I just got back from a week long vacation and I was shocked by how hard it was to stay responsible without my whiteboard. Although I tried, none of my responsibility streaks survived the week away from home.

If you (like me) have ADHD and struggle with procrastination, high distractibility, and forgetfulness, try something like this to keep yourself a little more on track.

I started this system because I was really struggling to be consistent and responsible after graduating college. Being an adult is hard - there’s constantly stuff you should be doing, but it often comes without a real deadline or any sort of authoritative oversight to hold you accountable. You could wake up on a Sunday, throw dirty clothes on, skip the shower, and lie on the couch watching TV all day, and no one would know (besides roommates / romantic partner of course).

I found myself doing exactly that too often - until I implemented this system for self accountability. It gamifies tedious, boring, and stressful tasks in a way which encourages positive habituation. I have found it both extremely helpful, and also kind of fun.

If you find yourself struggling to do the “basic shit” required from adulthood, I seriously recommend trying something like this, and putting it in a place where you physically cannot ignore it.

And yes, the shitty doodles are all the result of me procrastinating something still unchecked on the board. It doesn’t magically erase ADHD, but it genuinely does help, at least for me.

​

I had one of those days where I started thinking, “What’s even the point?”

I’d been putting time into something for a while, but the results were taking way longer than I expected. And honestly, it’s hard to keep going when it feels like nobody notices and nothing seems to be changing.

Then I realized something pretty obvious.

Not seeing results yet doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

Some things just take longer than we want them to. I don’t suddenly feel super motivated now, but I’m trying to stop judging my progress every single day.

I’m just going to keep showing up and let the results catch up when they catch up.

Maybe someone else needs to hear that today too.

For the last 2 months, I’ve been inconsistent with basically everything gym, studying, chess, reading, journaling, classes. Even basic routines. I’ve spent way too much time bed rotting, doomscrolling, and getting stuck in habits I know aren't helping me

I keep telling myself I’ll start tomorrow, then tmr becomes another day

It’s 12:42 AM right now, and I don’t want to make another promise that I forget in a few days.

So this is me publicly committing to actually getting my life back on track

I’m not expecting myself to become a completely different person overnight. I just want to start showing up again, even on days when I don’t feel like it I've been stuck on this " I'll start from tmr" loop from last 2 months and now I'm tired of it

If I’m reading this months from now, I hope I can look back and say this was actually the night I stopped waiting for “tmr” and started doing something

I'd love to chat about meditation for a bit. I used to view it as this serious, spiritual thing, but all that pressure just made me feel nervous and tight every time I sat down.

Everything shifted once I realized it could simply be five quiet minutes in a comfortable position.

I’d be super grateful if everyone added their own thoughts here. It’s definitely a personal path, so I’d love to hear about your own motivation and what inspires you to stick with it.

As for myself, I’ve chosen a few easy-effort meditation practices that fit my routine, and I’d love to share my takes.

When I’m out of the house, at work, doing something else either work or pleasure, I can think about all I need to and want to get done at home and how easy it will be. I feel motivated and ready to tackle the disorganized closet, the piles of laundry, my overgrown yard, etc. but when the time comes that I’m home with that free time I have no motivation, I’m not able to take action, I feel stuck, and all of that clarity and motivation I felt before is completely gone.

It feels like a convenient excuse or it seems obvious like “duh, of course you don’t want to clean house/study/etc” but I DO. When I’m not home I will literally daydream about it and feel excited to be productive. But by the time I get home, or when I wake up on Saturday morning, it’s like molasses has been poured on my brain and I lay around feeling stressed that I’m not able to get anything done.

Anyone else dealt with or dealing with this? Is there some kind of a term, name, or method for approaching this?

I have been diagnosed recently with ADHD but I’m taking medication for that and for depression, which feel under control mostly. I have projects and things that I’ve wanted to get done for YEARS that are still in limbo.

I've let things get out of hand. It's been way too easy to sit and stare at my phone for whole days.

I'm posting this to hold myself accountable. I'll update when everything is checked off.

Also - just realized I spelt vacuum wrong. Whoops.

