Task Stuckness - Does anyone else have this happen?

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Yes skibum it sounds just like what I go through. It's called perseveration. It's hard to switch from one task to another so you get stuck doing something over and over, at least until something external intrudes to interrupt the pattern. It's a common aspect of frontal lobe dysfunction (executive dysfunction) and very typical of ADHD.

It's really easy to get stuck using a computer or smartphone or playing video games because you get constant interaction from it. You get instant feedback for your input and it motivates you to keep going. It's a problem of needing something external to keep you motivated and focused. When you go to do the laundry, or clean the house, there's not much of anything external to interact with there. You have to be able to think internally about what needs to be done and prioritize those tasks. Frontal lobe dysfunction makes it hard to do that. It's basically like your brain can't figure out what to do on its own so it is just waiting for something external to tell it what to do. Even when you KNOW very well what to do, and it seems like you should be able to just go DO that thing, the brain just doesn't make that connection very well. Instead it will default to the easiest, most immediate, mindless and repetitive task it can think of, especially something that provides novelty, like checking a forum over and over because there is always something new to read.

Do you also have trouble making decisions? Like if you are sorting the laundry, it's hard to decide which load to wash first? Or you just keep thinking about all the other things that need to be done and get overwhelmed? It's hard for me to pick one thing and just DO it.

it sometimes is hard to prioritize.

I get stuck a lot.

I'm NT (I think...I find myself relating to you guys a lot, though) and this happens to me all the time. I spent all day today on gradcafe and reddit because I couldn't get up and cltean my room and start my paper. It wasn't like I was anxious either. I would tell myself I need to get off the computer now but then keep doing what I was doing. I find that if I start the day by doing something I need to do that its easier to keep doing that. If I go on a forum at all I usually am stuck there for a while. I spent about a month last summer reading pretty much all of wp.

Welcome CloudInstead. I know what you mean about starting the first task early and then that makes it easier. That works for me too sometimes. You mentioned you are NT but you seem super into WP. That is cool. Are you related to someone on the Spectrum. It's nice to have NT's take interest in Autism. I really appreciate it.

YES! I play MMO video games - thats my "narrow focus" of choice. Sometimes while I'm playing I'll just get "stuck" staring at my character and just spinning around in a circle or something totally zoned out. Anytime my wife tries to get me to do something for her during my game time I get extremely irritable and complain. This is one of a thousand things i do that frustrates her - just glad she finally knows why now.

there is one audio restoration task that I can get stuck on and then lose all meaning of purpose AKA get mentally numb about- that is in spot speed corrections in warbly [excess wow and flutter] old recordings.