How do some people do so much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you physically fit? Some people have energy because they are in shape. Other people have motivation, enjoy checking things off a list and the feeling of accomplishment. The hardest part may just be getting started. Start with small tasks and work your way up.

+1. Some people act 20 years older than they are. Maybe they spend a lot of time around old people, I don't know. Life is better when you are healthy, and act healthy. I was quite sick in my younger years, and would have done anything to be all in at the time. I went above and beyond, and it made me more sick, unfortunately.

Essentially, some people are high energy, and some people are low energy. The latter tend to claim that they are "introverts", which is not the case, and completely separate. High energy people see low energy people as lazy.

[Anonymous]

I'm super productive. I had to learn to be this way.

I realized there was never a right time or a perfect time or a time when I'd magically want to do something; you just have to do it without thinking about it.

My mental health is better when I'm busy and don't spend too much energy thinking about things. If I get working on something, I feel happier.

Do things right away before they pile up. Do the dishes, don't let them sit.

Break up projects (can apply to anything) into smaller jobs. Do things out of order if needed and do all the easy parts first.

Don't let co-workers waste your time.

Make use of down time to make phone calls for appointments and when you need to be on hold. Use drive time to make calls (Bluetooth, hands free).

Make lists of what you need to do and keep adding the activity to your list until you do it.

Get help for things you need help with.

Eliminate activities that you don't want to do. For me: gardening and yard work.

Block off time for what you need to do.
Batch errands together so you don't have to make several trips.

Accept that you won't have much time to sit around and be okay with that.

Rest when you need it too and be confident in your abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Write a daily to do list and break it into realistic, concrete chunks. So no “declutter the house” but instead, “organize kitchen pantry” or “clean out the linen closet” or whatever. This helps me quite a bit, but I get motivated by crossing things off my list, I know not everyone does.

+1

This is what I do also. Really helps.

+2
I've been doing this for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm super productive. I had to learn to be this way.

I realized there was never a right time or a perfect time or a time when I'd magically want to do something; you just have to do it without thinking about it.

My mental health is better when I'm busy and don't spend too much energy thinking about things. If I get working on something, I feel happier.

Do things right away before they pile up. Do the dishes, don't let them sit.

Break up projects (can apply to anything) into smaller jobs. Do things out of order if needed and do all the easy parts first.

Don't let co-workers waste your time.

Make use of down time to make phone calls for appointments and when you need to be on hold. Use drive time to make calls (Bluetooth, hands free).

Make lists of what you need to do and keep adding the activity to your list until you do it.

Get help for things you need help with.

Eliminate activities that you don't want to do. For me: gardening and yard work.

Block off time for what you need to do.
Batch errands together so you don't have to make several trips.

Accept that you won't have much time to sit around and be okay with that.

Rest when you need it too and be confident in your abilities.

This is pretty much exactly me. My husband calls it high motor.

I just don’t let myself sit still unless it’s time to relax. Otherwise my day is scheduled into chunks and I pick something off my to do list for each chunk of time.

Perhaps most important thing above - do not let others waste your time. For me, this means good meeting discipline. If a meeting is 30 minutes, I’m walking out at 31 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Write a daily to do list and break it into realistic, concrete chunks. So no “declutter the house” but instead, “organize kitchen pantry” or “clean out the linen closet” or whatever. This helps me quite a bit, but I get motivated by crossing things off my list, I know not everyone does.

+1

This is what I do also. Really helps.

Same! People like us get dopamine hits from crossing things off the list so we want to get more and more done.

[Anonymous]

I pribably have undiagnosed ADHD too and a woman so it shows up differently. Im extremely lazy yet very productive and fast when motivated.
I think fast, talk fast, do whatever pretty quickly (at home and at work). Like a greyhound. I find tackling fun larger projects like a new kitchen design and construction or a big garden rehaul much more engaging than the drudgery of sorting my closet. So i end up doing a ton of tasks around to avoid the thing i really need to do. Thankfully DH is super organized doer that manages on little sleep so he takes care of a lot of must dos like laundry.

