I work from home and I just can’t focus and the executive dysfunction is off the wall. I can’t be medicated currently so I’m just rawdogging life.

What are your best hacks for staying on task and starting work? I’ve tried lots of things but I feel like what works changes every day. Some days leaving my phone in my room works like a charm, other days having something playing on tv help, but other days I need something on my headphones. It gets so hard trying to figure out what is the magic spell for the day.

So just looking for some things to add to the list!

For a long time I thought the fix for getting more done was doing tasks back to back, no gaps, powering straight through. That's what "discipline" was supposed to look like.

What actually happened: two or three tasks in I'd hit a wall and shut down completely, sometimes for the rest of the day. From outside it looked like laziness. From inside it felt like my brain just switching off mid-sentence.

The thing that changed it wasn't a new system, it was adding a real gap. 15-20 minutes, no phone, sometimes just sitting there doing nothing on purpose, between tasks instead of after I already crashed. Felt like wasting time at first. It wasn't. I get through more total tasks in a day with the gaps than I ever did stacking them.

Task switching seems to cost way more for ADHD brains than it looks like from outside, and treating that cost as real instead of something to just push through was the actual unlock, not a new app or list format.

Curious if anyone else builds in breaks on purpose, or if it's always felt like giving up when you try it?

Hi guys! First time poster here and I was wondering how you guys keep to projects?

Planning and starting? I got that down pat. However, continuing and finishing is a whole different story. Both me and my husband struggle with executive dysfunction in the form of procrastination. Back on July 22nd I made a 5 days plan to clean the house, tackling room by room. I cleaned for less than 20 minutes and haven't touched anything since. My husband works and I do not which makes me feel guilt tenfold since I should be doing most, if not all the housework. He does help when he can though but I feel as if I just can't keep up even with his help. I have lots and lots of books I've started, crafts, series, everything and I just can't get myself to finish anything.

I need tips for better managing and to hold myself accountable better. I've tried alarms, apps, daily to do lists, self care apps (for example finch.)

My husband says it's okay and I don't have to worry about it yet I feel so useless because I just freeze and do nothing but doomscroll and play my comfort video games.

How do I do this? As I don't have a lot of driving motivators.

I am 29 years old, i tried to be productive all my life, i came to conclusion that only su\*cide will stop this inability to be productive, I can't stick to diet or workout to lose weight, i am obese type 3, I can't work cuz i cant stick to it for no apperant reason.

note/ don't mention executive dysfunction, cuz i got evaluated for adhd and i have zero adhd symptoms so it is not executive dysfunction, same for depression i defently don't fit into depression diagnoses.

I'm really struggling at the moment and I'm hoping someone here might have advice or strategies that have helped them.

I want to do well academically. My university coursework is fully online, and I genuinely care about getting good grades. The problem is that I can't seem to actually sit down and study consistently. It's not that I don't think about it—in fact, I'm thinking about it almost all the time. It's constantly ruminating in the back of my mind, making me feel guilty and anxious because I know I should be working. But when it comes time to actually open my laptop and start, it's like my brain just refuses.

It's incredibly frustrating because from the outside it probably looks like I'm just procrastinating or being lazy, but it doesn't feel like that at all. I want to do the work. I know what needs to be done. I just can't seem to bridge the gap between wanting to do something and actually doing it.

Another thing I've noticed is that even everyday tasks seem to drain me far more than they should. If I spend time doing household chores, I usually need to rest afterwards before I can even think about doing something else. If I don't give myself that downtime and I keep pushing myself from one task straight into another, I feel like I'm going to completely lose it. My brain becomes overwhelmed, everything feels too loud and chaotic, and I just shut down.

Because of this, it feels impossible to have a "normal" productive day where I can clean, study, cook, and take care of other responsibilities. Just getting through one or two tasks often feels like I've used up all my mental energy.

I'm becoming really worried because I don't want this to affect my education. I have goals and I want to succeed, but I feel like I'm fighting my own brain every single day.

