5 ms·

> Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will qui

by siva7 1y ago

> Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. This is also true from my observations but what this writing misses is another much more crucial aspect: People with severe, general procrastination problems have a high chance of having (usually undiagnosed) AD(H)D. This is a neurobiological disorder (more precisely, a spectrum), not something you can trick away by reading self-help books/writings. There is effective medication available for those patients.

eru 1y ago
As far as I can tell, ADHD exists on a spectrum. And treatment is also multi-faceted. Meaning you might want to take your ADHD meds and do whatever exercises your shrink suggests, and in addition see whatever self-help essays work for you, etc.
- dashdashu 1y ago
  You're right but being medicated is usually the first step. The starting line so to say from which you can then explore various other methods and see what can help mitigate symptoms
  - eru 1y ago
    Yes. The medication often works great, if you can get it to work for you. For some people that's less of an option. Eg the appetite suppression that comes with stimulants might be a welcome side-effect in adults, but it's usually a big no no in children.
4gotunameagain 1y ago
As exactly you pointed it out, it is a spectrum. Therefore some things work for some people, while not for others. Not everyone should take amphetamines to be more productive.
LoganDark 1y ago
My ADHD medication doesn't help me perfectly, but it does help. Maybe.
anon7000 1y ago
I have (diagnosed) ADHD, and take meds for it daily. It helps tremendously. For that window of a few hours where it has an optimal effect, I have what feels like an innate desire to do anything. Send those texts I’ve been putting off, coordinate doing an activity this weekend, do that mundane testing on that PR I’ve been putting off shipping, get started on a daunting project. I’m still a procrastinator, and the meds only solve so much of the problem. They aren’t going to put me in that “optimal” state for 16 hours a day. This article rings so true for procrastination, and I think the technique is still useful. It’s embracing the fact that my ADHD will let me focus on a difficult, but “less important,” task. Interesting example. I have a weekend class next week and I’m supposed to read a book before it. Once it’s the day before, odds are 99% I won’t read the book. But I can sneak it in now while it feels less important. Ha, take that procrastination!
MEMORYC_RRUPTED 1y ago
As someone who is a chronic procrastinator, and has diagnosed ADHD, I relate to this. While yes, scrapping tasks and limiting concurrent in-progress todo's helps with peace of mind and feelings of guilt, I am _significantly_ more productive the more I get on my plate. As long as A I have a clear set of small tasks for each project, I can actually make more progress. That said: there's definitely a price to pay for this. I'm very bad at managing energy levels, or making sure I do all of that in a sustainable way, so, it's super productive, until I'm not. At all. Usually quite suddenly. The risk for burnout is quite high. I'm starting to accept that I'll never find the right balance, rather, I'm just getting better at recognising the symptoms that I'm headed towards burnout, and just accept that it's alternating periods of very high, intense productivity, and periods of basically nothing. Putting one thing on my to-do list is the most surefire way of me not doing the thing.
rikafurude21 1y ago
Relying on medication to mask the symptoms of ADHD is effective until you have been taking that medication for years and end up depending on it to function at all. ADHD medication is usually just a stimulant, which your brain adapts to rather quickly, and the sense of "needing it to function" is just your body trying to reach a state of equilibrium.
- Towaway69 1y ago
  That is my fear and why I spend much time reflecting on how I am and how I can cope with being who I am. Growing up, there was no such thing as ADHD, it was always a case of a nervous boy who was unruly in class. And it has basically stayed that way! This post is totally me: I do exactly as the author says, I procrastinate (just as writing this comment - I really need to do something else) and I learnt to use that to order my todo list, i.e., I literally organise my life knowing that if I want to get my tax return done, then its a good time to repaint the ceiling. Loo and behold, my tax return is done ... followed but much arm waving around why the ceiling never got done.
- siva7 1y ago
  That's true for any medication that treats symptoms (majority of all meds) and where there is no known cure for the underlying issue - in this case a neurochemical imbalance. The medication helps you to get a more neurotypical balance and will often have adverse effects on people without this imbalance (e.g. neurotypical students abusing such meds). There should be no shame attached to taking stimulants to treat a disorder yet we have a deep cultural moral issue here to lump such medications as "bad" because they are generally associated with drug addicts due to a lack of understanding.
  - rikafurude21 1y ago
    I dont write off ADHD medication completely, it obviously provides value for alot of people. The thing I'm most concerned about is daily use. I have used them myself once every week or so during crunch times and they have been very useful in that regard.
breakingcups 1y ago
I've read enough nuanced takes on ADHD medication that I'm very reluctant to even seek a diagnosis because I'm very sure I don't want to depend on them, for a variety of reasons. It's made me feel like it's not even worth getting a diagnosis because the only clear path forward is medication or eternal struggle with various much-less effective coping strategies. Anyone who can weigh in with their perspective on this is welcome and thanks in advance.
- intended 1y ago
  Medication improves your life. Crucially, it improves the quality of life for your loved ones as well.
- rodrigodlu 1y ago
  You can do what I do. My doctor let me change my dosage whenever I feel. She trusts me for this. She is also an ADHDer herself. I've found that depending on circumstances I can do well with 10~20mg of the cheapest generic methilfenidate, non LR/XR/whatever, so in my country is USD 10/20 per month. I went as high as 50mg of the USD 100/mo famous ones. Over time with my other therapist (psych) I trained myself to have some discipline processing my feelings, etc. Understanding the routines that were lacking. Here it's common to have regular meetings the psychiatrist/psychologist combo. So different perspectives. My biggest issues were knowing what to do, but not getting it consistently, like: - getting x minutes of sunlight during the morning, and be consistent almost everyday - drink water even on hyper focus moments - pay more attention to breathing even when I'm in the zone doing a lot of apparently rewarding tasks - trying to stop on unproductive hyper focus moments, realizing when they come But the medication is necessary, since changing habits, specially the bad ones is harder. I use the meds as an opportunity to understand myself and having easier time relearning my habits, and getting rid of the bad ones. good luck!
- siva7 1y ago
  Let me tell you, i had the same fear like you once in my life. Getting diagnosed and on the right medication (which takes time to identify as it is a spectrum disorder) changed my life. The meds are formulated in a way which usually doesn't cause drug addiction and they are also among best studied in all medicine.

