Update: turns out I was stuck bc the things I need to do had congealed into an undifferentiated monolith of doom. I made a (deconstructed) to-do list and scheduled my week. Discovered I'm no more "behind" than usual, so I'm no longer feeling immobilized or unsure where to start!

I will absolutely be trying out some of these strategies when I need to crack open tomorrow's task, though! Keep 'em coming! Thank you so much, everyone! 😊

Next question: how do you remember to actually APPLY strategies that you already have when you actually need them?!?!?! 😅🙃

@the_tweedy Task initiation or task completion? Because if it is the former, I don't really have that much advice as starting things isn't really ... where was I going with this?

@GregoryWhitta13 Initiation has been the bigger barrier for me lately!

@the_tweedy The downhill boulder strategy. I consider the biggest challenge basically activation energy. If I can start, the rest follows. So commit to just doing the first part of the task, saying I can quit after. Once I'm started, I tend not to follow through with the quitting

@the_tweedy @Giftieart Saying it out loud. Something about hearing the directive or "request" out loud triggers me to get up way father than just brewing over it in my head.

@the_tweedy Musical Pavlovian training. I have specific playlists for specific tasks. When I hear the music, I become desperate to do the task. Also breaking it down into smaller tasks. Like if I need to vacuum the bed w/ my hand-vac, the first microtask is turning back the covers.

@the_tweedy Lie to yourself. Need to fold the laundry? Lie and say you're pnly.gonna fold like 2 things. Need to clean up a room? Lie and tell yourself you're only gonna straighten up one pile.

@the_tweedy Huge +1 to doing the absolute bare minimum first step, then DOPAMINE! Need to write something? Open a doc, write the title or whatever, save, go do something dopamine-producing. Laundry? Set a timer for one minute and fold until the timer goes off, then dopamine.

@the_tweedy Lists. As cliche as it sounds...when I start to feel overwhelmed, I just brain dump it onto a page. Then I start making lists. Depending on what I'm working on, I sometimes even go a step further and make an outline. Getting it all in order and on paper helps get me going.

@the_tweedy I have to talk to myself like a really positive friend: "We can do this. You're just stuck-not incapable." I also make sure to congratulate myself out loud when I've accomplished something.

@the_tweedy Reverse to do lists. Write down tasks I have completed so I can give myself all the gold stars. (I have to keep a regular to do list, too, but I only put big things in it.)

@the_tweedy I have a new morning routine that ends with me sitting at my desk, so I'm set up to do at least SOMETHING productive. And the starting with with smallest possible bit to ease in is a thing that has been helping me too. My GP was surprisingly helpful with this stuff.

@the_tweedy Have someone you care about ask you to do it as a favor to them. Doing something at someone's request sometimes helps. Routine, is the biggest help for me.

@the_tweedy I used to live Story cleaning my room. I'm not popular enough anyone would look but the illusion of social pressure was enough.

@the_tweedy Literally asking someone to text me and tell me to do a thing.

@the_tweedy Telling somebody about this *great* idea I want to try on it

@the_tweedy Just saw a tip that I am really psyched to try. Someone said when they're working from home they change into their "work footwear" to get in the right headspace. And then change back when they're done. Going to try it for doing life admin/bills/etc

@the_tweedy before I realised I probably have ADHD (official DX pending) I would pretend someone was making a documentary about me doing whatever I needed to do because I’m the expert 🤷 I mean, I still do this ☺️ but now I understand why

@the_tweedy @LA_Knight89 Scheduling around synchronicity instead of time. Currently too overwhelmed for that to work tho lol so making an app to try & hold the things my mind no longer has space for.

@the_tweedy I have alarms every hours or so telling me to do stuff. (Eat! Work! Sleep!) It doesn't always work but at least I know what time it is

@the_tweedy Getting a body double from @focusmate to do the thing with.

@the_tweedy Rituals help a lot. Working at a certain time. Always sitting down with a cup of coffee and turning on music first. That said usually if I can’t start it’s because there’s anxiety around the project or I’m just uninterested. So figuring out why can help too.

@the_tweedy On a podcast I heard apparently you are meant to stare at a wall for ten minutes and do nothing! Apparently you get so bored and restless you are then desperate to do said task but I’m yet to try it 😂

@the_tweedy Constructive procrastination. I have to edit this document but I don't wanna/can't. But I can't do anything fun instead. So I find a less hated but short task (Timecards! Washing the dishes! Filing my taxes!) to do instead. Afterwards, I usually can turn to the most hated.

@the_tweedy Having a routine

@the_tweedy Watching TV, old-school, with ad breaks. The start of an ad break phase serves as a trigger to get up and Do Thing. (I usually use it to trigger chores, so I do 1 chore each ad break phase.) Caution: This becomes harder if you're knitting while watching TV.

@the_tweedy @ADHD_Alien Not diagnosed yet (soon), but i was taught by a specialist mentor at university to stop trying to take on the entire breadth of the task at once, it's overwhelming! Instead, work on the first part sepparately and work your way from there!

@the_tweedy @NomeDaBarbarian did a great thread on this a while back and the 2 things that were very successfully were rolling dice on a random, short task list to pick a task and having someone else ask you to do a thing in your list as a favor to them. They were hilariously effective 🤣

@the_tweedy Maybe niche to me, but: Color code my detailed list (every single thing I need to do, categories in different colors), with a playlist for each category. So I get a little excited about getting to listen the soundtrack of Hair while I do laundry, or Spice Girls writing an article

@the_tweedy @ADHD_Alien I use the app Forest in which I set a timer for a designated amount of time. If I don’t do anything else on my phone, during that time, I’ll grow a tree. If I open another app, the tree will die. It has other settings, but that’s the only way I’ve used it.

@the_tweedy Telling myself I only have to do a tiny bit of it. Wash one dish. Just wipe the counters down quickly. Just vacuum one part of one room. Much easier than telling myself I have to do a massive job. Once I've started I find it much easier to keep going.

@the_tweedy Pick up one thing and do that. Just one. Put away one toy, take one thing to the dishwasher, put away one grocery item. Write one email. Usually one in moving it's easier to keep going. It doesn't matter what you start with.