I’ve learnt some “hacks” from How to ADHD (both the YouTube channel and the book).
Something that works for me is “bribing” myself. Either with a planner you enjoy filling, a calendar with stickers, or a reward like TV time or music (not food), give yourself a reason to do your activities beyond the activities themselves.
Another one that’s not always possible for me, but works, is getting non-negative external pressure. Deadlines often get people to start, but that’s too much stress, and we don’t want that stress. A similar thing to a deadline without the anxiety is body doubling. It consists of doing your activity while other person or people do theirs, and you can report back in the middle or only at the end. The idea is that you feel like you need to do it because people are counting on it, without it being super stressful. You might feel watched, you might feel their expectatives on you, you might simply want to exchange your results at the end. However it goes, it might work for you. A variant of this is telling your plans to someone important and then you’ll feel like you need to do it so you can tell them how it went.
My emergency remedy (only when I’m unmedicated for ADHD, because I wouldn’t mix it with my medication): caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant, so it has interesting effects on people with ADHD. Depending on age, metabolism, and quantity, it can be relaxing or “quieting”; it can also help with focus; and it can give a boost to productivity. A cup of good coffee and I do the laundry, cook, write back to people, etc. Now, be careful because a) you can become hooked to caffeine and become one of those people that cannot function without it, b) even without an addiction, if you use it too much, your body will get resistant for a time and it will lose its effectivity, c) some cannot tolerate caffeine well, for example, people with cardiopathies or bipolar disorder. I cannot drink it for long without causing havoc in my sleep and mood. Be careful with caffeine.
And those are the strongest for me. I do recommend getting the How to ADHD book, even if you’re not dealing with ADHD but a mood disorder, a difficult time in your life, etc. The tips are helpful nonetheless.
Because task starting is legit hard and I don’t think it needs some mystical explanation. The way to adress this is to break it town to small tasks and start at it. When I start my remote software engineers work day I start with a checklist to what I want to do - thats already first tiny task that sets me into work mood. Then make the first points easy loke “check email x”, “check website Y” etc.
It’s important to be descriptive with your tasks and just don’t write “check all emails” because those are demotivating and tiring just looking at it. Use multiple points of “check customer X emails”, “check email replies”.
Ive been working remotely for over 20 years so I’m very familiar with this issue and this tip is the best one I can give!
This is true for starting anything. When I’m getting ready to run, I know I have a five minute warmup then a stretch, then the run, but when I start, it’s just a five minute warmup – nice and easy, no rushing.
For a work example, if I’m dreading starting something, I’ll spend a little time the day before just getting ready for it. Get the data accessible, write a checklist (as above, very helpful for offloading brain work onto the page), get reference documents ready (printed), etc.
In Norwegian there’s an expression that translates roughly to “The threshold mile” (threshold, as in door threshold).
Because Dørstokkmila (which is obviously a metric mile - 10km), is terribly long when you need to start something.
The closest expression I’ve heard as a translation was when Green Day sang:
Peel me off this Velcro seat
And get me moving
I sure as hell can’t do it by myselfI don’t know why but this reminded me of a joke…“My parents took me to the doctor because they thought I had mono. Turns out I was just lazy”. I think that underneath it all we are like cows and just want to eat grass and bask in the sun as a default behaviour.
Do you perhaps fear failure? That you might do it incorrectly?
That’s a bit what’s stopping me often from starting something new.
That’s definitely part of my anxiety issues. But that wasn’t what was slowing me down from the particular task in my sights when I made this post.
You might have executive dysfunction
I think it is worth being very clear that “Executive Dysfunction” is not a disorder, it is a term to describe a symptom that appears across multiple disorders as well as independent of disorders.
Task initiation is an uphill battle for MOST people, and on its own does not indicate a disorder. Uncertainty and anxiety are very real barriers that can overwhelm anyone.
… Which is probably why they qualified their statement with “might”.
OP might have an executive dysfunction.
I am not a doctor, but I agree that the possibility that OP has an executive dysfunction is nontrivial. Depending on where you live, finding out might be free. Just saying.
Furthermore you don’t diagnose symptoms, those are reported or observed. Definitely still valid to avoid the immediate jump from symptom to one of the many complexes which develop it.
I’m still not a doctor, but as a first-aid certified person, signs and symptoms can be extremely useful in helping someone. It gives you a starting point to try to figure out what’s happening.
Further investigation is always required.
Medical diagnosis is a science. Things need to be proven. You can’t just go on vibes or feelings or whatever.
Since OP describes some symptoms that can be associated with executive function disorders, doesn’t mean that they definitely have those conditions. Only a qualified doctor should be making that kind of conclusion.
To be clear I’m agreeing with you. I’m saying Ios_chill had a point with executive dysfunction being a symptom of many conditions. So jumping to one of those conclusions based on one symptom without further context nor a systematic approach is wasteful for everyone.
Oh, I didn’t think you were disagreeing.
My entire point is that since task paralysis can be a symptom of an executive dysfunction, it is worth the time for OP to talk to their doctor about it.
I don’t think that the previous poster said, nor implied that OP definitely has an executive dysfunction because of this one symptom.
Neither of which I think you have refuted at any point, in any capacity. :)
Wasn’t sure if this was a dig or a legit suggestion so I looked it up and, honestly, yeah - maybe.
It sounds like ADHD is a prime (or the?) example of this and that definitely wasn’t on my radar. The HD part of ADHD does not ring true to me but maybe it manifests in unexpected ways.
Oh… Uhhh… Hyperactivity in the name, isn’t behavioral hyperactivity. That can certainly be a symptom but the naming comes from hyperactivity in specific brain functions, as in, your brain works too much on things inappropriately.
While that can manifest as hyperactive behaviors, it doesn’t always.
A lot of people are saying ADHD, but I think in some cases it could also be anxiety or depression.
I think the cause isn’t as important because, for all of them, I think, the solution could be the same.
Take one small bite of that huge daunting pie, and get the ball rolling. Then take another bite; do something easy. And then another. And now you’re off.
I have tasks lined up for yeeeeears I think. It’s daunting. I do it a bite at a time.
I don’t feel depressed, but anxiety is definitely on the menu…
Depression isn’t “feeling sad.” It has a lot of symptoms people do t commonly associate with it, including irritability and lack of motivation.
Because everyone is struggling and tired of it? I think mental exhaustion, burnout, anxiety are common currency these days. Don’t be hard on yourself if you need a warm up before you get started, like an old reliable beloved car.
I’ve heard that some people who have ADHD can have a real hard time with “transitioning” from one frame of mind to another as is required for starting a new task of any kind. I imagine people who don’t have ADHD can also struggle with that sometimes
Autistic people can also struggle with transitions from one task/state to another.