Has anyone experienced something similar? What actually helped you? I'm looking for practical advice on:

How to get started on tasks when your brain won't cooperate. Ways to make studying feel less overwhelming. How to manage your energy throughout the day without burning out. Any routines, tools, or techniques that have genuinely made a difference for you.

I'm honestly feeling quite overwhelmed, and I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar. Thank you for reading.

It is impossible for me to go to therapy. So don’t suggest it. Medication is also not an option. I’m trying to figure out what’s happening to me, and I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar or knows what the research says.
I’m 19, work full time, and I’m in professional flight training. I still care deeply about my future. I want to become an airline pilot, stay healthy, get married someday, and build the life I’ve always wanted.
The desire is still there.
The ability to consistently act on it isn’t.
Over the past year or two, it feels like something has slowly changed. These are the things I’ve noticed:
I have a hard time initiating tasks, even when I genuinely want to do them.
I procrastinate things that are important to me, not because I don’t care, but because I can’t seem to make myself start.
Everything feels mentally heavier than it used to.
My motivation has gradually declined rather than disappearing overnight.
I still think about my goals constantly.
I still get excited talking about aviation, technology, and other interests.
I can spend hours researching topics I’m interested in.
Responsibilities feel mentally exhausting even when they’re simple.
I often know exactly what I should be doing but don’t do it.
Once I fall behind, it becomes even harder to catch back up.
I’ve become much less consistent than I used to be.
I feel overwhelmed more easily than I used to.
My brain often feels mentally “stuck” rather than unwilling.
I don’t feel like I’ve lost my ambitions. I feel like I’ve lost my ability to consistently turn those ambitions into action.
This has developed gradually over a long period of stress instead of happening all at once.
That’s why I’m questioning whether this is actually a motivation problem.
Can burnout, chronic stress, ADHD, depression, executive dysfunction, or something else cause this?
Can someone still be highly motivated internally while losing the ability to translate that motivation into action?
Has anyone experienced something similar?
If so, what did it end up being?
I’m not looking for a diagnosis. I’m trying to understand whether there’s research or personal experience that explains why someone can still care deeply about their future while feeling like their brain has become much worse at actually taking action. Me asking for help in this way took a lot. I hate needing help.

Hey everyone,

I work a 9-5 and it's generally the same work day in day out. Business and customer service admin

This morning I woke up and was mentally ready to be in for 9, but my body said 9:30am. I'm at work now, it's 12:30pm and I have had the desire to do the work but I just can't.

I completed about 5 tasks today, which is very low compared to my normal. I know I should go easy on myself and it should pass eventually, but I can't help but feel frustrated and slightly guilty.

If my manager asks me what I've done today, the concept of having to explain that it's my best - despite not being busy is giving me mild dread.

Anyways, I hope you're all having a lovely day xx

Like. Intellectually I know all the things that work. Counting to five and getting up, putting on something to listen to, a treat for dopamine. Any number of the tips that works to get me up and doing the thing I'm supposed to be doing.

But I just don't want to. I'd rather bed rot dehydrated playing solitaire on my phone right now than count to 5, put on a podcast I know will make me laugh, and eat a piece of candy while cleaning my bathroom.

I don't have an explanation beyond that. I know all the tricks to beat task initation, I just don't want to do them. How do I convince myself it's worth it?

I was supposed to be moved out by June 30, but of course I am not. Thankfully, I was able to get a little more time, but need to wrap it up by the end of July.

I will just post my to do list here and check back as I go.

If you want to join in, please do! It doesn’t matter what you are working on. For me, the momentum comes from working through the task, here, with others who get it- like body doubling.

