Bouncy days

Biblioklept

With ADHD I often (well pretty much always) bounce around between tasks and don't get stuff done in the way you'd expect but sometimes I have EXTRA BOUNCY days!

Does anyone else? And what do you do to keep on track??

I started today with one task in mind: Weed the garden

That was all that was on my to do list today and I really really wanted to do it.

Instead I've moved stuff around in the garage, gotten the tools out, removed nails from the fence, cleaned the outside windowsills, done two loads of washing, moved the weeding tools to the other side of the garden, deep cleaned the sink and pipes, cooked a pizza, descaled the kettle, moved the tools back across the garden, rinsed out the garden stuff recycling bin and now I'm tired and really can't face weeding as it's hot

So although I've been more productive than most days and it's only 12 o'clock, I've not done the ONE THING I wanted to do today so of course feel miserable about myself for 'failing' 🤦

Rachel_Scope

You definitely haven't failed @Biblioklept! You've got so much done. Yeah you didn't get that one task done but you achieved so much anyway. You can weed the garden another time 😊

I love the term 'bouncy days' by the way!!

Biblioklept

awww thank you @Rachel_Scope you're honestly sooo sweet ❤️❤️❤️

I know realistically it’s fine but it’s really frustrating to never get the stuff done that I actually want to! It’s like I decide to do something and my brain would rather do literally ANYTHING else 🤣

poppy123456

Yup, I'm forever saying I'm going to do something and end up doing something completely different. 😂Then when I stop and think what I did do, I'm proud of myself for doing what I did.

You've done so much already today, instead of thinking what you didn't do, change your thoughts and think about what you DID achieve. ❤️

I love doing things in my garden but weeding is the worst job of all and I really hate it. I do a little as an when needed and then it breaks it up and keeps the weeds under control. They grow so fast this time of year too and all you need to do is blink and they've grown again. 🙄

Albus_Scope

Sounds like a brilliant example of good old "pathological demand avoidance" to me there @Biblioklept I'm exactly the same (as are so many other neuro-spicy people) and I can often be heard yelling "No Albus, do the OTHER thing!" at myself on those days.

It's those increased productivity days where you get tonnes done, other than the one thing you had planned. Which is totally ok, because as the others have said, look at all that other stuff you did! And I'm very glad you got that pizza cooked. 😉

Jimm_Scope

Oh, I'm very like this @Biblioklept. I also love the term "bouncy days" because that is just how they feel. I'll just have those days where I see something and bounce to it over and over again. Then by the end of the day I check the 'to do' list for the day and realise there's things on there I never did.

As others have said, you've not failed at all. You've even reflected yourself how productive you have been, even if you haven't done 'the thing'.

Sometimes what I do, is I add the things I did but weren't on the 'to do' list, to the list 😉 and then I can immediately tick them off. A little self-trick, doesn't always work, but sometimes it really does help any negative feeling from the things I didn't tick off.

Biblioklept

OOooooooohhhh I love that idea @Jimm_Scope, am going to add all the other jobs I did to the list now😀 I still haven't weeded BUT I did end up carpet washing my lounge floor, changed my bed sheets and ordered paint to touch up my lounge skirting board 😅 It's funny because if any of them had originally been on my list they would not have gotten done!!

Thank you @poppy123456!! You're totally right and I need to start focussing on all the stuff I have got down rather than beating myself up over the stuff I haven't. It's actually been one of my most productive days for a long time!!

Oooooh @Albus_Scope I didn't even think about PDA! It was actually mentioned during my autism assessment but I've never really thought about it because I'm very very compliant and always do what's asked of me (even though I hate it! and my brain immediately shuts off when someone asks me to do something 🤣) I never thought about demand avoidance applying to demands I set for myself too! Interesting

Jimm_Scope

Oh yeah, I can certainly do that sometimes. I have A THING to do, but I end up doing almost everything but THE THING. It happens, I know beating myself up about it won't help. Sometimes I try to think about why I might be avoiding THE THING, and try to write out a "reasons to do it" and "issues if not done". I don't think that'd work for everyone, but it can for me.

Albus_Scope

Unfortunately PDA can even be for fun things! It's so frustrating. 😆

There's a few apps out there that can gamify day to day things for you which I've found fun and helpful for so many tasks. You level up like in an RPG. I've found it really stops the PDA from kicking in as much, as now it's a fun game instead of a chore. Plus if you didn't finish that main quest, that's no biggy, you still got 7 side quests done and that still gives xp. 😉