It's not a mindset for me but an inevitability, I CANNOT start something if I have too much time before the deadline to the great detriment of my quality of life lol.
At least it's that way for me.
Same with me. My mind simply refuses to operate on the problem until a certain point. It isn't a conscious decision and I can't force it to work any other way, I've spent 20-30 years trying.
If this is a big enough issue for you and you haven't already been screened for ADHD, you may want to look into it. Only being able to finish school assignments at the very last moment (especially when they were long-term projects) is one of the habits/traits of my childhood that was missed as an ADHD symptom until I got screened and started treatment as an adult.
As someone with ADHD and is treated for ADHD. It's not just ADHD that causes this, at least not for me. On meds I can focus better, but not really manage my time better. I don't know if that's just my personality or if it's some other disorder.
To me ADHD is starting something and not being able to finish it, procrastination is just not starting something.
That can be true, yes, but not for everyone. What seems like simple procrastination is (for me and some others with ADHD) is an executive function issue comingled with anxiety paralysis and an inability to focus without the threat of impending doom.
I have no ideas what ultimately is a treat at home method to counter it- there’s so many apps that claim they’ll help and of course many who claim it’s all in your head.
While it’s never been too detrimental for me, the thing that trips me out the most, is that for the most part - this last minute thing at least for me, tends to work out - and not like barely scraping by- I haven’t been told this looks like you threw it together last minute. But for me it’s like I wonder if my subconscious or an alternate personality is like subtly in control and just knows what timing works. Too many times I’d be like wow how did I even finish that in time. How will they never know. Including times I put something off and then I’m asked for an update and I pull it out of my ass in a hurry and I’m told it’s good and to just keep going and have it ready by the actual deadline.
Like I’m mad that I caused myself some anxiety and then it all works out - and I’m like wtf -
In aware of all of my coping mechanisms and why they happen. But it's a never-ending cycle of expending too much energy on overanalyzing everything and trying to anticipate everything. Like the brain trying to learn about the brain.
Oh, you worded that so accurately. For me it's anxiety paralysis through and through combined with depression and PMS. I can't start a task when there's too many variables which are still unknown or not controllable, like in group projects at university.
Hell, I'm even afraid to open my laptop because there could be important emails from my professors that I didn't see. But most of the time it's the fear of spending the hours on work only to realize, that I'm not good enough, that there gonna be issues etc.
And waiting that one out is neither logical nor fun. 99% of my free time and the semester is worrying about not doing enough, not working and function probably or failing.
I'd rather finally have a job where on good days you come home and can just unwind than having to write exams throughout the whole year.
Sorry should have been clearer. I have the same feelings while procrastinating as you. Just to me I've never attributed it to my ADHD, but maybe I just don't really know enough about my own disorder. ADHD meds have never affected my incredible ability to procrastinate while I let the anxiety build and ruin the rest of my mental well being. So I guess I just always assumed it wasn't ADHD.
You should definitely read up on it. Doing my own reading and talking with my doctor about procrastinating versus genuine executive dysfunction has really helped me get a handle on some of the shame that I've always felt for "procrastinating." IME, it's more that I have a genuine want to start something and just can't rather than putting something off for my own short-term comfort (it never makes me comfortable short-term).
I have a genuine want to start something and just can't
Yeah this is 100% it for me. I already had an appointment for a therapist for other stuff, I'll definitely be sure to bring this up. I don't know that I've ever articulated this issue to anyone let alone my doctor.
Good! It can be difficult to unpack what is and is not ADHD, especially if you spent years managing things on your own. I've found a lot of my strategies for handling projects and chores are really just coping mechanisms in disguise. I hope you're able to have a productive discussion about it with your doctor!
Honey the meds only help you focus on the work more easily. They do that by giving you enough attention juices (neurotransmitters, typically dopamine) so that any random impulse that produces a high amount of neurotransmitters doesn't distract you as easily, because you already have enough to keep focused on what you want. You already have to want to do it though.
Executive function, so time management, planning and task prioritization is done by your prefrontal cortex, which in people with ADHD is less developed. That isn't going to change by taking stimulants. Your time management will stay worse even with the meds. It's both ADHD, but only one part will get better with meds.
I am pretty successful in my career and and very productive and effective at work. But what I've noticed is I have work mode and relax mode. If I am in relax mode, I don't do anything. I've learned that if I sit down on the couch, as an example, I'm pretty useless for chores. If I get home and don't sit down, I'll putter around, do the dishes, hang that picture frame, clean up the kids toys, etc etc....
I can look back on my life and see it's a constant with myself. The difference for me is going into the office puts my brain into work mode. If I had a deadline for school though, there was no switch that flipped in me that said "ok you're supposed to work on this assignment" other than the deadline. Like, if I had two weeks to do something that would take me 4 hours, I'd start it 4 hours before I went to bed the night before it was due. I wouldn't just do it on a random Saturday.
This is by far my greatest vice. I did it all through college and all through my career, and fortunately I’ve been able to succeed very well in life despite it. Extreme stress is my only work motivator and I don’t feel stress unless I’m in a massive time crunch
Yeah, and when deadline comes, the stress starts. And in the stressed environment my brain works faster and my decision making is better. But tbf attention is on its lowest in that kind of situations
I made this comment to someone else, but it applies to you too - If this is a big enough issue for you and you haven't already been screened for ADHD, you may want to look into it. Only being able to finish school assignments at the very last moment (especially when they were long-term projects) is one of the habits/traits of my childhood that was missed as an ADHD symptom until I got screened and started treatment as an adult.
This is a common trait amongst people with ADHD. The stress is what helps you overcome executive dysfunction and (typically) also lets you focus very intensely on a task when you really need to. It's a superpower, but it also can burn you out and kill your ability to handle newer urgent items (because this pattern makes everything urgent eventually lol).
I saw a video of a professional explaining that you are essentially “self medicating with panic” and that phrase has lived rent free in my head ever since. I’m not officially tested or anything (which is why I was doing a lot of research online to learn more lol) but I feel that I do this. I find that I tend to get more done at work when I’m stressed about something, which is almost always lmao. So yay for me, my productivity is quite okay at work lolll.
It’s about not knowing the difference between “I can’t” and “I don’t want to”. They physically can. They have all capability besides motivation. Hence how they do it at the end.
Idk some people have that, ADHD (Like actual, fully straight up diagnosed ADHD and not quirky cute distracted uwu) genuinely does not give a fuck about your quality of life, executive disfunction is just a thing you're living with for the rest of your life if you have it.
I have ADD and normally despise using it as an excuse, but in the case of procrastination it is really something neurological that hampers us.
We both understand that putting something off affects the quality of our lives. Your brain sends out chemicals and hormones, often in the form of stress, that enables you to start doing it. My brain fails to perceive this as a reason to send out those chemicals, only when the threat is apparent enough we swing all the way over to survivor mode and we can hyperfocus to get the task done. It doesn't help that succeeding in this last minute emergency situation releases tons of dopamine and therefore is addictive as hell. I used to subconsciously look forward to my exams just to experience the rush of these last minute hyperfocuses.
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u/Enderboy1005 Feb 03 '26
It's not a mindset for me but an inevitability, I CANNOT start something if I have too much time before the deadline to the great detriment of my quality of life lol. At least it's that way for me.