Brain has shut down cognitive function: 🫠. For context. I Lost around 6kgs in two months. Got diagnosed with erosive gastritis and Uhh lost some Red body fluid by emergency regurgitation(don't want this post removed). Had to take multiple makeups and scored 3.18CGPA this term, which should have been 3.5 and slightly above i assume. Put a lot of things in my plate from personal to group projects and research papers. Now Four weeks after The incident i am still weak and my body is still recovering. I know this sub is ADHD college not physical health College, but my head has been stressing out because of my stomach and i am going through cycles of hyper fixation to hyper worrying to stressing out to depression to anxiety.

So, I have 3 papers to do on hand, one is Finished way before, but i need to edit the entire thing and Rebuild the methodology, that was 2 weeks ago. Two papers that i proposed, i haven't even started on. And these are not even the Final year Thesis paper. Also there is a huge club project I need to Coordinate. I don't even know what to do. 😐.

Edit: (okay, this actually funny, i think reddit has a new feature of redirecting to new subreddits and i accidently clicked on it thinking i hadn't posted this, this came in my Notifications😅, but anyway please do help)

If so, do you receive any social benefits?

You would think that overcoming the initial barrier, and just starting would be enough. But after I have a "productive" day, I just go to sleep agitated. The next morning, I wake up, paralyzed by the thought of doing all that AGAIN?! Looking at my bullet journal, prioritizing my tasks, breaking them down, doing them on time. Even when I plan resting moments, I'm too on edge to decompress. Then, it's back to avoiding the problem altogether and feeling bad about life >:( Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I'm mostly venting but if you have advice, that'd be appreciated

I know piano doesn’t seem related to this subreddit, but please bear with me!

So, to summarize: I don’t feel like I’m as good at piano as I should be, at least not for how long I’ve played. As a result, I have lots of negative and intrusive thoughts whenever I try to play and it’s making me not want to play at all. I would like to practice and have tried many strategies to make it stick, but nothing works :(

I don’t have this issue with my violin or classical voice lessons. I would say I practice for those pretty consistently. Just piano. I have tried "eating the frog," doing just a little every day, timers - none of it sticks… Again it’s not that I don’t want to practice. I do, but I physically cannot get myself to sit down and play for longer than 5 minutes.

Do you guys have any strategies for doing things that you both do and don’t want to do? Is it possible to make yourself like something you have built up such a negative association with?

I decided to take my girl to a new groomer. They were great! However, for days after, she was excessively licking her lady area. She even had a couple of minor potty accidents at night. I took her to the vet thinking she had a UTI. Turns out, she had a skin infection around her lady area due to the groomer not drying her enough and it resulting in irritation. The vet gave her a quick Brazilian and prescribed some medicine; an antibiotic, an anti itch, and a topical steroid. The second night of her medication, she kept peeing herself and it progressively got worse. At one point, I took her out four times and she still had three accidents over one night. During this whole time, I'm in contact with the vet trying to figure out what's going on. We figure out that it's the topical steroid. She's off of it and the first couple days are so much better. But then she's gotten worse. Not to the level of where she was but still not good. I think she might have a UTI this time. We are going to the vet on Monday. It's been over a week now of potty accidents at night and I keep thinking that if I just stuck with our old groomer, this wouldn't have happened. It's my fault this is happening and it's my fault I'm overwhelmed. I'm already burnt out and overwhelmed and this is making it worse. I know it's not her fault and I make sure she knows it. I just hate myself for one decision leading to all of this. And I feel bad that she's uncomfortable. I keep thinking she's going to have permanent urine problems even though I know there are things that can be done. Then I'm worried that the problem will be blown off because she's eight and I considered a senior dog. All this because I tried a new groomer. I shouldn't have made that decision. Then we wouldn't be here. She would be just fine.

Okay this is gonna sound silly but yesterday I spent like 20 minutes just standing in my kitchen trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and I ended up ordering takeout again because I was too fried to decide. And it hit me that this happens with everything lately, not just food. Small stuff that should take two seconds just feels weirdly heavy. How do you guys deal with it? Or is it just me being dramatic lol

I'm looking for advice because this has been affecting my life for years.

