What Procrastination Looks Like from the Inside 

Funfact - the Watch Later playlist can't hold more than 2963 videos

... and then forget about it

​​@@strongpowerty9377 I reached the limit before and it's up until 5000 :') Same with liked videos, and playlists

@@strongpowerty9377 The procrastination is strong in this one! ... I'm only at a bit more than thousand videos😂 Does that make me a failure?😭😅

Omg wait really?!

I feel this in my soul!! Too many years of my life have gone by unproductively because of this.

Extremely relatable Even if my survival depends upon it I will procrastinate until it's too late because it's is so big and daunting and then give up because it's too late and not manageable

Does a task list help? I'm trying simple solutions, otherwise I get overwhelmed again😔

This. That's it. I need to save this comment for my therapist.

When faced with an overwhelming, dreaded task, I have discovered this technique which has helped me a lot: Do the 50% that is possible. Then realize that there is another 25% that I can do. Now that I am on a roll, there might be 10% more that I can do with effort and new understanding. Forget about the last 15%. Nobody expected perfection anyway.

OH GOD YES. The lack of deadlines is the bane of my existence. I WILL procrastinate something into oblivion for things that have clear deadlines. I feel this in my soooooul. - Harley, Community Manager 🐻

Yep. If their is nothing forcing me to do it then I literally won’t do it for months or even years…

I can recall several times in my working career when management instructed me of "no deadline" with the project, that rarely did I ever see that project through to its completion; as there were always something else coming along that had a deadline to them.

Relatable, it's maybe our long-term or even life goals

If you're self employed, this is pretty much the case most of the time

That actually reminds me of our dopamenu episode! Give it a watch and see if this helps answer your question, if it doesn't, let us know! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--6WCkTwW6xg.html

I struggle with this a lot. Tbh I’m still trying to figure out where the line is between being chemically understimulated from adhd and suffering anhedonia from depression. But yeah. The (super boring and cliche) long term solution to this is to be treating it the same way as depression, having a doctor and a treatment plan/medication, working on your physical and emotional self care through nutrition, getting enough sleep and exercise, and strengthening your support network/spending quality time with loved ones. And by that I’m drastically oversimplifying the process of helping your body produce neurotransmitters and energy the best it can, so that you’re experiencing this feeling less often. But like, f that lol, if I could do all that I wouldn’t be in this mess 😂 but I do highly recommend The Upward Spiral if you’re interested in a much better clinically researched guide to self treating depression. But short term, I find that different things can break the spell for me as a band aid, but that it’s difficult to recognize it happening and address it head on. Like I’ll scroll my phone for hours and realize AFTER the fact that I wasted a whole free evening. But if you’re able to recognize it in the moment and nothing sounds fun enough to bother doing, that’s when I give myself permission to do something completely exciting and new. Like starting a new tv series or video game, or going out for takeout, or a spontaneous ice cream or whatever else. Doing a DIY project I’ve been putting off because it would make a huge mess. Dyeing my hair or doing something fun with my appearance. Do something that you’ve been resisting the impulse to do, because it was too inconvenient or messy or made you feel like a slacker or immature. I can go to my tv tracker app, steam wishlist, bullet journal or my ‘watch later’ RU-vid videos to find all these things for myself lol. There’s always the ‘fun things’ that you were really excited about in the moment but then put off because you couldn’t do it right now. These are the things that can do the best job of breaking the spell for me. Obviously ymmv and it’ll vary a lot by the person, but if you can return to a thing that you hyper focused on before, you can often recapture that feeling of excitement and obsession. And like, the hyper focus also has its costs! But I consider it way better than the anhedonia. The hyper focus can be the kickstart for me to start doing other self care tasks again too, you know? Inertia is so strong and painful to break.

is it like "i wanna watch this movie... but not rn!! it doesn't feel right" then you lie down and do nothing for 10 more minutes? cause same

@@oncefighting Yeah a bit like that. It's like "hey I want to play this game" but I'll scroll endlessly on x social media 1st because the dopamine is faster to access and takes less effort, but then I'll regret seeing that I wasted over an hour (which I didn't see go by) instead of playing. Wouldn't be too much of a bother if it happened once in a while but it's like that most of the time for me and it feels like I have to endlessly trick my brain or bargain with it to get anything done (whether pleasurable or not). But not like in a depression kind of way because I still do get fun and pleasure out of things once I can get round to doing it. Saw an article the other day by Dr Russell Barkley on Additude the other day who talked about procrastination in ADHD as an Intention Deficit Disorder and it hit close to home.

