' Anyone else had Difficulty Finishing Things?

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Hi there, I too find it hard to stick to what I have started. I find myself beginning something new and not seeing it to the end! I wish I could stop this as it's very irritating.

Welcome (even if my feedback did not contribute, no problem)!

Just reading that others deal with the SAME thing helps to not just encourage me a little, but allows me to accept myself a little more...

I may be an Aspie, but I am still human!

Wait a sec... that sounds like being an Aspie is ONLY negative. No!

Let me re-type that as:

I may be an Aspie, but I still have gifts, uniqueness, positive contributions, and a place in this world too! Though my AS is conected to pain, loss, missunderstanding, frustration, and a host of other negative things, I still accept myself as I am, for I am I. It is not so much that I need to accept myself because I can't avoid myself, but rather, if I don't then I will never know what I am deep inside and there may be wonderful things about myself that I don't know about yet -and those are worth fighting for. (Not just for myself, but anyone reading this.)

I refuse to view Asperger Syndrome as a curse that holds me back... as a "ball and chain" around my ankle that prevents me from LIVING. Rather, I see it as some mysterious form that I dance with inside my mind and soul... something that has secrets that I need to figure out. Finding these secrets may not make things easier, thay may not help in anyway, but it will be truthful and that honesty will allow me to be more authentic with myself. Being real with oneself, being honest with oneself, is for myself, part of life. I have lied enough to myself over the years and that has NEVER helped -never...

Having this website to come to has been a haven for me over the years. Here, with my AS, I am part of the majority and that is a conforting thing. Here, I can be me.

Well said.

I can relate too. I get all these Grand Ideas, be it about something I want to write, or home improvement, art project, learning a language, start excercising, take some college classes, whatever...
I get super into it, I make lists and plans and scheduals and buy all the things I will need, start off great and then, after a week or two...
BAM!
Smack into the wall of boredom/disinterest, head first.
Now, usually I cycle back to the same things over and over again, but not always. Last winter I finished my first knitted sweater. I bougt the yarn maybe eight years ago. You get the point?
Also I have a huge issue with impulse control. I seem totally unable to say to myself "Don't buy that rosetta language course yet. Think about it. Save up the money. If you still want to do it in three months, then go ahead.". No, I just flash my card, order it, and then let it lie in a cupboard for 6 years. Unopened. (I actually opened in a few months ago, turned out the first disc was blank, and of course this long after purchase, there is no refund or return. Yay!)

My plan for solving my problems is to win the lotto and then just pay someone else to finish painting the living room when I get bored.

This has been a problem for me too. So many things I start I fail to finish. But I feel I have some pretty good excuses for some of them---but I don't want to get irritated by that right now.

I have outlined 2 musicals but have yet to make progress with them, although I can visualize and hear the musicals in my mind.

I have several books in the making, but have yet to finish any one of them. I began one of them around 10 years ago. One book I began around 2008 I have close to 150 pages completed. It is the best choice for being published at the moment. I am close to the finish of it. But the book I most want to write and finish at this time is a true story about a haunted house. Interesting though is that I have written articles and comments that have been published in books that are sold around the world. I just can't seem to get my own book written.

Why are we like this? Could it be executive dysfunction?

Isn´t it a rather common thing? I´ve always heard many people mention that problem: "I can´t seem to finish the last 10 cm".

Yes, I believe it is a common thing. For me I just have to try to stay motivated and make progress each day. But it's so easy to say, "there's always tomorrow."

I'm always leaving thi

Yes! It really takes time,discipline and devotion to wait for progress to happen. Thinking about that, I realize why it is a good idea
to choose a few important goals and carry them out, instead of starting ten projects at a time, like yours truly use to

I have more unfinished projects sitting around the house that I care to thnk about. I found a piece of lace knitting i was working on that had a really lovely pattern but it's been probably 2 years since I touched it last and I can;'t identify the pattern anywhere or make out how it's supposed to go. Dangit.

That sucks!

My understanding is it is a general problem rather than an AS problem...
I have heard that studies have been done on this phenomenon suggesting if you don't complete a project within 2 weeks, there is a great tendency not to complete it at all.

I used to think it had something to do with fear of failure, but these days I think it is more a case of getting bored and moving onto something more interesting...<shrug>

I have more problems with beginning things than with finishing them.
Once I start something I am likely to finish it. I might think and think about doing something but never actually get around to it. I like it when someone tells me to do something or gives me a project to do. Then I have fun with doing it and get creative with doing it instead of just thinking about doing it.
My granddaughter has always been good at giving me projects to do like painting a picture of a certain animal for her or making a costume for her and I always had so much fun working on those projects. Recently she was visiting and she decided we were going to clean my kitchen cabinets which haven't been cleaned in years and were full of old food and spider webs and such. I couldn't get around to doing it myself, but she knew exactly what to do and was very organized about it and I ended up with clean empty cabinets.

What a great kid! Can I hire her to keep me on task as well? My cupboards need a good cleaning. And my bookshelves.

She is looking for a summer job , but you probably don't live nearby

I have this problem too and it's mostly because I have an OCD: everything has to be perfect