Hi there all,

When I first started on my dex' (for the 2nd time, dx as a kid too) I had far less trouble with the whole finishing what I started thing for about the 1st year and a half or so (it was awesome!), and now after nearly 4 years some days I feel just as dysfunctional on the medication as off (a few times having to stop dex for a week or so to try different meds showed me that's not really the case, though it feels it). I've found that the more 'down' I get, the worse the ADHD becomes - had plenty of fuel for getting down lately unfortunately (lost (another) job) and it's now that I need the ability to finish things more than ever.

Does anyone have any strategies/cognitive self programming/whatever to deal with the ever present issue of "finishing"?

Crash-Dr,

Sounds to me as if depression has become more a factor than ADHD.

You might try an antidepressant along with the Dex for a while. Lexapro works for me. I keep a half jug on hand for contingencies.

As far as strategies, the one that works best for me is to stick with a project until it is done. If I take time off, for example, to care for something else, chances are I quit for good.

I experience ADHD not as random thoughts but as everything on my plate trying to occupy my conscious mind at the same time. Therefore, it helps if I restrict what's on the plate to as few things as possible. Get one completed. Start the next. Starting more than a few (one or two) at the same time is a sure receipe for disaster.

Tough disorder to deal with. Hope I've been of some help.

Bob

I agree with Bob.

Don't bite off more than you can chew.

Decide what's worthy of finishing, BEFORE you start it...and give yourself a break for not finishing projects that aren't really worthy of your grief, if you don't finish them.

Not everything is a priority.

Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't have OCD...
If you do..then my advice will come across as flippant. (0:


Nova

I'm learning to rely heavily upon lists.

Lists on paper and lists on my Palm Pilot.

This way I never forget what I need to do and I can prioritize things.

I usually make a master list and add to it whenever something - anything comes to mind.

At the end of the day I cross off what I accomplished and create a new daily list from the master list of what needs to be accomplished the following day.

I try to be realistic about what I can accomplish in a day. Adding too many things to the list just adds to the stress and can lend an heir of failure to your endeavors if you can't complete everything.

Here's an advice... try to restructure your life in a way you don't have to finish what you start... like for example at work, i try to delegate much of the details and keep smart people around me... I also use as much notes as I can... (im trying to get myself to read a book about mind maps... looks good to me)

I'm learning to rely heavily upon lists.

Lists on paper and lists on my Palm Pilot.

This way I never forget what I need to do and I can prioritize things.

I usually make a master list and add to it whenever something - anything comes to mind.

At the end of the day I cross off what I accomplished and create a new daily list from the master list of what needs to be accomplished the following day.

I try to be realistic about what I can accomplish in a day. Adding too many things to the list just adds to the stress and can lend an heir of failure to your endeavors if you can't complete everything.
I use to be anal with lists. I'd write down everyt little thing that popped into my head. Kept one in my shirt pocket and next to my bed so I could track everything and not forget. Now I'm the total opposite. I write down nothing and track nothing.

Finishing projects? Isn't that what other people were put on this planet for?

Finishing projects? Isn't that what other people were put on this planet for?Rolling On the Floor Laughing My *** Off

Here's an advice... try to restructure your life in a way you don't have to finish what you start... like for example at work, i try to delegate much of the details and keep smart people around me... I also use as much notes as I can... (im trying to get myself to read a book about mind maps... looks good to me)The above sounds flippant, but in fact I did very well with this strategy. But I was lucky to be in jobs where I could. I found you can actually spin that off positively with your staff because it becomes really clear to them how much you need them and if you are appropriately thankful they can become very loyal. Now that I am self-employed and haven't reached a point where I can have staff I realize how much of a difference other people made to my success (not that I didn't recognize it then, but now I REALLY recognize not only how much they were responsible for big achievements but how much they enabled me to cope with the day-to-day).

And yes to the anti-depressant suggestion IME too. That is what my doc swears by wellbutrin for. The problem with some ADs is they make you very sleepy (which is not commonly a WB side effect) and so wont have the immediate pay off in this regard which I have certainly found wellbutrin can.

The advice about letting some stuff go has also been useful for me ... in the grand scheme of things do you have to finish everything? What will really happen if you don't? What are the things that you can in fact acknowledge (even if painfully) to yourself or others will not get done without the whole world crashing down around you? I have found that acknowledging that certain things will never get completed has provided almost as much relief as completing them would.

Lastly, yeah, pick your obligations. I catch myself saying yes to people off the cuff simply because I want to "be in good with them" not that I am immediately conscious that this is my motivation but people want to hear you say yes and some of us are more disposed to wanting to say yes because at least initially it makes us feel good.

So lots of people have already given great advice which I've just spent five paragraphs agreeing with ;-)

N

Yeah, that taking the pressure off yourself is important. I'v started keeping multiple lists. I make one with stuff that has to get done today or within a day or two, starting with appointments. I have another list of stuff that has to get done at some point (painting the hallway, organizing the laundry/computer room, hemming the curtains) and another for stuff I'd like to do for fun if the moment presents itself - this has places i'd like to go, books I'd like to read, movies I'd like to rent, etc.

What this has to do with finishing stuff is this - the stuff on the first list has to be done. I look at that first thing in the morning and plan my day to be as time-efficient as I can. With that done, I can figure out an approximate measure of uninterrupted blocks of time and decide if I have the time (and motivation) for something on the second list, or want to try something fun on the third list, or chuck it all and do something that I feel like doing at that particular moment. As long as the stuff on the first list gets done, there's no guilt about anything else getting done or not getting done - because the guilt about not having gotten something done is the main culprit, for me, of self-denigrating mental talk that keeps me from getting ANYTHING done at all. Once I start telling myself I'm a failure and I never finish anything I start, that's when I don't start anything.