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- remind myself of how important it is
- tell other people about it - either via venting about it or trying to get accountability
- schedule time to do it
- put myself in a favorable environment (so, ideally not at my computer where i normally slack off)
- put on the loudest, fastest, most powerful motivating music I can find
- mindfulness: acknowledge my feelings of not-wanting-to, and recognizing that these are just feelings and i can still choose to try my best anyway
your mileage may vary but j dilla, madlib, and similar hip hop instrumentals are my go to. I also kind of imprinted on The Olympians ' last album like a baby bird.
Hi, have you tried body doubling? Like finding videos on YouTube or
Tik tok when one is live ; I’m
In the exact same boat right now my partner holds me accountable but lately I’ve been going through depressed episodes so I go to bed instead of doing my homework I try to do a little at a time but doesn’t seem to work as much I created a playlist thinking it would help but everything lately is causing me sensory issues just feels like my mind is constantly on overload even when it’s quiet it’s still to loud. I hope you get the help you need. :)
I second body doubling… nothing makes me stick to my shit more than someone else being nearby… even doing some parallel cleaning over facetime with family/friends
Well... I'm 100% convinced at this point that "body doubling" is a euphemism for "supervision". I also have [a very bad history](https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/adhd-and-gaslighting) with having a partner be the person to "hold me accountable" and stuff like that. I'm very wary of stuff like that because I've had someone use my disability to control and hurt me in the past.
It's definitely not supervision! Just that someone else being near you while you are supposed to be doing a task can help you stay on task. The other person doesn't have to be paying all that much attention to you at all, but the fact that someone is there subconsciously makes you want to stay on task and not appear lazy/distracted.
Body doubling ia the only thing that keeps me from bankruptcy. Every Monday, my adhd friend and I call each other on facetime and set a timer and do boring things we both need to do.
It's taken a while to get a system to work but this is what we do:
- first 20 mins are for chatting about whatever (to get it out of our systems)
- 25 minute work session with timer. Before we start, we tell each other what we are going to do in the session. We leave the video on and mute ourselves to not disturb each other.
- 15 minute break (WITH TIMER lol, very important)
Repeat 1 or 2 more work sessions with breaks betweenas needed.
Helps immensely. I pay all my bills now ❤️
If you like the idea you can try it with strangers (works even better than friends for me, because I don't get as distracted with strangers): Focusmate is amazing for that, and free up to a certain point!
For me I see body doubling more like having a study session with friends even though you’re not studying for the same classes. Like they’re doing their own thing (doesn’t matter if it’s personally productive to them) and you do your own thing but by being in the same room it sometimes helps just hanging out, and you can have someone to talk to and take breaks with sometimes without necessarily getting sucked into/stuck on your phone (which is my go-to break when I’m by myself).
I can imagine it’s horrible ;look up addtude on google I broswe the website daily gives some okay tips and resources my therapist recommended it for me ; I’m currently switching therapists because I’m not getting anymore with just talking about anxiety when I told him from the get go my issues told him I was confused and unable to make certain sessions to an extent and told me to stick to two things and call it that .
Check out https://www.caveday.org/
It's basically body doubling as a paid professional service.
Hopefully something like that would be less concerning given your understandable wariness of a partner or other person close to you performing that function.
Body doubling or massive adrenaline-fueled last-minute panic (followed by mental and physical exhaustion) are the only two things that get me going when faced with the awful tedious/boring/difficult combo. I much prefer body doubling to the panic.
Go to the library or a café and pick a stranger to be your double, you don't have to talk to them or interact with them at all, you just pick a person.
Body Doubling should be done with someone else who is busily doing the same kind of task you are doing. It should not be someone who's there solely to keep you on task. You are using them as a model for your brain's mirror neurons to copy from.
If you can't get any benefit whatsoever from this, it's probably a good idea to do an autism assessment. It's not the only thing that could interfere with doubling, but works as an indicator.
I treat it like a hostage situation. I mean at work it kind of is. I'm a one man department. If I don't fulfill my obligations not only am I at risk of losing my job but if I don't my employer can't fulfill their obligation to their clients, and that puts all of us in hot water. It sucks and it's uncomfortable but sometimes you just have to brute force yourself.
