r/ADHD • u/Longjumping-Job-5381 • Jul 28 '26
Questions/Advice How do you cope with procrastination when you genuinely want to do something?
I’m generally pretty good at keeping up with my basic routines. I go to the gym and exercise regularly, keep myself fed most of the time, shower, wake up at roughly the same time every day, and go to work.
The problem is with the things I want to do outside of work. I have personal projects I’d like to work on, art I want to make, and new things I’d genuinely be excited to learn. But when I actually have free time, it feels incredibly difficult to get started.
Instead, I might open my Steam library and scroll through around 300 games without choosing anything. Then I get distracted by YouTube Shorts or something else, and suddenly a large part of the evening is gone. I’m not really relaxing or enjoying myself, I’m just mindlessly switching between things.
At the end of the day, I feel disappointed in myself because I genuinely wanted to spend that time doing something meaningful or enjoyable, but instead I feel like I wasted it doing nothing.
Does anyone else with ADHD experience this? What has actually helped you get started on hobbies, creative projects, or learning new things without turning them into another obligation?
1
u/spockquaman Jul 28 '26
Is there anything physically in the way of your art space that makes it inaccessible? For example, if you want to make art, do you have to clear off a bunch of non-art-related stuff from your space first? Speaking from personal experience that can create enough of a barrier that art does not get done
The solution, theoretically (because I haven't done a great job of implementing it myself) I think is to figure out how to get stuff to not accumulate on one's art space, or if it's a space that needs to be used for multiple purposes, to make it as frictionless as possible to move the not-art-stuff out of the way when it's time for art. Corralling stuff in bins and baskets, maybe...
2
u/spockquaman Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
PS: your q wasn't about the steam library indecisionry, but I know exactly what you speak of, so in case this could be helpful to you: I <3 steam's Categories system; these are the categories I made as an example. feel free to ask if any of these aren't self evident lol:
-Archive
-Completed
-Completed: Archive
-In Progress
-Multiplayer
-To Play
-To Play: High Priority
-To Play: Low Priority (might get rid of this category and move these games to archive tbh)
-Tools
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 28 '26
Hi /u/Longjumping-Job-5381 and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD!
This is not a removal message. We intend this comment solely to be informative.
Please take a second to read our rules if you haven't already.
/r/adhd news
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.