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Autistic Inertia

Dawn

Just how do you get out of it? Functioning for work purposes but finding it very difficult to get going with anything else. This isn't good.

I've had this before, but it's never gone on like this. I do note that while the body is immobile and just about eats the brain is in overdrive on a lot if things I need to kick into action but the kick isn't there.

Parents

  • I struggle with this a lot too. Once I can get started on something and achieve hyper focus it's great, as long as I don't get interrupted. However it's the getting started which is the difficult part. It's hard to move on if something else is unresolved.

    Dawn said:
    the brain is in overdrive on a lot if things

    I suspect this is the problem. Our brains work best when focussing on one thing at a time. If you can try block everything else out and focus on just one thing it should become more achievable. Easier said than done I know! 

    If I have a list there is the executive function difficulty of deciding which is more important and which to do first. Rather than mentally agonise over the decision, I find it helps to just pick one and set a target for myself to do that one thing today. 

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  • I struggle with this a lot too. Once I can get started on something and achieve hyper focus it's great, as long as I don't get interrupted. However it's the getting started which is the difficult part. It's hard to move on if something else is unresolved.

    Dawn said:
    the brain is in overdrive on a lot if things

    I suspect this is the problem. Our brains work best when focussing on one thing at a time. If you can try block everything else out and focus on just one thing it should become more achievable. Easier said than done I know! 

    If I have a list there is the executive function difficulty of deciding which is more important and which to do first. Rather than mentally agonise over the decision, I find it helps to just pick one and set a target for myself to do that one thing today. 

Children
  • in reply to Autonomistic
    Autonomistic said:

    Our brains work best when focussing on one thing at a time. If you can try block everything else out and focus on just one thing it should become more achievable. Easier said than done I know! 

    If I have a list there is the executive function difficulty of deciding which is more important and which to do first.

    This strikes me as a useful insight! I certainly suffer from this problem. Especially as you say about doing that one thing that day - so often it is only one thing which can be done yet two or even more things ought to be done that day! Sometimes I just have to accept they cannot all be done that day, other times they really do and somehow have to be.

    But more common is the not being able to make myself do anything much. I do feel like I can't start on a big thing while I have other stuff going on, but there is always other stuff going on so the big thing ends up waiting indefinitely and sometimes it can't really. I shall make a note of this insight about single focus and see if it helps. It seems obvious really, as I do know I have single focus, but somehow seeing it written out like that in this context helped.