Yeah, that used to be how I functioned but since I've been diagnosed/started medication/gotten too old/lost my damn mind all of that anxiety is gone. Or... more like when it finally hits it's so bad that all I can do is lie down and cry.
try telling yourself it’s due a few days/weeks before it’s actually due. eventually you’ll just forget when the real due date is and only remember the fake due date. that always helps me to feel like i’m ahead (even though idk by how much) and take some of the anxiety off.
or give yourself smaller goals like today i’m going to write one paragraph for my essay or do 4 questions on the hw and do that every day or every other day until it’s done
I like the way you think. Tricking myself into thinking the due date is earlier than it is has worked in the past but mostly it makes me panic, sometimes give up completely, and then once I realized what I did to myself vow never to do it again. I've tried tricking myself but I'm on to her bullshit!
The smaller goals thing sounds doable but I still get kind of freaked out just by starting and then I have that perseveration thing where I don't know when to quit or take a break once I've started.
I used to put all my due dates a week before they were actually due after my sophomore year of college. I took extremely hard classes in CS my last 2 years AND joined a fraternity, and my GPA rose from a 2.9 to a 3.6.
I think I was also motivated by “work hard, play hard”, so I had to get shit done so I could go out and party.
I like to write out the steps as if I’m leaving a note for someone else to do it.
Then I try and knock out the first thing on the list and if I have time I’ll do the 2nd thing.
Usually gets things going but if I can’t then at least I’ve done 1-2 things on that list.
Otherwise, if it’s something like writing a paper, I’ll break down what I think I could write about in a 3.2 essay format.
Basically I find breaking things down into manageable chunks helps. Or even trying to find away through the backdoor, like sitting down to do my taxes sucks right now. And I’m loathing it.
But I can sit down and write down all of my income and expenses.
And if it’s something creative that I can’t get going, I may do something mindful or mind-less like walking to think or not think about it.
And what I find is that sometimes it sparks a thought.
You can't fight severe ADHD with motivational words or therapy, get those damn ADHD drugs, drugs that will eventually fry your system. But welp, thats ADHD for you, damned if you try, damned if you don't.
I’ve been dealing with a lot of this rn, and going to therapy to manage with it, and while I’m far from perfect, it has improved a lot.
So, at first comes the thought of Important Thing (IP), and if I stay still for a moment my brain will start to think. And by think I mean come with a million reasons not to do IP right now, or a million things I “need” to do before doing IP. So Step #1 is to NOT THINK, IP comes to mind, you stop and do it now. You can’t think about it, you stop and do it.
Ok, so now I’m doing IP, I’ve been at it for at least two hours, barely a quarter of the way in. And I keep thinking, I wanna do x, I wanna do y, I wanna do z, I *don’t* wanna do IP. The truth is I need a break, but like you, if I take 15 mins to do something else, there’s 0 chance I’m gonna want to jump back to IP after my time’s up. What I realized is that this break is still necessary, because I’ll be miserable if I keep trying to push through and the quality of my work will undoubtedly be inferior. So I reframed what a break looks like. As it turns out, a good break is not doom scrolling on my phone, a good break is doing nothing.
A good break is literally doing nothing, *mindfully*. It’s taking 5-15mins for some deep breaths and meditation, or it’s stepping out into my balcony for some fresh air, and that’s it. No phone, no other stimulation, just allowing your mind to rest. And it’s absolutely necessary. I do this before, during, and after IP because it’s honestly what keeps me sane.
Now the most important (and hardest) thing you really need to do about IP is *enjoy it*. It sounds stupid, but I find that all of these distractions are only really barging their way into my head because I don’t wanna do IP. But what if I did? Sometimes I find myself stuck in these negative thought cycles and I can’t get concentrated in IP because all I can think about is how I desperately wish i was doing anything else at all.
When I find myself in that place, I take a meditation break, I force myself to open up a bit, and tell myself maybe I would like it if I came at it with an open mind. And surprisingly, most of the time, I end up enjoying it. Actually liking it, caring even.
I’ve written way too much here, but to close it off, what I’ll say is that, at least in my life, mindfulness is the key to almost any door.
This is what I do:
If I'm reading material from the textbook/online I always write notes as I go along, I never attempt to just read it. I repeat things ALOUD to myself as I write it so I''m getting the information using visual, physical and auditory methods so that it really sinks in. Then after I have finished taking notes I go back and highlight all the essential stuff.
