> Procrastination is the art of avoiding the emotional pain that happens when you think about working on something you find distasteful or boring
There's a whole other class of procrastination that sits in the ADHD spectrum, which is because the "Hyperfocus time" is just a massive bump in your abilities and you want to use that time to do the most important things in your life.
I've got my tax documents right in front of me behind this screen. I'm just waiting for that dip into hyperfocus flow to pick it up and just do it in one go, instead of accidentally ending up wasting that focus on something mundane. You literally save up your TODO list, because you know there'll be a clearing of the fog and you can go a million miles an hour through your tasks.
I don't know if you experience procrastination the same way, but the version I experience is best called "defeatist perfectionist", a bit of it is the upbringing of "don't start if you can't finish it" from food on a plate to art.
Picking up a jigsaw puzzle is weighing my energies to get through it, before I even start.
Daily life feels like that swim scene from Gattaca.
I've not got enough of a problem to go get diagnosed or medicated, but I've had to find my own way to program in my productivity triggers and they work for me in almost all scenarios. And the only real struggle I have to deal with is people in my life telling me "That's not the way to do it" for something which works for me, to just accept the feedback and not react to it personally.
For what it's worth, I had similar issues and eventually realised that "not enough of a problem" was a pattern of thinking that held me back. Even the DSM5 now uses this language: "the symptoms interfere with, or reduce the quality of, social, academic, or occupational functioning" – hardly a high bar
I think I was unfairly biasing myself against action by needing problems to be bad enough before I would deal with them. Not just in terms of medication or treatment, but also accepting help from others. I think this is partly a pride/shame thing, but also another manifestation of ADHD: crises are far more stimulating than preventative maintenance.
I now try to think of it more like "would this make things better for me? If so, why wouldn't I do it?" To that end, I found that medication helped me immensely with that feeling of helpless inconsistency. I don't always find it easy to get started, but I no longer feel like I'm waiting for the productivity fairy to visit.
I've always compared it to a sports car without a steering wheel. Yes it'll go fast, but you kinda have to wait for it to accidentally point in the right direction and then floor it. Meanwhile everyone on the outside is going "what the heck is this guy waiting for? he's got a fast car, the engine is running, just go."
I didn't think my impairments were significant, to the point that it took me 20 years to go talk to a psych about it. My siblings were already diagnosed and nothing like me (in terms of symptoms) so I thought I was 'fine'.
After talking to a psych I got diagnosed ADHD. After starting medication, and increasing multiple times, it was discovered my ADHD is on the severe end.
I've finally found the dose which works for me, which was over the recommended prescribed amount (as directed by my psych) and it's absolutely changed my life. It doesn't remove the impairments, but has reduced severity enough that I can actually deal with them now. My mental health has improved so fucking much, I feel like I have agency now
I strongly recommend you discuss it with a psych, if even to get a negative diagnosis.
> ergo if you don’t think they are, you don’t have ADHD
It's quite possible to be significantly impaired by something, and not realise that you are. This sounds like saying, "if you don't think you're an alcoholic, you aren't".
There's a whole other class of procrastination that sits in the ADHD spectrum, which is because the "Hyperfocus time" is just a massive bump in your abilities and you want to use that time to do the most important things in your life.
I've got my tax documents right in front of me behind this screen. I'm just waiting for that dip into hyperfocus flow to pick it up and just do it in one go, instead of accidentally ending up wasting that focus on something mundane. You literally save up your TODO list, because you know there'll be a clearing of the fog and you can go a million miles an hour through your tasks.
I don't know if you experience procrastination the same way, but the version I experience is best called "defeatist perfectionist", a bit of it is the upbringing of "don't start if you can't finish it" from food on a plate to art.
Picking up a jigsaw puzzle is weighing my energies to get through it, before I even start.
Daily life feels like that swim scene from Gattaca.
I've not got enough of a problem to go get diagnosed or medicated, but I've had to find my own way to program in my productivity triggers and they work for me in almost all scenarios. And the only real struggle I have to deal with is people in my life telling me "That's not the way to do it" for something which works for me, to just accept the feedback and not react to it personally.