Executive Function.

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I have some of those issues you describe (although lately - the past year or so - I haven't had any issues getting food), and issues similar to those, but I also have ADHD. The "further out is harder" is a hallmark of ADHD, which you've indicated you do not have.

This.
The "want" is sometimes also "knowing something should be done" and I know it as it should be normal to do like simple tasks, but my perception fails to make something out of it I can "read" in my pesonal coherence.

I can be in pain of hunger and not react, as food is too abstract for me by he way it looks and I have no internal mechanism of "recognizing food" (do not know how to describe it).
I don't know if I understand your second paragraph correctly, but many things feel every day like something new again to me, like food or recognizing people or doing a phonecall.

In order to have good EF and get lots of things done, I seem to require a very high demand for high EF, like having many things to do by different deadlines. Without the absolute demands and bad consequences if not meeting deadlines, I seem to have less good EF and efficiency in doing all the things that I want to do. At the same time, I don't really understand rewards or think in terms of getting rewards. The doing of the things that I want to do seems to be rewarding enough. It's just like in order to do the things I want to do, I need to do as many of them as possible while meeting outside demands. If there are no outside demands and not many things going on at same time, I don't have as good EF.

Couldn't have said it clearer myself.

For me, I don't really see it the EF stuff as an issue of "motivation," by the way, but rather an issue of "initiation." I know what I need to do. I want to do it. But for some reason the initiating sequence doesn't work. It's like inertia. I sit there, motionless, until some outside force acts upon me. Once I get started, I am fine. It's just that I can't start. And I am certain it is not an issue of motivation. I can tell when I am unmotivated or procrastinating. But the EF thing is a qualitatively different experience. Maddening and debilitating.

Hi! Been reading WrongPlanet for a few months, but made an account just to comment on this. so glad people are talking about this.. Difficulties with EF have been a huge part of my life up to this point (I'm 25, and the motions of brushing my teeth or making a pot of coffee still require a pretty deliberate effort to pull off in the 'right' order), and I'm finally starting to come up with some strategies that work. i'd LOVE to hear from other people about sorta, specific ways they organize themselves.

these two things combined pretty much changed my life, and i've only been using them for about 3 months. i tried a lot of approaches to time management before i started using these - they evidently weren't designed for my brain, because using them felt like stalling out in the middle of an intersection.

-30 minute mind leash-

the single most effective thing I've started doing. It's not the whole 15 minute blocks scheduling thing, which definitely doesn't work if you already have trouble deciding what needs to happen first. It's just a simple practice to start getting a better sense of how long things take, and help you release your worry that you'll forget about something important or just get sidetracked if you start a project.

When you start doing anything that requires some 'intent'.. is more engrossing than eating a carrot.. even if it's for pleasure, reading or whatever.. set a 30 minute timer. When it goes off, say whats up to yourself and then run thru a short mental checklist -

1. what time is it now?
2. is that earlier or later than you thought it was?
3. how long does it *feel* like you've been doing what you just did for 30 minutes?

4. what did you just do?
5. are you happy with how it's going?
6. do you need to change strategies or make a new plan?

and lastly: should you keep doing what you're doing, or wrap it up and do something else?

the first three questions will help you start to get a better idea of how long certain things take you to do. distortion of time or poor sense of time is a huge part of EF trouble. Things that you hate might seem like they took an hour, and so you think of them as taking an hour when you glance at them. Dishes, for example. Or even answering an annoying email. It's kinda awesome when you start doing things and realizing that without the part where you're thinking they'll take forever, they're pretty fast tasks.

the second three are to help with the other big EF problem - getting sidetracked or stuck. when i was in school, i'd set aside big blocks of time to work on papers, and procrastinate through the whole block of time, and then clear another big chunk of time, and do the same thing again. this is sort of a check up, to make sure you use your time like you want to. actually, stopping and thinking helps me in a lot of ways, including comprehension/retention when i'm reading, or actually finishing songs instead of just f*****g around when i play music.

last question is your little leash, that helps you switch gears if you need to. usually if it's time to get something else done, i'll set another 30 minute timer that lets me wrap up whatever i'm working on , without worrying about losing track of time.

seriously, works so well. imagine you have an appointment to go to but you get to use the hour before it actually getting some stuff done or enjoying yourself instead of looking at the clock every fifteen minutes or straight up missing it. or 'put away laundry' doesn't stay spooking around on your to-do list for a week.

-two column to-do list-

this was a weird one. even after forcing myself to make a list, i would never use it. i'd look at it, get overwhelmed, and do nothing instead. realized that in the moment, my brain was taking the list literally - even though i knew that it might not matter what order i did things in, because it was a to-do list, with things on it in an order, i somehow was hung up on that order. if i didn't wash the dishes, i couldn't go visit my friend. or, more likely, i wanted to visit my friend, so i couldn't do the dishes. but seriously, it was spooky. i'd look at the list and feel that awful 'brain lock up', just total mental shut down.

i started using two column lists. in one column, i put anything happening during the day at specific times. in the other column, i'd list a bunch of things i wanted to do with my day. sometimes, i'd star the most important stuff, but usually just list everything. when i first started doing this, i also had to write myself a note - 'this side looks like it's in order but it's not'. eventually i learned to remember that.

throughout the day, pick things from the side of the list to do, and do them.. set a timer. what i started doing also, was to write in things onto the to-do list side *after* I did them, and cross them off. funny and totally satisfying.. but also starts to give you a picture of how a day goes together.