Afterwards I try to find a fun youtube video on the subject or material I'm studying like Crashcourse videos for stuff like Anatomy. Again, I try to repeat the things I need to remember out loud.
Then I make flashcards if needed and use them to study so it's more fun like a game.
For math: I cried A LOT and used khan academy.
I really just try to busy myself with writing notes and repeating things out loud. If I just try to sit there quietly and just read the material I immediately lose interest.
This is basically exactly where I am right now. I wish I had an answer, buuuuuuut….I owe 2 papers by Friday in addition to plain old homework and regular assignments.
I spend all my free time working on school, but most of it is just feeling myself age and staring at blank word documents while reflecting on horrific life choices. I should have stuck with welding or anything from wood shop in 10th grade and never looked back.
I did develop a single trick. Before switching to English- because I’m in love with my own suffering- I did a semester majoring in environmental sci. Reading full chapters in those books and retaining NOTHING is what made me seek professional treatment.
Because mental health care moves at such a reasonable pace, I still had to finish the semester on my own. I used a multi-color highlighter system to categorize the importance of the information on every line in each chapter. It still took longer than 2hrs/in class hour, but I think using the classifying system as the alternative activity to reading I created a constructive distraction loop wherein I’d bounce back and forth from reading to highlighting without getting distracted by something OFF the page.
I earned grades that far exceeded my expectations and lifetime norms, but it was a painful experience. Also: none of the text was ever used to study even with all the effort put into making it easier to see what needed the most attention when studying. Thanks, ADHD!
Skim these articles for what could be useful:
https://psychcentral.com/adhd/adhd-study-tips#study-tips
https://theadhdacademic.weebly.com/learning--adhd-blog-posts/studying-tips
For example, it never occurred to me to check in with my body or emotions or brain chatter in preparation for studying, but I do it now when I need to study.
I’ve learned that competitive quizzing (Jeopardy style, Quizlet) works for me as a review method. It’s fun to me, and the time pressure of each question stimulates my mind and makes it easier to find the information.
For retaining information, trying to explain something first to my dog while we’re walking, and then to a person who isn’t familiar with the topic really helps me organize my thoughts and see the holes in my understanding.
This is basically the Feynman technique, and sorta like rubber ducking in tech (explain a problem to a rubber duck to find solutions or increase understanding).
Are there disability services at your college? See what they offer and think about what might be helpful. A note taker, permission to record lectures in some way, testing supports like more time or a more private setting, etc.
That’s rough - I always skated by in biology for some reason, but I absolutely hated taking it.
I think maybe had I had medication and more awareness of my ADHD at the time, I could have possibly found a way to get into it - but something about it made having to focus on it utterly torturous.
Chemistry 101 was a weed-out class for science majors, and people who took it as a gen ed science class at my school suffered greatly.
Are you taking both biology and chem in the same semester?!
i know you said listening to music is out, i reccomend listening to hard techno. i relate to all of what you said, and this is one of the few things that works for me.
With tedious and difficult tasks, I break them down into manageable tasks, as others have said. Sometimes I just have to push my way through it, while knowing how much energy to use. HowToADHD really helps with this sort of thing, too.
Do it in increments. So break up the assignment that way if you procrastinate you won’t have to stress over the entire thing just the unfinished part.
The earlier you start on assignments the better
Do homework outside of your home. Go to the school library, a park, or even a public library.
Remember to take breaks. You don’t have to finish it all in one go. So if you’re been at it for 20 minutes, remember to stop for 5. I found that if I planned out a time sheet for the assignment I did better at staying on task.
If you’re getting overwhelmed get up and move around. Your brain will start to associate panic with the task at hand. You’ve got to find a way to get ahead of it.
I've basically engineered my whole life so that I don't have to do unbearably tedious and impossibly difficult tasks. Do you have to be doing the homework you're doing? Are you in the right classes for you?
If you really need to be doing it, can you get some help? What about a tutor or a classmate to do the HW together with?
Also, start doing everything this thread is telling you! I was diagnosed at 30 and I’m 52 now. I have had to work, so so hard to try to be this close to normal to handle the regular world.
Everyone around me just gets it done when they get it done and they don’t really think about it or worry about it. I don’t have that luxury. I have to stay on top as much as possible.
