TLDR: Have you any tips or resources about how to be motivated to do things which you enjoy having ADHD in mind?

Hey, recently I had to stop my ADHD meds for a while.

Additionally I have a lot of time right now bec. of medical reasons and I try to do things I want to do instead of proctrastinating, so whenever I realize that I’m just doing stuff without actually enjoying them, I try to sit back, make me some tee and think about what I want to do. Like not in the future, but right now.

But the thing is, very often I just sit there and there is nothing I want to do. I try to enjoy doing nothing but it is kind of frustrating sitting there and thinking about what I want to do and nothing comes up.

I wanted to ask if this is a me thing or an ADHD related thing, and if so how you manage that. I either am completly stressed out with 100 projects at the same time or doing nothing and having no motivation to do anything. How can I be motivated to do things I enjoy? How to find things which I enjoy without sitting there and stressing out that currently I’m not motivated to do anything?

  • half_built_pyramids@lemmy.worldEnglish
    142·
    9 months ago

    I heard some good advice recently. It starts with an aside.

    What’s the #1 factor for finding a partner? Proximity. Out of personality, looks, attraction, whatever. The #1 thing is if the other person lives in the same city.

    Same goes for productivity. Take it down to its most basic quality. You’re only going to produce anything if you actually sit down and code, or write a book, or practice an instrument. Motivation is nice, but the biggest difference between a published author and an unpublished one is that the published author sat down and wrote something.

    • ringwraithfish@startrek.websiteEnglish
      510·
      9 months ago

      Discipline

      EDIT: I wasn’t trying to insult anyone with a one word reply, but OP was describing discipline, “to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control”

      Motivation is nice, but the biggest difference between a published author and an unpublished one is that the published author sat down and wrote something.

      This is a great real life example of discipline. The published author has disciplined themselves to sit down and write, even when they don’t feel motivated to.

      • Bennettiquette@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        9 months ago

        i’m so sorry you live under that pressure of others expectations. having the capacity to take a disciplined approach and self moderate your behaviors is an important skillset, no doubt. but that is not the same thing as feeling and nurturing intrinsic motivation.

        • MaryReadsBooks@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          4·
          9 months ago

          That’s what I’m thinking about. I want to learn to do random stuff with enjoyment rather than getting good at specific things. And I’m unsure whether this can be achieved with discipline

          • Bennettiquette@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            9 months ago

            I might reframe this pursuit (finding stuff to do merely because you find pleasure in the activity) as self care-in a very practical sense. I’ve tried before, especially during stretches of time without medication, to pick a specific time within a given week, say Tuesdays and Thursdays after dinner, to meaningfully allocate my focus towards an unspecified non-productive activity. Sketching, jigsaw puzzles, taking a walk, reading a book, etc. By keeping it unspecified I can easily swap out one activity for another when the time comes and by viewing it as block of recurring scheduled time that is tied to my existing schedule, it’s much easier to remember to incorporate it into my day. As contrast, if I planned “to take a walk next Thursday after dinner”, chances are I’ll end up forgetting beforehand or get caught up in something else.

            I suppose if I squint I could say adhering to this schedule change could be considered exercising discipline, but to me it feels like an ambiguous and pressured oversimplification.