Im not diagnosed but I find a lot of the things posted apply to me. I mean if its the same thing and if you mean get over it permanent then I don’t think that will happen. Im like pretty old and it still happens and it can get done but its like moving through molasses and you have to have it as a high priority. If you do anything you must do this thing. You are not allowed to do anything else till it gets done. Do anything at all towards it. Get the website open, gather the info you need. Just plan out what you need to do and put it somewhere (emails to myself are my go to). Anything at all towards doing it is good. anything else bad. hammer hammer hammer your brain. I know I hate it, I know it depresses me, but the buck stops here. Im the adult. Im resposible to support myself and others. They will suffer if I do not and it will be my fault. No way I know to make it easy.
I found that this is also a sign of mental overload, probably PTSD. I KNOW I will have to interact with people, p.e. write a fucking letter, but my people interaction batteries are totally drained from work/kid/wife/whatever. For me it is a sign that my brain/self just can not do this task. Probably think about what general category your task falls in and think about that respective battery level. Might not help to do the task, but to get to know the reason to why not.
I don’t know if this is related to ADHD or something else, but I’ve found that just communicating with someone can help me move things along. Up to just now I’ve assumed it was a problem solving help, but thinking about it in this context makes me wonder if it’s actually a motivation thing.
Like I know I need to do something but am not sure what to do next, so I seek help with the problem but then don’t want to make it seem like I haven’t tried any of the obvious approaches, which are suddenly also obvious to me.
I’ve found this works even without needing to actually do the communication. Like if I’m writing an email instead of a chat, I’ll get the same effect.
If you’re freelancing on your own, maybe make up an imaginary colleague that can help with many problems but will judge if you just offload your problems onto them without even trying. Or try it with an AI assistant, since they can actually participate in the back and forth and might even have real solutions to offer.
That might help at least for the problems like, “I should be doing this thing but it seems too hard because I haven’t yet thought it through to the point where I know what the next step is”.
I don’t really know how to explain it but I just start doing whatever it is “automatically”. Like I take my brain out of the equation and just start doing it. This is only moderately effective and works a lot better with physical tasks like exercising but it’s the only way I get things done some times. I should probably be medicated but that requires making an appointment, going to a doctor and talking about my problems which so far has not been something I can force myself to do.
I feel like software development is the worst job for us with ADHD. Like, I am very good at it, to the point where I am generally regarded as being the most skilled developer on any team I’ve worked on, except for the part where I struggle to actually do the god damn work.
Ive noticed that low-brain work is a lot easier to get myself to do. Its like my brain is lazy but my body isnt. Last spring I dug up 125 sqft of grass, lined it with decorative bricks, spread several 100lbs of topsoil, and sowed wildflowers. And before that I busted up 30 feet of sidewalk with a sledghammer and spread 3 cubic yards of fill dirt. All required basically zero brainpower. But godforbid i have to concentrate for 2 hours to diagnose and fix a bug at work! If I could get paid a software dev salary to shovel dirt for 8 hours a day I would in a heartbeat.
Uber driving sounds nice tbh. Phone tells you where to go and what to do. No brain needed.
How do you get over this? I’m sort of killing my freelance work by doing this right now
Im not diagnosed but I find a lot of the things posted apply to me. I mean if its the same thing and if you mean get over it permanent then I don’t think that will happen. Im like pretty old and it still happens and it can get done but its like moving through molasses and you have to have it as a high priority. If you do anything you must do this thing. You are not allowed to do anything else till it gets done. Do anything at all towards it. Get the website open, gather the info you need. Just plan out what you need to do and put it somewhere (emails to myself are my go to). Anything at all towards doing it is good. anything else bad. hammer hammer hammer your brain. I know I hate it, I know it depresses me, but the buck stops here. Im the adult. Im resposible to support myself and others. They will suffer if I do not and it will be my fault. No way I know to make it easy.
I found that this is also a sign of mental overload, probably PTSD. I KNOW I will have to interact with people, p.e. write a fucking letter, but my people interaction batteries are totally drained from work/kid/wife/whatever. For me it is a sign that my brain/self just can not do this task. Probably think about what general category your task falls in and think about that respective battery level. Might not help to do the task, but to get to know the reason to why not.
yeah basically even thinking around the task can help. anything that can plink down what needs doing. every inch counts in the race.
I don’t know if this is related to ADHD or something else, but I’ve found that just communicating with someone can help me move things along. Up to just now I’ve assumed it was a problem solving help, but thinking about it in this context makes me wonder if it’s actually a motivation thing.
Like I know I need to do something but am not sure what to do next, so I seek help with the problem but then don’t want to make it seem like I haven’t tried any of the obvious approaches, which are suddenly also obvious to me.
I’ve found this works even without needing to actually do the communication. Like if I’m writing an email instead of a chat, I’ll get the same effect.
If you’re freelancing on your own, maybe make up an imaginary colleague that can help with many problems but will judge if you just offload your problems onto them without even trying. Or try it with an AI assistant, since they can actually participate in the back and forth and might even have real solutions to offer.
That might help at least for the problems like, “I should be doing this thing but it seems too hard because I haven’t yet thought it through to the point where I know what the next step is”.
Most use adhd medication
I don’t really know how to explain it but I just start doing whatever it is “automatically”. Like I take my brain out of the equation and just start doing it. This is only moderately effective and works a lot better with physical tasks like exercising but it’s the only way I get things done some times. I should probably be medicated but that requires making an appointment, going to a doctor and talking about my problems which so far has not been something I can force myself to do.
You could try the pomodoro method, or gamification techniques. Medication helps immensely though
Find work that you don’t feel inclined to avoid.
I went from being a freelance software developer to being an uber driver and I’m more industrious now than anyone else I know.
I feel like software development is the worst job for us with ADHD. Like, I am very good at it, to the point where I am generally regarded as being the most skilled developer on any team I’ve worked on, except for the part where I struggle to actually do the god damn work.
Ive noticed that low-brain work is a lot easier to get myself to do. Its like my brain is lazy but my body isnt. Last spring I dug up 125 sqft of grass, lined it with decorative bricks, spread several 100lbs of topsoil, and sowed wildflowers. And before that I busted up 30 feet of sidewalk with a sledghammer and spread 3 cubic yards of fill dirt. All required basically zero brainpower. But godforbid i have to concentrate for 2 hours to diagnose and fix a bug at work! If I could get paid a software dev salary to shovel dirt for 8 hours a day I would in a heartbeat.
Uber driving sounds nice tbh. Phone tells you where to go and what to do. No brain needed.