The psych articles I've read on procrastination all describe procrastination as ultimately, a choice and a bad habit that can be unlearned. Which puts me on major guilt trip because its not a 'real' problem.I KNOW it's a choice, yet I feel a huge difficulty overcoming it. I haven't attended any classes this week so I could concentrate on finishing a very overdue essay and yet I barely got anything done in the end. I haven't left the house properly in days. I mean procrastination is one of those things that everyone jokes about, how do you tell people procrastination is a problem for you? It's like telling people "I have problems with laziness!"

Ah. You basically just described my entire undergraduate career. I get guilt trips too, especially when I see how easy it is for my boyfriend (and exes) to sit their butts down and get their work done in a timely manner.

I always figured the problem was a lack of willpower; but the thing is, I do want to do those things. I don't know what puts me off. I never figured out why it's so hard to get the ball rolling... and even when it is "rolling" it tends to stop. A lot.

Is procrastination a different issue for someone with ADD than for someone without?

I think it has a lot to do with a mixture of choice and self confidence.

If you truly believe you cant do something before you even try it, you often ask yourself "what's the point in trying?"

Procrastination can come down to a subconscious choice.

Your mind can sometimes subconsciously choose not to do something. And you don't realize that you have procrastinated, until it is too late.

The best thing to do, is to not beat up on yourself. Because that will knock your confidence down even more, causing you to procrastinate even more.

Try writing a priority list of things that need to be done. And put the most important tasks at the top, to insure that you get them out of the way first.

Ah. You basically just described my entire undergraduate career. I get guilt trips too, especially when I see how easy it is for my boyfriend (and exes) to sit their butts down and get their work done in a timely manner.

I always figured the problem was a lack of willpower; but the thing is, I do want to do those things. I don't know what puts me off. I never figured out why it's so hard to get the ball rolling... and even when it is "rolling" it tends to stop. A lot.

Is procrastination a different issue for someone with ADD than for someone without?

I think procrastination tends to be a higher level of a problem for people like ourselves.

But its also important to remember that everybody procrastinates sometimes, even the most brightest of people can procrastinate. Its all apart of being human.

Its also important to remember that procrastination can be worked around. Its not impossible to fight.

You need to find a lot of self believe and will power to help you carry though tasks.
And even non Adders can find this a challenge.

Dont beat up on yourself for doing it... because that will just make the challenge 10x as difficult.

ADD procrastination is a different beast. More than just a simple choice to put off what we can do, in ADD it's an actual mental blockade. A form of paralysis. We form a line in the sands of our mind with an anxiety, a fear, or an expectation and then our mind refuses to consider crossing it.

The most effective bypass that I know of is to engage other people in your life. The paralysis is internal and we find it difficult to cross by ourselves, however another person can help us cross!

Find a campus friend or colleague who can help you review your progress every few days. Talk to some friends from your various classes and ask them to meet you to walk to class together.

When I got my new job offer, I had 2 weeks to sign the papers and fax them in. It took me 4 weeks (and a string of legit-sounding excuses to the new company) to get it done. I spent those 2 extra weeks fretting about how I needed to sign the darn papers. I could have easily just done it. Seriously. There were only about 5 pages that needed a signature.

how do you tell people procrastination is a problem for you?

I don't tell people it's a problem. I usually come up with some good excuse. I think ADD has made me a creative liar. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing so I don't know whether to put a smiley face or a sad face.

I hear you! I'm new here. Procrastination is the bane of my existence. I can't stop it. I don't want to do it... but I can't seem to stop. This "laziness" has lost me two jobs. I'm scared to death of losing another.

I hear you! I'm new here. Procrastination is the bane of my existence. I can't stop it. I don't want to do it... but I can't seem to stop. This "laziness" has lost me two jobs. I'm scared to death of losing another.

What steps have you taken to help avoid this in the future? Have you tried medication and/or coaching?

I tried both about three years ago. My PCP put me on Concerta. The low dose did wonders for my energy levels and I was able to do more physical activities... like work around the house. I had the motivation and energy to do it. Not to mention the overall positive mood that helped me to continue. But it did nothing for my procrastination on mental work. He upped my dose, but that did little more than overstimulate me to the point that I felt sick all the time and couldn't eat or sleep. I stopped taking it at that point. In hindsight, I wish I had just backed it off to the smaller dose. My life was going to hades at that point in time, so I put my ADD problem on the backburner. I'm only now revisiting it as I see the problems of three years ago coming back to haunt me.

My therapist at the time did give me some worksheets and exercises to help overcome my procrastination, but for the life of me I can't remember them. She was reluctant to even admit I had a problem though because I had done so well on her tests. Of course I did. I work great under pressure!!!

