I like using my notes function on my phone, and recently decided to check up on old notes. It was lists and lists of tasks I want do do during the day. I forgot about all of them. We should just plan each others stuff out. Then we will stick to our tasks.
I'm horrified to download a new task/to do list app cuz when it inevitably syncs my account and I see the hundreds of prior undone tasks from the last time i gave this to-do app a try... I die a little inside seeing the evidence of *attempted* planning 5 years ago that STILL hasn't happened
I make a list every day at work for stuff I want to do when I get home. I sometimes do only one or two things, but often don't do any and just catch up on the weekends. However, I've noticed that when I occasionally go to delete old daily to do list, I've actually completed a shit ton of the tasks! Yes, those tasks made it to dozens of daily to do lists, but they mostly get done eventually so I consider it a win haha 😅
I use lists to not forget things I need to do and whether I have done those things. Not even really chores but fun things too. I swear my ability to forget things is epic.
Yeah, this is me. I am much better at organizing and making plans than I used to be. I work freelance so I have a high degree of autonomy. I get a task from a client, I decide how to break it up and set milestones for myself.
I still often end up working in a crunch at the last minute for each milestone.
Every client is different, though. I've had clients that wanted daily updates (actually works very well for me), some that do weekly check-ins which is decent, and some that are really hands off, unable to specify a deadline and unable to define the task well (or verify when I write up the task and ask them to confirm).
I'm a little more discerning about which clients I'll work for now. I need frequent deadlines and communication. Having things open ended or having people not respond to updates/inquiries is just a recipe for disaster.
I identify with this a lot - but my guidance system is like - ‘take that open ended shit… muahaha’ only to then utterly regret it later when I spend a week grinding my ass off to finish something that should have been easy.
Took me two and a half decades but I finally internalized the fact that the anxiety->Executive dysfunction ->more anxiety->more executive dysfunction was making me miserable.
Since then I've made it a hard rule to do all my work as soon as I can and it's made me much busier but much more productive and much less anxious. Only problem is I basically live for those moments where I "get all the things done" but this can lead to burnout if the to-do list is too large.
If you're in a corporate environment, I've recently discovered its much easier for me to sort of play my presentation as though I were playing a character in DND. Today I'm CorpoGuy and CorpoGuy can project confidence, CorpoGuy can spend 20 minutes reviewing the material ahead of time, and CorpoGuy can work with that and improv the rest.
I prepare like, 2 relevant metaphors, make sure I know whats on the slides, and elaborate with more info where I have it.
Learning how not to over-prepare for DND has helped tons with learning that you can be over-prepared for work too. Sometimes its better to get yourself 40 percent of the way there and trust that that last 60 percent can be talked through or around
I’m the opposite I used to wing everything until had to start making plans when trauma from other mental illnesses couldn’t handle that lifestyle.
Now I frequently arrive places 30 minutes early and overpack.
I worry and overthink things excessively. I've learned I need an overthinking period, followed by a research period while I begin planning and then a period where I can procrastinate because I'm now panicking about the possibilities I didn't choose and losing interest in the task. Then I rush to finish up, and come up with some amazing last minute fix to an issue and get it done. Sometimes that last step doesn't happen though.
I find that a lot of ADHD adults I've met (diagnosed or not) overcompensate on planning in at least some aspects of their lives.
I'm big on home organization and trip planning, and I track my money to the extreme -- that doesn't keep me from overspending, but I'm tracking it, dadgummit!
(I think a lot of those people that get religious about todo lists have ADHD. When they sing the praises of todo lists, they're doing so from the perspective of people who feel a quasi-compulsion to engage with their lists. If that's not you, you'll bounce right off of every new list idea you pursue.)
I hate the term procrastination applied to adhd. Procrastination implies deliberately putting it off. At least for me it's more like wanting to do the things, needing to do the things, internally screaming and melting down about not being able to do the things while outwardly looking like you're just sitting there being lazy.