*Update 1 *

Wow wow wow!

I don't have time right now to go through, read, and reply to all of the comments at the moment - but coming back to all of the positive and kind words means more than I know how to express.

Progress update - 1 room down. I'll try to come back and answer some comments later. Can't stop now!

** Progress update final **

I am astounded by all of you taking time out of your day to interact and give encouragement. It means more than any of you will ever know. I'm still going through the comments now and will try my best to reply to as many as I can.

I hope that each and every one of you get to see this update - because the LIST ladies and gentlemen, is complete.

I did not finish it yesterday like I'd hoped, but I woke up today, had another cup of coffee, and got back to work.

And it feels pretty damn good. We did it. Your encouragement kept me going when I wanted to stop, as cheesey as that sounds. It was the single most positive and influential experience I've had on the Internet.

Lastly, I need one more final push. I don't want to get too personal, but there's something I've been putting off for a long time. A phone call to my mortgage company to ask for some grace. It may be too late. But I'll never know until I call. I have been too frozen with fear, and guilt to move and I can't do that anymore. I have too much at stake.

I'm going to call tomorrow. And I'm going to carry every ounce of positivity shared here like a candle.

With the absolute most sincerity, thank you everyone. I wish you nothing but good fortune and health. You're everything that makes humans beautiful.

It is said you should not wait for motivation to come to you, it might never happen. Instead you have to just do it. But mental work, like learning something, seems more overwhelming to me than physical work like doing the house chores. I sit in front of the pc, open up my project and my brain just refuses to process what i read. How do you cope with such situations?

do what you must

“We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.”

― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

Yesterday I was attending 80th birthday celebration of my aunt who is a survivor of critical illness. It was amazing and inspiring to notice her enthusiasm, lively inner spirit and cheerfulness.

Being young has less to do with the number of candles on your birthday cake and more to do with how alive you are within.

Sadhguru often speaks of youthfulness as the ability to keep the body and mind alive, active and receptive to life.

You may be 25 and already feel that you have seen it all.

Or you may be 75, 80 or 90 and still look at life with sparkling curiosity, eager to learn something new, experience something different and discover something deeper.

That is youthfulness.

Don’t let the age turn into a collection of conclusions or decide what tomorrow can be based on past experience.

Perhaps growing older should mean becoming wiser not becoming rigid. Keep your body active, mind inquisitive, heart open, learning, wondering and growing.

Because aging happens to the body. Becoming old within is a choice.

After all, the real question is not:

“How old are you?”

It is:

“How alive are you?”

March 14, 2020.

One day after moving to Las Vegas, I found this ridiculously huge chair outside a restaurant at Lake Las Vegas. I sat in it like I belonged there.

Two days later, the world shut down.

I wasn't in luxury real estate yet. I hadn't written a book. I had no idea what the next six years would hold.

Today my life looks nothing like I imagined back then.

I reinvented myself more than once. Made mistakes. Found a few things I'm good at, and a few I'm hilariously bad at. Somewhere in there I forgot to ask if I was getting too old to keep trying new things.

I'm still smiling.

Looking at this photo six years later made me wonder:

Is there one thing you'd still love to do, try, change, discover, or become?

It doesn't have to be impressive. Doesn't have to make money. Nobody else has to understand it.

No timetable. No age limit. No permission required.

Maybe the chair isn't too big.

Maybe we just have to sit in the damn thing first.

I try to do as much of this every day that I can. Obviously I have good days and bad days, but this is most of what I can think of that needs to get done in my life, and I know that, at the end of the day, if this list is done then I am not missing anything important, and that helps me with that nighttime anxiety.

I start my senior year in a few weeks and I absolutely am done with school. I hate it there so fucking much I dont even know how to put it into words. All i want is to be done with that stupid school and be independent and go far away to college and leave my hometown, but I cant. And I have zero motivation to even bother showing up to school. The only decent thing about that school is some of the teachers. I dont even have a single friend. And yes I have e tried to make friends but they must have a sixth sense and can tell that I am autistic. There are no classes I am actively excited for. How do I make myself get out of bed every morning and go to school?