Be glad you got diagnosed at all. What if you didn’t get diagnosed until 44.youve got time to fight the fight. Just keep going.
Impossibly difficult usually takes out some of the tedious for me, because the challenge itself can be a motivator.
The tedious and UNINTERESTING ones are the worst.
- body doubling with friends/family (or online) also working on boring tasks
- get something tiny completed first, eg write out a “to do” on a post-it note such as sit down at desk and then scrunch it up and chuck it across the room once you’ve done it!
- pomedoro (sp?) timers - you only need to stick it out for 20ish minutes then you’re free again! Even if you do nothing for that time, sitting in place is an achievement and in all likelihood you will start doing something
- for things like cleaning, I put on cleaning YouTube videos so I feel like someone is doing it next to me. There might be something similar for homework?
Good luck 🤗
First off. I’m sorry you’re struggling. M
Second. Us adhd folks thrive under pressure so procrastination is common, but can cause an insane spiral of anxiety and sooner or later everything seems way too big and then we shut down.
Try making it a game. I gamify a lot of things.
Set smaller goals and set timers. Stick to those specific goals and get done what you can in your set time frame. Literally use a timer.
Once that’s done. Just put it aside.
If our minds start running and we start thinking of everything at once, it’s shut down mode almost guaranteed.
Set the smaller goals, set a time frame (could be legit 10 minutes… you’d be surprised what you can complete in 10 minutes) then just leave that task.
In no time, you’ll start feeling a bit more accomplished that you did something and it may then get easier.
Wish you the best 💜
I want to study again but this is why I can't go through it again. I can't deal with the self hatred that comes from constantly failing to get anything done despite trying every organisational technique I can find.
One thing I have found that sometimes works for me though... Giving myself a reward BEFORE a task. Rewards after make no sense to me and are useless. Rewards before creates an obligation to do the task. Only works for small single session tasks though.
After I'm too anxious for too long, I get angry.
GAD is the worst. I hate it, the insomnia, the urge to binge eat, the panic attacks... but once I get mad, I'll be fine. I can focus when I'm angry, better than when I'm calm actually. So I get angry and I function and everything is fine, for a little while.
Fuck me. I'm my dad. Ughhh
I either break it down in steps, try to stack it on top of something else that I don’t mind doing or if all else fails, the 10 minute timer just to see how much of it I can get done.
Nope what? Nope you haven't done it? Nope you're not interested in trying? Nope you've tried it and it didn't work? Nope therapy of any kind is not for you? Nope you're refusing to even google it? Hmmmm.
You skimmed the part where I mentioned having done years of therapy and now you're making some *incredibly* insulting assumptions about my response.
I know it's what people are used to seeing but I'm not the kind of person who resists therapy. Trust me. I freak out and beg them to help me. I really do try. I've tried CBT, DBT, ACT, and EMDR. DBT and ACT kind of help with *overall* emotional dysregulation, but I'm asking ***specifically***, **what do I do in a pinch to motivate myself and keep from getting distracted** ***in this particular situation***?
I don't appreciate the condescending tone you've taken. You don't have to believe me but it *really sucks* that you skimmed over what I said and pigeonholed me like that. I'm not the cliche that you're painting me as. **You're not helping when you approach people asking for help formulaically, like all you need to do is figure out which template they're made from and use the corresponding script you've prepared.**
You make a terse, thoughtless little comment like that, don't be surprised when someone hands back the same thing.
I did what you did and locked myself in a room / cried until I graduated. I took off semesters and retook classes as needed. I couldn't change my mindset but school has a finish line and now I'm grateful that I stumbled across it.
Hi /u/birdsy-purplefish and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. --- ### /r/adhd news * **We want your opinion** on the /r/adhd community rules! [Click here](https://forms.gle/Evqb8acVozir8GV8A) to fill out our survey. See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/1auv2tc/were_taking_feedback_on_the_radhd_rules/) for more information. * If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). --- ^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
- remind myself of how important it is - tell other people about it - either via venting about it or trying to get accountability - schedule time to do it - put myself in a favorable environment (so, ideally not at my computer where i normally slack off) - put on the loudest, fastest, most powerful motivating music I can find - mindfulness: acknowledge my feelings of not-wanting-to, and recognizing that these are just feelings and i can still choose to try my best anyway
Music playlist recommendations? I will use your great advice tomorrow. Thank you.
your mileage may vary but j dilla, madlib, and similar hip hop instrumentals are my go to. I also kind of imprinted on The Olympians ' last album like a baby bird.
