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Thread : Procrastination is HURTING ME!  
28 Sep 2010 @ 10:48 PM
MR_ADD Join Date: Thu 15th Jul 2010
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Procrastination is HURTING ME!

I have some personal work that I’ve been meaning to finish for a while now. It the primary task on my list these days. Sticking to a schedule and performing accordingly has been one of my biggest priorities lately and I was almost living up to it till I hit a relapse stage.

I had been going to sleep on time (or at least in bed before 12:00 AM) and waking up in the morning (8:00 Am ish ) lately. Sometimes I had to take the sleeping pills to get to sleep and get in this routine. I was still getting used to it. The problem, however, was that not being used to working early in the morning/afternoon, I couldn’t do much work throughout the day.

I procrastinated during the day quite a bit (check this thing that maybe important, or check that,… Facebook, so on and so forth), and basically did anything but the main task. At 6:00 PM I’d sit down to get serious work done but that’s when everyone else would come back home from their jobs and I got very little done. Even though I was effectively putting in the effort after 6:00 PM, but with distractions and noise, getting only 1 hour’s effective work done when I had to put in 10 was putting me wayyy too behind.

Today when it happened, I just decided that its 10:00 Pm and I HAVE TO FINISH my work that I have been meaning to finish for a long long time now and I just took some Dexedrine pills to get work done at night. Now I’m off my good routine and feeling miserable for staying up at night but I really didn’t have a choice today.

Any tips on how people with ADHD might’ve dealt with similar situations in the past. I don’t know if its just my discipline or ADHD that’s the bigger problem.

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9 Nov 2010 @ 10:37 AM Reply # 1
Megan Ann Join Date: Tue 9th Nov 2010
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I feel the same way!

I wish I had some pearls of wisdom to give you but I am just starting to break this habit myself. I have always been more productive at night, so I would stay up al night and sleep all day. I figured as long as I was getting some sleep I would be ok. But it doesn't work out in the long run. My moods started going up and down and I couldn't concentrate--even with my high dose of stimulants. So I, like you, endeavored to get on a normal sleep schedule under the advisement of my psychiatrist/therapist. Some nights are better than others, but generally I am in bed by midnight and up by 9 am. But then when I get up at 9 am I tend to do things like this (checking out forums) or playing on facebook or other websites. THE MOST EFFECTIVE thing I have been able to do is to NOT turn on the computer/open the internet in the morning. I do not turn on the TV either b/c that is another one of my big time wasters. And finally I SCHEDULE out my day in my planner (I know, I still shudder at the word). I have an actual paper planner, I tried doing it digitally, but for me, I needed the reinforcement of actually writing down what I was going to do and when I was going to do it. I still use iCal for my "big events" but for my day to day scheduling I use the paper planner. You could just use a piece of paper if you wanted. First I write in my appointments (doctor's, meetings, groomer--for my dog, etc.) anything that has to be done at a specific time. Then I block out my classes (I'm a grad student) WITH travel time (I go to a HUGE University, so we don't get to park anywhere near where our classes are). After that, I look at how many hours I have left and I look at my to do list. It usually includes reading some ridiculously long book and writing a paper about it. I know I am a slow reader b/c of my ADD, so I know I can read about 20-30 pages in 45 minutes. I like to start at the top of the hour, so say 10:00 am is when I am going to start working. From 10-10:45 am I will read, and then I will give myself a 15 minute break. I was a MARATHON reader and writer. I always procrastinated until the last minute and then spent about 36 straight hours doing a research paper with minimal breaks. I find that scheduling in the breaks every hour actually makes me more productive. then 11-11:45 am read/write, then a 15 minute break. I even have to schedule in meals, so 12-12:30 pm, lunch then I take a longer break from 12:30-1:00 pm where I usually will go on the internet, but set my watch to vibrate at 5 minutes before 1 pm, so I know my time is almost up. If it is just a day of straight blocks of open time (i.e. no appointments, no classes) I find it quite effective to work 45 mins break for 15 mins all day with an hour break for lunch/internet and then I give myself another hour break at 7 pm to watch Bones, and after that I usually have worked at least 6 hours total of focused work time (not counting breaks). And if I can get 6 hours of work time in a day, then I feel pretty good. If I need to get more done, I schedule into the evening, but like to leave free time for walking my dog, doing my hobbies, watching TV, wasting time on the internet, etc. When you have your time scheduled out and you have your "fun" time built into that schedule I find that it is much easier to stick to and I am not tempted to pop some stimulants and stay up all night to finish work.

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15 Mar 2011 @ 3:21 PM Reply # 2
MemoTurkey Join Date: Tue 15th Mar 2011
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thanks

Megan, great reply. Helped me a lot.

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15 Mar 2011 @ 3:24 PM Reply # 3
MemoTurkey Join Date: Tue 15th Mar 2011
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By the way

I am the biggest procrastinator I have ever known. I even can not sit to read or write while I strongly want and need it. So; I feel the same (+1). But don't think I can help at this point of mine. MR_ADD, you do well still. having regular sleep scheme, etc.

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