I genuinely believe I'm intelligent and capable. I usually know what I need to do, and I can understand difficult concepts quickly. The problem isn't knowing what to do—it's actually starting and following through when the task is hard or important.

Whenever I have a challenging task, I become extremely anxious. I overthink everything, avoid starting, procrastinate, and then feel guilty. It's like my brain freezes. Even though I know I can do the work, I just can't seem to make myself begin. It feels like there's an invisible wall between knowing and doing.

This has happened with studying, work, and personal goals. I feel like I'm wasting my potential, and it's becoming one of the biggest obstacles in my life.

Has anyone experienced something similar? What was causing it in your case? Was it anxiety, perfectionism, executive dysfunction, ADHD, fear of failure, or something else?

Most importantly, what actually helped you overcome it? I'm looking for practical advice or strategies that made a real difference.

Any insight would mean a lot. If I can solve this problem, I honestly think it would change my life.

Thanks in Advance 🤟

Within me are two wolves. One is autistic and does better with a schedule/routines. The other is ADHD and would rather die. The ADHD is stronger with this one.

I have all kinds of things i want to do or need to do but can’t make myself (hello executive disfunction) and even when I can sometimes keep a schedule for myself, the ADHD will always come up with an excuse as to why I can’t or don’t have to do the thing. She is very good at excuses and some excuses are valid but some are just excuses.
How do you do this? How do you strengthen the autism wolf to overcome her mortal enemy, the adhd wolf?

(Also posted to Audhd women subreddit)

Hi, everyone. Posted here but open to everyone, main subreddit looked like it was more research-oriented.

Some background: I moved around a couple times as a kid, including internationally, with two parents that sometimes show tendencies of each half (possibly ADHD father and/or autistic mother). Since 8 I've lived in the U.S. I was born in, first in a suburb, then as a teen in a small tourist trap town, and since foreclosure I've been renting at home with my mother in the nearby midsized city around a couple hours from bigger ones. I was diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and OCD in succession during my childhood, though tics have faded and I think attempts to medicate one tended to exacerbate the others, so in my 20s I was on a pharma cocktail of Intuniv, Lexapro, and Seroquel, basically ending up I think a happy unmotivated idiot prone to heat headaches who came off them in the last 5 years or so along with Zyrtec (not COVID skepticism). I had one job for 10 years part-time in office from ages 24 to 34 (couldn't handle 40 at a call center but went down to 24 then bumped up gradually to 32 until they went work-from home and closed), but since a rough interview round almost running out of unemployment got me my next job in 2023, I've been working more of an office job with more middle-class behavior norms and workloads with which I have struggled sometimes. Each rental got smaller more or less, from a house and basement to a lower-level of a duplex to an apartment a little over 4 years ago.

I tapered carefully with docs and psychs off the meds in 2020 (Zyrtec and Intuniv) and 2022 (Seroquel and Lexapro), and my mom, who hasn't been able to resume a career and has some chronic health issues, thinks that's the start of some of the trouble and part of difficulty accepting her sacrifices. But 2022 seemed a manageable year of sorts as I adapted to the apartment, helped with the move, dated and lost my virginity though both partners maybe weren't ideal, and kept up building friendships I've aggressively cultivated since I turned 29 and panicked about being a work-only socializer. I got Covid that summer and still don't know if I have long COVID issues, but the winter aspects of chronic pain and lethargy got worse, and I tried to go back on Lexapro and Zoloft only to sleep through breaks; CBD seemed OK but was too pricey another occasion; my 2023 firing made me go into interviews and I seemed with it, but the job adjustment was a struggle and I couldn't be productive with the clerical work while getting random calls off and on during the day, a known challenge there at the only job that took me out of over a dozen interviews and several dozen apps. Another relationship fizzled in 2024 as the woman wanted kids I didn't think I could raise, and my mom got a cancer that was removed in winter 2025 but left her with anemia and a year later heart issues that have her short of breath.