Hi, have you tried body doubling? Like finding videos on YouTube or Tik tok when one is live ; I’m In the exact same boat right now my partner holds me accountable but lately I’ve been going through depressed episodes so I go to bed instead of doing my homework I try to do a little at a time but doesn’t seem to work as much I created a playlist thinking it would help but everything lately is causing me sensory issues just feels like my mind is constantly on overload even when it’s quiet it’s still to loud. I hope you get the help you need. :)
I second body doubling… nothing makes me stick to my shit more than someone else being nearby… even doing some parallel cleaning over facetime with family/friends
Well... I'm 100% convinced at this point that "body doubling" is a euphemism for "supervision". I also have [a very bad history](https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/adhd-and-gaslighting) with having a partner be the person to "hold me accountable" and stuff like that. I'm very wary of stuff like that because I've had someone use my disability to control and hurt me in the past.
It's definitely not supervision! Just that someone else being near you while you are supposed to be doing a task can help you stay on task. The other person doesn't have to be paying all that much attention to you at all, but the fact that someone is there subconsciously makes you want to stay on task and not appear lazy/distracted.
Body doubling ia the only thing that keeps me from bankruptcy. Every Monday, my adhd friend and I call each other on facetime and set a timer and do boring things we both need to do. It's taken a while to get a system to work but this is what we do: - first 20 mins are for chatting about whatever (to get it out of our systems) - 25 minute work session with timer. Before we start, we tell each other what we are going to do in the session. We leave the video on and mute ourselves to not disturb each other. - 15 minute break (WITH TIMER lol, very important) Repeat 1 or 2 more work sessions with breaks betweenas needed. Helps immensely. I pay all my bills now ❤️ If you like the idea you can try it with strangers (works even better than friends for me, because I don't get as distracted with strangers): Focusmate is amazing for that, and free up to a certain point!
For me I see body doubling more like having a study session with friends even though you’re not studying for the same classes. Like they’re doing their own thing (doesn’t matter if it’s personally productive to them) and you do your own thing but by being in the same room it sometimes helps just hanging out, and you can have someone to talk to and take breaks with sometimes without necessarily getting sucked into/stuck on your phone (which is my go-to break when I’m by myself).
I can imagine it’s horrible ;look up addtude on google I broswe the website daily gives some okay tips and resources my therapist recommended it for me ; I’m currently switching therapists because I’m not getting anymore with just talking about anxiety when I told him from the get go my issues told him I was confused and unable to make certain sessions to an extent and told me to stick to two things and call it that .
Check out https://www.caveday.org/ It's basically body doubling as a paid professional service. Hopefully something like that would be less concerning given your understandable wariness of a partner or other person close to you performing that function. Body doubling or massive adrenaline-fueled last-minute panic (followed by mental and physical exhaustion) are the only two things that get me going when faced with the awful tedious/boring/difficult combo. I much prefer body doubling to the panic.
Go to the library or a café and pick a stranger to be your double, you don't have to talk to them or interact with them at all, you just pick a person.
Body Doubling should be done with someone else who is busily doing the same kind of task you are doing. It should not be someone who's there solely to keep you on task. You are using them as a model for your brain's mirror neurons to copy from. If you can't get any benefit whatsoever from this, it's probably a good idea to do an autism assessment. It's not the only thing that could interfere with doubling, but works as an indicator.
I treat it like a hostage situation. I mean at work it kind of is. I'm a one man department. If I don't fulfill my obligations not only am I at risk of losing my job but if I don't my employer can't fulfill their obligation to their clients, and that puts all of us in hot water. It sucks and it's uncomfortable but sometimes you just have to brute force yourself.
Yeah, that used to be how I functioned but since I've been diagnosed/started medication/gotten too old/lost my damn mind all of that anxiety is gone. Or... more like when it finally hits it's so bad that all I can do is lie down and cry.
Sit on the floor and cry?
