ADHD + High IQ= Getting a whole lotta nothing done...

[GreenEyesBright]

I confess. I'm an expert at procrastination. I get distracted very easily by everything. My place is the cleanest during finals, and I will call anybody to avoid doing a paper. I work well under pressure because it's the only thing that motivates me (I once wrote a 25 pg semester thesis in 24 hours because I successfully avoided it the entire semester. And got a B on it.) I've always had ADHD, but I want to put it to use for me, instead of it working against me. Part of the reason why I can't work with computers or sit down for long periods of time is because I must be active. Something drives me to get up and moving. Working out helps, but I hate cardio unless its something interesting or part of primal play. Even playing videogames can't keep me in my chair. 8 hours of gaming sessions, impossible. All day TV fests, not happening. I'm an adrenaline junkie (Obviously, I want to spend my days playing with great white sharks), and I love learning about new things. A lot of my procrastination habits are deep rooted but I know they've got to change.Yes I realize some of it is laziness and some of it is being a commitment-phobe. (I totally suck at relationships.) Holding a conversation with me is like flipping through cable shows because I can go off on so many tangents.

That being said folks, I've gotta finish school so I'm looking for people who have similar challenges. What keeps you in your chair, and how on earth do you motivate yourself to get things that you don't want to do, done? So tips? Advice? Swift kick in the butt?

[Loren Wade]

I think I've always had some form of ADD or ADHD, but was never diagnosed. That said, the only things that keep my mind focused on something for long periods of time are two things: interest and background music. If I have music playing in the background or I'm really interested in what I'm doing, I'm good to go for hours. If I don't have either, my mind wanders.

[alexgator]

I think about how I'm feeling. I let all the thoughts run there course and stick in my sit. "I'm bored. My legs are sore. My stomach hurts because I SO don't want to do this. I have a headache. I'm anxious. I really need a nap." Then I accept all of those things and tell myself to suck it the f' up. I just sit there uncomfortable and unhappy and get it done. Especially when writing papers, I tell myself, "One sentence at a time, but don't you dare get up."

I know not a lot of people want to play hardball with themselves, but it works for me!

[IndigoBanshee]

I'm am also both ADHD and a chronic procrastinator. My solution is to do little bits at a time with rewards for completing chunks of work.

When I was in school (I now have 3 degrees), I would sit down each day, even while watching tv, and write down a few sentences on each paper or piece of work that had an extended due date, then work on the stuff that needed to be turned in immediately. Often, when writing papers, I would start just by brainstorming with lists, then separating into sections, then adding a sentence to each section each day. If I had to read, which was the majority of my homework, I would make myself read a chapter or couple of sections, then I could read a chapter from the book I wanted to read. Only books worked for this, because if I started on the computer or the tv I wouldn't stop. Getting away from home to study helped that a lot, too. My usual spots were the library or the coffee shop. I only used my laptop in places that didn't have an internet connection, and mostly for writing final drafts, so I wouldn't be tempted to surf the internet.

For regular things, like cleaning, I clean during commercials of tv shows. It helps that I absolutely loathe commercials. Plus it gets me up and moving around instead of just sitting.

[afflictionreckoning]

I try to make myself do chunks of schoolwork 20 minutes at a time. Then I take a 5 minute break. After an hour or so I take a prolonged 20 minute break. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. A lot of it is self-discipline and making yourself go back to work. I find it holds me a lot more accountable when I time everything. Every time I stop working I stop the timer and it makes me think twice about procrastinating.

[gugi9000]

I'm currently reading Spark. There he has a case (or more) with ADHD where he suggest cardio exercises. Specifically ones where you need advanced coordination, alike there karate mentioned above. But "just" running half an hour should help as well.

You can read the sample on Amazon, to get an idea. My son has something akin to it and it seems him taking up table tennis has helped him.

[demonslayer]

I try to make myself do chunks of schoolwork 20 minutes at a time. Then I take a 5 minute break. After an hour or so I take a prolonged 20 minute break. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. A lot of it is self-discipline and making yourself go back to work. I find it holds me a lot more accountable when I time everything. Every time I stop working I stop the timer and it makes me think twice about procrastinating.

This is basically the same as what I do, except I do work for 25 minutes rather than 20, and I find it's helped a LOT with my ability to get work done. This method actually has a name -- the pomodoro method -- named after those little kitchen timers that are shaped like a tomato. I find that it's a lot easier to keep focused for a 25-minute interval if I have 5 minutes of doing whatever I want (for me, it's usually watching anime) to look forward to at the end of it. There are plenty of free pomodoro-trackers online, or of course you can just use a regular kitchen timer . There's even one for the Android that lets you "level up" the more 25-minute periods of work you do, which I thought was especially cool. I also use My Little Pomodoro for the mac -- I believe it costs a couple of bucks, but I found it well worth it. If you don't have a timer and don't want to buy one, a good, free web-based one is here: http://mytomatoes.com/.