Procrastination & Aspergers

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Consensus suggests that certain personality types tend to be procrastinators. According to Dryden, procrastination is a behavioural way of protecting oneself from experiencing an unpleasant, emotional state.

Looked at it this way, there are a number of Asperger related factors that can come into play in a workplace setting. Anxiety in general is one, avoiding difficult people another; but perhaps the one that affects me the most is cognitive exertion and the tiredness associated with it.

These factors make actually settling down and starting a task the hardest part for me. When I do so, I am often distracted by non-priorities, (i.e. talking to people). Once I get distracted, or put things off, it becomes even harder to start again. If I leave a task for time, or until I know a deadline is pending, I find that it becomes mentally harder to return.

This procrastination is called the “comfort of discomfort” paradox: one seeks a non-productive state because it is familiar and safe because of the feared consequences associated with change and possible failure. From a managerial or professional perspective this prevents personal development and can be potentially highly damaging.

I'm a major procrastinator, definitely, largely due to anxiety.

So, anxiety causes procrastination, arg, yet another piece of the puzzle is found, damn.

Most our problems seem to come back to anxiety. So, how do we stop procrastinating?

This is far and wide my biggest problem -- with AS and life in general. It was the subject of one of my first-day posts here on WP. I'd be interested to know any effective solutions.

I found this old thread after doing a search. i am glad to read it. and i am glad to see others like me with this problem.

I have always had an extremely severe procrastination problem that has been dogging me in life no matter what i do.
It is absolutely insidious. it has always persisted, like a despicable evil cancer, entangled in the vital areas of my life.
I want to eradicate it. i want to kill it. i want to totally destroy it, want to wipe it out! procrastination must f**kin DIE!!

But no matter what i do, it is still there. screwing up my plans, causing massive delays, and missed opportunities.
Procrastination might seem like a silly non-issue to others, but it's caused big damage in my life. it must STOP!!

But how can procrastination be stopped once and for all? what is the solution to the problem? is there a solution?
I have read the procrastination sites, and attempted their ideas, but nothing has worked. am i just naturally lazy?

I have heard "Procrastination" also being called "Compulsive Avoidance". is there any kind of link to aspergers?
I have not yet seen much research of procrastination and some link with aspergers. is it a non-issue for most?

Do many aspie people have very serious problems with compulsive avoidance? what did you do to end it?
Are there many aspies with absolutely NO compulsive avoidance problems? am i a minority in a minority?

A lot of us also have ADHD, which procrastination is a common problem.

I've always been bad at procrastinating. I usually pull through okay on last minute adrenaline, but probably not the best life skill to have.

Done! Got to go! Stuff to do.

No, Mine is the opposite problem.

Primary source of my serial breakdowns over the years.

Yes procrastination is the problem in ASS. As the Intense World Theory describe autistic people have hyper-amygdala, hyper-neocortex and other brain structures.
From my own experience if you feel you'vfe alot of anxiety and procrastinate you can really become much clearder and happier/smarter if you have techniques to overcome this.

I suggest you to watch this video as a start. I still have some problems but not many.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD440CY2Vs0

I also suggest you to read meditation books, and during the day you've nothing to do, like driving, or on a bike concentrate on your breath.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoché wrote a very good book about meditation and aditude of mind. Something very helpfull for "intense" brains.
*Meditation in action
(I think this is a master piece)

Hmm I've always been a procrastinator but never really tried to fix it much with the excuse that 'many other people around me seem to do it'. Another one is that I 'get everything done anyways just later yet within the deadline'. This excuse dates back to my school days when most of the things I had to do had a given deadline (eg homework). Trouble is now some things need to be done but don't have a proper deadline (or are far away), such as doing studying well in advance for exams, research on my career path, preparing for interviews before they come at like 2 days' notice etc. I tend to fall behind on those things.

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Thats why Im here on WP.

Should be doing a zillion other things.