Task paralysis explained

Many of my clients with ADHD notice that they procrastinate when they have tasks that are numerous and boring and have many steps, such as housework or writing a long report. Many people with ADHD will find that even though there are tasks that they really need to do, they will struggle to get started. It feels so overwhelming and as a result they don’t start, leaving them to feel paralysed.

What the client might not know is that this is very common amongst the ADHD community and for us it makes sense that we do this. Our brains have a lack of dopamine, which is the brain chemical that helps us to do things that are difficult or boring by giving us a shot that makes us feel good.

We are under stimulated without it, and as a result we feel bored. In order to overcome that boredom, we will reach for our phone and scroll on social media apps (known as doom scrolling) or play simple games like Candy Crush for hours. Or just sit there watching bad TV but feeling powerless to move. Clients feel awful but report that they can’t just get on with the tasks that they need to do. This is known as task paralysis.

If this is a challenge for you try the following:

•  identify what tasks may trigger this event so that you can do something different, other than go for the phone or remote control.
• Housework and similar type of tasks are always going to be boring. We think of housework as one big thing when it is in reality, many small things. If we don’t realise this and break down the task, it becomes overwhelming. We don’t have enough dopamine to motivate and stimulate us to action so we need to outsource the dopamine by doing fun things alongside the boring things.
• This could be listening to music or a podcast while you do your housework. It could be having a friend there keeping you company or helping you ( body doubling) it could be a number of things but basically, we have to do some enjoyable things alongside the boring things, or get that sense that someone is aware of us doing the task.

We also need to reward ourselves after doing a difficult task as a simulation of what dopamine does. The reward could be doing something fun that we enjoy doing, or it could be something like eating a small piece of chocolate to stimulate you. I wouldn’t include going on social media as a ‘fun’ task as this could reinforce the behaviour you are trying to change.

So, to recap boring things are more boring to us because we don’t have dopamine. We need to make the boring thing more interesting.

In addition, to help us break up the task we can use techniques such as pomodoro or set a timer for an amount of time and do anything within that time towards your larger goal of having a tidy house or a written report.

Here are some more strategies to try:

• Body doubling
• Doing a pomodoro
• Listening to music or podcast as you do the task
• Set a timer for a set amount of time each year an hour and just doing what you can within that hour
• Make a pen and paper list breaking down all the steps of a single task eg doing the dishes or doing clothes washing and then doing the task and drawing a line through each item as you do it
• Text someone that you are going to do a task and then text again to say you’ve done it – they don’t have to respond, sometimes it is enough to just tell someone

There are lots of strategies that you can do, ask the search engine of your choice, or check out our other articles that go into more detail on the strategies.

Which ones will you try this week?