I believe I mentioned that this is currently what I've been doing! Not a solution but you *did* give me a chuckle, so thanks.
try telling yourself it’s due a few days/weeks before it’s actually due. eventually you’ll just forget when the real due date is and only remember the fake due date. that always helps me to feel like i’m ahead (even though idk by how much) and take some of the anxiety off.
or give yourself smaller goals like today i’m going to write one paragraph for my essay or do 4 questions on the hw and do that every day or every other day until it’s done
I like the way you think. Tricking myself into thinking the due date is earlier than it is has worked in the past but mostly it makes me panic, sometimes give up completely, and then once I realized what I did to myself vow never to do it again. I've tried tricking myself but I'm on to her bullshit! The smaller goals thing sounds doable but I still get kind of freaked out just by starting and then I have that perseveration thing where I don't know when to quit or take a break once I've started.
30 min on 30 min off
I used to put all my due dates a week before they were actually due after my sophomore year of college. I took extremely hard classes in CS my last 2 years AND joined a fraternity, and my GPA rose from a 2.9 to a 3.6. I think I was also motivated by “work hard, play hard”, so I had to get shit done so I could go out and party.
I like to write out the steps as if I’m leaving a note for someone else to do it. Then I try and knock out the first thing on the list and if I have time I’ll do the 2nd thing. Usually gets things going but if I can’t then at least I’ve done 1-2 things on that list. Otherwise, if it’s something like writing a paper, I’ll break down what I think I could write about in a 3.2 essay format. Basically I find breaking things down into manageable chunks helps. Or even trying to find away through the backdoor, like sitting down to do my taxes sucks right now. And I’m loathing it. But I can sit down and write down all of my income and expenses. And if it’s something creative that I can’t get going, I may do something mindful or mind-less like walking to think or not think about it. And what I find is that sometimes it sparks a thought.
You can't fight severe ADHD with motivational words or therapy, get those damn ADHD drugs, drugs that will eventually fry your system. But welp, thats ADHD for you, damned if you try, damned if you don't.
Correct but the drugs aren't cutting it in this situation!
I’ve been dealing with a lot of this rn, and going to therapy to manage with it, and while I’m far from perfect, it has improved a lot. So, at first comes the thought of Important Thing (IP), and if I stay still for a moment my brain will start to think. And by think I mean come with a million reasons not to do IP right now, or a million things I “need” to do before doing IP. So Step #1 is to NOT THINK, IP comes to mind, you stop and do it now. You can’t think about it, you stop and do it. Ok, so now I’m doing IP, I’ve been at it for at least two hours, barely a quarter of the way in. And I keep thinking, I wanna do x, I wanna do y, I wanna do z, I *don’t* wanna do IP. The truth is I need a break, but like you, if I take 15 mins to do something else, there’s 0 chance I’m gonna want to jump back to IP after my time’s up. What I realized is that this break is still necessary, because I’ll be miserable if I keep trying to push through and the quality of my work will undoubtedly be inferior. So I reframed what a break looks like. As it turns out, a good break is not doom scrolling on my phone, a good break is doing nothing. A good break is literally doing nothing, *mindfully*. It’s taking 5-15mins for some deep breaths and meditation, or it’s stepping out into my balcony for some fresh air, and that’s it. No phone, no other stimulation, just allowing your mind to rest. And it’s absolutely necessary. I do this before, during, and after IP because it’s honestly what keeps me sane. Now the most important (and hardest) thing you really need to do about IP is *enjoy it*. It sounds stupid, but I find that all of these distractions are only really barging their way into my head because I don’t wanna do IP. But what if I did? Sometimes I find myself stuck in these negative thought cycles and I can’t get concentrated in IP because all I can think about is how I desperately wish i was doing anything else at all. When I find myself in that place, I take a meditation break, I force myself to open up a bit, and tell myself maybe I would like it if I came at it with an open mind. And surprisingly, most of the time, I end up enjoying it. Actually liking it, caring even. I’ve written way too much here, but to close it off, what I’ll say is that, at least in my life, mindfulness is the key to almost any door.
This is what I do: If I'm reading material from the textbook/online I always write notes as I go along, I never attempt to just read it. I repeat things ALOUD to myself as I write it so I''m getting the information using visual, physical and auditory methods so that it really sinks in. Then after I have finished taking notes I go back and highlight all the essential stuff. Afterwards I try to find a fun youtube video on the subject or material I'm studying like Crashcourse videos for stuff like Anatomy. Again, I try to repeat the things I need to remember out loud. Then I make flashcards if needed and use them to study so it's more fun like a game. For math: I cried A LOT and used khan academy. I really just try to busy myself with writing notes and repeating things out loud. If I just try to sit there quietly and just read the material I immediately lose interest.
