Procrastination and time management

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I have huge issues with procrastination and my atrocious time management. Well I was diagnosed with ADD long before my Aspergers diagnosis for a reason. I have problems to get my priorities straight, make decisions, get started doing something ect. I am somehow afraid to face hard tasks, do something wrong, make the wrong decision. There are a lot of related issues with low self esteem, lots and lots of shame and quite a bit of anxiety & depression.
Worst thing is writing papers for university, I can't decide on a topic to begin with and then it doesn't work the way i imagined and it totally blocks me. Then I get distracted by details, like phrasing or whatever silly thing and I don't get finished at all.
But I also mess up stuff like paying bills, I have a hard time making necessary appointments like doctor ect whatever could complicate my life (many things have to do with avouding social situations too I guess). I manage to procrastinate stuff to the point of totally forgetting about it, at least untill it comes back and bites me in the ass.

So my question is, have some of my issues there something to do with Aspergers or is that all ADD? I'm new to the Aspergers thing, so I am still looking at it from the ADD perspective, but maybe I get some new insights here?

you can at least take some cold comfort from the fact that you're not the only one who is disorganized or who has difficulties with organization. because of my clumsiness and disorganized thinking, i was initially dx'ed with ADHD inattentive subtype, and only later dx'ed with AS. s i guess my comorbids would be ADD and avoidant personality disorder, along with a soupçon of schizotypal disorder and auditory processing disorder and tourettes, just to make life interesting. i wish i could tell you for sure if your problems are strictly an AS thing or as a result of comorbids. i've heard other people say the difference between ADD and AS amounts to the ADD person understanding the rules but lacking the self-control to follow them, whereas the AS person simply doesn't understand the rules. also, it is said the ADD person is easily distracted while the AS person lacks an effective stimuli filter, which makes both kinds of people end up in the same distracted condition. i also read that 60-70% of AS folk also have some kind of ADHD/ADD as a comorbid.

The problems you describe sound like executive dysfunction. Executive dysfunction can be present with ADD and with autism.

My shrink told me that it's sometimes hard to tell where Asperger's starts and ADHD ends. There is quite a bit of overlap between the two conditions. I have many of the same issues as you. I suspect in my case Asperger's plays a bigger role (poor executive function) as my meds do nothing for some of my symptoms.

i have found that for my own self, strattera works wonders but does so in a subtle manner, where one day you just start to notice that your life is going much more smoothly and undramatically. just a thought.
p.s., for those of us yanks who lack medical coverage, the drug can cost over $600 per month's supply. also, people with GERD should exercise caution with this drug.

I'm on Concerta and its working great for me. In Canada we have to pay for drugs (but not most Medical treatments) but I have decent medical coverage at work and it fully covers the cost.

I'm not sure whether or not I have Asperger's, but I hadn't even considered that I may have ADD. Yet, much of what you describe could be me. Procrastinating, off-putting, avoiding are all quite common attributes of my life.

When I was a kid in school, Asperger's wasn't diagnosed. ADD, on the other hand, seemed to be applied to super-hyper children. These would be the ones that didn't seem to know, or care, that they were in a classroom and there was a classroom etiquette to be observed. They'd often yell, squirm around, not pay attention to the lesson, seem preoccupied and unable to focus. Since I was quiet, well-mannered, and never had a problem focusing, I never even thought ADD was a possibility for me.

Now I don't know what to think.

Well ADD like me is without the hyperactivity (otherwise it would be called ADHD) - I am more of a dreamer and get easily distracted. But I was a very quiet and well behaved child, kust lost in my own head maybe. It usually also comes with problems with social interaction, because you have trouble following a conversation or are forgetful ect and many people can be too loud, just too much. So yes many symtoms are similar to Aspergers. That's why I was first only diagnosed with ADD, my therapist focused on my problems with studying - and depression and the other stuff was kind of explained too. I had a secondary diagnosis of social phobia.
I kind of learned to look people in the eye and touch people and have a bit of small talk, so it wasnt obvious at first that there was more. It took my therapist a while to figure it out. He still insists that I have ADD too - I wasn't so sure in the beginning cause Aspergers fitted better, but my study problems seem to tell me otherwise. Don't they?

I tried ADD meds but the only thing i got me was anxiety attacks, so no thank you. Sports help and a clear routine, a schedule I have to keep. I also have to enlist the help of people who make sure I keep my resolutions or whatever I have planed. Like I had to write an email to my therapist today with the first draft of some pape I am writing. I doubt he even reads it, but it helps to get things done. But well I'm cheating a lot

ADD is an out dated term. Its now called ADHD-PI (primarily inattentive).

=O

That sounds like me. Could it be...

I think that change hasn't made it into german professional literature yet. (English isn't my mothertongue obviously, sorry for all the grammar and spelling mistakes by the way) Anyway the anglophone area is better informed about issues like ADHD and Aspergers, it's less accepted here as a "real condition".

Well looks like both things add to my problems with self organization and such. If you have similar issues how do you deal with it? Because its really exasperating for me.

For me, the answer was in two parts.

First, because I am unable to organise things in my head, I have to do it on paper. This means that once a week, I sit down and make an list of stuff that I have to do this week, prioritise it and work out exactly when do to everything (since I forget to eat, I even use this for mealtimes). I needed help with this at first from someone else so I didn't get overwhelmed and give up on it. I have a found a system now that works for me.

Secondly, I have a personal electronic diary. I enter in everything from the above list, and set the alarm for all of the things I need to do. I find I need both a physical reminder (the alarm) as well as a list (in this case my diary tells me the set task). If I only have the alarm, I forget what I am supposed to do, but if I only have a list, I forget about it unless I have a physical prompt also.

i need to have my brains on paper also.

I use my iPhone for everything. I have alarms set for paying bills, doing laundry, shopping (including shopping list ect) - I even have monthly alarms set for things like calling my grandmother or phoning friends I might otherwise forget about. I try to make appointments in advance if possible, like with my hairdresser I just scheduled 4 appointments for the rest of the year.

Still I don't always do what I have planned out. Like I said I am cheating, like I don't really feel up to paying bills so what matters if I just wait another day - and then it is 2 weeks later and I get into trouble cause I haven't paid. It doens't make much sense because it would be easier to just do things, but I can't and it's driving me mad.

experience has taught me to take to heart, ben franklin's warning about how one should neither be a borrower nor a lender. so if i get a bill i make it top priority to take care of it ASAP, one way or another, letting other things slide as need be.