Lack of motivation

When I hear the word habit or routine it feels wrong and boring; but they are the things that spark my drive. Music was mentioned a few times and that works for me too. I also find create an environment my brain recognizes as a, let’s get work done space, it helps me gain momentum. I put a scent in a diffuser, put an music and sometimes turn on a fan for white noise. This doesn’t always work for me, but setting time goals instead of completion goals can be helpful. Since my brain leans towards all or nothing, I won’t start something if I think I don’t have time to finish it. Also, if I start something I can get stuck in a, “just a bit more” loop, where I stay up till 3-4 in the morning. After a certain amount of time working I just start spinning my wheels.

Body doubling was a great suggestion, for me, it took a little bit of effort to drop the ego and be vulnerable to colleagues and even my direct team at work. To be honest, my life changed when I got diagnosed officially 2.5 months ago, and about 1 month ago prescribed medication. Previous to that I had been diagnosed with severe depression (executive dysfunction) and anxious (racing thoughts at the same time all day leading leading to panic attacks). When I got weaned off the anti anxiety and anti depressant and prescribed a stimulant I started feeling like the “me” I knew existed in there. Hope this helps.

Focus on the outcome and benefits

It’s our executive disfunction (one of the many trademarks of adhd). I too use music motivators but my secret weapon is body doubling. Having a secondary person there, not necessarily to do anything, simply to spark that drive to move, gets me started AND im generally able to complete twice the tasks as I would on my own. Pressure, challenges, people-pleasing, turning it into a game, so miniature reward system, are all useful strategies to getting and staying motivated for me.