Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.
Question about ADD/ADHD
I read some things about ADHD and procrastination here. When I read about ADD, I greatly recognize myself in the symptoms. I am not very hyper-active in my behavior though, but I am feeling restless all the time, and also tend to pick things a lot (fingers, nose, objects). Due to this restlessness I have much difficulties focusing and paying attention to things. At least this is how I feel.
When I talked to my company counselor (a psychologist) about my problems last year, I mentioned ADHD. She did some tests with me, among which some tests focusing on attention/focusing. To my own surprise, I scored quite well on these tests. My counselor then concluded that ADD could not be the problem. She then referred me to a psycho-therapist, who concluded that, briefly said, I was unable to focus on long-term goals and could not ignore short-term satisfaction. Although this helped me in understanding myself a little more, it has not really improved my problems.
However, I often have the feeling that more is going on, and I can't help thinking that ADD is part of the problem. Are people familiar with this? Are people with ADD really unable to focus on things, or can they focus for short periods when there is no distraction, for example for such a test? Or do people know about other disorders, related to ADD, in which this is possible?
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another book
This one was recommended to me by my therapist when I was exploring ADD.
You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?
It's written specifically for adults with ADD or ADHD. Might be worth a look for you. He said that most of his patients that have it recognize themselves intensely in the first 30 pages or so.
Good luck!
ADHD
I can only speak from my experiences with my son who scores very high on the ADD tests: he can concentrate on whatever interests him, but will get distracted from anything that is not on his mind. So, yes, if you were highly motivated to take the test, then it is entirely feasible that you will score well. However, the assessment for ADD usually involves a self-evaluation of your own behavior, ie do you daydream often, do you go off in the middle of a task to complete something else. I am highly likely to procrastinate on things that I am afraid of and also get distracted in the middle of tasks: there are no easy answers here. However, I would recommend getting ahold of the book Driven to Distraction to find out more about ADHD and ADD.
It doesn't matter so much what you call it.
Please don't get me wrong, as I've been there too. There's a bundle of money to be made these days with diagnoses, and they make it! All my life I've been restless, lazy, ADD, lost, impaired, and who knows what else. It's only helped me lately since getting involved with a 12 step program that things started to get better. When I apply that to my procrastination, it helps. I'm not religious, either, and even if my power greater than myself is imaginary, it works. Whatever ADD and ADHD is now will be called something else in 20 or so years. Same with alot of other things. All I can see is if we focus on overcoming whatever with action, it'll get better for us, too. I hope we can talk more, but I'm starting to procrastinate on things I should be doing! Take care, and stay around.
12 steps to end procrastination
Hi Lark,
Do you use some guide to help you apply the 12 steps from AA to procrastination? Is there a particular article I could read? Thanks.
MK
Never mind...found them...duh
Guess I should look before I ask.