What motivates you? Are you unmotivatable?

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I think it's knowing where to start what's more difficult for me than actually doing it. Once I get doing it, I feel fine and I would carry on. But it's making a start on things that are so difficult for me.

The "start-stop" problem is a well known feature of AS.

Well, I've certainly got that problem, but isn't it also a feature of ADHD?

I have a son who has inattentive ADD, or ADD-PI (or whatever they're calling it nowadays). Basically, he is not hyperactive, but has serious problems with paying attention in a school setting, or paying attention to anything that doesn't include his special interest(s).

My son takes stimulants, which are supposed to help increase his ability to pay attention. I think that they do help with attention, but what I'm noticing now is that he completely lacks motivation to do anything. I do NOT see this complete lack of motivation when he is NOT taking his meds. In the past when I've read about other people who take stimulants, and if they are working correctly, these people maintain that they suddenly feel the desire to finish activities, and that they have sort of a rough time not doing something.

For example, without meds, my son is scattered, but bounces around the house doing a variety of things (it is summer, after all). He doesn't really concentrate on anything, but he enjoys his video games and especially Live Xbox, as well as playing games on his iTouch, or watching TV. He's pretty much game for anything, including socializing. When he's on his meds, however, he plays sudoku for hours on end, never moving from the couch. That just seems to be totally the OPPOSITE of what I was expecting from his behavior on stimulant meds...

Also, I'm wondering -- for those of you who lacked motivation in your teen years -- were you ever able to self-motivate as you got older? Did you finish college, find a job, find a group you felt comfortable with? Or did you never get that far, totally because you lacked motivation?

however, he plays sudoku for hours on end, never moving from the couch. That just seems to be totally the OPPOSITE of what I was expecting from his behavior on stimulant meds...

My father, who had many AS traits, could start things easily, he always had some project going, but he never finished anything and that included his master's. He wrote the thesis but backed off when he had to face the orals. He loved to take language classes at the local community college and would do well until the class progressed to the point he would have to speak before the class, then he would drop out.

Goals motivate me.