This question is really the crux of the problem. I know my choice plays a role, but it's hard to understand how much. For example, I don't have trouble sitting down to do the work I need and even want to do. I can sit there for hours. I want the assignment to be done. I really do. But I can't force the words to come. Wrapped inside that willingness to sit there is a powerful aversion to putting pen to paper.

I truly believe my working memory is failing at that moment that my brain must work, and the sensation is noticeable. I am hit with unpleasant emotions of frustration and desperation for something else to do. Only stress can break the fog — and only partially.

I had always interpreted that as laziness. That's what my parents pounded into me. I was lazy. So I spent all my life blaming myself entirely for this failing. Now I find that I am ADD (formally Dx-ed yesterday, in fact), and that this problem is familiar to millions of otherwise motivated people.

I like blueroo's description: "mental blockade" and "form of paralysis." As I read about ADHD, I find myself drawn to some of the evolution-oriented explanations for how some 5-10% of the population experiences this same kind* of thing, and it makes me think it's not so much paralysis as instinct. As for what survival or reproductive advantage this instinct may have given us — I have no idea. I've read the speculations, but that's all it is, in my opinion — speculation.

But instincts, as anyone who has housebroken a puppy knows, can be broken. It's not easy, and in times of stress, we tend to revert to our instincts, so it will always be with us, but it can be attenuated.

I'm not really sure that's the point, however. I know that if the pressure is high enough, I can force myself to work. What's frustrating is that in those situations, I still know to my core that I am working with half my brain tied behind my back. I'm working against an instinct that in some ways has my better interests at heart (but instincts don't have to pay bills) by trying to protect me from the awful frustration of that paralysis. And won't that paralysis always be with me?

So we can choose not to procrastinate, but that doesn't mean we get to choose whether our brains will be able to perform the executive functions we must have at our disposal to do the work well. This is a handicap. And some people work very hard to overcome their handicaps, and others accept their limitations.

From what I know of myself, I will probably muddle my way through a mix of trying to overcome as much as sheer willpower, good habits and medication will allow, but I suspect there will always have to be some acceptance of my limitations, too. I simply have to accept that although my dreams aren't impossible for a mind as creative and intelligent as mine, they might be out of reach for a mind as difficult to harness into productive modes of operation as mine is. That's not as depressing as it sounds — I can accept that disappointment as long as I can understand why, and with my diagnosis and growing knowledge of the disorder, the world is finally making sense to me.



*Obviously not everyone with ADHD experiences the same symptoms, but it is among the commonest traits.

Writin',

Check out my thread on this. Dr. Hallowell even weighed in on it, which was neato keeno. Also, QueensUGirl has some great info. on this topic.

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=581309&postcount=1

Sandy

It's a real problem. I can feel the difference between being on medication, and not. When not on medication I can't get going with the things I like to do. Even though I'm looking forward to doing something that I enjoy, it takes me a great effort to move forward and begin the steps to make it happen. If I come across a problem at some point in the time line of executing a task, I will just stop and I can't get around it. It's like writers block, for lack of a better explanation. I don't think that people without ADD procrastinate about starting something that they enjoy doing. In fact they do the things that they like at the expense of doing the other mundane tasks that fill our lives.
With medication I just get going and do what I want to do, without any struggle. It just happens - I like doing "A" so I just do "A". Time disappears as I lose myself in the task, and if I encounter a problem, I don't stop, I just address it and move on. This is done without thinking about the process. Again, it just happens.
Without medication I get stuck in the process of "doing". I become very conscious of each step along the way. It's very difficult to describe this block to someone when they just take for granted the "doing" of things without any conscious self-reflexivity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexivity_(social_theory) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexivity_%28social_theory%29)


(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexivity_%28social_theory)

Personally, I feel that procrastination is one of the most difficult things about ADD. It looks like a choice or a bad habit, and therefore it is not addressed correctly. Procrastination is not a choice! One does not have a choice in the normal sense of the word. One might find ways that work, but simply trying to shape up will not do. There is no reason to feel guilty. Would you feel guilty about being dizzy? When a person with ADD complains she can´t get started, this is usually true, and means exactly this. She can´t even if she wants to. An ADD´er cannot start until some event, usually external, activates the circuits that until then have been down. The realization (metacognition) that something is not working is not impaired however (see the book by Antonio Damasio, The feeling of what happens on this interesting phenomena), and usually one also knows that "the system" sometimes does work, hence the frustration and selfblaming.

PS. Anyone found the trigger-let me know.

The psych articles I've read on procrastination all describe procrastination as ultimately, a choice and a bad habit that can be unlearned.

A real choice implies we have free will(we dont).

Temporal Motivation Theory
Utility = E x V / (Gamma) x D

The likeliness you will not procrastinate = your self-confidence you can do the task
* the value of completing the task / (hyperbolic discounting)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting

hyperbolic discounting refers to the empirical finding that people generally prefer smaller, sooner payoffs to larger, later payoffs when the smaller payoffs would be imminent; but when the same payoffs are distant in time, people tend to prefer the larger, even though the time lag from the smaller to the larger would be the same as before.