@@HowtoADHD Thanks for your reply, I'll check out the video asap

Ugh, yes, I am not bringing my business forward because I literally have no pressure or deadlines. What helped me in the past were accountability groups, or a coach that set deadlines. I’m currently trying to take my own deadlines more seriously by making clear what I’ll miss out on if I don’t do the things. Not in a toxic way but with a lot of self-compassion.

A concept some like to use is to 'gamify' things. Jessica has a vid about it: How to Turn Your Life Into a Video Game. Hope it helps!

@@michaelchildish That sounds awesome! Thank you 😊

We have a playlist filled with videos referencing motivation in different aspects and contexts. Check those out and see if they answer your question! If they don't, feel free to send us an email via our Contact Us on our website with what you feel is missing from them! 🧡 Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLvq9Tp5JZ8oATn9By12vmYZ-qaFsSYK2q Contact us: howtoadhd.com/contact-us/

Thank you! 🙏🏽 I will certainly look at those. SOONER than later! 😉 Like asap! Lol

@SuperWhisk I relate SO hard! When i get an assignment that is exciting, i can get far if I start right away, when i am still motivated, but as always... i get tired/bored and I don't want to do it anymore - even though it is something i kinda wanna do. And then the procrastination sets in. And for every day that passes, the stress level gets higher. Until i sit a few nights before, getting burned out just hand in an average produkt...

I will seriously convince myself I can complete a 2hr task in 5 minutes lmao

@SuperWhisk jup, that also links to the thing that prioritizing is hard as well, and I need more time for it than others do. Time I don’t have because I procrastinate. And we’ve come full circle 😅

Ohhh!!! Thanks for sharing!

That is a great Ted talk! Love it

Fr, he somehow managed to encapsulate 99% of ADHD in a ted talk without mentioning the disorder, which makes me think he has ADHD lol

Indeed. I'm missing a good few after a mis-spent life. I'm currently awaiting ASD final stage assessment. Meanwhile chasing up an ADHD diagnosis in Britain is currently an absurd amount of time even if you go private. I'll get that looked into later. Other things take priority at the moment anyway! Just makes me laugh, what I said to my friend yesterday: "I like a bit of random chaos as long as it fits into my boring depressing rigid routine" 😆😆

Had to have a root canal because I procrastinated going to the dentist. I still have some of that tooth...sort of. But regardless, Let's Go Team "Maybe I Shouldn't Procrastinate In This Particular Area Of My Life Because Ow And Expensive."

Damn I need to do my appointment

can't even get a dentist in the UK - I am however procrastinating in trying to FIND a dentist for my new adopted son for when he comes to live with me in a few weeks 😬

​@@AB-xu8ef I had a root canal and then procrastinated going back to get the permanent crown for 15 years. Eventually the temporary crown came off and I just had the tooth out a few months back, along with the two wisdom teeth I've procrastinated having removed for about the same length of time. I realised about 2 months ago that I probably have ADHD 🤣

Yes same!

If you want to procrastinate less and concentrate better on studying you can study with me here. I study for 2-3 hours with breaks in between while I keep you company If you're interested, feel free to study with the study videos of mine Hopefully it will be useful for you ❤

OMG! Yes! I do this too! My procrastination spills over to things i love to do too. I struggle with IBS so thinking that may be part of why I procrastinate. Hard to want to do anything when you’re not feel good. Thanks for sharing your experience as it helps to know I’m not the only one that does/feels that! 💜

Yup. I even procrastinated replying to this comment :D

If you want to procrastinate less and concentrate better on studying you can study with me here. I study for 2-3 hours with breaks in between while I keep you company If you're interested, feel free to study with study videos of mine Hopefully it will be useful for you ❤

Turns out ADHD and major depression are not a good combo for this

They really are. Or view procrastination as this moral sin when in reality... procrastination CAN be good and healthy, just like it can be stressful and unhealthy. There's a lot of gray area with procrastination and isn't as black-or-white as I think a lot of us believed.

hahahahaha omg this is hilarious I love it!