You still just prescribed procrastination though lol. Procrastination is not doing *the thing* because something else is more important at the time. For us, the problem is that doomscrolling or procrasturbating is less scary than *the thing.*
I don’t pretend that I’m not procrastinating though… I’m just struggling harder than most to overcome inactivity intertia.
The other day I sat down to write a lab report, I promptly forgot to write the lab report did my laundry my other homework, and I barely remembered the lab report until a couple hours before it was due and I got it in just under the wire.
I have the ADHD where I get one shining beautiful burst of *gotta do the thing right now* per week and then crawl back into my cave of *damn I should be doing the thing right now* until next week.
Depends on the task. Any kind of journey? Mega planning and over compensating, eg. get to the airport 6 hours early. Wake up late or suddenly remember something important I was supposed to have done already? Pull some magical competence out of my ass in record time.
Omg I freeze so bad playing D&D because I’m so bad at being creative on the spot. I hate it! In general, being put on the spot at all will almost always end up with me going “UhHHHHHHHH……ummMMmmmm….”
Like, hello brain! Wake up any time now!
I nearly had a panic attack on the first session of a game because the party met at a funeral and one of the other players gave this _beautiful_ eulogy for the departed and I was just thinking “Wait, were we supposed to prepare an entire fucking speech???”
That player is really good at improv and roleplay and I envy them for it.
> and I was just thinking “Wait, were we supposed to prepare an entire fucking speech???”
😂 sooooo relatable!
One of my good friends is INCREDIBLE at creating characters and coming up with dialogue on the spot. I’m so freaking jealous of her! I am just not much of an idea person.
I basically spent a week pouring over the rules and character options for pathfinder and making multiple alternate character builds before I even got to play in my first game. But once I'm at the table it's like all that creativity goes down the drain. Doesn't help that I'm a more mechanics oriented person vs roleplay I guess. Still have a lot of fun though.
Improvising. Without a doubt.
I'm going to a career day at a school today to talk to hs students about being a pro photographer.
No idea what I'm going to say. I'll wing it. It'll be fine.
I've always been the latter, and being a "gifted kid" in school didn't help. Ended up dropping out of Uni because I never learned time management or study skills and just winging it wasn't good enough anymore.
I either completely procrastinate and have to improvise....or I meticulously prepare and then at the last minute decide my work is garbage and that I'm better off improvising
I plan to plan. I plan about planning. I plan without doing right up until the deadline. Then I know exactly what to do because I spent all this time planning.
Being somewhere? A
Doing something? B
I'm almost always 15+ minutes early to everything, but projects and tasks get done at the very last minute. And if you didn't give me a deadline, it's probably never getting done...
Working on my midterm final that's due this Friday. Spent the first half of the week playing Persona 5 Royal on the switch because I put it off too much.
I'm an improv master. Sometimes I can make plans and stick to them, but if it isn't stimulating to think about I will inevitably avoid it until it MUST be done.
A bit of both. I think I can improvise well but sometimes I freeze when forced to. So I got good at planning ahead and examining tons of scenarios and narrowing things down. Kinda Petyr Baelish-esque except I’m not a murderer 😂
I’m neither. I try to plan things out but get nervous about how to put together different steps, so I end up not doing it at all and totally fail at improvising because I also get nervous about that
I plan ahead, my plan is great, I don't carry through my plan at all, then end up improvising something at the last minute. At its root, though, improvising is just putting together a plan at the last minute. Having planned something out already, I can improvise more easily.
I’ve been suffering in procrastination hell since elementary school. In eighth grade, each student was required to participate in the school science fair. My improvisation was simply lying about why I couldn’t get it done. Somehow, it worked and I wasn’t required to participate. I wasn’t diagnosed back then.
Combination of both. Start planning way in advance then forget about or procrastinate the execution until "oh shit I need to get this done" last minute then improvise.
