I swear, I don’t procrastinate on purpose… it just happens. One moment I’m ready to start, and the next… I’ve reorganized my entire desk. Twice.
It’s not that I don’t want to do the task. It’s just… my brain refuses to start. No motivation, no urgency—until, of course, it’s 2 AM and the deadline is now.
One time, I told myself: ‘I’ll just take a 5-minute break before I start.’ Three hours later, I had deep-dived into conspiracy theories about why pigeons might not be real. The task? Not even touched.
So, here’s what I do: If a task feels impossible, I shrink it down. Just 2 minutes. That’s it. I tell myself: ‘I don’t have to finish it, I just have to start.’ And most of the time? Once I start, I keep going.
If that doesn’t work, I make the deadline real. I text a friend and say, ‘Ask me in an hour if I finished this.’ Suddenly, my brain takes it seriously. Because apparently, imaginary deadlines don’t work for me, but peer pressure? That does.
ADHD time blindness makes deadlines weird. Either I think I have all the time in the world… or none at all. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done instead of working? Tell me so I don’t feel alone!
Elias Carter 