Dummy task as an avoidance inhibitor?

3 months ago by Alvaro to c/adhd

Hello fellow ADHD people!

I had a weird idea today. I've noticed that sometimes I have a single specific task that I avoid incredibly painfully, to the point where, even on my best days, I basically do everything else. And it makes other things easier because the more I think about the task that I'm avoiding, the more my brain is running away to do other things.

It made me wonder, maybe I can make a dummy task that isn't really critical, but make myself think that it is, and avoid it, therefore increasing my motivation to do other tasks as a form of avoidance.

Any opinions or experiences about this?

kubica 23 points 3 months ago

Your brain after you thought you can trick yourself: "Am I a joke to you?"

save

path: 0 24717203, hotness: undefined, score: 23, children: 1

RQG 2 points 3 months ago

I trick my brain all the time. It's really not that smart.

My brain while writing this: wait a second

save

path: 0 24717203 24797967, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

jedibob5 17 points 3 months ago

I feel like the "make yourself think it's critical" bit is the hard part.

save

path: 0 24716643, hotness: undefined, score: 17, children: 0

burt 15 points 3 months ago

it has been my experience that avoiding these type of tasks leads to me completing my personal "backlog" of projects. so if you are struggling with how you feel after avoiding said task, try to look at what you did get done and take those minor victories.

save

path: 0 24717098, hotness: undefined, score: 15, children: 0

Aganim 11 points 3 months ago

Doesn't work for me, just as ineffective as self-imposed deadlines unfortunately.

save

path: 0 24719599, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0

MagnificentSteiner 8 points 3 months ago

I've found that in order to become comfortable doing something routinely I need to find my reason for wanting to do it. Forget about the usual reasons people do these things and find your own. I have found that trying to trick myself or bargain with myself really doesn't work.

The simplest example is wanting to do something not because it needs done, but because I know doing the stuff I like will feel better with everything else taken care of beforehand e.g. sitting down to play games on the PC feels great, but it feels even better knowing I've done the dishes etc.

I've also found that it takes me a long time to introduce something into my routine but once it's there it's pretty rock solid. So I try not to put pressure on myself. If it takes months to adjust my routine for one thing then so be it.

save

path: 0 24726925, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0

FinjaminPoach 4 points 3 months ago

save

path: 0 24719561, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

HootinNHollerin 2 points 3 months ago

Been struggling with this

save

path: 0 24720398, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0