Genuinely some of the most useful tools I have to fight executive dysfunction are:
Personal Cheer Squad. Having someone willing to go "hey do the thing" is super helpful. My friend group is a bunch of nerds so if anyone messages the group chat with "I need an oendon" we will all immediately post photos of ourselves doing silly poses and send a bunch of encouraging messages and emoji spam. Which is basically the plot of the Oendon/Elite Beat Agents game series. There are people cheering for you! You can do it! Also for smaller stuff I have a guy in my house (we are married) and we both remind each other/encourage each other to get shit done.
Stop asking if you want to do it. Start saying you want to have it done. Do I want to wash the dishes? No. Cleaning sucks. But I want to have clean things. Say it out loud. "I want to have clean dishes." Visualize the result rather than the process as you get started.
Just Five Minutes. Promise yourself that you can quit if it really sucks. Five minutes isn't so bad. You can handle just five minutes. Set a five minute timer. Hit whatever it is as hard as you can. After five minutes, you can decide to keep going or you can take a break and come back later. If you do quit, that five minutes still made it easier for next time.
Add fun. Have a treat in easy reach as you work. Play your favorite music or podcast or have a show going in the background. Light the scented candle. Dilute your misery of doing the task with pleasure.
Mix and match! Always keep looking for new tricks, new treats, and novel ways of completing your tasks to keep from getting in a rut.
You will note that none of these are the hat man with a gun! You can hack your tiger avoidance system into motivating you to wash the dishes. For a little while. But this will turn your brain into your own personal tiger that is always chasing you about something and that is bad for your whole body. Avoid giving yourself anxiety on purpose if possible!
areudirty
titsay
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