[Anonymous]

Some good advice here but what helps me when I’m feeling unmotivated is to rest, surf the web, whatever, but with a timer. When the timer goes off, I get up and do that task I keep ignoring. That keeps me from wasting hours vegging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who are super productive, how do you do it? I have a relatively laid back job (fed government lawyer), but I have a ton of home and garden projects I would like to do as well as just spending more time with friends and family. I’m fine and happy in my career and nuclear family life but I know I could be doing so much more around the house. I need to declutter and fix my garden, do some small renovations and plan some larger ones, as well as work on personal projects like writing (just for myself, not to publish). I have the money to do it I just… don’t. All I do is my job, which is not terribly stressful, minimal exercise (about 30 mins most days, but I go through lazy periods), take care of my child who is in daycare and relatively easy, and cook. I've started to have a cleaner come one a week ever since having a child so my house is pretty clean but it could be so much nicer. I haven’t even hung pictures in the 8 years I’ve been living here! And my child’s nursery is just half done. Every night I plan on doing so many projects in the morning but then I do the bare minimum. It’s almost like I don’t have enough to do so I do nothing. How can I get out of this paralysis? My husband is very supportive and doesn’t really care and really picks up the slack for me in many ways but I feel so guilty. I’ve long suspected I have ADHD but even getting a diagnosis seems so overwhelming. How do I get out of this paralysis?

This is a lot and it’s enough! You most likely don’t have ADHD. You’re just a normal person living a normal life. Subconsciously, you have decided what’s necessary and what can wait, and the benefits of getting to the latter just don’t outweigh the energy they would require right now. If you are happy in both your career and family life, embrace it.

[Anonymous]

Stop wasting time on internet message boards is a good start!

[Anonymous]

For those of you who are high energy/high productivity, how much TV do you watch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I’ve long suspected I have ADHD but even getting a diagnosis seems so overwhelming. How do I get out of this paralysis?

Ha, OP... I read the title of this thread and thought "They have the opposite of ADHD"!

I finally got diagnosed, and got medication, and it's been so awesome. I remember before medication - I could basically do ONE thing on each weekend day. If I went grocery shopping, I really didn't have energy to do another thing that day. I admired my friends who could do something in the morning, then squeeze in something at 2, then do something else, PLUS do some chores, and THEN go out to the theater or whatever.

Now, doing one thing just doesn't wear me out.

Gosh - even small jobs like cleaning and setting up the coffee pot the night before, were too hard for me to do.

[Anonymous]

It's about desire and priorities. I'm really lazy and sedentary but when I need to get something done, my whole family jokes that I'm on a mission and boy do I become another person! Hahaha. Seriously, it just has to do with what I want to do, everyone is like that. If you have a favorite hobby or a wish you can have granted, you would move heaven and earth if you desired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you physically fit? Some people have energy because they are in shape. Other people have motivation, enjoy checking things off a list and the feeling of accomplishment. The hardest part may just be getting started. Start with small tasks and work your way up.

+1. Some people act 20 years older than they are. Maybe they spend a lot of time around old people, I don't know. Life is better when you are healthy, and act healthy. I was quite sick in my younger years, and would have done anything to be all in at the time. I went above and beyond, and it made me more sick, unfortunately.

Essentially, some people are high energy, and some people are low energy. The latter tend to claim that they are "introverts", which is not the case, and completely separate. High energy people see low energy people as lazy.

Lol what?! Energy level and introversion are unrelated. And no, I don’t think low energy people are lazy. Sometimes I’m envious of their chill.

- high energy introvert who loves to spend the weekend doing a lot of the things on OP’s list (At home. Alone. With no one talking at me. It’s glorious.)

[Anonymous]

I'm high-energy both physically and mentally. I can get a lot done, and I run on momentum. I am a daily exerciser and a pretty healthy eater, which I suspect helps. I do have occasional times when I just feel like chilling and I have nothing pressing, so I chill. But I'm mostly pretty productive, despite a thyroid that got lazy around age 40.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I’ve long suspected I have ADHD but even getting a diagnosis seems so overwhelming. How do I get out of this paralysis?

Ha, OP... I read the title of this thread and thought "They have the opposite of ADHD"!

I finally got diagnosed, and got medication, and it's been so awesome. I remember before medication - I could basically do ONE thing on each weekend day. If I went grocery shopping, I really didn't have energy to do another thing that day. I admired my friends who could do something in the morning, then squeeze in something at 2, then do something else, PLUS do some chores, and THEN go out to the theater or whatever.

Now, doing one thing just doesn't wear me out.

Gosh - even small jobs like cleaning and setting up the coffee pot the night before, were too hard for me to do.

I feel the same. How does ADHD medication change things? Does it just give you more energy or is it something else? I'm just very confused because I just feel lazy but I don't quite think that's it.