ADHD and Procrastination

Many people with ADHD struggle with chronic procrastination. This can cause problems at work when job responsibilities aren't completed until the last minute. It can cause stress at home too. This can cause problems in relationships when you continue to put off others, making them feel unimportant and possibly think that you are ignoring them.

Distractibility, forgetfulness, disorganisation, problems with prioritising, sequencing and time management are some of the main things you have to deal with. In addition, if you have experienced previous frustrations on similar tasks, you may naturally avoid them to get away from the negative feelings that working on those tasks can bring back up.

Problems Getting Started

Just getting started on a task can often be very difficult, particularly if that task isn't really interesting for someone. When you're so distracted by your surroundings, as well as your thoughts, it can be even harder to make it to the starting line. Sometimes just figuring out where or how to start is the first challenge to deal with. Problems with organisation come into play as you struggle to prioritise, plan, and sequence tasks that need to be done to get started and stay on track.

Getting Distracted

Once you finally do get started, you may find that you quickly become distracted by something else more interesting to you, so your original task gets even more delayed. Once you're able to get your attention focused on a task, you may find that it's hard to sustain that attention as your mind wanders off. It can be hard to stay motivated, and on track when you aren't very interested or stimulated by the task itself.

Emergency response

For some people with ADHD, myself included, putting off things until the very last minute can create an emergency type situation for them, giving them a sense of urgency that helps you force yourself to get that ​fast-approaching deadline. However, this urgency can create quite a bit of stress and anxiety which can take a tremendous toll on you as well as others around you.

Feeling Overwhelmed

You may experience a painful sense of paralysis when faced with a task. For example, wanting to get it started, but unable to make progress forward in any way at all. This builds up more and more anxiety itself. You may experience a crushing sense of pressure. As much as you know that you need to get the job done, you just can't get yourself to do it!

If you or someone you know can relate to anything within this blog, we would love to hear from you.

As always stay safe,

Lauren @ ANC