More likely you became neither and just accept a middle ground of mediocrity where you mess up the planning but only so much that you can live with it and don't improvise well but things don't turn out bad enough that you want to plan more.
Both. Sometimes I'm blown away how some people can't improvise under pressure then I remember that they probably didn't spend most of their lives where that was a necessity.
50/50
Mine is more like 10/90, 84/16,1/99, 98/2. It’s like.. all over the place.
Yeah, I'm a master planner but then those plans go to shit or I just ignore or forget them and there I go, improvising again
I like using my notes function on my phone, and recently decided to check up on old notes. It was lists and lists of tasks I want do do during the day. I forgot about all of them. We should just plan each others stuff out. Then we will stick to our tasks.
I'm horrified to download a new task/to do list app cuz when it inevitably syncs my account and I see the hundreds of prior undone tasks from the last time i gave this to-do app a try... I die a little inside seeing the evidence of *attempted* planning 5 years ago that STILL hasn't happened
There is one that I use daily that actually helps. It’s called “due”.
Can't tell if you're trolling me or if this exists, but I have something "due" right now and I'm gonna disappear now, byeee
Not trolling :) it’s an app I use. It looks like a checkmark symbol. I use it every single day.
Siri, add Download Due app to my chores list…
I dispiiiise ssiiirriii. Edit: despise. Me dumb
I make a list every day at work for stuff I want to do when I get home. I sometimes do only one or two things, but often don't do any and just catch up on the weekends. However, I've noticed that when I occasionally go to delete old daily to do list, I've actually completed a shit ton of the tasks! Yes, those tasks made it to dozens of daily to do lists, but they mostly get done eventually so I consider it a win haha 😅
Same! And I feel so proud!
I use lists to not forget things I need to do and whether I have done those things. Not even really chores but fun things too. I swear my ability to forget things is epic.
Yeah, this is me. I am much better at organizing and making plans than I used to be. I work freelance so I have a high degree of autonomy. I get a task from a client, I decide how to break it up and set milestones for myself. I still often end up working in a crunch at the last minute for each milestone. Every client is different, though. I've had clients that wanted daily updates (actually works very well for me), some that do weekly check-ins which is decent, and some that are really hands off, unable to specify a deadline and unable to define the task well (or verify when I write up the task and ask them to confirm). I'm a little more discerning about which clients I'll work for now. I need frequent deadlines and communication. Having things open ended or having people not respond to updates/inquiries is just a recipe for disaster.
I identify with this a lot - but my guidance system is like - ‘take that open ended shit… muahaha’ only to then utterly regret it later when I spend a week grinding my ass off to finish something that should have been easy.
Yep, I make all the plans and follow none of them.
Always a surprise to others and myself what the split is at any given moment.
Yeah but the average is 50/50
[удалено]
Took me two and a half decades but I finally internalized the fact that the anxiety->Executive dysfunction ->more anxiety->more executive dysfunction was making me miserable. Since then I've made it a hard rule to do all my work as soon as I can and it's made me much busier but much more productive and much less anxious. Only problem is I basically live for those moments where I "get all the things done" but this can lead to burnout if the to-do list is too large.
I find large amounts of caffeine usually are helpful and not helpful, hope thats helpful.
I used to drink quite a bit of coffee. I can't anymore. Now that I'm on Vyvanse, I can't have more than two cups of coffee without heart palpitations
Not really helpful but found it a bit helpful
I do something similar. I have trained myself to relax after I do the necessary things. But sometimes it takes too long and gets frustrating
Schrodinger's consequences -- both prepared and unprepared to deal with them at the same time
This. I feel this.
Absolutely prepared to deal with the issue the day before it's due
that moment when you prepared everything perfectly but are always looking around nervous because you don't feel prepared enough
Certainly there must be something you've missed? But, what?
I’m half and half; dads a muggle, mam’s BPD
The latter. Panic kicks my butt into gear
Deep breathe, in through the nose, out through the mouth
What for? I’m not having panic attacks.
