Beat ADHD Procrastination this Holiday Season!

Our executive function is responsible for organizing, activating, and prioritizing tasks. Let’s face it, most tasks and projects have multiple steps! This is an executive function nightmare! Not to mention, we become overwhelmed by unseen problems and obstacles.

The project/task feels too big. So we pictures and visualize ourselves failing. Probably a defence mechanism to try and avoid failing (also ties in with fear of failure below). The irony is that by visualizing failure it makes it hard to succeed. 

Here’s the trick: Find a way to externalize your executive function! Meaning: what tools & systems can we set up for ourselves to support our executive function? In this case I would recommend breaking down each task into itty bitty steps. When you don’t think you can break the task down anymore, keep on breaking it down! The less thinking and planning that you have to do in the moment, the better off you will be! Write it down! Don’t keep it all in your mind!! 

This is something that I do with my clients and it works extremely well! Once we have a plan and we know what we need to do, we have the motivation to start. Then once we have the momentum from starting, look out world – here we come! 

Incompletions

The projects/tasks that we have started and have not finished count as our incompletions. Our incompletions can play a large role in our procrastination. This also ties into the emotional component of procrastination. This can look like worrying about what may go wrong before even starting or looking for the problems rather than the possibilities. It could be finding the problems and using them as an excuse to not even begin. We are often thinking “what if…”

Activating

We have a hard time starting anything that is not interesting + fun. At the same time we have a hard time stopping anything that is interesting + fun which makes it difficult to transition into other tasks. 

You know that feeling… when you’re waiting for the perfect time to start. You may tell yourself something like “it doesn’t feel right” or “I don’t feel focused”. Consider the time of day and whether or not you are feeling too tired to concentrate. Do you have a clear picture in mind of what you would like to do? Sometimes we think we know what we want to do: Go and buy a tree. The task seems so clear yet there are many unknowns like “where am I going to buy the tree”, “who am I going to take with me”, “how will I strap the tree to the car”, “how will I get the tree inside the house”. So, on the surface it seems like a very simple task yet we are plagued by all of the accompanied decisions and these decisions make it difficult for us to activate. I need to mention that the complete opposite can also be true. See impulsivity. 

We often wait until the last minute to build the adrenaline needed to focus. We can work very well under pressure! 

Misaligned

We don’t want to start the project/task because it does not align with our values, talents, strengths, passion (we probably don’t even know that this is why we aren’t starting).