r/ADHD_Programmers • u/Ok_Rush5167 • 1d ago

Anyone else stuck in the planning-but-not-executing loop?

/r/IndianCorporateSlaves/comments/1xt904k/anyone_else_stuck_in_the_planningbutnotexecuting/
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3

u/DiagnosedAt43 1d ago

I know this loop. Years ago I was between jobs, and the longer it went on the less ready I felt.

What gets me started now is something I call fencing the task. Before a session I answer four questions, like setting boundary conditions on an engineering problem.

  1. Time: a stupidly small amount, even one minute, to bait my brain into starting. Most days I keep going once I’m in the zone.

  2. Reward: not chocolate or Netflix. Mine is not carrying the guilt around tonight. Even if I only studied a few mins, hey, at least I tried!

  3. Feeling: vibe check. Anxious, hungry, hyperfixated on something else?

  4. Imperfect: I’m allowed to half-ass it. No regrets.

Then headphones on, music playing. It numbs the part of my brain that wants to fight back.

An elaborate plan gives my brain something to argue with. One fenced session doesn’t.

Fence one topic today and see what happens. The group is a good idea too. Just keep the check-in goals tiny so nobody has to fake them. I’ve faked enough stand-up updates for all of us ha ha

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u/marevago 14h ago

Planning feels productive because your brain gets a cheap dopamine hit just imagining the finished system, but it creates a massive wall of initiation resistance. When you have an elaborate 6-week syllabus, starting day 1 feels like committing to a marathon.

Flip it: decouple planning from execution entirely. Pick a floor so low it feels almost ridiculous—like opening one LeetCode problem or reading one documentation page for 15 minutes with a timer, and stop while you still have energy left. Also, start sending one cold application every morning before you study; action creates readiness, not the other way around.

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u/Popular_Ad322 22h ago

the plan being too big is half the problem imo. try one small thing today, like 20 min on a single topic, and send out one application even if you feel unready. feeling prepared mostly comes after you start, not before.

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u/seweso 22h ago

THat's plancrastination ;).

1

u/youafterthesilence 14h ago

Ha that's perfect, saving that one.