Coping with procrastination?

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Yes,procrastination.

Sometmes I think I can only be motivated to do something if the "catalyst" for not doing it involves being evicted,losing my job,death.I just think that when I am doing something(an interest like being on the internet,reading)it takes a huge amount of "force" to get me to stop the activity and do something different....the more difficult the task(cleaning,going to the DRs)the more "energy" it takes to get me to do.For me "energy" is fear of negative consequences......ie....not having my house clean and organized bothers me but has to get so unpleasant and frustrating before it out weighs my lack of desire to begin the task.


I barely made it through college because of this......I would research(the interesting part)way to much information until I became over whelmed with trying to sort through all the info and compress it.....I would delay stopping the research part(which I enjoyed)to actually begin the paper....until the last possible moment,often needing extensions.Only the fear of getting kicked out of college could motivate me to begin the paper.

This has been true for DR appts,looking for work,cleaning my apt,school papers,going to a new place.....most difficult tasks for me.

Well I read in the burb for ADHD that procrastination and lack of concentration are often (wrongly) assumed to be related to anxiety and depression. Paraphrase what fever is to doctor is what procrastination and lack of concentration is to psychiatry. Not that it isn't the anxiety, just that ADHD is not that well understood. I think my procrastination is both.

I so feel your pain. I am in a messy house that has been driving me insane because I hate mess and yet I can't do a bloody thing!! AArrgh!! And it's messy because I left a uni project until the last minute and then pulled an all-nighter to get it done which resulted in me trashing the house and neglecting clean-up routines.

Punctuality ain’t for this person.

Don’t worry about it dude, when you are ready, you’ll do it. Our clocks run a little slower than most others, which your therapist won’t be able to speed up without replacing an essential part of your working mechanism, i.e., your brain.

It'll happen when it happens, and if it never happens then you ain't the person who'll make it happen; no big deal.

oh geeze...
I make the lists...I obsessively make lists..and it is amazing how similar all of the lists are..and there is very little on the lists that I ever actually accomplish..
I make lists for fun..it relaxes me..it makes me feel like I am actually doing something.

In truth I am very overwhealmed and my overwhealmedness makes me very lazy...there are SO many things that need doing, and i am not good at prioritizing, just as I am not good at delegating authority...it is only relative strangers that will ask me if there is anything that I want done..and whenever they ask me that I am so stumped that I have to force myself not to be rude in my reply..."if you see something that looks like it needs ot be done then help yourself"....This is only in regards to superficila cleaning and picking up trash etc..at my venue...

Anywhoo....gads.....I am an extremely severe and chronic procrastinator....it sucks.

Here is a typical list of things to do...normally I write these things down on a notepad, but I will compose my standard list so you can see what I mean....

sometimes I categorise it...(cleaning... art... music....health/weight management.. miscellaneous other tasks that need attending to..and things that I actually feel like doing)...sometimes I don't

cleaning...
sort and put away out huge pile of clothes on floor
do laundry
clean kitchen(i actually have the dishes almost halfway done and it took me two nights)
clean out fridge (i peck at it)
organize front bookshelves (they are a huge mess)
organize the bar area, whcih is always a huge random mess
clean entire rest of Super Happy Fun Land (arranging the dozen or so couches..um...sweeping mopping floors...dusting and arranging stuff so the place soes not look like a dump
clean bathroom
clean bedroom
gads....work on patio....

Art projects (which sorta overlaps with things I actually feel like doing)

Organize art room ( i now have an art room..i used to not)..probably should be categorised under cleaning..it is too cluttered to be functional for anything other than storage for my thousands of pairs of socks....and all my other stuff

start making sock creatures again(had been my main obsession for years ....(i am at my biggest lull in 5 years)...and make as many as humanly possible till i am huncbacked and bulge eyed from being crouched over the needle)...but then i will be earning my keep...

Make new super happy fun land screens...(I actually recently made two new screens)..but there is a new screen that is in the works...

....screen print as many t-shirts, tote bags, skits etc.... as possible

make the May calendar (am working on it )

ummm..there are other various and sundry projects that I have been mulling over, that I won't expand upon...

then we have to get ready for the art car parade

Music

I am supposed to be recording an album..
I supposedly have dozens of songs
I have shows I am supposed to be playing
All I do in my head all day is write parts of songs that never get finished
I have a chintzy tawdry little novelty act that I pull out for special occasions..but i am always ill-prepared...never having enough time to completely construct my best songs..etc...

Also I am in another band which never practices called Organ Failure


Health/weight management
I am sorta overweight
I need to exercise more and not pig out on goat cheese at one in the morning.
nuff sed.
(goat cheese tastes extra special good while watching South Park at one in the morning how can I stop??)

Miscellaneous other tasks that need attending to
gads..
deposit these measly little checks into my cobweb strewn bank account
finish and distribute the May calendar
remember to drop the netflicks movies in the mail....
distribute all the concert posters bands constantly send us in the mail

this post is longwinded as it is...

mostly I end up procrastinating...I am fixated on watching all the dumb FOX syndicated evening cartoons while decompressing from my day job...(where there is a pile of cleaning and filing I am constantly procrastinating on)
then I w*k on the computer alot....
I manage to get marginal amounts of cleaning and art done...but never as much as needs doing...I wish i was a robot or had a team of robots to do my bidding....

but nope...I am just a lowly ADDer with Aspie traits in a very messy room under a pile of stuff....

What I WANT to do is go to sleep so I can get up early and hit the garage sales in search of quilts and homemade toys
maybe i will actually do that.

I too make lots of lists and notes and sketches,and revise and refine them,in hopes of organizing thoughts,but mostly for relaxation and self-examination.They are invaluable for accomplishing daily tasks and making things happen for myself.

And I am certain that I am not fundamentally "lazy" but I get way overwhelmed by daily life and can't always navigate priorities and expectations.I manage fairly well when I am alone and in a stable environment,even without regimented structure(though I still need lists and notes);it's social energy that seems to exacerbate organization and accomplishment for me.I seem to function on a different kind of "clock" than most people I know.

It just depends on who is involved and who is not.

i procrastinated on getting up early for the garage sales
I used to do this every Saturday like clockwork.
Also when i was single and didn't have SHFL my life was much more routine..
Now my routine mostly involves avoidance of stuff i ought to be doing.

I know very well what you mean about food as a bio terror weapon.
I have several.

lol, my cleaning list always winds up looking like an outline for a big essay I'm about to write.... I'll put like, "clean kitchen" and then break it down into exactly what needs to be done in the kitchen.

It never gets done though because I write it all down, and by the time I get it all put in the order I'd like to do it in, it's time for bed. When I wake up and look at my list, I wind up making a new one because the old one didn't suit me for the day. I even list stupid things like phone calls I need to make, cooking dinner (something that is obviously going to factor into the progress of my day). So I wind up with a 5 page list of everything I anticipate needing to get done for the day.

It only takes all day long because I procrastinate finishing my list too, lol. I don't like thinking about what I HAVE TO do, my mind wanders and takes a bit to get back to working on it.