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You, like me, probably have to constantly switch what you're doing. And when you do something, you gotta do it GOOD. So! On the flip side, you also want YOU time. But you know how important it is to 'work', i.e. doing productive things!
So what do you do? Simple. Limit the activities you do to only productive activities. Start by doing the very first thing in front of you. Then do the next thing in front of you. Keep doing this until there's nothing left in front of you. Then go to another room. Then another room. Once everything inside is clean, go outside and clean! Take a shower, brush/floss/mouthwash, clean house, clean you, clean clean clean. Just clean. By time you're done, you'll be able to sit down and feel happy, and not depressed knowing you could have and should have gotten your **** together for the day.
I find it best to make a morning routine that lasts 30-60 minutes, including hygiene and eating, to cleanse my mind and prepare myself to go into full blown productive robot mode. Another person mentioned taking breaks, or timing yourself. If you REALLY need to give yourself some you time during your 'work', try fiddling on an instrument or doing some pushups/workingout.
All in all, only you can make the absolute best of your life. Hell why not take your best shot. You can't lose it if you ain't got it, and you can't have it unless you go get it, and it won't happen unless you make it happen.
Well I am still bad about it. but I have gotten a bit better. Wanting to better my life and be independent just came. I just I was just a late bloomer to think about these things.
Now, I am getting myself in gear. I am late to the party, but I am not 30 yet, so it may not be too late. I just wanted to finally have my own freedom, life, and eventually possibly gain some confidence with it, which may also help me with dating, which isn't a strong point for me at all.
I have the opposite problem. I start to feel very uncomfortable when I do not get things done in a timely matter.
When i was in school, I felt very uncomfortable if i was not able to do my homework right when I got home.
I had a friend who had a difficult home life, and was also a genius, who got straight D's and never worried about doing homework.
I was not assertive enough to get him to leave.
When i was in college, he would drive 70 miles to see me and come by unannounced since he had no phone at home. This was in the 70's. He would stay for 12 or more hours on weekends. I was unassertive, and could not persuade him to leave.
It is hard to argue with someone who has a 140 IQ.
This is one of the many reasons I am a college graduate, who earns less than the average high school dropout.
Excellent advice by Ocngirl and Xykaru. My behavior is very similar to Xykaru.
I definitely limit all of my tasks especially ones where I am sitting down. Once I sit down, it is very difficult to get back up again so I limit this time to about 20 minutes.
If I need to clean and don't want to, I will break it up into parts in my head with time limits for each part. For example, I may focus on the kitchen in the morning and break down the areas to clean up.
Kitchen - 30 minutes total: Clear sink- 8 minutes, clear counters - 5 minutes, etc...taking care of all the visible parts. Whatever time is left over is for deep cleaning, like shelves in the fridge. Repeat again the next day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xykaru
Here is the easiest way to solve this problem.
You, like me, probably have to constantly switch what you're doing. And when you do something, you gotta do it GOOD. So! On the flip side, you also want YOU time. But you know how important it is to 'work', i.e. doing productive things!
So what do you do? Simple. Limit the activities you do to only productive activities. Start by doing the very first thing in front of you. Then do the next thing in front of you. Keep doing this until there's nothing left in front of you. Then go to another room. Then another room. Once everything inside is clean, go outside and clean! Take a shower, brush/floss/mouthwash, clean house, clean you, clean clean clean. Just clean. By time you're done, you'll be able to sit down and feel happy, and not depressed knowing you could have and should have gotten your **** together for the day.
I find it best to make a morning routine that lasts 30-60 minutes, including hygiene and eating, to cleanse my mind and prepare myself to go into full blown productive robot mode. Another person mentioned taking breaks, or timing yourself. If you REALLY need to give yourself some you time during your 'work', try fiddling on an instrument or doing some pushups/workingout.
