My Autism and ADHD often feel like two sides of the same coin. If I am interested in it, a topic can easily become a Special Interest, and I can easily funnel hours of attention into it to learn everything I can about it. This is usually at the expense of other things in my life, whether that’s other classes or chores or sleep. My ADHD, in contrast, seems to pull my attention in every possible direction at once, and if there’s a task that I don’t want to do, my attention is repelled from it. A Special Disinterest, if you will.
But things still have to get done. Right now I’m facing down a difficult school assignment that feels overwhelming, and my difficulty getting started on it is evidence of that repelling effect. And true to form, my brain is willing to do just about anything else to avoid it. In an effort to overcome this challenge while simultaneously giving in to the distraction, here are my ideas for how to address task avoidance.
- Work with your natural time rhythm. If you’re best able to focus and get things done in the morning, schedule your hard tasks for then.
- Work with your medications. If you take ADHD meds at 9am, don’t try to do demanding tasks at 8am. Wait until they kick in.
- Break tasks down into smaller, more manageable pieces to avoid overwhelm.
- Give each manageable piece as reasonable deadline, so you don’t try to do it all at the end. Plus you’ll always feel like you’re making progress.
- Work on one task until it’s done. Dopamine comes to those who cross the thing off the list, not those who do a little bit of it.
- Only keep about 5 items total on your to-do list. If your list has 50 items and you cross off 3, you’ll feel like crap. But if you cross off three out of five, you’re doing great!
- Practice echopraxis: co-working, body doubling, accountability partner, study buddy. Having someone else be present, even if they’re engaged in a different activity, can often be enough social pressure to get you started.
- Prioritize the urgent and important stuff, so if you only have enough dopamine to handle one difficult task at least it’ll be a good one. This is referred to as the Eisenhower Method.
- Make a plan (but not one that puts you into Planning Mode instead of Doing Mode). Think through the steps of the task, gather the necessary materials, minimize the effort necessary to get started.
- Put it on your calendar. You’ll never do it if you keep waiting for a good time for it.
- Routine-ify repeat tasks, like always doing the dishes after cooking and before eating.
- Make a list of reward activities that you can pull from as a treat after doing a hard task. Associate a reward with starting an activity, and future activity starting will be easier because the brain will expect more of a dopamine reward.
- Reach out to people you trust for emotional support. Knowing you’re not alone in dealing with these struggles can be helpful in reducing the stigma and stress.
- Create a distraction-free bubble within which to complete the task.
- Explicitly identify and celebrate crossing a task off the to-do list. Don’t let finishing the task be routine. A celebration will help remind your brain that dopamine is in order.
It can also be useful to identify why the task is difficult to start. Here are some that commonly trip me up:
- Anxiety about ability to complete the task
- Perfectionism, worry about completing it perfectly
- Overwhelm from the size and complexity of the task
- Lack of interest
- Distractions
Once you’ve got a handle on why you’re having a hard time starting the task, you can pick the best strategies to help overcome that inertia.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really do need to start that assignment.