I'm new to the forums, but eager to interact. I too am a procrastinator. It is strange, in my opinion, how I procrastinate when the activity is one I am wanting to do... something I am looking forward to doing. From what I've read, ADD/ADHDers can be perfectionists and unable to start something they fear will not be immediately successful or "perfect". I think this is definitely true of myself. I have visions of what I want to achieve and that vision is a perfect, completed project or task. I cannot envision the in-between or the work/journey that gets me there. My expectation is then (unrealistically) that I can immediately go from start to finish and have the perfect outcome.

I have always been this way and, as an adult with a recent ADHD diagnosis, it is now something I am trying to relearn. But the connection between procrastination and ADD/ADHD makes sense. I can spend hours, even days, thinking through the process of "Beginning" something and basically never make it much past that point. It is horribly frustrating and self-deflating. Yet at work, if I have deadlines and certain people waiting for my completed project, I can usually get it finished. But not always. If the task is one that I am very committed to, and can only deliver something that, to me, is thorough and comprehensive, it will take me a long while.... and it is really a matter of convincing myself it is "complete". For ADD/ADHDers, as I understand it, completion is a difficult thing to achieve. We tend to see connections everywhere and endless possibilities. Just starting something that can potentially be or will inevitably be endless, can be... well, overwhelming.

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I guess you are very right. I never actually realized it that the things I wanna do, I want them done perfectly ...... that also does end up causing the delay. I end up spending time preparing (in a lot of cases) as oppose to just starting it.

One more thing I've realized about myself is that if I don't workout for a day or two, I'm gonna be a LAZY BUM!. I don't know if its that good of a thing that I'm that addicted to working out.

Sometimes I try to wonder if its more of a disciplinary issue than ADD. I guess if I would've spent three years serving in the forces, then I would've had a better discipline...!??!?!

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As I've grown older I've been able to look at the tasks I wanted to accomplish as MY GOALs & no one else's. Meaning that the 'perfectionist' in me wanted that approval from others as well as it just being so-so before I felt it was worth finishing(which was almost never growing up). I too would never really finish what I started but at times, if I did, it was last minute work or I figured it was too overwhelming for me to try anyways. Being self-employed for the past few years has been a real Godsend for me. I didn't mind working for others but it was so hard to work on THEIR schedule(being that I'm not a morning person). If I don't get that sleep I really need in the morning I'm such a wreck & my energy levels are best in the afternoon & late evening hours anyways. I understand the exercise thing. Not that I'm so disciplined in exercise but since I need to move around every once in awhile, dancing has given me that 'fidgety' outlet. I hope you find the answers to how better to accomplish the tasks at work & the goals you have in mind in life in general.

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