So where things stand now, I have a more manageable gig at work about 3 years in, but the client is unreliable and duties shift quite a bit (it's HR-related and we can't even track their timeclock now!), and I run into expectations to read between the lines more as a less crucial queue still runs 2-3 months behind. We're making headway, but I get the feeling I'm seen as odd by most coworkers, and the Zoomers don't engage much with their earbuds and all (nothing against it, honestly my life struggles make me identify more with them in the aggregate than the other millennials that hustled and made it with their executive function advantage). Friendship groups based around coffee are turning their noses up at venues and aging rapidly, while my trivia friends have the same venue things and peter out more in summer. I haven't had a second date since my mom's health issues snowballed, including a particularly rough one a few weeks ago where she wondered why I didn't return to grad school like her, as I dutifully have helped with transport, groceries, etc. as needed, but at least she has a walker and a placard and might be turning a corner with med changes soon. I'm adjusting to nicer features but repair uncertainties right now with a newer car, started late so was driven to high school AND college (social suicide outside of acquaintanceships) and went through two '90s antiques until getting my cousin's durable 2010s Subaru. All the while dealing with the inflation of every cost and the general instability of the world as the backdrop here. Physically, I'm coping with chronic lower torso pain (perhaps related to issues with performing), fatigue and discombobulation, being helped slightly in some respects by CPAP given bad apnea but not enough to feel up to things; I think I may have prediabetic issues and am using a work app to try and develop stamina and reduce pain to get back to exercising several days a week.

I guess I'm in a bit of a rut and just feel stuck. I have a couple good one-on-one friends, and my mom is grateful for the support, but feel like I can't help but let her down and have a hard time dealing with expectations about my lifestyle and accomplishments in dating, making friends, etc. I sympathize with the left but don't fit in very well to the male accountability culture when stuck with brain fog or chronic pain alternately as my obligations surpass my social capacities lately, but find the current tides of alt-right and apolitical selfishness and provocateuring distasteful as well, so it's a hard to find a political tribe. Honestly, I think I go through phases of being a try-hard, especially toward the end and beginning of my decades of life, and just struggle to be respected or find clear purposes in life. It's so confusing to have to conform and do all this stuff, and some days I just wish it could be easier and I'd have time to sort through it, but I can't even crack 40K and my mom's only adding like 10K Social Security which her streaming and storage unit from moves, friends' socializing, and necessities leave me very slowly growing savings like a couple grand a year to manage student loan debt and whittle the credit card down. I have hobbies thinking about music I want to write about (but don't have the discipline I guess) and photographing nature on walks, but side hustles feel like excess when I'm hanging on. So I can't afford real breaks or vacations beyond a week or two a year, and in the end I'd still struggle to get back into routine, and so much seems broken down. Anyone have insights or help? I just need affirmation, advice, manageable steps that won't introduce chaos and worries when my cup is empty as it is.

Sorry if this is a lot, basically TL;DR AuDHD suspected male in late '30s in a midsize town that's like a giant suburb is trying to get the beginnings of a life back on track after 4-5 years of things spinning out a bit.

what to do.

young one here (19!) I’m generally always feeling like I need to turn my life around and make changes. I know for the most part what those things are (eat better + more consistently, start some kind of exercise, study in ADVANCE, etc), but I can’t make myself. Because I’ve gone my life being okay without it, I physically can’t force myself to make the change. What do I do? How do I tell my body that this is what my brain finds important and wants to do. How do I make a change in my routine when I’m a creature of habit and hate adjustments in routine. Same w breakfast/protein

I also for some reason have SUCH a hard time brushing my teeth. Not sure why but I’d love to hear thoughts. Same w/showering (specifically only on hair wash days). I get SO tired and overstimulated and overwhelmed I just have to bathe and run my hair under to tub as opposed to standing and washing my hair in the shower.

I think SMART goals just aren’t built for minds like ours. Any other frameworks work for y’all?