😂😂😂

same!!

You're welcome! We're so glad it's been able to help your family!! And thank you so much for taking the time to share and let us know. Stories like this truly keep us going and to keep doing what we're doing

Btw, I've lost two teeth and, uhh, might be losing a third one soon because I can't really afford to fix it and also having panic attacks at the dentist scares me. I'm sorry you lost your tooth, but thank you for sharing because now I feel a little bit less bad about losing mine.

Ahahahha that's SO relatable though!!! Best of luck with errands!

"I'll play that video game later"

It's unfortunately not well know, but about a third of people with ADHD also have OCD. I'm not sure what the rate is the other way around, but the point is that a lot of people have both and will only get diagnosed with whichever set of diagnoses are more obvious to the clinician writing the diagnosis. In general, people with OCD shouldn't take stimulant medication, as stimulant medication tends to increase anxiety. But, in the case of situations where the anxiety is being caused by ADHD symptoms, it's entirely possible that taking a stimulant will result n less anxiety and less OCD tendencies. But, that only gets explored if the clinician identifies the coexisting conditions.

If you want to procrastinate less and concentrate better on studying you can study with me here. I study for 2-3 hours with breaks in between while I keep you company If you're interested, feel free to study with study videos of mine Hopefully it will be useful for you ❤

i can relate to your dad. i moved to a different country after school, so trips to see my family are long and infrequent. it's a source of anxiety to know that if i forget something, e.g. a present for my mom, i can't just turn back around and go get it since that would make me late for the flight. or even worse, if i do forget something important, like my passport, i risk missing out on seeing my family, losing money spent on flights and genrally making myself and my relatives feel sad and disappointed packing in advance helps ease that anxiety because I'm able to double check i've got everything i need and i know that even if i forget something when i pack, i still have time to notice it before i have to leave

I do exactly the same, I use the previous hours to plan my pack in my head, but I only get to it when it's one or two hours before the trip. I just can't do it so early, it feels forced and useless.

and they are using it to train ai which is already weird

To be fair, theft and lying are also things we do because there are tangible benefits, and those are clearly immoral. Whether or not there are benefits for a course of action has no relation to its morality or immorality. Let's hope everybody can supplement the self-awareness gained by watching this channel with real study of virtues.

I agree! I would participate! I'm on reddit a lot and frequent r/adhd and r/ADHDwomen, but I'm also subscribed to r/AMA.

Awwwww, we did once upon a time! I'll pass it onto the team! Though if we do an AMA again it will likely be after the book. Writing a book and keeping up a regular video schedule and running a team is... time intensive. 😂

Yeah for sure, having additional challenges that zap resources like energy definitely having an impact as well. Thank you so much for sharing because it's definitely something important to keep in mind 🧡

Exactly!

Ahahah we hear this a lot and it never gets old -- hope it's hitting at a good time for you! 🧡

I am also recently diagnosed..struggling w finding right meds. How has that been for you?

@@sallycoiner8725 hi Sally. It's been really a journey. I am in south africa so we don't have Adderall etc. My doctor started me on the lowest dose of concerta for 2 weeks which got me to 2pm and nothing more. He then increased it to a higher dose which was good. But for days when I go to class I have a retilan booster which takes me until about 11pm. But then I take forever to sleep. I find if I wake up in the mornings and go back to sleep I'm foggy so when I'm up, I get up. My nephew and niece however are on absolutely different meds to me and to each other. So it hasn't been a difficult journey for me but my niece has been on several different ones and on Risperdal to bring her down at night. I'm lucky to have a doctor that knows me from about 12 and I'm 33 so he knew what I needed for who I was and who I am now if that makes sense?

You're welcome!

I’m Definitely a hybrid!

Hehehehe glad you like it !

Same, I'm in my third year, but I might drop out. . . I don't even do my shopping on time

This has happened to me many times and each time I thought I had learned! Now my greatest fear is my PhD procrastination because I definitely can't leave it til the night before but I can feel my brain definitely wants to....

yep…let’s go with that 😜

It would be interesting to test for sure!

Soo once this was playing I then started working. Apparently I just need to split my attention to accomplish this task

That's so relatable!

Thank you so much for the support! 🧡