by siva7 1y ago

eru 1y ago

As far as I can tell, ADHD exists on a spectrum. And treatment is also multi-faceted. Meaning you might want to take your ADHD meds and do whatever exercises your shrink suggests, and in addition see whatever self-help essays work for you, etc.

dashdashu 1y ago
You're right but being medicated is usually the first step. The starting line so to say from which you can then explore various other methods and see what can help mitigate symptoms
- eru 1y ago
  Yes. The medication often works great, if you can get it to work for you. For some people that's less of an option. Eg the appetite suppression that comes with stimulants might be a welcome side-effect in adults, but it's usually a big no no in children.

4gotunameagain 1y ago

As exactly you pointed it out, it is a spectrum. Therefore some things work for some people, while not for others. Not everyone should take amphetamines to be more productive.

LoganDark 1y ago

My ADHD medication doesn't help me perfectly, but it does help. Maybe.

anon7000 1y ago

I have (diagnosed) ADHD, and take meds for it daily. It helps tremendously. For that window of a few hours where it has an optimal effect, I have what feels like an innate desire to do anything. Send those texts I’ve been putting off, coordinate doing an activity this weekend, do that mundane testing on that PR I’ve been putting off shipping, get started on a daunting project. I’m still a procrastinator, and the meds only solve so much of the problem. They aren’t going to put me in that “optimal” state for 16 hours a day. This article rings so true for procrastination, and I think the technique is still useful. It’s embracing the fact that my ADHD will let me focus on a difficult, but “less important,” task. Interesting example. I have a weekend class next week and I’m supposed to read a book before it. Once it’s the day before, odds are 99% I won’t read the book. But I can sneak it in now while it feels less important. Ha, take that procrastination!

