Will power?

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I was wondering if anyone had trouble with will power? I know i need a job but my legs just dont move lol. Even when i do want to doi somthing i somtimes dont get it done. and house work it a trainwreck i do about 75% of somthing and move on and i dont know why nothing is ever 100% but then other times when i really like somthing
i become obssed like i did with twilight books 4 boojks 4 days for em all lol i was wondering if anyone else had that problem

I do have a problem with will power and motivation. I find it very hard to persuade myself to do things I don't want to and would much prefer to slip into laziness and solitude.

Incidentally, in my school there was an Irish supply teacher called Will Power.

This is why I'm lazy. I need to get another job but I don't have enough will power so all this is basically my fault that I am not working again. I'm honest enough to admit to myself I am a lazy and I don't find other excuses and calling it executive dysfunction. I find that bullcrap. My bf says I'm not lazy but I tell him I am so.

I also need to go to bed when I'm tired but I get so wrapped up what I am doing I don't want to stop I end up being over tired. Only time I can go to bed early is if I need to get up at six or seven in the morning for work. At least I was able to get out of my apartment to go shopping for things I needed.

I am often forcing myself to get off my butt to do things. I used to think that's how everyone lived because I've heard everyone has to do things they don't wanna do and then I find out this is not how people live by having to force themselves to get things done. I have no idea what the difference is.


EDIT: To help myself feel any better, everyone is lazy sometimes.

when it comes to will power, I actually have way too much of it. I get so focused on it that it takes over my life. I am on a Gluten free/wheat free diet(and have other intolerances), but because I have so much will power that if I am at a party and there is cake, I automatically do not go near it. I do not even have to talk myself out of it. I just look at it and feel sick. Everyone around me gets jealous because of it. It makes me too motivated that it can take over my life and not allow me to have fun. This goes for anything, even if I had to do a project, where all I do is that project and nothing else until it is done. I think this happens because of the "persistence" that I have as a person with Asperger's. It relates to the hyper focusing and the whole can't go on to the next thing until the other thing is done.

I wouldn't say I lack will power, as I've successfully quit numerous addictions

I do have a huge problem with executive functioning though - I want to do many things, I *have to* do even more things, but I just can't get my head around doing them. there's always a distraction of some sort.

plus, the logistics of doing some things, like for example planning & implementation of my meals, paying the bills etc, is beyond me.

I don't have a problem with will power. What's hard to impossible for me is to do the things I don't like to do when I'm very sad, depressed, fired yet once again, abused by family yet once again, ignored by people or dumped by a friend yet once again, unemployed yet once again. I become immobilized and can waste the days or weeks doing nothing at home. But then, if a tiny good thing happens, I find it a lot easier to do chores.

I have major issues with this. It seems like I have to get into the right mood before I can start anything new. I even have trouble starting enjoyable activities. Lately I've been spending too much time browsing the WP forums and other internet forum sites I frequent. I'm starting to tire of my internet addiction and becoming increasingly bored online, yet I still can't start something new. I keep going back online. Depression seems to really compound these issues I have, though some laziness is present even when I'm not depressed.

I have extreme willpower but I'm also extremely lazy. When I have to push myself, I do it. I quit smoking on sheer willpower when I was 18. However if there's an easier way I will take it.

Taking the easy way out is what life is all about. That's why I despise education and all forms of obligations. I just want cool stuff for myself and to relax. I couldn't even become a criminal because I'm too lazy to commit crimes.

Maybe it takes a lot more will for you than others?

The Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain, Page 146
Another man with AS described his life in a very graphic way:

Every day is like climbing Mount Everest in lead boots, covered in molasses. Every step in every part of my life is a struggle.

// Not all Aspies are the same
/// Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor at Cambridge University in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, and the co-director of the Autism Research Centre there. He has carried out research into both autism and sex differences, over a twenty-year career.

Last edited by TobyZ on 24 May 2009, 4:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't have the best will power in the world. And my executive functioning sucks big time.

For a given task, I either have the willpower of a mule or none at all. When I'm motivated to do a certain task, I go out of my way to obtain what I need. I am extremely stubborn and won't even hesitate to stop until I have completed my goal. When I have my mind set on a task, I can't get it out of my head until I complete it.

Same here. I'm a switch, either I'm on or I'm off. There's no in-between state. If I don't like a task or find it tedious then I'll stall and constantly find excuses to take breaks. My work pace will be agonizingly slow. Yet when I really get into something I'm extremely quick/efficient and hate interruptions.

It's all a bit frightening to me. I'm so susceptible to burn-out that I get worried if a career will work for me. I always wanted to be a scientist but graduate school has done me in to the point where I feel like I'd rather just be a bum.

You may find it helpful to take a short break or vacation from your studies. You may come back refreshed. People are often confused when I work on a task never to stop until it's completed. When I am in hyperfocus, it's extremely hard to break it.

I do have a problem with this, but I learned to handle this. A lack of will power to do thinks, you just don't to do, be must be done is a long term difficulty. I had this in school with my home works (which I mostly just ignored) and other thinks like leaving bed to go to work or cleaning up the kitchen, prior the authorises will close it down, because it constitutes a danger to public health.

But: You can work on it. I don't say it is easy, but if you try to think about the long term consequences of not doing things, you can get enough motivation to do something.