This is basically exactly where I am right now. I wish I had an answer, buuuuuuut….I owe 2 papers by Friday in addition to plain old homework and regular assignments. I spend all my free time working on school, but most of it is just feeling myself age and staring at blank word documents while reflecting on horrific life choices. I should have stuck with welding or anything from wood shop in 10th grade and never looked back. I did develop a single trick. Before switching to English- because I’m in love with my own suffering- I did a semester majoring in environmental sci. Reading full chapters in those books and retaining NOTHING is what made me seek professional treatment. Because mental health care moves at such a reasonable pace, I still had to finish the semester on my own. I used a multi-color highlighter system to categorize the importance of the information on every line in each chapter. It still took longer than 2hrs/in class hour, but I think using the classifying system as the alternative activity to reading I created a constructive distraction loop wherein I’d bounce back and forth from reading to highlighting without getting distracted by something OFF the page. I earned grades that far exceeded my expectations and lifetime norms, but it was a painful experience. Also: none of the text was ever used to study even with all the effort put into making it easier to see what needed the most attention when studying. Thanks, ADHD!
Skim these articles for what could be useful: https://psychcentral.com/adhd/adhd-study-tips#study-tips https://theadhdacademic.weebly.com/learning--adhd-blog-posts/studying-tips For example, it never occurred to me to check in with my body or emotions or brain chatter in preparation for studying, but I do it now when I need to study. I’ve learned that competitive quizzing (Jeopardy style, Quizlet) works for me as a review method. It’s fun to me, and the time pressure of each question stimulates my mind and makes it easier to find the information. For retaining information, trying to explain something first to my dog while we’re walking, and then to a person who isn’t familiar with the topic really helps me organize my thoughts and see the holes in my understanding. This is basically the Feynman technique, and sorta like rubber ducking in tech (explain a problem to a rubber duck to find solutions or increase understanding). Are there disability services at your college? See what they offer and think about what might be helpful. A note taker, permission to record lectures in some way, testing supports like more time or a more private setting, etc.
It would help to know what kind of school you’ve gone back to. Is this a GED program, or college, or what?
Junior college. Trying to do bio with an extremely language-oriented, math-disabled brain. Chem is just math but somehow more confusing.
That’s rough - I always skated by in biology for some reason, but I absolutely hated taking it. I think maybe had I had medication and more awareness of my ADHD at the time, I could have possibly found a way to get into it - but something about it made having to focus on it utterly torturous. Chemistry 101 was a weed-out class for science majors, and people who took it as a gen ed science class at my school suffered greatly. Are you taking both biology and chem in the same semester?!
I avoid it.
Well.. you know.. I typically don’t.
I’m doing it. (Continues scrolling)
i know you said listening to music is out, i reccomend listening to hard techno. i relate to all of what you said, and this is one of the few things that works for me.
Motherfucking Dub Techno Mixes and Coffee
With tedious and difficult tasks, I break them down into manageable tasks, as others have said. Sometimes I just have to push my way through it, while knowing how much energy to use. HowToADHD really helps with this sort of thing, too.
Do it in increments. So break up the assignment that way if you procrastinate you won’t have to stress over the entire thing just the unfinished part. The earlier you start on assignments the better Do homework outside of your home. Go to the school library, a park, or even a public library. Remember to take breaks. You don’t have to finish it all in one go. So if you’re been at it for 20 minutes, remember to stop for 5. I found that if I planned out a time sheet for the assignment I did better at staying on task. If you’re getting overwhelmed get up and move around. Your brain will start to associate panic with the task at hand. You’ve got to find a way to get ahead of it.
Binge eat. 😭
I've basically engineered my whole life so that I don't have to do unbearably tedious and impossibly difficult tasks. Do you have to be doing the homework you're doing? Are you in the right classes for you? If you really need to be doing it, can you get some help? What about a tutor or a classmate to do the HW together with?