People with ADHD have extreme hyperbolic discounting. This is an area that will be amoung the most difficult to treat. Simular to treating any hardcore addiction.

The self-confidence to complete a task can be increased by successfully doing/learning similar things. But the same "Temporal Motivation Theory" comes into
play in that process to. Anxiety is the opposite of self-confidence and there maybe a relationship to anxiety and ADHD deficits.

http://jad.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/5/546

Results: MPH improved auditory—verbal manipulation but only in the non-ANX children with ADHD. It had no effect on auditory—verbal storage of information. Also, MPH improved the ability to manipulate visual—spatial information in both ADHD groups, but beneficial effects on visual—spatial storage were evident only in children without comorbid ANX.

MPH(Methylphenidate) was less effective in ADHDers with anxiety(ANX). Any way my hypothesis is if you had an anti-anxiety drug that did not sedate the mind as most do you might see some improvement in procrastination. I'm interested in trying kava kava in combination with traditional ADHD meds but have procrastinated in buying any.

It's a real problem. I can feel the difference between being on medication, and not. When not on medication I can't get going with the things I like to do. Even though I'm looking forward to doing something that I enjoy, it takes me a great effort to move forward and begin the steps to make it happen. If I come across a problem at some point in the time line of executing a task, I will just stop and I can't get around it. It's like writers block, for lack of a better explanation. I don't think that people without ADD procrastinate about starting something that they enjoy doing. In fact they do the things that they like at the expense of doing the other mundane tasks that fill our lives.
With medication I just get going and do what I want to do, without any struggle. It just happens - I like doing "A" so I just do "A". Time disappears as I lose myself in the task, and if I encounter a problem, I don't stop, I just address it and move on. This is done without thinking about the process. Again, it just happens.
Without medication I get stuck in the process of "doing". I become very conscious of each step along the way. It's very difficult to describe this block to someone when they just take for granted the "doing" of things without any conscious self-reflexivity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexivity_(social_theory) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexivity_%28social_theory%29)


(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexivity_%28social_theory)


Ah yes! People DO NOT get it. :D

Even (especially) the things I want most to do -- the things I LOVE doing, that I feel great about myself after doing them -- I just can't get going and do it.

There are also times that, procrastination comes from fear. That we won't get it right, no matter how hard we try.

I would describe procrastination as a form of cancerous anxiety, you have an irrational fear of doing something a bit so decide to put it off just for a bit, but as time passes the fear increases and you ignore doing other things because you want so badly to do this thing, I've always noticed how much easier it is to study at the beginning of the semester then to wards the end.

As time passes the starting anxiety becomes much greater because we develop an anxiety around procrastination, we actually fear putting things off.

In my opinion, we are much more prone to develop problems around procrastination as we are prone to develop other co morbid conditions, because of very tough childhoods brought on by having ADD and such.

Personally, I'm just treating my procrastination problems as I am treating my anxiety problems, first excepting that I've developed an anxiety problem around it and if someone asks me about a thing I put off I tell them as such, that I have an irrational fear of doing the thing I put off, next thing is finding ways to make the task easier to do, let it be asking for help of someone else or doing things that relate to the task or splitting the task into smaller increments...

One last thing, as a person shouldn't be ashamed of having an anxiety problem, he shouldn't be ashamed of having problems of procrastination, I'm just saying stop calling yourself LAZY you aren't, you have a real problem and it's going to take time and patience, not to mention hardships, dealing with it.

i agree tazoz. I used to procrastinate with taking my medication every single morning (as in i would stuff around and find things to do for sometimes as long as 45 mins before i manage to take them). I knew all i had to do was take it, but my mind would side step it and i would do something else instead. I think it was because it tasted gross. Subconsiously i didn't want to. And so i would put it off.

Same as with a long essay or assignment. You know its going to be very complicated and you are going to have to immerse yourself in the essay and it is going to take ages, and concentration etc so your mind just side steps it. Like you keep trying to punch something but somehow inexplicably you just miss!! Yes that is the analogy i was looking for!!

Procrastination is one of the most difficult symptoms both ADHDers and non ADHDers face. Both parties can't believe that not wanting to do something could be a sign of something neurological vs. just sheer will.

Here's the thing; when I was non diagnosed, I must've tried hundreds of different methods to deal with my procrastination. Nothing worked. Never mind the fact that reading and holding onto information was a daunting task. My mind was like a sieve when it came to learning anything.

But after being diagnosed, and going on medication, suddenly I was at the library every day. I was studying hours upon hours. I got more done. I didn't feel sluggish.

I find it hard to believe that medication alone was the answer to my so called 'laziness.' So what else could it be but ADHD?