Here’s the thing, procrastination is acutally a coping mechanism for people with unmedicated ADHD. When we rush through tasks at the last minute, we ensure that our body produces lots and lots of cortisol, which kind of bypasses the issues with our dopaminergic neurochemistry. That is obviously followed by a crash and feels horrible, but understanding that this is due to how we’re wired is the first step for finding alternatives.
Neurotypicals will always tell you that you should get the hardest tasks out of the way first. IDK if that works for them, but for us it’s the worst we can do. We need to start with easy stuff. Get the dopamine pumping. Give ourself little rewards inbetween. That’s the healthier, structured variant of last minute rushing.
Unfortunately the little tasks don’t give me shit for dopamine. That’s reserved for whatever random activity that strikes my fancy at that exact moment.
Here’s the thing, procrastination is acutally a coping mechanism for people with unmedicated ADHD. When we rush through tasks at the last minute, we ensure that our body produces lots and lots of cortisol, which kind of bypasses the issues with our dopaminergic neurochemistry. That is obviously followed by a crash and feels horrible, but understanding that this is due to how we’re wired is the first step for finding alternatives.
Neurotypicals will always tell you that you should get the hardest tasks out of the way first. IDK if that works for them, but for us it’s the worst we can do. We need to start with easy stuff. Get the dopamine pumping. Give ourself little rewards inbetween. That’s the healthier, structured variant of last minute rushing.
Unfortunately the little tasks don’t give me shit for dopamine. That’s reserved for whatever random activity that strikes my fancy at that exact moment.