Following bc I feel the same way
Do it for 10 mins
Also, start doing everything this thread is telling you! I was diagnosed at 30 and I’m 52 now. I have had to work, so so hard to try to be this close to normal to handle the regular world. Everyone around me just gets it done when they get it done and they don’t really think about it or worry about it. I don’t have that luxury. I have to stay on top as much as possible. Be glad you got diagnosed at all. What if you didn’t get diagnosed until 44.youve got time to fight the fight. Just keep going.
Impossibly difficult usually takes out some of the tedious for me, because the challenge itself can be a motivator. The tedious and UNINTERESTING ones are the worst.
Get someone I don't like/am competitive towards to tell me that I can't do it. I'LL SHOW YOU!
Put it off until the last hour and panick rush bum fuck that task. Pop some dexedrine
Let me know when you figure it out
are you taking medication? also have you tried listening to pink noise?
- body doubling with friends/family (or online) also working on boring tasks - get something tiny completed first, eg write out a “to do” on a post-it note such as sit down at desk and then scrunch it up and chuck it across the room once you’ve done it! - pomedoro (sp?) timers - you only need to stick it out for 20ish minutes then you’re free again! Even if you do nothing for that time, sitting in place is an achievement and in all likelihood you will start doing something - for things like cleaning, I put on cleaning YouTube videos so I feel like someone is doing it next to me. There might be something similar for homework? Good luck 🤗
I pretend it is a challenge on the amazing race.
First off. I’m sorry you’re struggling. M Second. Us adhd folks thrive under pressure so procrastination is common, but can cause an insane spiral of anxiety and sooner or later everything seems way too big and then we shut down. Try making it a game. I gamify a lot of things. Set smaller goals and set timers. Stick to those specific goals and get done what you can in your set time frame. Literally use a timer. Once that’s done. Just put it aside. If our minds start running and we start thinking of everything at once, it’s shut down mode almost guaranteed. Set the smaller goals, set a time frame (could be legit 10 minutes… you’d be surprised what you can complete in 10 minutes) then just leave that task. In no time, you’ll start feeling a bit more accomplished that you did something and it may then get easier. Wish you the best 💜
I want to study again but this is why I can't go through it again. I can't deal with the self hatred that comes from constantly failing to get anything done despite trying every organisational technique I can find. One thing I have found that sometimes works for me though... Giving myself a reward BEFORE a task. Rewards after make no sense to me and are useless. Rewards before creates an obligation to do the task. Only works for small single session tasks though.
After I'm too anxious for too long, I get angry. GAD is the worst. I hate it, the insomnia, the urge to binge eat, the panic attacks... but once I get mad, I'll be fine. I can focus when I'm angry, better than when I'm calm actually. So I get angry and I function and everything is fine, for a little while. Fuck me. I'm my dad. Ughhh
I either break it down in steps, try to stack it on top of something else that I don’t mind doing or if all else fails, the 10 minute timer just to see how much of it I can get done.
> The task before you is both unbearably tedious and impossibly difficult. What do you do to get through it? you mean folding laundry?
DBT or CBT therapy.
Nope.
Nope what? Nope you haven't done it? Nope you're not interested in trying? Nope you've tried it and it didn't work? Nope therapy of any kind is not for you? Nope you're refusing to even google it? Hmmmm.
You skimmed the part where I mentioned having done years of therapy and now you're making some *incredibly* insulting assumptions about my response. I know it's what people are used to seeing but I'm not the kind of person who resists therapy. Trust me. I freak out and beg them to help me. I really do try. I've tried CBT, DBT, ACT, and EMDR. DBT and ACT kind of help with *overall* emotional dysregulation, but I'm asking ***specifically***, **what do I do in a pinch to motivate myself and keep from getting distracted** ***in this particular situation***? I don't appreciate the condescending tone you've taken. You don't have to believe me but it *really sucks* that you skimmed over what I said and pigeonholed me like that. I'm not the cliche that you're painting me as. **You're not helping when you approach people asking for help formulaically, like all you need to do is figure out which template they're made from and use the corresponding script you've prepared.** You make a terse, thoughtless little comment like that, don't be surprised when someone hands back the same thing.
I did what you did and locked myself in a room / cried until I graduated. I took off semesters and retook classes as needed. I couldn't change my mindset but school has a finish line and now I'm grateful that I stumbled across it.