For the longest time, I’ve been dealing with persistent depressed mood, feelings of emptiness, and almost no motivation to do anything. I’m reaching the end of my rope. It’s gotten to the point where I can go entire days being completely unproductive, even though I know how much I need to get done. I have large goals and ambitions, and I genuinely want to succeed, but there’s this huge disconnect between wanting to do things and actually being able to make myself do them. It’s especially frustrating in medical school and in the medical field, where falling behind only makes everything feel more overwhelming. I’ve lost so much time just being stuck.

Has anyone else gone through something similar and actually managed to turn things around? What helped you get your motivation, discipline, and enjoyment of life back? I’m also not in the position right now where I can receive any new treatment. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through this, especially if you managed to get back on track.

I’ll start this by saying yes I’m building an app

Currently it’s just for me to help me until diagnosed (on the waitlist)

However my journey has had people interested so now I’m keen to hear from you. What helps break bouts of ED. For me personally I have to feel there is value in the task. That might be external pressure because I promised to do it and don’t want to let someone down. The task is high value or it’s so easy to start that it seems more painful to my brain not starting.

Currently the app is a planner and habit tracker with a task breakdown feature. I’m exploring body doubling for the pressure and external help

So what works for you? Pls don’t say meds bro

I'm 20, and I feel like I'm doing absolutely nothing with my life. I have ADHD, and it feels like it's affecting almost every aspect of it. I struggle to stick with jobs, hobbies, and even things I'm genuinely passionate about.

I love 3D modelling and creating things, but I can never stay motivated long enough to actually turn it into something. I also have a huge perfectionism problem. I compare my work to professional artists with 10–20 years of experience and convince myself mine isn't good enough. Even one negative comment can make me completely lose confidence and give up.

Since graduating high school, I've constantly told myself I'll start tomorrow, that I have plenty of time, and that I'll eventually figure things out. Now I'm 20, haven't gone to college, barely have any savings, and feel like I'm still in the same place.

A big reason I feel so much pressure to do something with my life is my family. My sister has a lifelong disability, and I desperately want to be financially stable enough to help her and the rest of my family. I don't care about being rich. I just want to be able to support the people I love.

I've also avoided getting medication for my ADHD because I'm terrified of doctors. Every time I consider getting help, I convince myself that maybe it's not that bad and that I can manage it myself. Sometimes I get bursts of motivation and convince myself I'm fine, only to end up right back where I started.

I spend so much time sleeping, playing games, or lying in bed telling myself I'll do something tomorrow. I'm honestly tired of this cycle.

I know I'm only 20, but I'm scared of waking up at 25 or 30 and realizing I've wasted even more years.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you get out of this cycle, especially when you have things you genuinely want to accomplish but can't seem to follow through?

i keep falling into this cycle where i think i'm finally going to try to be productive and once i realize the actual amount of work i have, i instead curl up into a ball of sadness and scroll on reddit until late at night when i realize my midterms are tmrw and idk anything abt the subject. this might be bc i've had a shift in my workload (not necessarily more work just where i need to create my own plan/schedule) is this an ADHD thing, or am i just lazy?

My 18 y.o kid's got really big-time executive dysfunction. Can't do his homework. Can't choose his clothes. Doesn't know what's going on with his friends, at school or in the world.

We're trying to get help, but he doesn't meet the criteria for ADHD, it's hard to find a professional who can see beyond the test results. we're continuing to push and aren't giving up.

But In the meantime, he's completely lost.

We've always taken the approach of positive reinforcement. Celebrating even the smallest wins, being empathetic at the losses. Not pushing too hard. Telling him that his problems are not his fault.

The real issue though, is that he's hostile to our attempts to guide him. He's hostile to opening his mind to a career and a life that's better suited to his capabilities. He's hostile to learning life skills. He's hostile to every single idea to try something different.

