executive dysfunction and laziness

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I have poor short term memory and executive function, especially with scheduling tasks, appts, etc.

I often beat myself up for being lazy for not getting things done, but it's like when things pile up, it becomes difficult to focus on anything long enough to get going. When I have things hanging over my head, I just can't get started. And time just wastes away as I fret over how in the world I will decide what to do first. It's frustrating and depressing. Even if I get a few things done, I am often very inefficient.

Does anyone else have this problem? The only solution I have had that works is to make a list of everything I have to do, and physically strike them off once they are done. Otherwise, I just can't remember or get motivated at all.

Yes. Always. I just make crazy amounts of lists, estimate times, and add an hour or two for extra unexpected things. If my whole day / week isn't perfectly planned and timed in advance, I get nothing done.

I lists.

Oh yes, you are not alone. I recently had a personal insight as to why I kept myself in low status, physically oriented jobs that don't require much cogitation. That way I can demonstrate that I am not lazy and worthless, which is how I grew up believing myself to be.

I'd never get anything done without lists. I use an iPod for that and have multiple alarms set for every day to make sure I don't forget and/or get locked into some activity for too long.

You might want to google "autism" and "inertia," unless you already know what "inertia" is.

I'm as lazy as all hell

Its probably my main problem, but I'm too lazy to fight it. Sigh

Executive dysfunction: Not being able to get around to doing stuff.

Laziness: Not doing something about the problem.

I have to tell myself this a lot: Executive dysfunction means that I suck at organizing, suck at stopping and starting things, suck at doing things on time or judging how long I'll need. And that does excuse a lot of things--and I need to stop beating myself up about those things.

There's one thing it doesn't excuse, and that's doing what I can to deal with my executive dysfunction, find ways around it, find ways to organize myself and figure out how to work with this weird brain of mine. And, as long as I'm doing my best to learn new ways of dealing and to use the ones I've already learned, then I've done all I can ask of myself. Feeling guilty over things I can't control will only make things worse, because I'm beating myself up over something I can't do yet, instead of taking action and finding a way to deal with the problem.

I struggle with this too. I have a 4 year old autie who is very busy with appointments between school and therapy and I'm totally lost without my blackberry. I also have problems with short term memory, being very disorganized, easily side-tracked and distracted, losing things all the time, then forgetting what I'm looking for etc. My daughter responds very well to visuals ie PECS so I have a million of them floating around my house, but whenever I need one it's no-where to be found, lol. Thanks for this thread, I'm always looking for ways to improve by executive function.

I've started a part time job and getting really lazy even though I have more time than when I was working full time. I actually had an afternoon nap and didn't go to the gym as I wake early and feel tired.
I do struggle with this and have to have a list or someone saying that I should do something.

Yes. I call myself lazy. I don't know if I have ED or not. I just get very forgetful and tend to procrastinate. I even have a hard time planning my routines to just do it. I keep telling myself "I'll do this later" and I forget. "I'll do this tomorrow" bam next day comes and I am like "I'll do it later," never happens.

I think I have both. One definitely exacerbates the other. I often don't do get around to doing things just because organising it will be such an effort. I can very easily procrastinate my life away.

Also, I appear to have a problem which may be related in that I seem to be utterly addicted to stimulation, which (at best) usually takes the form of intellectual pursuits. At worst it'll be some horrible, pointless but hooky videogame. I get lost for hours and hours in research, but taking 20 minutes to wash the dishes seems like a terribly burdensome ordeal. And when I'm doing things I don't want to do that I should be doing, I get the urge to go back to my stimulating thing. I'm kind of attempting to turn my mental stimulation addiction toward something useful that I can hopefully make a couple of bob doing.

It's a bit like being a crack addict, but instead of crack it's philosophy or psychology or something

It's not that executive dysfunction and laziness are two different things. Executive dysfunction simply describes the basis for laziness (and other things).

The best term that I have heard for it is "Analysis Paralysis" and yes I do it all the time in fact I'm am currently looking at a list of things that I have to do today, I'm two hours into my day and have yet to start a single task. It doesn't help, though, that I obsess about things and just spent about forty minutes doing research on autism and seizures, like I do every chance that I have. Why won't my brain just do things normally? I am very well versed in many things that no-one else wants to hear about.