. I am trying to con myself into believing this is the last blog I will check about procrastination. I know very well it is not. Then I find myself in an anxiety circle, where u procrastinate, worry because u know what u need to get done and ur procrastinating, then worry that you will not get it done, and I know what to do!!!! As much as I know 'just do it' it wont get done if u don't 'do it'. Things may help, things may make things easier, but the bottom line is if you don't do it it wont get done! So I have just told myself I have an hour or else...(or else what @ self). lazy, lack of self discipline, ADD/ADHD, (mental health) or any other 'reason you have, it's on you! (Sometimes you can get help, but all the time?)
- —Guest ProcrastinationPrincess
Faked it all through school
- Although I wasn't diagnosed with ADD until well into my 40's I always suspected something was wrong as far back as I can remember. School was a total nightmare. I'm positive some of my teachers passed me to the next grade because they felt sorry for me. This was in the 1960's-70's when ADHD, ADD, etc. weren't even recognized & we moved constantly so I was always in a state of flux. Reading the comments here is so helpful, esp. drawing some weird kind of comfort in knowing I'm not alone. I have been on Adderall for 3 years now and it has helped me keep my job. For parents, spouses, family members, etc. - PLEASE know your loved one is not forgetful, scatter-brained, lazy, etc. on purpose. If you could read their minds and feel the angst, confusion, & crushing despair - it may make you try to understand & be patient a little more. Above all, please see a doctor for a diagnosis - medication & life-style modifications are very helpful. I'm grateful to find a forum w/others like me.
- —Guest Guest
Frozen
- It seemingly does not matter if the task at hand is interesting or boring; the paralysis of my will is... paralyzing! As I type, I have been sitting in the bathroom reading these comments (well over an hour), when I should be getting into the shower to get ready for work, since if I'm late even once more I'll be fired. I just "can't" move. Oh, once I see the clock and panic sets in, off n running I go, but dinner hasn't been made, dishes not done, oh the list goes on and on. I say "it's just a shower" but it's this frozen, dead feeling that has this grip on me. ADD meds help with my brain swirl but not with this "frozen will" that won't let up!! Sooo frustrating!
- —Guest Stacy
Paused!
- I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD, but my aunt and brother have. I don't believe medicine is the answer. I show all the signs of having ADD too but am trying to fight it all the time which gets frustrating, even depressing. I can think about doing something I really have to do or want to do for hours until it’s too late to get it done. I like to think I'm motivated and have a positive mind as much possible but I'm not when it comes down to taking action. What makes my brain pause and get overwhelmed over nothing? I hate it. I don't want to be weak. I want to be able to do what I have on my to do list, to be who I want to be, who I feel I am. Something in me holds me back.
- —Guest Candangle
Do I have ADHD?
- I am lazy, lethargic, and demotivated to the core. I can’t focus on any task to get started, much less to complete it. I procrastinate performing even activities I enjoy, such as watching a genre of movies I like. I have successfully procrastinated watching movies in the comfort of my home for several months now. I sleep too much too, and last week I slept a full 24 hours. That's right, a full 24 hours. My brain was churning with crazy dreams but I could not get myself to sit up, and cast the blanket aside. I want to do a number of things but have a certain kind of mental paralysis that prevents me from taking any meaningful action. I am on medication for depression, but after chancing upon this article, I am wondering if I am suffering from undiagnosed ADHD.
- —Guest Harin
Motivation
- I've always struggled with my ADHD. I was diagnosed in second grade, have been medicated ever since, and now - ten years later - I'm still trying to figure out how to effectively get stuff done. For the past two years I have been homeschooled and that only made dealing with ADHD worse. Though, through that I found one way that I can get homework done - going to the library. For some reason, the calm and focused atmosphere of the library helps me get stuff done. I still struggle even when I'm at the library, but it helps. I often feel blocked when trying to get stuff done, right now in fact. I'm supposed to be writing a paper for one of my school classes (I'm no longer homeschooled, by the way), and instead I'm sitting here typing this on my iPod. Why I can write this and not my paper, I've no clue. One other thing that helps me is a friend of mine who supports me, understands that I'm struggling and doesn't think I'm lazy or unmotivated. Just him saying "I believe you can do it" helps.
- —Guest Misty
I wish I had been homeschooled
- It would have made all the difference in the world, no distractions, no peer pressure or competition among classmates (who finishes the test first and who was last). Not only that, I was in elementary-middle school in a small town, but in high school I was in a suburb to a big city. The quality of the learning aspect was completely different. In small towns they want you to learn and do not care about competing with other school districts. Suburban upper middle class schools strive to teach as fast as they can to keep the standards high to appeal to people starting families looking for a good school to send their kids to. Moral of what I learned through my own difficulties, I will not send my children to public or private schools.
- —Guest TRB777
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