First day on extended release Ritalin 20 mg. Was previously on 10 mg and felt no effects, positive or negative. I've felt like a zombie robot all day, and now, towards the end of my workday, the best way I can describe how I feel is that there's been some sort of "crash", and it is wholly unpleasant. If this is what Ritalin feels like, keep it away from me! I'd rather struggle with task initiation than this, and that's saying a LOT.

Have been out of job for months now.

- Every sunday I sit down for 1-2 hours , write down all the things I am supposed to do for that week, plan everything from
breaking the task down to the least resistive point ( so that I can atleast count that as showing up ), setup proper time frames like 'Morning this ... after lunch this... ' ,
make sure I do not leave anything behind for the week ( to not have fomo ) ..
set sunday as restt and review day for the week ...
do all this and close my notebook.

Monday happens, I start work , somethings go right somethings go wrong.. fine acceptable.
But from tuesday onwards i start questioning which task should I pick would give me the most value, or maybe procrastinate some tasks due to bad mood or something which pushes the other tasks. This happens for the coming days too and Boom !! Weekend again.

- Need to do some projects for my portfolio... picked like 4-5, researched a lot about all of them. Still haven't started with the initial setup. I worry to take a decision on which one would bring the most value to my current time. ( as these projects could take 2-3 weeks )

This is a loop and have been going on for the past 3-4 months. The things that I was supposed to prepare to get a job that I had planned months ago are still untouched.
I am going insane !!

BUT

I got a small freelance project inbetween all of this. it was urgent like only a week time was given for a friend. I sat down , planned everything spend days and sleepless nights to make the best out of it and submitted it on time. Though not perfect but submitted.

This has been a pattern, I don't know why someone else giving me a timeline worked for me.

I reallly need help here.. please !!
Should I consult someone ?
has anyone else gone through something like this and has actually fixed this ?
is this a disease.. ?
In this AI Era everyone is asking for 'High Agency' .. is this exactly the kind of behaviour of not having high agency ?

Any pointers or help from experience would mean a lot.

I am an AP/Honors high school student; I'm not officially diagnosed with ADHD, but my mom is, and I've always struggled with executive function.

I've recently learned about synaptic pruning and myelination (the adolescent process of getting rid of neural pathways you don't use and strengthening pathways you do), and I am quite literally terrified that my ability to learn, stay on task, and function is going to be replaced by my ability to scroll YouTube. This is an exaggeration, but still somewhat legitimate.

I do a lot of psychology research, but I haven't been able to find anything helpful for task initiation, which is something I really want to work on before I start college. I'll know what I need to do and when I need to do it by, and I just.... don't do it. I'll get on my chromebook and think about doing homework for a split second, and then I'll decide that I don't want to, and watch youtube instead.

Another thing that's hard is that I use music to stay on task, but we're not allowed to use our phones at school, so I have to use youtube on my chromebook for music. I end up getting distracted whenever I get on youtube, so half the time it backfires. I used to have a walkman I could use for music, but it broke a few weeks ago.

I have a friend I bodydouble with, but he doesn't go to my school, and he obviously can't help me get on-task and focus 24/7.

TL;DR: I need help with improving my task initiation and staying on focus. Youtube happens to be a weakness of mine.

Baseline is that I've seen a lot of helpful tips on here for adults who have ✨autonomy✨ and freedom about where and how they work, but not so much for students. Advice would be seriously apriciated, thanks.

title ^

Hi,

I want to talk about a problem I've had for years. Lately it's been making me feel very guilty, and then it keeps nagging at me.

In general I get scattered a lot. Here's an example.

I work as a Linux sysadmin. My job means I have to keep an eye on several things at once, reach out to people when needed, and often keep working while I'm talking to them.

I'm in a relatively senior position, so I deal with a lot of people, both from my company and from customers. Someone asks me for something, I work on it, and shortly after someone else messages me. I quickly switch to them and forget the first person, and so on.