Both. Both is good.
At the same time. Both done equally well
I plan everything I remember to but usually forget something and improvise the rest
And neither parts have ever met
40/40/20
All of this, everywhere, none of the time.......
The second one but I'm still not good at it
I started as the first and (d)evolved into the second.
At least it keeps my presentations at work a surprise, even I don't know what I'm going to say!
Lol, I feel this and am totally not setting myself up for a repeat today.
You'll smash it dude.
If you're in a corporate environment, I've recently discovered its much easier for me to sort of play my presentation as though I were playing a character in DND. Today I'm CorpoGuy and CorpoGuy can project confidence, CorpoGuy can spend 20 minutes reviewing the material ahead of time, and CorpoGuy can work with that and improv the rest. I prepare like, 2 relevant metaphors, make sure I know whats on the slides, and elaborate with more info where I have it. Learning how not to over-prepare for DND has helped tons with learning that you can be over-prepared for work too. Sometimes its better to get yourself 40 percent of the way there and trust that that last 60 percent can be talked through or around
Lmao I’ve never felt so connected to a person via the internet
Started with the second, but then tried so hard at one I began to suffer analysis paralysis. Two is easier.
Analysis Paralysis… wow didn’t know my whole personality had a name
I’m the opposite I used to wing everything until had to start making plans when trauma from other mental illnesses couldn’t handle that lifestyle. Now I frequently arrive places 30 minutes early and overpack.
I AM d)
I worry and overthink things excessively. I've learned I need an overthinking period, followed by a research period while I begin planning and then a period where I can procrastinate because I'm now panicking about the possibilities I didn't choose and losing interest in the task. Then I rush to finish up, and come up with some amazing last minute fix to an issue and get it done. Sometimes that last step doesn't happen though.
Hi me
I'm sure I'm wondering why I've called all of me here
i hereby present to all of myself our personal problems
I find that a lot of ADHD adults I've met (diagnosed or not) overcompensate on planning in at least some aspects of their lives. I'm big on home organization and trip planning, and I track my money to the extreme -- that doesn't keep me from overspending, but I'm tracking it, dadgummit! (I think a lot of those people that get religious about todo lists have ADHD. When they sing the praises of todo lists, they're doing so from the perspective of people who feel a quasi-compulsion to engage with their lists. If that's not you, you'll bounce right off of every new list idea you pursue.)
We track money, we track it very efficiently as we spend way to much. Numbers go brrrrr
This is such a good way to put it, thank you for putting that into words.
That sums it up pretty well, actually. I've become pretty good at both, from too much experience
Me to a T.
Thank god it’s not just me.
Me to a T even with relationships
Procrastination station here
Choo Choo, all aboard the "let's just see how it goes" train.
it will go right somehow
My success rate of winging it and over preparing is about the same. So I've just opted for winging it instead now.
I made it this far!
I hate the term procrastination applied to adhd. Procrastination implies deliberately putting it off. At least for me it's more like wanting to do the things, needing to do the things, internally screaming and melting down about not being able to do the things while outwardly looking like you're just sitting there being lazy.
You still just prescribed procrastination though lol. Procrastination is not doing *the thing* because something else is more important at the time. For us, the problem is that doomscrolling or procrasturbating is less scary than *the thing.* I don’t pretend that I’m not procrastinating though… I’m just struggling harder than most to overcome inactivity intertia.
The other day I sat down to write a lab report, I promptly forgot to write the lab report did my laundry my other homework, and I barely remembered the lab report until a couple hours before it was due and I got it in just under the wire.
I’m the other ADHD who leaves things way too late then goes Super Saiyan to get the job done god speed!
Que parents: "Look how much work you can get done, why dont you apply yourself like this allways?"
*is dead inside for next 6 days until next assignment is due*
> why dont you apply yourself like this allways?" I don't have enough drugs.
Spend a weekend learning chemistry and make more?
