When it comes to completing tasks, starting tasks is one of the biggest challenges for ADHD adults. And sometimes once you get started, you might find it’s not that hard to continue working if you can just get started. But when starting is so daunting,you may often procrastinate.
Also because you may be used to doing things at the last minute, you might believe that that’s how you operate best. It’s just become a habit. ADHD expert Dr. Thomas Brown explains it this way:
Often, they will put off getting started on a task, even a task they recognize as very important to them, until the very last minute. It is as though they cannot get themselves started until the point where they perceive the task as an acute emergency.
But I bet you’re tired of operating this way. Read on to see why it is so hard for ADHD adults to get started and what you can do to change this
What Is Motivation?
When you are motivated, you have the energy to do what it takes to make a change. It could be cleaning your house or writing a report for work. Here is the definition I use for motivation:
Motivation is the desire to make a change, coupled with the necessary energy to take persistent action to make that change.
I know you have the desire to change. In fact, there are probably many changes you want to make in your life. I also know that despite wanting these changes you may also not be able to persistently create and sustain enough energy to take action.
You may be dumbfounded at your inability to start, especially when you say it is important to you. Then you may say it must not be important! If it is important to you, so the thinking goes, you would power through and start, right? After all, it seems easy for you to engage in tasks that interest you.
Dopamine and The ADHD Brain
First, it is important to remember that because you don’t do something that you say is important to you does not necessarily mean it is not important to you. Others may also think you’re choosing not to do it. Sure, on occasion, just like anyone else, you may choose to attend to what interests you at the expense of doing what you say is important. We all do this!
But I know you also want to start and follow through on what’s important to you, whether it’s intrinsically interesting to you or not.
One of the reasons for your inconsistency in starting your important work is that there is insufficient dopamine released in the executive function networks in the ADHD brain. Your brain is just not stimulated enough. So, you don’t start.
Because of this you have an interest based nervous system. This means you are motivated when something is interesting, challenging, novel and urgent.
If you are interested in doing a task because of one of these perceived rewards or avoidance of something negative, dopamine is released. It’s important to note that this is not voluntary, though! To paraphrase a patient of ADHD expert Dr. Thomas Brown, “Either you can get it up or you can’t.” Enough said.
The ADHD Interest-Based Nervous System
Because of your particular brain wiring, lack of dopamine and interest-based nervous system it will help you incorporate a strategy that helps provide more dopamine. This includes trying to make the task interesting, challenging, novel and/or urgent.
Because telling yourself you should do something, trying to force yourself, just won’t work! In fact, you likely feel more resistance when you try to force yourself, right?
You might find that you overuse urgency.
But when you wait until the last minute and there is an impending consequence, like getting in trouble at work, you might become really interested in doing the task. 😉 Dopamine is released and your brain gets the stimulation it needs. That is why urgency works.
How Unconscious Emotions Impacts Your Motivation to Start
Your emotions attached to the task can also get in the way of starting. To see how this might work, write down all the thoughts that come to mind when you think of a task you are putting off. What are the negative thoughts? These are some of the ones contributing to your challenges starting.
Here is an example of how this might work:
Cari is co-authoring a paper with her colleague, Naseer. She sees one he sent her a week ago and she can’t believe she hasn’t responded yet. She tells herself that she should reply to him today! But she gets stuck trying to write a response. Then she remembers she promised to send her section to Naseer last week. She’s still not done with it. Cari decides she doesn’t want to email him until she can send the section.
All of a sudden she starts down a shame spiral, and can’t even think about what to write in the email. She starts to wonder if he regrets ever deciding to work with her. She decides she’ll answer the email later.
No doubt emotions can get in the way of starting a task.
Waiting for Motivation Is an Unreliable Strategy
I bet you may often say to yourself about an important task, I’ll do that later. But you don’t know when that might be. You’re just not going to do it at that moment. And you promise yourself you will do it later. So you can minimize the discomfort of putting it off. After all, you are going to do it, right? Right, later.
Though unconscious, when procrastinating, there is often a belief that you’ll feel like doing it later. That is, something will change to make it so you will want it. Maybe you think it will be easier later. Though you don’t know when that will happen or what will change.
Again, think of a task you’re putting off. When are you going to do it? If you are not sure, try to figure it out. Remember, the task won’t be any more comfortable later.
Waiting for motivation becomes even more of a slippery slope when you feel shame. Because your self-esteem takes a battering. And then you feel even less motivated to tackle the task. So, you may either avoid doing it or wait until there’s some external pressure, a sense of urgency, that forces you to do it.
The Cost of Over Relying on External Pressure
You may have developed a habit of relying on urgency to help you get started. No doubt eventually the work gets done. And so now you may even believe that is how you work best.
Sure the task gets done. But relying on urgency comes with costs. These may include overwhelm, poor health, not enough sleep, mediocre work including mistakes, and not completing work when the pressure becomes too great.
You may expect yourself to create enough internal pressure on your own to get started. Because, your thinking goes, that is what adults do, right? In those moments remember the cost of relying on urgency.
Next – How To Make It Easier to Start
Because of your brain wiring you’ll need to figure out a different way to operate. The standard way neurotypical people operate just won’t work for you. And that’s OK!
In Part 2 of this series, 6 Tips ADHD Adults Need to Use to Make It Easier to Start, I’ll suggest various strategies you can try to make getting started easier. And as you experiment with these, you’ll be able to figure out what works for you. So, you don’t have to only rely on urgency to get started.
