Executive dysfunction vs. laziness/not caring?

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I've been reading Callista's blog, and some of her posts on executive dysfunction made me think "that sounds like me". For example, in this post she gives the following examples of results of executive dysfunction, some of which are very familiar:

"I can't figure out how to start this project." (Maybe... not sure)
"My house is a mess!" (Yup!)
"Cleaning the house was fine, but then I couldn't stop until I finished--at 5 a.m.!" (Not so much)
"I'm a procrastinator. Nothing gets done until the last minute." (Yup.)
"I meant to get something done today, but I couldn't stop checking my e-mail." (Yup. Or more likely, browsing the internet.)
"It takes me forever to get ready in the morning!" (Usually.)
"I put off my homework until 2 a.m." (Sometimes.)
"I knew I should stop, but I found myself playing my three hundredth game of Solitaire anyway!" (Well, not with Solitaire, but with other things.)

This is also familiar, except I don't yet have a system of organization going.

I've tended to attribute most of these things to laziness or not caring (e.g., not cleaning my room because I don't really care if it's messy). But now I'm wondering if they might be actually due to executive dysfunction. I know that people who have executive dysfunction are often falsely accused of being lazy. So now I'm wondering how I'd know which is the cause of my disorganization - laziness, or executive dysfunction, or possibly some combination.

And then, to the extent that it is executive dysfunction, I'm interested in discovering methods to make things work that aren't just "stop being lazy and try harder".

Interesting read. I do many of the same things...

I don't want to feel like a cop-out and say that it is the cause of some new dysfunction I've probably got or anything, but I'll be looking further into this one on my own.

If it's just laziness, then you know it. It is a matter of just not caring, and if not, that's fine. However, if we are feeling lazy, the realilzation that we do need to get things does eventually gets us moving... or if not someone else will pressure us. Poor executive functioning, however, does not suddenly go away because we come to a realization or because someone else kicks us in the butt. Those with poor EF may have temporary spurts of hyerpactivity or mental clarity, but it never lasts long enough to get things in order and the inablility to to so is to some degree disturbing to ourselves and others.

so if i had every good intention of doing it, and just forgot or had something else to do and didn't deliberately put it off, its not lazyness?

EDIT: i often forget to do stuff, or just completely lose track of time

If it matters, I do have an ADHD-I/autism combination, so I can't tell whether my executive dysfunction comes from autism or ADHD, or whether they are both located on some continuum and my traits simply happen to encompass both. And yes, I have been up until 5 a.m. because I couldn't stop cleaning, though pleasant tasks are generally harder to break out of. I think a good word for it is "inertia"--I have problems stopping, starting, or changing direction.

This may be a better explanation. [ simplified but should be enough]

If you think of my consciousness as three concentric circles.

Now the outer layer is 'the environment', so others emotions, my bodily function, talking, feeling etc...
The middle layer I shall call my 'executive layer', that's the one I'm generally aware of.
The inner layer is where my executive layer sends things off it can't be bothered to work through or can't remember.

So to talk, the executive layer, pushes a message through the outer layer.
If I've forgotten the name of someone, the executive layer pushes it down to the inner layer. The inner layer then thinks about it (maybe for a few months or so) but then sends the answer back to the middle layer.

My ADD/ADHD is like the executive layer getting a bit board and uninterested on what it's working on, so things from the outer layer get pushed into it.
Anxiety is like the outer layer being overfull, sometimes this makes the executive layer kind of shrink up and get smaller, so the ability of my executive function diminishes, like it's somewhat blind.
Sometimes the anxiety just makes it really really hard for the executive layer to push things out, and sometimes it makes the outer layer send more stuff down to the executive layer than it wants (like a distress signal).

NT people don't seem to identify with the outer and executive layer bit, but do the 'inner layer' sending things off and getting the answers back later.

(I've simplified things quite a bit here just to explain the difference in how I'm affected and perceive my consciousness, using terms that others have been able to self identify with)
I'd identify different types of 'anxiety' for instance, and that the outer layer does some thinking of it's own [just not so complete as the executive or inner layers], so there's probably another level of indirection between it and the more environmental things.

They are the same thing. One is just a fancy name for the other.

The "cure" for both is exactly the same.

The only truly lazy people I've known, sit in offices or on golf courses and get other people to do things.

I suppose it may hurt their ego to do things.