MEMORYC_RRUPTED 1y ago

As someone who is a chronic procrastinator, and has diagnosed ADHD, I relate to this. While yes, scrapping tasks and limiting concurrent in-progress todo's helps with peace of mind and feelings of guilt, I am _significantly_ more productive the more I get on my plate. As long as A I have a clear set of small tasks for each project, I can actually make more progress. That said: there's definitely a price to pay for this. I'm very bad at managing energy levels, or making sure I do all of that in a sustainable way, so, it's super productive, until I'm not. At all. Usually quite suddenly. The risk for burnout is quite high. I'm starting to accept that I'll never find the right balance, rather, I'm just getting better at recognising the symptoms that I'm headed towards burnout, and just accept that it's alternating periods of very high, intense productivity, and periods of basically nothing. Putting one thing on my to-do list is the most surefire way of me not doing the thing.

rikafurude21 1y ago

Relying on medication to mask the symptoms of ADHD is effective until you have been taking that medication for years and end up depending on it to function at all. ADHD medication is usually just a stimulant, which your brain adapts to rather quickly, and the sense of "needing it to function" is just your body trying to reach a state of equilibrium.

Towaway69 1y ago
That is my fear and why I spend much time reflecting on how I am and how I can cope with being who I am. Growing up, there was no such thing as ADHD, it was always a case of a nervous boy who was unruly in class. And it has basically stayed that way! This post is totally me: I do exactly as the author says, I procrastinate (just as writing this comment - I really need to do something else) and I learnt to use that to order my todo list, i.e., I literally organise my life knowing that if I want to get my tax return done, then its a good time to repaint the ceiling. Loo and behold, my tax return is done ... followed but much arm waving around why the ceiling never got done.
siva7 1y ago
That's true for any medication that treats symptoms (majority of all meds) and where there is no known cure for the underlying issue - in this case a neurochemical imbalance. The medication helps you to get a more neurotypical balance and will often have adverse effects on people without this imbalance (e.g. neurotypical students abusing such meds). There should be no shame attached to taking stimulants to treat a disorder yet we have a deep cultural moral issue here to lump such medications as "bad" because they are generally associated with drug addicts due to a lack of understanding.
- rikafurude21 1y ago
  I dont write off ADHD medication completely, it obviously provides value for alot of people. The thing I'm most concerned about is daily use. I have used them myself once every week or so during crunch times and they have been very useful in that regard.

breakingcups 1y ago

I've read enough nuanced takes on ADHD medication that I'm very reluctant to even seek a diagnosis because I'm very sure I don't want to depend on them, for a variety of reasons. It's made me feel like it's not even worth getting a diagnosis because the only clear path forward is medication or eternal struggle with various much-less effective coping strategies. Anyone who can weigh in with their perspective on this is welcome and thanks in advance.

intended 1y ago
Medication improves your life. Crucially, it improves the quality of life for your loved ones as well.
rodrigodlu 1y ago
You can do what I do. My doctor let me change my dosage whenever I feel. She trusts me for this. She is also an ADHDer herself. I've found that depending on circumstances I can do well with 10~20mg of the cheapest generic methilfenidate, non LR/XR/whatever, so in my country is USD 10/20 per month. I went as high as 50mg of the USD 100/mo famous ones. Over time with my other therapist (psych) I trained myself to have some discipline processing my feelings, etc. Understanding the routines that were lacking. Here it's common to have regular meetings the psychiatrist/psychologist combo. So different perspectives. My biggest issues were knowing what to do, but not getting it consistently, like: - getting x minutes of sunlight during the morning, and be consistent almost everyday - drink water even on hyper focus moments - pay more attention to breathing even when I'm in the zone doing a lot of apparently rewarding tasks - trying to stop on unproductive hyper focus moments, realizing when they come But the medication is necessary, since changing habits, specially the bad ones is harder. I use the meds as an opportunity to understand myself and having easier time relearning my habits, and getting rid of the bad ones. good luck!
siva7 1y ago
Let me tell you, i had the same fear like you once in my life. Getting diagnosed and on the right medication (which takes time to identify as it is a spectrum disorder) changed my life. The meds are formulated in a way which usually doesn't cause drug addiction and they are also among best studied in all medicine.