Adult ADD, and I need to write an important paper. Help?

At first I thought you were writing a paper about adult ADD, and were being funny in your description…:P

lmao

If you’re not motivated to write something, there’s not much you can do, ADD or no ADD. This happens to me sometimes; I get an idea for a story, but then find that the words don’t come, so I set it aside and move on to a new story. But my writing is just a hobby, no assignments or deadlines. Is this an assignment you need to do? If so, I guess you just have to sit down to do it (just like any other job which you dread having to do but you gotta pay the rent). But here’s a tip that usually works for me. You don’t have to start at the beginning, then the middle, then the ending. When writing fiction, I’ll often write the ending first, then the middle, then the beginning, or I’ll write the sex scene or the action scene first, and then write around that, whatever sequence I’m in the mood for. Hope this strategy works for research papers, too :-)

@HungryGuy GA.That works for me too. Just write my thoughts and figure out where they go later. Or figure out something I really want to do or have and put it just out of my reach til I finish.

Move yourself to a less distracting environment @Jude. It sounds to me like you doing this from home is a bad idea. TV & animals will keep providing unneccessary distractions.

Get your butt out to a bookstore, coffee shop or library and focus. Use music if it helps.

Just focus, as @SpatzieLover said get your cute butt to a bookstore, coffee shop or library and focus.

Google the Pomodoro Technique. Super simple, but it’s helped me get a lot of things done!!

I’m always having to work up public talks. Here’s what works for me:

I do my best thinking while walking. There’s something about that low-key physical activity that keeps the ideas flowing. In bad weather, I’ll sometimes just get on the treadmill.

I carry a pen and a pad of Post-it notes with me. As random ideas and points come to me, I write them separately, in no particular order, on the the Post-its. When I feel I have accumulated enough to work with, I’ll stop walking, find a wall, and stick up all my Post-its, again randomly.

Then I’ll look them over and see which points build on others. Those I’ll stick to the bottom of the note they build on. I often end up with a few long chains this way. I can then look at these chains. Each of these chains will be a subsection of my talk. I then decide on a logical order in which to present these subsections.

Having all this up on the wall in front of me gives me a kind of graphic interface that helps me visualize the structure of my talk in spacial terms.

Now all I have to do is flesh the talk out with details and work up an introduction and conclusion.

Get up, take a shower, put on real clothes, get some prepared food, clear everything off your table, and work for 30 minutes. Then take a planned break.

Did the shower, ate some good food, got dressed, clear off my kitchen table and got at it. I got out for a walk, too. It’s in the teens here.

I find that porn is a good treat for when I need a break, ha!

So far, so good.

Control your time and space. Get away from the TV, radio etc, Set an alarm for as long a you think you can concentrate. . . A half hour, hour etc. Don’t allow yourself to do anything else but work on the paper. If you get distracted, for an amount of time, add it on to your work time.
A change of scene may be necessary. Libraries are good. Just stay in control. Think of the little angel and little devil on your shoulders and don’t let the little devil win.

Set small, attainable intermediate goals to get started. A big project is so overwhelming that it can just make you want to run away. But you can do it in little pieces and it becomes manageable.

I gotta agree with @HungryGuy here. I have similar issues, and if I am not interested in something, I am not interested. So you have to figure out a way to make it interesting.

Sadly, the only thing that makes some tasks even remotely interesting is the knowledge that there will be consequences if I don’t do them.

@Sunny2 “Just stay in control”… that’s funny! Really, it made me laugh. As for setting an alarm for as long as one can concentrate, I find that difficult since most alarm clocks don’t allow you to set them for intervals of under a minute.

@Jeruba True, that often does help.

@jerv If your ADD is that severe, you should see your physician. There are medications to help.

@Sunny2 Aspergers is not ADD/ADHD, and meds often have side-effects that are worse than what they mitigate. Been there, done that, not doing it again.

I am actually having the same problem with my unit and lesson planning for my practicum course at the college I am studying in. I feel really distracted and when I am doing it I tend to daydream and it is harder to concentrate when I get back into focus. Eventually I just give up, but I ask myself these questions: Why am I here? Why do you have to finish this paper? Is this just for a grade or is completing this more important(like for confidence in the career that I am undertaking), How much time do you have left? What is so boring about the this task? Those self questions really help when I am distracted. I also find that the library is a great place to get things done because I am at a particular time frame before it closes, there are less distractions——except for girls with a tush like yours—- and there are other resources that could help me. Nice breaks once and awhile drinking orange juice gets the creative juices flowing once again. I hope I was helpful.

@jerv Sorry. I missed that it was Asperger’s. That’s a diagnosis that wasn’t known when I was working in the trenches. I hope someone with the same problem will provide better suggestions than I did.

@Eggie The “Why am I here?” thing is what always got me too. Usually the answer for me has something to do with money; either earning it (job) or not wasting it. I found things easier when the “Why?” was either obvious or the task at hand was interesting enough to not needa reason beyond “Because it’s fun!”.

@Sunny2 I originally said “similar issues”, so you didn’t miss it. There are a few things that cause a short attention span, so I can’t blame you for not guessing either.

This would be me, today.

OMG! What’s with all the moderated personal attacks on this question? This isn’t a question about gender roles or gay marriage. Who would attack someone with ADD?!?!?!

I wondered the same thing @HungryGuy. Bizarre!

touchy touchy. one was mine. I guess, speaking from experience counts for nothing here.

^Ah…Thanks @cazzie. Sometimes the truth hurts.