All in all, only you can make the absolute best of your life. Hell why not take your best shot. You can't lose it if you ain't got it, and you can't have it unless you go get it, and it won't happen unless you make it happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
You're never going to "stop" being a procrastinator, that is the wrong goal to focus on. It is about accepting first of all that you are a procrastinator, that it is a symptom of your ADD, and forgive yourself for it. Then you can tackle it, not by willpower, but by experimenting on strategies to help you get things done...but the goal should never be to change your nature, because that will never happen. I know that feeling of "I should be able to do these everyday things without so much effort" because I see non-ADD friends do them easily, but the fact is I can't, that this is the way I was born, and I accept it and make the best of it.
Some things that have helped me include 1. My plan book, which I would die without now!
2. Using a timer. This is helpful especially when it is something I am procrastinating on because I don't know where to start or don't know how to do well (like hook up a new router). What I do is set the timer for 20 minutes or so and do whatever I want, play solitaire, go on forums, etc. Then I set the timer for 10 minutes and do something on my to-do list. It doesn't matter what and it doesn't matter if it's the same thing for the whole time. For something I really don't want to do (like my taxes!) I'll set the timer for 5 minutes only and do something related to getting the task done - it helps to write the task in steps: Instead of 1. "Do Taxes" I'll have "1. get receipts together".
When the 5 minutes are up, I then set it for another 20 to play again. It sounds silly, but starting is the hardest part for procrastinators, and knowing you only have to do it for 5 minutes makes it easier to start.
3. I recognize that I need to see things to remember them. If I put my mail in a pretty box on the table so my table doesn't look messy, I'll never open it or look through it - out of sight out of mind. So I accept that and just leave it out and don't worry about it. Everyone is different, you have to find what works for you but maybe these will give you a place to start.
There are also many, many apps and things available to help you stay organized and be reminded of things, even apps that reward you as you proceed toward the goals you set. There is a magazine for ADD called ADDitude, they have many free articles as well as forums online.
You are never going to stop being who you are, and it's fine. But it is up to you to be proactive in finding ways to succeed and take care of yourself and your life despite the ADD. You can do it, but you have to accept you will be out of your comfort zone many times and go through it anyway.
That's me. I put off doing things I don't know how to do, or that I dislike doing, or if I am feeling that I am not in control of my time. I have gotten better as I have gotten older though. I think it is part of my old passive aggression, that I posted about in another thread.
I have gotten better by imagining what can go wrong if I keep putting something off. The answer--lots of stuff. So I guess what has helped be do better with this issue is negative life experience.
That's me. I put off doing things I don't know how to do, or that I dislike doing, or if I am feeling that I am not in control of my time. I have gotten better as I have gotten older though. I think it is part of my old passive aggression, that I posted about in another thread.
I have gotten better by imagining what can go wrong if I keep putting something off. The answer--lots of stuff. So I guess what has helped be do better with this issue is negative life experience.
That is interesting.
I read a book called the Gift of Fear. I applied the advice of the author to many areas of my life which helped in this area. Basically, if I think it, then I should do it and I usually have to do it right then and there.
Once, my young daughter spilled water on the floor and walked away. I brought it to her attention and asked if she knew about the spill and if she thought anything about it. I expected her to say, "I thought I should wipe it up." To which I would tell her, "listen to your thoughts."
Instead, she said, "I was thinking my mom would wipe it up for me."
The worst problem with procrastinating is that instead of doing a task once, you're doing it 5,10,20, times,(mentally) depending on long you've put it off.
And the more you keep thinking about something, the bigger it grows in your mind.
What does work, if I do it, and I'm trying to do it more and more, is when there is something to do, I 'yell at myself', don't think about it, just do it!
A common problem with some of 'us' is that we work better under pressure. It takes the adrenaline pumping to get up the energy . Give us 10 days to do something and it'll take 10 days. Give us 10 minutes and it will get done, but only take 10 minutes.
The timer idea may help with that since it's a kind of 'deadline'.
However, no matter what tricks I've used, none of it has ever become a habit so the fight is constant.
But the reward of having 'it' off your mind and accomplished is so good, with every success it does become more frequent. For instance, you walk into your bedroom and there are is no pile of clothes sitting on the bed!
You just have to keep reminding yourself of how easy it really was to get that good feeling.
Now, excuse me while I go put away the suitcase I put in the middle of the floor so I couldn't keep ignoring it these last several days
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