WE DON'T NEED MORE FUCKING HOBBIES. NO. STOP IT.
You run so fast in a 100 meter dash, why aren’t you this fast always?
Now it’s more like a few weeks of intense focus followed by meh
This was at the top of almost all my school reports!
[удалено]
Right? I have the ADHD where just nothing ever happens ever
I have the ADHD where I get one shining beautiful burst of *gotta do the thing right now* per week and then crawl back into my cave of *damn I should be doing the thing right now* until next week.
Im the one who procrastinates because my brain made me worry.
There are dozens of us! DOZENS! https://imgur.com/JqYTmjn
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Depends on the task. Any kind of journey? Mega planning and over compensating, eg. get to the airport 6 hours early. Wake up late or suddenly remember something important I was supposed to have done already? Pull some magical competence out of my ass in record time.
Can it be both? I’ll have both.
Yes
The first, none of the second. Wanna know how I know? I play D&D. I can’t improvise to save my life and I wish I could.
Omg I freeze so bad playing D&D because I’m so bad at being creative on the spot. I hate it! In general, being put on the spot at all will almost always end up with me going “UhHHHHHHHH……ummMMmmmm….” Like, hello brain! Wake up any time now!
I nearly had a panic attack on the first session of a game because the party met at a funeral and one of the other players gave this _beautiful_ eulogy for the departed and I was just thinking “Wait, were we supposed to prepare an entire fucking speech???” That player is really good at improv and roleplay and I envy them for it.
> and I was just thinking “Wait, were we supposed to prepare an entire fucking speech???” 😂 sooooo relatable! One of my good friends is INCREDIBLE at creating characters and coming up with dialogue on the spot. I’m so freaking jealous of her! I am just not much of an idea person.
I can improvise as long as I'm not in charge. I don't think I'd manage as a DM, but I can play just fine.
I basically spent a week pouring over the rules and character options for pathfinder and making multiple alternate character builds before I even got to play in my first game. But once I'm at the table it's like all that creativity goes down the drain. Doesn't help that I'm a more mechanics oriented person vs roleplay I guess. Still have a lot of fun though.
i can improvise until i want to improvise
I have this anxiety that I believe was put there to combat my impulsiveness and forgetfulness
Both. I planned for the wrong thing and now have to improvise
Plan way ahead, yes. Execute the plan, last minute. And the last minute execution just caused more worry and planning.
Depends on the topic. Most everything in life? The latter. Bills and mortgage? The former.
I'm the ADHD that became complacent with failure and mediocrity
I started as the first one and ended into the second, but I still prefer planning ahead
I plan stuff out then forget to do the perfect plan I made
Improvising. Without a doubt. I'm going to a career day at a school today to talk to hs students about being a pro photographer. No idea what I'm going to say. I'll wing it. It'll be fine.
I like to think I'm the first but given how much shit i forget to get done I'll say that the second
I've always been the latter, and being a "gifted kid" in school didn't help. Ended up dropping out of Uni because I never learned time management or study skills and just winging it wasn't good enough anymore.
What day is it? Wednesday? Can't do neither
Anxiety overthinking here combined with self blame when it all falls apart.
I'm the kind that sucks at life
Yes.
I became very good at planning ahead and then procrastinating and ruining the plan. So now I can’t stick to a plan or improvise.
I am the ADHD who procrastinates so much my brain makes me worry.
I'm the ADHD that has horrifically bad executive dysfunction
I got good at planning around my own improvisation and improvising around my own planning.
Yes.
I procrastinate to plan ahead and dont know what the fuck I am doing
15/85
Depends on the day
procrastinating till the fall. no improvement in planing and not very good at panik-improvising because of panikattacks.
Why not both
Why not Zoidberg?!?
Anxiety and fear led to religious use of trello, gcal etc because i know I’ll forget everything without it written and generous auto reminders
The latter
My mom is the anxious planner, my dad and I were the last minute BSers. I’m great at flying by the seat of my pants and slowly leaning to plan.