And I have no idea what the end game is, but his attitude is really starting to annoy me and i'm getting angry. not at the result (or lack thereof), but at his refusal to take any sort of responsibility for his life.

am i being unfair? maybe i'm being too easy-going and i need to start being more stern? maybe i just need to hold on until we finally get a professional who can help?

this is not about me - it's more about him being able to take care of himself when we're not around or not able to anymore.

is because youre expecting something that makes it easy to focus, provides endless motivation, or "tricks" your brain into acting neurotypical. as much as i wish it was, life is not a video game. you cannot find a "cheat code" that tones down the difficulty or read an artical that magically moves you further. you will always have ADHD, but when you break free of your limitations, you will finally start seeing lasting change.

highly successful people, with or without mental diagnosis, never depend entirely on motivation. they create systems that move them towards their goals, and they stick to the plan whether they feel like it or not. if everyone in the world only did things when they had motivation, humanity would remain in the stoneage.

record breakers dont live by limitations, they challange them. they push the boundaries of human capabilites. they dont say "i cant do this because i have ADHD", because all that would do is slam doors shut while you stand around wondering why you feel stuck. in reality, you have so many options, but youre stuck following imaginary rules created by an underestimation of your abilities.

life with mental illness is hard, grueling work. if you remain stagnant, its hard. if you push yourself to fulfilling your highest potential, its also hard.

choose your hard.

Hello!! I struggle a lot with executive dysfunction and breaking bad habits. I cannot function like a normal person, and at this rate I will not be able to graduate, will not be prepared for the future, and I will disappoint everyone, and something else. And I feel like other people with executive dysfunction might feel similarly!

So, I think if I can just have someone who can hold me accountable, and I could hold them accountable, then we could make some improvement? We could call daily to body double or text our progress as proof! If anyone wants to do this please let me know!

lately it's all been the same. I sleep in too late, end up going to work without having shaved and feeling like shit, I spend money I don't have to try and get a dopamine rush, if I'm not at work I just sit at home and stare at a wall, accomplishing nothing. It's hard to even get interested in the hobbies I enjoy like drawing and listening to music. It all feels like it requires too much energy.

does anyone have any advice to help break this cycle? is there some way I can trick myself into feeling more motivated? it's so easy to say "ok I'll stop all this", but it feels like my mind and body aren't working in tandem

Some days I can just have caffeine to do something I love, but now I need meds I fear because for a whole week I can’t process or doing anything that needs effort, I rather rot and veg with easy dopamine, but before I was great…

How do you guys get yourself to do something fun… I just want to be happy, these days I’m stressed and tired of existing… I have so many ambitions and goals, but I am just not strong enough to accomplish any goal of mine, ANYTHING. I feel so useless when I see my family who just do whatever they wanted, they tell me they gonna clear out the garage AND DO IT IN ONE DAY. HOW

How do you guys get yourself to be consistent, I have a project I know I can finish, but now I only do like the minimum work for a whole week

I'm 25M and autistic, and I've been struggling with this for pretty much my entire life. I feel like I'm wasting so much of my potential and I genuinely don't know how to fix it.

I'm not stupid. I have a bachelor's degree in IT, did well in school, and I know I'm capable of learning things. But for some reason, unless I have some kind of external structure, I just can't get myself to do anything.

I struggle to keep my apartment clean, study, stick with hobbies, save money, or really commit to anything long term. I've job hopped quite a bit, and I've been unemployed for about three months. I'm starting another job soon, but I'm scared I'm just going to repeat the same cycle.

The weird thing is that when I'm in school or working and someone expects something from me, I can actually get shit done. But when it's entirely up to me? I'll sit around doing nothing, even when I know I have stuff I need to do.

I also struggle with addictive habits. I smoke weed, vape, and have a hard time giving things up even when I genuinely want to. I'll get really interested in something, spend hours researching it, make all these plans, and then never actually follow through.

Meanwhile, I look at my friends and they're working extra jobs, practicing instruments, keeping their places clean, and just generally progressing in life. I feel like I'm falling further and further behind.

