Indecisiveness

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I don’t know if procrastination and undecisiveness is an AS or autistic trait. According, I think, to Damasio and Oliver Sacks, indecisiveness is a neurological deficiency, like the lack of socializing capacity. I am so awfully indecisive that miss all opportinities. To cite a seemingly irrelevant case, if I board a bus or a train, I don’t know which empty seat to choose until they are all taken by other people with less problems. I have also great problems if I would like to leave for a holiday or some travel, about when to leave, where to go, which train to catch. I know the whole thing is detestable, but I can'help.

Sound more like ADHD. Or the *N*P personality type in which we run too many choices in our minds (over analysis situations) and can never make a choice. The
person without thier brains in a inattentive ADHD state(theta brainwaves/daydreaming) may only see a few or one choice and have no problem.

I also have difficulty with indecisiveness. I have always thought of it as a problem of "paralysis by analysis". I always tend to break everything, including actions in everyday life, down into components and then reassemble everything while making alterations to individual components in order to analyze the most suitable and best choice. I often get lost in the breakdown and reassembly, and cannot make a judgement or a choice.
I also have difficulty starting new projects because I have to foresee and analyze every step of the project. Often I just cannot decide where to begin, or which step would follow once I did begin. I lose perspective of the larger task I am trying to accomplish.

I only procrastinate on things that I find uncomfortable,confusing,new, or painful.Unfortunately,thats a lot of things.I hate to make appointments because they want you to make a decision about the future and I have difficulty projecting ahead.I dont kno how I will be feeling in the future...if it will be a high or low functioning day,if my IBS will be acting up,a headache day,a tired day.I hate to go any where but the DRs is a nightmare to me....I am long over do for many "tests" my DR wants me to do.I procrastinate about cleaning the apt. because I have difficulty throwing things out.I cant decide if I might need something in the future or someone I know might need it or I might "miss" it.

I dont do well at deciding to go to "new places".I do better when given choices.I dont know what I do want to do but there are certain things I know I dont want to do.This is really frustrating for others.They have to make decisions and then I will shoot each suggestion down for one reason or another until we find something we can agree on.

My biggest current challenge is trying to decide what kind of job I want to be doing next.I know I want to leave the company I work for but dont know what else I should be doing.Everything I think of has draw backs that seem over whelming....in-spite of the fact that I have "survived" many awful jobs.When I am making a choice...I want every detail, to analyse and make "the best" choice.

The only time I did make "spontaneous" decisions (after hours,weeks or days of ruminating)....was by telling myself that I would do X....and if it turned out very badly...I could always kill myself.

I am indecissive when under very high stress.

Been a few cases when people have been angry and demanding an immediate decision and i just cant think!! Even simple mental maths prove a struggle!!

Sometimes even simple thing like what do you want to eat for dinner! Ive never really had much choice in my whole life, as a kid i got what I was given for food, and in the navy its the same, you have 2 distinct meal choices and usually one i dont like so theres nott really any decision to make. So i ended up round a friends house and I was asked what i wanted for dinner and i was totally lost So she sent me to the supermarket and I ended up bringing half the shop back as i still couldnt decide so bought a bit of everything I like.

For example very rapid questioning and i completely lose it totally and have no idea what im saying. Its bloody terrorfying as Im completely a passenger!! !!

Happened at a Doctors surgery the day i came out of mental hospital when the doctor keep asking question after question in rapid succession. He was a total stranger I didnt trust and he was asking very personal intimate questions expecting yes/no answers, and funnily enough i went loopy. I dont actually know what i said!!

People say i need to be decisive in the Navy, but you dont. The training is such that there are strict regimented routines and everything is followed by procedure rather than making complex thinking decisions. "if X happens do Y" simple really!!

Yes, planning in advance is tragically difficult. Which will be your mood weeks, days, sometimes hours ahead? This is the reason I have always made some holidays in September, when you don’t have to book for hotels. But I have to give up air travel anyway, even if it is cheaper than the train.

That happens a lot, with me.

I am very indecisive and my self esteem is so low that I can't trust myself to make decisions for myself...I always ask other people what they think I should do.

I tend to have similar problems. A couple of years ago I was staying at a house with some other people, who didn't know me that well at the time. I came down one morning to find one of the women in the kitchen, and she asked me what I was going to have for breakfast. I just stared at her a bit, confused, because I had no idea, so didn't know how to answer apart from just saying 'I don't know.' She looked a bit baffled, then said she'd leave me to it. The daft thing is, if she'd left me to it in the first place, I'd probably have decided within seconds rather than being distracted by the question. Although that's possibly more of a communication issue ... but the pressure of being expected to tell someone else about the decision really did make it harder to make.

On a more serious subject, I was/am going to go to university next year, but have delayed sorting out my application due to not knowing exactly what to say in the personal statement, and not knowing which universities to apply for. (Although I think I've come to a decision on the latter question, if both of my two main choices offer me a place, I'll once again be wracked with indecision about which one to go for.)

I have a problem with decision making and procrastinating. I can't decide what to buy in shops, I can't decide what to do generally.

Not bragging or anything, just showing that there are some out there that AS (and adhd in my case), that are great at making decisions. I am one of those people who are pretty layed back (or is it laid back?) when it comes to making decisions when working with others, but when there is a crisis, I notice that I tend to take charge of the situation, and calmly direct others. A gift I guess.

Second guessing yourself is very bad while trying to make a decision. If you are trying to choose A or B. Stick with the one that pops out as the best decision right away. (Kind of like in "who wants to be a millionaire" where the guy picks the right answer, right away and then starts using "logic" to pick the best answer, and then gets it wrong.)

Use your instinct, and be confident in whatever choice you make....because beleive me, second guessing yourself will rot away at your insides.

Indecisiveness is possibly an Aspie trait. But procrastination? Are you kidding me? EVERYONE procrastinates! Most people (or at least most young people) seem to have the attitude, "Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow?"

I won't make decisions in public unless I am forced to do so.
By forced I mean for example in a project of some sort where you get teamed up with a bunch of no good slackers and maybe there's a deadline, or its a school project which will be graded. In those type situations I will take charge and start barking orders around. Usually however whoever I'm working with on any given project doesn't quite work fast enou.. If you want something done good enough you best do it yourself basically.
But when it comes to trivial things "what do you want for dinner today?" or whatever I couldn't make a decision for the life of me.

A poem stated by an old english teacher I once had(We BOTH considered ourselves NTs at the time):

Procrastination is a crime
and only leads to sorrow!
I can stop at any time
I think I will tomorrow!

Moral? Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today, or you never achieve anything!

A song from a friend of mine

I had a dog and is name was fido
he was quite a circus pup!
He could stand on his two hind legs
If you held the front ones up!

Moral? Even the most fantastic feat can seem worthless with outside help. Try to do it yourself.

Steve

Well, it seems like it's an AS trait to be indecisive and procrastinatory as many probably think divergently and analytically for maximum comprehension and best outcome. This often makes me really frustrated as I view every aspect of every aspect of a problem, wasting time and strengthening the problem simultaneously.

I think I might be indecisive. Or maybe not. I mean, today, I definitely wanted cheese danish for breakfast. And then I decided I wanted a bagel. No, wait, I definitely wanted cereal.

You know, this topic really needs a poll. I think. No, wait, that's a stupid idea. Or is it an idea brimming with genius?

I'm not even sure I want to post this. It's not a very good post. On the other hand, people have liked other posts of mine that I thought weren't very good.

I'm so confused!