Trouble Starting Stuff You Want to do?

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This might not make sense, but like many aspies I have trouble starting things I don't want to do, but I also have trouble starting something I really want to do, expecially if it takes some time to do. I guess it's because I want to spread out the gratification so I can enjoy it as long as possible, and because if I get caught up in it I'll be absorbed in it for awhile and I don't want to run out of time, but avoiding it just makes me get trapped into doing something else so that when I finally bring my self to do what I actually want to do I actually am running out of time, which ruins the experience. Does anyone else have a problem like this?

Yep. Even when there's a book I really want to read or a movie I really want to see, just sitting down and doing it is like a mental challenge for me. This is part of the reason I started my "movie a day" topic in the movie forum. I wanted to feel like I was actually getting around to something once in awhile, even if it's just watching some old piece of crap horror movie or something.

yeah, i bought a brand new microphone to record some music, but i am almost afraid to spoil the fun by actually starting a new song! so i put it off to savour the moment until the time is "just right"... sometimes i delay stuff off toooooo long though, and i lose steam.

Absolutely. This is a major problem for me. Even once I've started, following through/finishing things is also a major problem.

Yeah. It's "inertia," and one way to differentiate it from laziness or not wanting to do something is if it happens even for things that you like and look forward to. I can't even remember how many movies I've wanted to see but never got around to until it was too late. And I have a lot of days where getting out of my computer chair is disconcertingly difficult. It's related to executive functioning -- or, IOW, wonky prefrontal cortex functioning.

Article about inertia --> http://archive.autistics.org/library/inertia.html

It's nice to know that there are other people out there who experience this!

I put off doing things I want to do - like watching favorite movies or TV shows - for pretty much the same reasons that the OP described (wanting to "savor it" and being afraid of "running out of time"). I always have to "psych myself up" in order to actually sit down and enjoy the movies and TV shows I love, like it's some kind of chore even though it's not stressful and actually brings me joy.

Because of this, they rarely ever get watched. I can't tell you how many movies and TV shows sit in my Netflix Instant Queue and collect dust (figuratively speaking) because I can't bring myself to watch them. When I actually do get around to watching something, I spread it out over many hours to days (if it's a movie) or weeks to months (if it's a TV show).

The same thing occurs with drawing and writing. If I actually sat down and wrote every single story that was born from my imagination, I would have a novel so massive in scale that it would give Henry Darger a run for his money. But instead I can't even get to Page 2 of a single chapter.

With drawing, I have no problems getting started, but I have trouble finishing them. Over the years I have churned out literally hundreds of half-finished sketches. A very small fraction of those have ever been fully colored and completed. And all of my drawings in their various stages of completion wind up getting destroyed at one point or another, because I am either embarrassed by their execution or ashamed of their content. So like my writing, it's a squandered skill.

Yes, this.

I used to get two DVDs/month from Netflix, but I dropped them from my account for two reasons. The first reason was that they raised the price with no increase in services. The second reason was that it could take me up to two months to watch the DVDs.

Right now I'm having serious trouble starting up a video game I've been waiting a long time to play. Sometimes it's getting through a book, sometimes watching things on television. All kinds of things I enjoy that I hardly ever get around to doing.

Yeah im doing that at the moment, though i kind of started one thing i wanted to do but now im putting it off again... i also do this with my assignments for university... bad me i know. But yeah, i get stuck, most NT's call it procrastination but its not, cause i really wanna do it.
>..<

Hehe, I've also given Netflix lots of free money by putting off watching DVD's for months. (But I found their $5/mo. deal, which makes that less bad.)

So this is just the normal autistic inertia. It's good to know what the problem is, and that it's the same problem that makes me appear lazy, but now what?

THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT!

Damn it! Now I've got to read that article in the morning. I had other things planned I probably would have put off for other reasons. Now I have to change my reasons. Thanks a lot dammit!

I will give an example. I have a whole set of the old 1/8 scale monster models that I want to put together. But I've yet to get started on them. The reason??? I'm afraid I will goof them up. I feel like I must learn the absolute best method to paint them for them to look the best. But is that important? Why can't I just paint them the way that comes natural to me? I don't know. I just feel like I will goof them up---so they sit on my library shelves in their boxes with the shrink wrap on them.

Now...I do have plenty of models (model railroad buildings) that I have completed. So I do complete things. But there are plenty of things that I don't get started on that I should.

There are days that I want to get my cleaning done, but I put it off, because I'm afraid that I won't do a good enough job.

Sounds too much like me. All of it. I'm especially bad with holiday decorating- It happens every year but this Halloween was really bad. I was totally excited about Halloween by the time the decorations hit the stores in August. I was going to do all these cool crafts, come up with a new theme for my porch, etc. I started making things and putting up decorations in mid-September. And then I stopped. I kept looking at the craft supplies and the totes full of decorations and thinking "I should get going on this. Halloween will be here before I know it." Long story shorter, I put up the last of my decorations 3 days before Halloween, and many of the crafts will have to wait until next year.

I think having this pop up to the most recently responded to thread on here might get me to actually go take the bath I've been meaning to take to try to get my body to be in less pain... but its so much easier to just keep reading and posting on WP.

So this is a legitimate austism thing? I thought I was just very, very good at procrastinating.

This has a been a major problem for me for a long time and I just come across as lazy. I have been so frustrated at the problem of really wanting to do something and just not being physically able to do so, even with things I choose to spend my time and money on like my hobbies.

I've been fired before for this exact problem - I was bluntly told that I produce amazing work, when I actually bother to do it . I'm pretty sure I'm going to be kicked out of postgrad for it too - I want to finish it, and I know that I can, but I cannot physically do it, even though I know there will be severe financial and career consequences if I don't finish.

Those articles have some ideas but a few things that work for me (when they work) are:
- start and don't stop to think too much from the moment I wake up until I've done everything for the day; kind of the definition of inertia, but using it to my advantage
- plan only the next two hours to prevent becoming overwhelmed and take advantage of focusing ability
- set goals for the day and stop when you've done them; also taking advantage of working hard and fast when focused but prevents burning up from long drawn out days being around people. Works better at uni or when self-employed or if you can get flexible working arrangements
- b*tch and moan in frustration (in private) until some inertia has built up

If only I took my own advice...