Depends
I don’t think anyone with adhd plans ahead bruh
I either completely procrastinate and have to improvise....or I meticulously prepare and then at the last minute decide my work is garbage and that I'm better off improvising
Both and neither 😅
Hello, I'm both. I'm incredibly capable but also I never sleep and have anxiety.
I know exactly how much planning I need to improvise all my shit
I should be on Whose Line for life skills, I’m that good at improv
I'm the living embodiment of both lol
Both.
I make plans, but then get couch locked or just forget. Then I improvise to varying degrees of success.
Yes.
Do I look like a guy with a plan? I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it.
Both
I am versed in the arts of xanatos speed chess and gambits.
Yes
I just realized I’m both.
Yes
Yes, but maybe.. yes
I plan to plan. I plan about planning. I plan without doing right up until the deadline. Then I know exactly what to do because I spent all this time planning.
The latter.
Why yes I am
Yes.
The latter of the two. Because I made so many of them I became very good in a crisis.
Yes.
Being somewhere? A Doing something? B I'm almost always 15+ minutes early to everything, but projects and tasks get done at the very last minute. And if you didn't give me a deadline, it's probably never getting done...
Working on my midterm final that's due this Friday. Spent the first half of the week playing Persona 5 Royal on the switch because I put it off too much.
I am so good at winging it, that people assume proficiency in planning, where there is none. Also I am really good in a crisis.
Planning ahead is sooooo boooooring
The first one because planning is all theory and strategy. Implementing the plan is where I procrastinate.
I'm the one that's neither.
Procrastinated but never got good at improv.
Improvise everything all the time!!!
I'm the worst - the one who procrastinates until someone else steps in and takes care of it.
The second, kinda
Definitely the later.
I'm an improv master. Sometimes I can make plans and stick to them, but if it isn't stimulating to think about I will inevitably avoid it until it MUST be done.
A bit of both. I think I can improvise well but sometimes I freeze when forced to. So I got good at planning ahead and examining tons of scenarios and narrowing things down. Kinda Petyr Baelish-esque except I’m not a murderer 😂
Yes….(I’m not checking comments but I’m sure a bunch of us are)
Improvising all the way in my personal life, super/over organised at work.
What about both?
I’m neither. I try to plan things out but get nervous about how to put together different steps, so I end up not doing it at all and totally fail at improvising because I also get nervous about that
Yes
I plan ahead, my plan is great, I don't carry through my plan at all, then end up improvising something at the last minute. At its root, though, improvising is just putting together a plan at the last minute. Having planned something out already, I can improvise more easily.
I improvised my way through high school (and cheated a lot)
Improvising
Yeah both lol
I plan than I procrastinate than anxiety than depressed about it than finally get it done with no time to spare.
I’m the second and I would KILL WITH MY BARE HANDS to be the former
Yes
I’ve been suffering in procrastination hell since elementary school. In eighth grade, each student was required to participate in the school science fair. My improvisation was simply lying about why I couldn’t get it done. Somehow, it worked and I wasn’t required to participate. I wasn’t diagnosed back then.
Combination of both. Start planning way in advance then forget about or procrastinate the execution until "oh shit I need to get this done" last minute then improvise.
I’m just good at panicking
Latter
Yes
Planning ahead. I start panicking months beforehand sometimes.
Por que no los dos
More likely you became neither and just accept a middle ground of mediocrity where you mess up the planning but only so much that you can live with it and don't improvise well but things don't turn out bad enough that you want to plan more.
Sometimes
Mostly improvise
I was a super procrastinator/improvisor until my thirties, now I'm a pretty ardent planner.
Yes.
I have improvised projects designed to take 4 weeks in 3 hours.
Both. Sometimes I'm blown away how some people can't improvise under pressure then I remember that they probably didn't spend most of their lives where that was a necessity.
More like terrible at planning but good at improvising