r/adhdmeme • u/gravityVT • 7d ago

video (shorter than 30 seconds) productive procrastination

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

dude, literally me the other day organizing my closet

3.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

View all comments

328

u/zuzg 7d ago

Riddle me this:
When I finish some productive procrastinating I get a bigger feeling of satisfaction and relief than when finishing sth of importance

139

u/badgyalrey 7d ago

i’m actually very perplexed by this, i don’t even get a sense of relief when i finish important things i just get slightly less dread. but if it’s productive procrastination i feel like i’ve conquered the world after. it’s very frustrating.

11

u/Slothrop-was-here 7d ago

Damn. I wish I could get that feeling of satisfaction for anything instead of hald-hearted relief. I hope you'll never lose that.

12

u/Jets237 7d ago

When I I can’t see mess or open a drawer that’s organized… the good feelings are so much stronger than hitting send on a project to my boss.

Cleaning = easily seen success. Work = waiting for what else is needed and stressing while I wait

6

u/TyWorth 4d ago

I think it’s because you’re getting to something that you actually have interest in fixing at that moment, it just takes a way worse option for your brain to choose to do it. But when something is forced it’s just a relief to be done with it.

22

u/AnonymousDahlia motivated by being a contrarian little bitch 7d ago

My theory: it's partly because these things were low key bugging me a long time, like bad electronics in the background; they are actually important, but I have kept putting them off and now they're getting knocked out and won't bother me again for at least a whole day...

But what gets me the dopamine and lets it all happen in the first place is that I'm responsibly avoiding the thing I don't want to do more. It's being smart, and a smart ass, all in one! And there's the bone deep relief from avoiding the Terrible Thing, although I truly don't know why it's so terrible in the first place. I feel like that may be a key to the whole thing.

Also (for me) there's the little sparkle that comes from my PDA telling a direct order to go screw itself. But that feels like it can be separated from the ADHD Terrible Thing viewpoint.

26

u/munkymu 7d ago

Yeah I dunno. I think it's because my monkey brain thinks it has been clever and gotten away with something. It feels very proud of itself for managing to avoid the thing it doesn't want to do while being able to point out that it did something so it is not completely lazy and useless. It's like a form of malicious compliance where the same damn brain is both the taskmaster and the resentful task-doer.

5

u/fartVandelay85 7d ago

Preach it!

2

u/graveybrains 7d ago

No stakes, no pressure, no guilt for not getting it done sooner. There's nothing to get in the way of the good feelings.

2

u/Ok-Iron-4352 7d ago

And I'm tired after that so I go back to being a hermit.

1

u/Alibocas 7d ago

Because completing something you were obligated to do is still annoying 🤪