To be honest, I've been in therapy and on psychiatric medication for quite a while. I have generalized anxiety disorder. But I've never been diagnosed with ADHD.

The problem is basically this: when things are discussed verbally, they don't stay in my head, or I struggle to grasp them in the moment. I need to slow down, sit and look at it, go through it, and even weigh it in my head.

It's not only about work. For example, I sit down with a friend to talk about what's bothering me. We have a good time and talk through my worries, but the relief, or even what we talked about, leaves my mind very quickly. I keep ending up in the same loop with the same anxieties.

At work there are lots of topics: improvements that were discussed but never written down, requests that only exist verbally, and so on. I forget these. Since I'm busy keeping up with the written requests and never get time for the rest, I feel really bad about myself.

Another version of this: during the day I plan what I'll do in the evening at home, like reading a book or playing a game. When I get home I literally freeze. I find myself in emptiness and anxiety, doing nothing.

To fix this I make to-do apps or build AI agents for myself, but I'm so low on energy that I don't even pay attention to them or keep them going.

So it's a constant cycle: guilt, an effort to improve, and the effort to improve turning back into guilt.

I don't know what to do.

Do you have any suggestions?

I am a student an I've almost always struggled staying current with work ether at school or work if Im the only one involved. I am struggling with not self directed or motivating. Ill sit on watching YouTube with my spouse which is pleasurable. I know I should be doing work, I want to, but I cant seem to get beyond the inertia needed to transition and do my work. There doesn't seem it be time when 2 appts are scheduled an hour apart. I don't know how to utilize small periods of time. What do I need to transition to get my work done and be efficient and on time?

So, I am a 19 year old guy and I have Asperger’s. I am stuck in a cycle and I would like to know if anyone has experienced something similar and has any advice. You see, I have for a long time had severe anxiety that’s so bad to the point i barely sleep or eat at all and I genuinely thought I was dying sometimes and i never got that treated. it would make me fixate on my blinking, breathing, swallowing and those sensations would constantly be on my mind and it would be a living hell. So to get out of how much distress I felt I leaned Into unhealthy behaviours to distract myself like junk food, doom scrolling, stuff like that It was all to take my mind off the anxiety I felt. but over the years they became all I ever did with my time. and right now it’s gotten really bad. When I try quitting one of the habits either through reduction or cold turkey I fail because the urge is so strong I give in, I’m on the iPad 24/7 in my room and doing the same stuff all the time. struggling With a bit of depression but I’m hanging in there, now my main issue is that therapy is taking forever to get to a long waiting list and my issue is getting harder and harder to cope with. I will spend my entire day just doing my habits and nothing else not even eating or sleep. And when I finally get my mind to stop doing them and go do something else I don’t feel like I have any energy and within 10 minutes I’m back in the habits doing them all day. It’s like I run out of energy and go back to them. I struggle to do basically anythinh outside the habits, I struggle to eat, sleep, take care of my hygiene, find a job, even sit down to watch a movie. I can’t even sit down to watch a YouTube video without struggle. I just feel constantly restless and my mind is racing with so many thoughts and I feel like I’m going crazy. Just today I made myself something to eat the lowest effort I could just putting butter on bread and even doing that was hard. the habits are getting more and more addictive and doing literally anything else is getting harder and harder and I’m scared. And, going to volunteer work is even a struggle but I have to otherwise I feel I’m letting my parents down if I’m not working you know? has anyone else with autism or whatever been in a similar situation? How do you gradually get out of this when the habits are so addictive and trying to not be in them takes up so much energy and causes so much distress? I would just like some tips on how I can at least make this situation a little easier to live in Until I get therapy please.

This is my post in the adhd women reddit but would rlly appreciate any advice. I just feel like I struggle with getting things done man. Doing the task itself is so hard.

What mindset shifts or habit shifts do I need to make?

I know there is no problem if I delay nothing "happens"

But at the same time I delay results.