Cause of lack of motivation is overthinking things?

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beneficii
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04 Jul 2013, 8:49 pm

justkillingtime wrote:
I read on a forum or blog for parents of children with Asperger's that their children just want to do what they want to do and it is so challenging for the parents to get them to do what the children should be doing. I know that is also an issue for NT children but they indicated it was so much more challenging for parents of children on the spectrum. I wondered how it was for adult people on the spectrum to do what they should but don't want to do.


I think you can see it in my threads! :P



Verdandi
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05 Jul 2013, 3:00 am

This is something everyone does. The question is "how frequently do they do it, and how much trouble does it cause?" Someone who does it occasionally is pretty normal. Someone who has to deal with it all the time is probably dealing with a level of impairment due to it.



Janissy
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05 Jul 2013, 6:05 am

Max000 wrote:
beneficii wrote:
So is this common among neurotypicals, too?


No, this is a AS thing. NTs just do what they got to do and get it done. They don't have to think about it, before they do it.

Right now I'm extremely hungry, and I've been thinking about getting up and making my lunch for the last hour. But I'm still sitting here typing this. :lol: This type of thing does not happen to any NTs, I have ever known.


It can happen to the very analytical types of NTs such as myself. This is common enough to have the nickname Analysis Paralysis. Sometimes when I think of all the steps involved, I just get overwhelmed by the sheer number of things involved and delay doing it. This situation is why the aphorism "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" was coined. It encourages people to just do at least the first thing on that long list of things and then momentum will help with the rest.

This tendency of analyzer-types is a great source of frustration to do-ers (people who just do things without analysis". They came up with the saying "Just do it!" long before Nike co-opted that. While the analyzers are often envious of how motivated and non-procrastinating the do-ers are, the analyzers warn that "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread".

You can tell which camp an NT falls into by which sayings and aphorisms they use most.

My personal solution to the over thinking>>>>>>>no motivation trap is to write down all the steps involved in something. Then I cross off each step as I finish. The list seems very, very long when thinking it and also very long when writing it but crossing off each step makes it easier to not lose track of where in the list I am and also to see how quickly things get crossed off. The written list of steps is like a piece of string leading out of a maze. It is something you might try to see if it helps. It really helps me. I used to put things off so much but the list of steps really helped.

Example of getting up and making lunch: I will write on my list what I plan to eat for lunch.. I will write what time to start cooking it if it requires cooking. I will write the ingredients needed so I don't forget something in the fridge and then remember hours later that I meant to eat that last tomato before it goes bad, for example. This does involve an awful lot of writing (or typing, if done on a computer) but it cuts through the paralysis.



beneficii
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05 Jul 2013, 10:58 am

Of course, problems come when you look at all you have to do and it all looks like shapes and colors. That's why I'm getting a professional organizer.



btbnnyr
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05 Jul 2013, 11:41 am

My solution to the procrastination problem is to give myself many things that I have to do, with outside pressure of work and other people making me have to do it.

In that case, I have no time to procrastinate, so I end up procrastinating much less and getting more done of what I want to do.


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analyser23
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05 Jul 2013, 6:16 pm

My belief is that because we have to intellectualise almost everything we say and do, it can be overwhelming and exhausting.

Also, doing these things takes us away from our comfortable environment of say, our special interest, or our areas where everything is set up in accordance to our sensory needs, etc.


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chlov
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06 Jul 2013, 5:39 am

beneficii wrote:
chlov wrote:
btbnnyr wrote:
Oh no, I've gotta shampoo my hair, then condition my hair, then the soap and the shaving, how tedious and boring and what a long process, yuck yuck yuck.

So I procrastinate at my computer until I've gotta do it.

Then I do it, and it's not that bad and over quickly.

I can relate, exept for the shaving part, because I don't shave after I shower.


When do you shave?

When I feel that my legs are itchy.