Having trouble with transition from one activity to another

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I have had this problem my whole life as it is the sole reason I procrasinate so much. Even if it is something I want to do, I still have to fight procrassination because the transition to another activity is so upsetting. Once I get into the grove of the new activity then I dont want to stop it either. This as you may see is very disruptive as it causes problems in every area of my life, from getting out of bed, to going to bed, to hygene, to cleaning, to going somewhere, to comming back. Once I transition from one place to another, I need 1/2 hour to adjust being in a new place. Then it goes on to cooking food to cleaning up afterwards. When I work, my transition problems are a nightmare cuz bosses arnt likely to understand the need for rest in between transitions from opne activity to another.

What can I do to make transitions easier???

Dude, I totally relate. I have the exact same problem, and it leads to procrastination in my case too. It's like I have trouble "switching gears" and once I get into one mode I hate to get into another. Here's what works for me, and it's super weird, but it helps. I carry cards in my wallet, and write down what I need to do, especially what I HATE doing and don't look forward to. While I'm doing one activity, I periodically stop and take out the cards and look at them. That way it's not such a shock when I get to it.

great idea, I will try it!! ! Thanks a bunch. Ya my mom calls it "switching gears" too. I find that making lists helps maybe thats why it does....it gradually exposes me to the next activity.

your a genius!
thanks
Jojo

Read this.

read what????

It's a link. They don't show up much, you need to mouse over.

http://www.autistics.org/library/inertia.html

^ Yeah, that -- inertia. Like a bowling ball: hard to get going, but hard to stop once it is, and hard to change it's direction.

I've never found any great solutions, except to do my work in a place where there are fewer things to get stuck doing (i.e. bookstore or public library). It's as if my brain wants each characteristic place to be where I do one certain thing. (I.e. I fill forms out at a table at a local bookstore. At home it's a lot harder to get going on that.)

Obviously, that's not helpful for dealing with that at work, though.

And, I found that Adderal makes it worse. I don't know if everyone has that reaction, though.

I've even realized over time the that even the act of getting out of my computer chair induces a certain amount of discombobulation (unpleasantness which makes me less inclined to do it) if I'm "settled in." It's as is there's some transparent substance that slowly forms over me like a cacoon, and it takes a mental push to break through it. And when it does break it's a mild shock (like cold air on the face). (have no idea if that makes any f'in sense)

thank you blue fins!! ! Wow, that is me 100 percent!

I spend so much time beating myself for being lazy...I always knew I had some sort of inertia, but I did not know it was because I have a different type of processing that can be adapted....cooool!! !! !

also, what should I do about the Hygene thing...its pretty bad, and mom is at loss of what to do with me. I just hate the transition from being clothed and warm to be being naked and cold...then wet after that. What should I do? I had my mom in tears because she has worked so hard with me and getting me to bathe is like pulling teeth.
It is partly a sensory thing, partly an inertia thing and made worse by the fact that I have brain injury and cant smell very well. Although I know intellectually not bathing leads to odor, I cant smell it, so I was trained as akid to do it out of habit, but my training went out the window a year ago when we lived in a house with mirrors on the bathtub...which did not help matters much.
Thank you

You described me perfectly....expecially the cacoon thing.... makes perfect sense to me....the internet is the worst for me. I get stuck on it and it is just too comfortable...even if there is other things I rather do....want to do but stepping away from the computer is like a shock, like you said. speaking of which it is 2 am here I need to get to bed,

Jojo

Apple in my eye, I like the bowling ball inertia analogy, I can relate to that.

Once I'm going in one direction there’s no stopping me. Try to transition left to right I still want to go straight ahead. Come to a stop I'm likely to remain stationary until a really big push. Sometimes it veers off course and becomes a gutter ball.


The only thing I found helped me was to make lists so I can see in advance what I need to do. I would try to focus all my energy on filling that list with ticked off items, focusing on getting the ticks rather than thinking too much about the tasks and transitioning between them. It doesn't quite work all the time, I still end up coming to a crashing halt once I'm out of routine. But it works well for me when I can stick to it, and is the only way I can get things done.

That's the difficult part Try out the ideas in the post I linked & it's links, experiment and figure out what works for you. Personally I manage to shower often enough, but it takes at least twice as long time undressing than showering. Oh, and increasing the temperature in the bathroom might help - I find it a lot easier to shower when naked doesn't mean cold.

Don't beat yourself up for being lazy, it doesn't help any. Inertia is the problem, and that's not your fault - but you'll still need to find your way to live with it.

When I was working as a Welder / Metal Fabricator, the Foreman would always be switching me from one project to another all the time, even when I hadn't finished what I was doing. This was excrutiatingly difficult for me, whereas all the other workers seemed to manage just fine. I found it almost impossible. It was always just as I was getting settled and used to a new task it would change. I used to have somewhat 'hidden panic attacks' where it felt like everything was just becoming a blur. (It probably didn't help that my boss was a jerk and never fully explained anything to me.) But basically it was hell for me, and eventually I got 'laid off'.... because of differences in opinion.

I'm not much better away from work either, if I break out of a routine for whatever purpose, I simply can't find it again. I used to regularly go to the gym until I had to have ingrowing toenails removed, then I never went back again, I really tried because I enjoyed it, but I just couldn't do it.

I have this to a very extreme degree, to the point where I often need help from another person in order to get me from one thing to the next (and then often kicking and screaming -- not literally much, not anymore anyway, but it's really really hard). Sometimes everything just flows, and it all works somehow. But most of the time, it's like every gap is a chasm miles deep and miles wide, and to cross it is impossible. I find the physical aspects (like trouble going through doorways, crossing lines on the floor, etc.) are better in my wheelchair, possibly because I have to move fewer parts of my body. (Not that I have much choice whether or not to use it anymore except short distances in the house that I can still walk sometimes.) But no good solutions to the rest of them other than help from other people. It's exceedingly difficult for me to cross those lines, and that seems to be embedded deep into me.

I've been trying to work this out ever since my post about context and memory. I mean, I remember when I first read that article about inertia - and how stimulants would help me with initiating actions that I had trouble with, but I would still have difficulty transitioning from one thing to another (in essence, practically no distractability from what I was doing when it kicked in).

I often do find I need a break to change tasks and it can take me hours to switch from one thing to another. Right now I need to check bus times and withdraw some cash from an ATM but I am only thinking about how much I should do this while focusing on other things.

I should have checked the bus times three days ago.

Does anyone else get called lazy because of this?

Not since I was a teenager.