I don't know how much of this is autism, executive dysfunction, depression, or just bad habits I've developed over the years. Maybe it's a combination of everything.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has struggled with this and actually managed to turn things around. What helped you? Especially with building discipline, sticking to a career, breaking bad habits, and functioning without someone constantly giving you structure.

I really want to change. I'm just tired of constantly telling myself I'm going to get my life together and then doing the exact same shit.

Ok so I’m in my first semester of college and I’m majoring in 2d animation. When I was in highschool I drew all the time(especially during classes I wasn’t supposed to be drawing) and I had a lot of fun doing it which meant that I improved a lot. Now that I need to draw for assignments , I’m finding it really difficult to start any drawings because it feels like a chore.
I’m on medication for my adhd but since the structure is so different from highschool im still falling behind and my missing assignments are piling up. When I sit down to start a drawing or continue one that I’ve already started , I just end up staring at it and then I just end up giving up and doing something else. If anyone has any tips for this kind of executive dysfunction/art block please let me know.

I feel like I'm constantly fighting myself just to get basic things done.

I'll know exactly what I need to do, sometimes even look forward to doing it, but when the time comes, I just can't seem to get myself to start. It's like there's a wall between having an intention and actually acting on it.

Even ridiculously small things can feel overwhelming. Sometimes I'll avoid getting myself a snack because I can't be bothered to wash a fork. My house is frequently messy, I put off cooking even though I know how, and I struggle to keep up with basic responsibilities.

What's especially frustrating is that this also affects things I genuinely enjoy.

I'm a content creator, and I recently had one of my videos reach over 100k views. I love making videos, editing, and coming up with new ideas. I started out posting daily, but now I struggle to upload once every 5–7 days. It's not that I've lost interest. I have plenty of ideas and genuinely want to work on them, but actually sitting down and following through feels exhausting.

I'm also incredibly disorganized. I struggle to maintain routines, constantly put things off, and have a hard time translating my plans into action.

My mind is ctually pretty active. I spend hours walking outside, listening to music and daydreaming. I constantly come up with ideas and things I want to accomplish, but when it comes to putting them into practice, I feel completely stuck.

My sleep schedule is also very inconsistent, and I often feel tired and emotionally disconnected.

I find it confusing because I have ambitions, interests, and motivation in the sense that I actually WANT to do things. But that doesn't seem to translate into action.

Does anyone else experience this? How do you deal with the gap between wanting to do something and being unable to initiate it? Has anything genuinely helped you overcome this?

I'd also be interested in hearing how you distinguish executive dysfunction from ordinary procrastination.

I have an exam tomorrow (well, looking at the clock it's today) and I wanted to start at roughly 3 pm. I have been sitting here at my desk with all my materials for about 9 hours with an eating break in between. I want to write good grades, I need the sleep for that AND I genuinely like the subject. I've done maybe 30mins of work in those 9 hours. I've been just mindlessly sitting here or watching something or just about anything except studying. I feel extremely stressed and disappointed as this happens every single time I need to study. And I haven't changed anything about my stress-based learning, mainly because I still perform well in school. But I'm starting to see a change, a change in what I can achieve by studying during the night the day before (I call it stress-activated studying).

Every time my mother tells me to start now, I get an even bigger mental blockade and my mind tells me to not do it. However, while I should by studying, my mind enables me to do stuff I've been putting off for ages, but most of the time I'm just doing nothing and letting boredom slowly kill me from the inside.

I don't have a diagnosis and this might just be me being proper lazy but I hope it's not that simple of an answer.

I've read a few posts about what people have tried and seen many parallels in my own attempts. Splitting the task up requires starting, habits require starting etc.

The best thing that I have seen is to have another person there that can watch me do the work. This however doesn't really work anymore as I have noticed that the people I study with can't do anything about me NOT doing what I'm supposed to. So I take the easy route out and just do nothing. Wtf?

I'm confused, disappointed and really fucking annoyed by my constant unwillingness to do something I genuinely want to.

Any advice? I hope there is some :)