Persistence:faint:

Throughout my life, one major problem has been persistence. I can start all kinds of projects with enough exuberence to lead people to believe it's going to change my life. I can't even begin to name all the ideas I've set upon myself to accomplish without following through. One thing I've been procrastinating on all summer is cleaning my bedroom; I put it off for so long it takes hours to do! That's a pretty trivial one, too; I have set a goal to read Les Misérables (started reading that in February, finished reading it in July) and at least one of the two philosophy books I bought before the summer is over (Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness was a snore, so I started reading Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil instead). I'm always bored, wanting something "fun" to do; but I never do these more mundane things that would keep me occupied!

I took up painting over winter break, but I've barely even done any sketching this summer! Am I that lazy? About two years ago, I took it upon myself to learn Latin but quit after two weeks because memorizing all the verb inflections was too tedious.

Keeping myself motivated on a task seems almost impossible if I don't have some kind of external push/pull!

I know this kid with ADHD who sticks to his schedual so tightly every week and doesn't complain at all about his condition.

I find I have to develop really strong habits in order to feel like I can complete a task without much mental effort. Think about all the routine things that you do without difficulty. I'm pretty good at getting from my bed to my car because I do the same exact thing every morning.

So instead of working to get a task done, think of it as the formation of a habit. Try to read 2 hours a day at the same exact time each day, and the hardest part will be the first chapter.

Do you get bored taking a shower? No, because you know you'll be done in 5 minutes and you can search for more "fun" after. And you have to shower, or you'll smell, so you force yourself into forming the habit.

I can't do projects for the life of me, but I've heard that you should take a similar approach and also break it down into little steps. Don't try to figure out how to get to the end of your project, just to the next step.

I dunno...I usually experience an intense anxiety if I start something and don't finish, so I am RELENTLESS until I am completely finished.

I also go through spurts where I do ONE THING continuously for two weeks, then I don't do it ever again. It's hard to do ANYTHING in moderation, and to keep at it when I do it in moderation...sigh...

This is a result of having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder combined with my ADHD.

Persistence:faint:

Throughout my life, one major problem has been persistence. I can start all kinds of projects with enough exuberence to lead people to believe it's going to change my life. I can't even begin to name all the ideas I've set upon myself to accomplish without following through. One thing I've been procrastinating on all summer is cleaning my bedroom; I put it off for so long it takes hours to do! That's a pretty trivial one, too; I have set a goal to read Les Misérables (started reading that in February, finished reading it in July) and at least one of the two philosophy books I bought before the summer is over (Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness was a snore, so I started reading Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil instead). I'm always bored, wanting something "fun" to do; but I never do these more mundane things that would keep me occupied!

I took up painting over winter break, but I've barely even done any sketching this summer! Am I that lazy? About two years ago, I took it upon myself to learn Latin but quit after two weeks because memorizing all the verb inflections was too tedious.

Keeping myself motivated on a task seems almost impossible if I don't have some kind of external push/pull!

Don't really know how to make you feel better or answer your question...but I wanted to say that in my 20's I did exactly this w/ everything in my life. It was completely out of control. One day I decided that it was unacceptable, causing turmoil w/in my family, and I decided that I would not allow myself to begin a new project unless I was sure I could finish it. I wish I could say that I improved upon the completion of projects, but the truth is, I just don't start as many, lol. I am also less bored like you mention. I know that probably doesn't help you...but..it did seem to get better as I got older

I force myself to finish things that I start. I do it with such a militantcy that sometimes it bothers my wife. I'll insist upon spending a certain amount of time each day to work on it. It might seem excessive to some, but I know that if I start to slack, then it will turn into yet another unfinished project.

I had to be 100% dedicated to my degree. If I had procrastinated over any part of it, I would have fallen into difficulties for sure and probably got the lowest degree classification (a Third) instead of (a Lower Second). I spent practically no time on Leisure although I was so exhausted at the weekend that I spent Saturday in bed which only left about an hour a week to go to the pub, but luckily I stuck at the course. In fact, in the Second year of the course when there was less work to do, I had to do a part-time job to make ends meet and for 8 months had zero leisure apart from 4 visits to the pub. One German assessment was so complicated that I perservered for 3 weeks looking through a huge German dictionary because the vocabulary was so new to me.