SEVERE Motivational Difficulty/Procrastination

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Hey, so I'm in school. I have an assignment due. In fact, I have lots of things I NEED to do. I have clothes on my floor, my windows are all opened, my TV is on. Doesn't matter, I just can't get myself to do it. I am so damn obsessed with what I like that I can't pull myself away from it. I could sit there and read about physics for HOURS, and it doesn't matter what I need to do. The only time I can truly motivate myself to do something is if I REALLY need to do it, like to the point where if I don't I will have a presentation the next day and I will have nothing prepared. My social anxiety has been the only motivator. I continuously make excuses time and time again ,and my teachers and tutors and therapists and all this other stuff don't have any idea what's wrong. I've been told it's depression, all kinds of stuff. But in reality, I'm very happy and there are things I want to do in my life I just don't have the motivation to achieve. When I force myself to do anything that I don't want to do I have a panic attack, like a disabling one. Whenever I am told to do something, I can keep that item in my head for days, weeks, even months, but never do it. Where the hell do I get the energy to keep the same damn idea in my head (to do the work) that I can't do it. I have trouble even motivating myself to do basic things, like hygiene and sleep. I sometimes forget to use the bathroom and eat, and I end up in a horrible condition. It's almost like constant meditative states. Other times, when in a public place most often, I just get stuck staring at something for a long time and other people don't know what happened. I just want some advice, anything really. I have a report and it's due tomorrow. I'm typing this as I should be typing that, but I would rather just read my damn class textbook than do this, because that's not forced and this report is. Thanks for responses.

I feel you. My procrastination has gotten worse, but I plan to work on stuff anyways. I have applied to universities this year, and I need to get good, like really good, marks to get into my program (biomedical engineering). I always want to procrastinate, but if I keep procrastinating, then my marks won't be good, and then I can't get into my program. I have no idea if you are at university or high school, but doing well to have a future is a pretty good motivator.

Sometimes, I will just force myself to sit at my desk where I do work and tell myself that I don't need to work, but I need to sit here. And just by sitting there I do work.

You can always just look online about how to not procrastinate like make a study schedule, keep a schedule on when assignment, tests, and quizzes are due or tested on. There are several strategies to use out there. You just have to implement them. Hope this helps

I think it's called "inertia".

first post

I just keep making lists,
it makes it easier for me to understand that I just spent the last 18hours reading about the history of wavelets instead of:

taking out the trash,
apologizing to wife, again,
paying the chiropractor,
buying airplane tickets for the plane I need to be on in two days,
tell my wife I have a trip before im at the airport,
saying thank you to neighbor for borrowing his show shovel that I didn't want to borrow in the first place,
change the server tapes,
walk the dog,
order banners,
write the HT program,
take a dam melatonin,
do math with kids,
fertilize the lawn, don't even ask me why that's a big deal,
finish the project car that has been sitting in my driveway for 5 years,
become a better person,
don't get mad at people,
don't look like im made at people,
don't say "im mad at people",
don't get made around other people,
don't use you, me, them, and "mad", in the same sentence,
take an Adderall,
mutilate myself,
take a chill pill,
clean up that mess,
don't lose my s**t at the EDC meetings,
show interest in other peoples ideas,
figure out how to make more money, because I'm suppose to for some reason,
breath,
exercise,
and sleep,

this all sounds pretty funny, and reading about wavelets is defiantly more appealing. Its not until I think about everything on the list, and realize that I probably could have done all of that in 10 hours, and still had 8 hours to read about wavelets, that things start to make sense to me.

there probably wasn't anything I learned in the last 10 hours, that I couldn't have learned in the first 8. I also find it helps to think of myself as inefficient rather than lazy or a procrastinator. its always easier to think objectively about how you spend your time, rather than whatever subjective BS people/school/work are thinking of you.

this doesn't make it any easier, it just keeps things in perspective, and believe me it doesn't get any easier.