It's the biggest paradox of ADHD: when you're interested, you can't tear yourself away. When you're bored, focus becomes torture.
Boredom is one of the main reasons we ADHDers procrastinate. Routine tasks like phone calls and paperwork, or household chores like laundry and dishes, become things that we dread and put off until we're in a bind and can no longer afford to ignore them.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Procrastination can be overcome, and here a 7 surefire ways to tackle it:
1. Make a Plan
Planning removes the pressure in the heat of the moment and helps you to avoid overwhelm. Spending a few minutes to plan out the task before you tackle it provides you with a road map to follow and eliminates the need to make decisions when you're in the thick of things.
2. Get Someone Else Involved
It's easier to be productive when someone else is working along side you. Get the entire household cleaning up at the same time. If you have errands to run, find a buddy who also needs to be out and about. And make use of public spaces! Take your paperwork to the library or a coffee house.
3. Turn Up the Volume
Turn on some fun and upbeat music and let it pump you up! Music alone can give you the energy and outlook you need to take on the boring tasks. Choose something with a strong beat that puts you in a good mood. A number of my clients have used 80s pop, show tunes, and even club music. Me, I'm a rock chick. I can dance and dust to a rock beat like no one's business.
4. Do 2 Things at Once
Don't be afraid to balance routine or monotonous tasks with something that is more likely to hold your interest. You can pay bills while you watch TV, or talk on the phone while organizing your papers.
5. Get Your Priorities Straight
Perhaps you're procrastinating on a task because it's not that important. Maybe you'd love to clean out the basement, but it's not really going to make your life any easier if you do. If it sounds like a good idea but in the end it's really not that important to you, let it go. Don't let it hang over your head.
6. Delegate
Why suffer? Delegate boring tasks wherever and whenever you can. Divide up household chores according to who likes to do what, or at least by who doesn't mind doing what. House cleaning and laundry services, handy men (or handy women!), personal assistants, administrative assistants and more are all available to take some of those boring tasks off your list and free up your time for the stuff you'd rather be doing.
7. Just Do It!!
Don't think about it too much, just jump in and get it done. Now I know a lot of people have a problem with telling an ADHDer to "just do" something, but we're not talking about ability here, we're talking about procrastinating on the stuff that you know how to do, but you just don't feel like doing. The more you think about it and dread it, the harder it will be to get going. So don't over think, just do it.
What are your surefire ways to turn procrastination into productivity? Let us know!
About Jennifer Koretsky
When I get behind with my laundry in order to actually make progress and not mess up another room in my house I do one load of laundry at a time . I used to wash and dry as many loads as I could pump out but I never got around to completing the massive pile of now wrinkled everything on my couches, bed depending on what room was clean enough to work in that day, witch turned into the room that we dressed in that week because I never got all of my laundry washed dried and then put away, ever. So I complete one load at a time and if I get side tracked or called away I can ether quickly finish up or when I get back from what ever I only have a load in the dryer that needs to get folded and put away and anyone can do that ; )
One of the things I love about laundry is the instant gratification! It goes in dirty/ comes out clean. Goes into the dryer wet/comes out dry. How's that for satisfaction?!! And letting yourself fold only 1 load at a time seems like proof positive that you're listening to your Inner Wisdom. Great!!!
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