Please help me get my adhd arse into gear so that I can get on with what I need to do.

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

I'm home alone and I'm supposed to be tidying the house. My own initiative and I really do want to get stuff done. I am keen to take some stuff to the charity shop and the dump later. The charity shop closes by 4pm and the dump by 5pm so I will need to leave home by 3.30ish at the latest. Before I do that, I need to gather all of the items that I'm supposed to be taking with me. Amongst other chores which also need doing.

The problem is, I really can't be arsed, and I've been sitting around all day making excuses and a few half hearted attempts to do stuff.

Please could someone give me a virtual kick up the arse and help me get into gear?

Consider yourself kicked!

Oh sorry. Meant to put this in chat and not AIBU.

I already know I'm being unreasonable. I just need help to be more reasonable.

Do an unlucky dip? Write down all the things you need to do on little bits of paper, fold them up and put them in a bowl and then pick a few out! Works for me when I don’t want to do things but need to 😆

Just think of how good you'll feel when you have decluttered and made room in the house

You need a power hour!
Starts at 2pm - will time you, come back at 3 and report

Do one big chore. Gather up all the stuff for donation and put in car. Then, all the stuff for the dump and put in car boot. Drive to the charity shop, drop it off. Do not browse the CH. Get straight back in your car. Drop stuff off at the dump. Stop at the convenience store on your way home, buy yourself some chocolate. Get home and do a smaller chore. Rest. Repeat. Watch a movie/series and eat your well deserved chocolate!

Kick

Love that.. power hour with a time limit

Great idea. I might join in with 2pm power hour as I need a kick up the arse too. Still got 5 mins to scroll though!

In a similar boat here. New furniture arriving tomorrow and a charity doorstep collection booked for Tuesday so I should also be having a good tidy up and sort out. But no, I’m sat on the sofa with a bacon sandwich watching Criminal Minds.

I like the power hour suggestion by @MousseMousse.

You've given yourself a whole, wide ranging task instead of breaking it down into smaller chunks. That's why you're struggling with it. Make a small list:

Gather charity shop stuff from one room and place in hall
Same for next room etc
Put in box/bags
Put in car

Rinse and repeat for tip stuff.

Doing it this way makes it less of an overwhelming mountain to climb.

You probably don't have enough time now but l set alexa for a 15min alarm stick some music on, clean and run around for 15mins them have a 15min break.
In the old day when there was only terssistal tv l used to do advert cleaning you can get quiet alot done in advert breaks..

Thank you all. Love these ideas and will reply properly later. Going to do the power hour first though,,as instructed!! Will report back at 3pm.

As a fellow ADHD person you just know that you’ll leave it until at least 3 o’clock then somehow manage to get everything done. I’m currently procrastinating myself so I feel your pain.

You are setting up unrealistic expectations so you’ll fail in time management. You’re not getting to the charity shop today, plan it for tomorrow and use today to get all the stuff ready.
Now start packing the stuff up.
Make a list, cross things off. I try lifting 5 things, then another 5, another 5, rest, start again, small steps get there.
You annoy yourself more procrastinating.
Listen to a song and don’t stop until it’s over, podcasts help me.

I also have ADHD and what I tend to do is put on a house cleaning/tidying/decluttering YouTube channel. If someone is body-doubling me I work a lot better and it's kind of calming to watch someone else doing it too!

I'm AuDHD and find the only way I can actually start stuff is make it a competition with myself; i.e. lets see if I can clean X in 30 mins. Once I start I usually keep going

Either that or be in a total state of inertia for 2 hours and then be motivated by the ticking clock of stuff closing, which usually means a manic hour of doing stuff to hit the deadline, leaving me in a sweaty annoyed mess

One thing I will say tho is once you have the stuff in the car, get to the charity shop before it closes! Otherwise that stuff will be in your car for months...(speaking from experience..)

Time's up! How did you do @MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack @BlakeCarrington

Well, got distracted for 5-10 mins when my online shop arrived but then got back into it. I've gathered some stuff to take to the charity shop, and some other stuff to take to the dump. It isn't everything yet, but it's a start, and I think it's better to get some stuff out of the house today.

Going to head into town now to get rid of it all!

I have been struggling for a while now with this.
I have been putting so much stuff off for weeks and really struggling to get out of it.
None of my usual tricks to motivate myself have been working.

I have finally managed to get on with cleaning my kitchen though so I hope I can keep the momentum going so we are getting our arse in to gear together OP!

Someone on MN a long time ago recommended an app where you could break tasks down into small tasks and you could rate the difficulty by chillis.
I lost it when I got a new phone. If anyone knows what it is I would really appreciate it and I recommend it to you OP.

I love this idea. I might borrow it.

That's a great start!

I'm starting my own power hour now...

Possibly not helpful to you, but meds (elvanse) was almost the only thing that helped me.

I've found it. It's Goblin Tools.
You have to pay £3 for the app but the website is free.

https://goblin.tools/

It might be helpful for you @MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack or anyone else who gets overwhelmed.

Pretty well thanks @MousseMousse. Got 4 tasks ticked off - 2 annoying e-mails, a text is been avoiding and a horrible cleaning task. I love the power hour, gonna keep doing it, thanks!

And I also walked the dog and went to see mum. Not too shabby 😇