> 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.
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.
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!
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.
Meds are like glasses for your brain. I'm nearsighted, I put on my glasses first thing in the morning. I don't feel bad for having to depend on my glasses in order to see clearly like a normal person.
I can either struggle for the next 30 years with whatever I wished I was doing, and be always angry at myself, others, significant other and family, or I can take meds, bear the consequences (side effects really), but be happy for the moments where they do help and I can actually do what I wished for.
Took me almost 10 years to come to that conclusion, so take your time, but once I started my therapy and medication I was so angry at myself for not doing it earlier that it took me almost 2 weeks to shake out of it.
Feel free to check my other comment in my profile that describes my troubles.
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.
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.
- Meds are just one of the tools available, just one part of a holistic approach that includes other accommodations, practices, and support from the people around you
- Not everyone experiences these things in the same way
- Your goals are for you to set; if incorporating meds into your plans doesn’t help you reach your goals, fine. But if meds help you unlock goals you might not be able to access otherwise, maybe they’re worth considering.
- The vast majority of professionals really do want to help you reach your goals; most psychiatrists (for the meds) and psychologists (for your cognitive health) are going to be more valuable in terms of perspective than an Internet thread :D
two of my friends at different times called me and spoke for an hour each, how they suddenly realized that they have ADHD, got diagnosed, got meds, and how their life is completely different now. Sounded almost like they joined a cult or something, but I've been happy for them. In half a year initial joy subsided. I guess they got their new normalcy or something, it doesn't sound like they're having any adverse side-effects.
I still don't want to go this route, I had my ups and that was glorious. Also I hope to get a pilot license one day.
I've heard that a lot, to the point where the advice was not to listen to the advice of people who have been on their ADHD medication for less than a year due to the initial boost.
It's usually more helpful to base decisions on actual studies instead of random anecdotes where you have zero verifiable background information about the patient cases.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.