Scientific Proof Why People With ADHD Procrastinate

Do you struggle with staying motivated or focused? This essentially means that you also get bored easily.

Anyone can struggle to get mundane things done but when you have Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or ADHD you're wired to have more difficulty than normal to get things started or completed.

Research shows that ADHD is in fact a brain disorder that comes with many struggles often times associated with not enough brain stimulation in the early childhood stages of life before age 3 which is why it's imperative that when we have children that we expose them to simple knowledge before they begin school at the age of four years old in pre-k. (although many often begin school in Kindergarten at age 5 in America). Because more than like their brain development has already hit a delay!

Things People with ADHD struggle with are the following:

• Concentration
• Attention
• Hyperactivity
• Impulsivity
• Distractibility

However, keep in mind that everyone with ADHD may not struggle with all five of these at once but you may have a few of them. Most people who have the inattentive type you don't necessarily have the hyperactivity aspect but the main struggle is with the concentration and focus issues.

One major symptom thats not often talked about when it comes to people who have ADHD is impaired motivation.

You may often think to yourself, " why can't I do this?" You can have a simple task that you need to get done and it can literally feel physically painful to you to break through or break past the inertia to do it. It may not necessarily be a lot that you have to do, but if you aren't in a good headspace, these 5 steps mentioned above may seem like a million the way they wander about incessantly within your mind.

Low Motivation or Impaired Motivation?

It can feel frustrating not being able to get things done in a timely manner but don't automatically attach to the feeling of being lazy or unreliable. Researchers have concluded that through Positron Emission Tomography (a brain scan) it has shown that people with ADHD have a disruption in their dopamine / reward pathway in the brain.

Low Motivation With ADHD is partly caused by inadequate dopamine in your brains reward pathway.

What does this mean and what is a dopamine pathway? There are 4 dopamine pathways. Each pathway is a messaging system that uses nerves to transport dopamine from one part of the brain to the next. Two of the pathways effect motivation.

How To Overcome Low Motivation/ Low Dopamine Levels?

To put it another way, in people with ADHD the dopamine reward system is impaired. Doctors assured that this is strictly because of the fact that there are less dopamine transport proteins that exist in the person that is suffering from ADHD to carry the dopamine along the pathways to get to its destination. It's like having a massive supply shortage when it comes to transporting the required amounts of dopamine. As a result, the proper dopamine signals needed to reinforce positive and productive behaviors are lacking. Without this reinforcement, you lose motivation and your efforts don't feel satisfying.

Consquently, we know that low motivation levels stem from a dopamine transporter low supply issue. Some people have to take stimulant medication for specific pathways and the effects last only as long as the medication lasts. So even with taking medication there is still a potential to struggle with motivation.

What drives motivation?

Motivation when one has ADHD is driven by four factors.

1- Interest 2-Urgency 3-Novelty 4- Degree of Challenge

So to increase your motivation, you must increase these four factors for any given task.

For example, urgency gives us that kick we need to start and get something done even if we waited to the very last minute.

TIP: Rather than wait til the deadline is near, do part of the work using a timer. Using a timer turns it into a challenge for you. Or you can add novelty to something by doing it in a coffee shop. Because you're able to hyper focus on things, the smell, people and coffee scent present in this location may make you feel warm and fuzzy and inclined to get things done because of your enjoyment in this setting. This may ensure that you stay engaged with your task despite the numerous distracting elements in your immediate environment.

What is the Pomodoro Technique and when was it developed?

It is a time management system that has been around for 30 years. This technique works by alternating periods of work with short breaks.

Pomodoro Technique

Work for 25 minutes, Break for 5 minutes. Then repeat 4 times within a 2 hr period to see more productivity. After two hours the break period becomes longer and now instead of 5 minutes it is 30 minutes long. This allows you to feel and be much more productive and develop a pattern that will help you in the long run in the future.

You can do certain things to overcome this by:

• making tasks fun and interesting
• make them more challenging or urgent
• make them feel new and rewarding

You can begin to implement the exapmles into your everyday life by:

• Using a timer to create a sense of urgency
• Do or start the task in a new area or location
• Use the Pomodoro Technique to help with staying productive