Table of contents:
- Get to know ADHD
- What does procrastination have to do with ADHD?
- 1. "Where to start?"
- 2. Cannot focus
- 3. The closer the better
- 4. Nervousness and depression
- 5. Cannot measure time and ability
- Other symptoms of ADHD
Everyone must have put off a job or business. It's perfectly normal to postpone something, especially if you don't like the job. However, if you are so procrastinating until things get stuck, you need to be vigilant. It could be that you have ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) in an adult.
Get to know ADHD
ADHD is a behavioral disorder that can occur in children, adolescents, and even adults. This behavior disorder makes sufferers impulsive or difficult to hold back, hyperactive, and easily lose focus. Keep in mind, ADHD is not a character defect, but a genetic disorder that occurs in a person's brain circuits.
What does procrastination have to do with ADHD?
One of the most prominent features of ADHD in adults is procrastination. Many adults with ADHD exhibit abnormally severe procrastination. The work you want to do is never finished. There are several reasons why procrastination might signal ADHD symptoms. The following is the full explanation.
1. "Where to start?"
ADHD's behavioral disorder can make it difficult for a person to plan and implement. Adults with ADHD feel very confused about where to start, how to set priorities, and what to do. This is because ADHD can make a mess of your thoughts. As a result, you may prefer to just postpone the work.
2. Cannot focus
When you have successfully started a job, there are still challenges to face. You have to maintain your concentration and inner drive so that you can do the task without distraction. However, people with ADHD have a very difficult time maintaining focus. So even important work is often neglected while you are just busy doing things that are trivial in nature.
3. The closer the better
People with ADHD procrastinate because they think that the closer to the deadline, the stronger your motivation will be. Even though unlike people in general, you cannot easily complete a job. The reason is, doing tasks that are already on deadline actually makes people with ADHD stressed, anxious, and unable to calm down. This anxiety exacerbates ADHD symptoms such as difficulty focusing and managing priorities.
4. Nervousness and depression
This does not mean that people with ADHD take all their work lightly. You know full well that you have to solve it, but instead you feel frantic with fear of being wrong, afraid of disappointing yourself and others, and stressed out by the responsibilities you have been given. Unlike most people, people with ADHD have a hard time controlling these emotional fluctuations. Finally, these tasks were not completed.
5. Cannot measure time and ability
You may plan to work on something two hours from now. However, your understanding of time is not sharp enough that when two hours have passed, you feel unacceptable because time flies so quickly. Or you feel confident you can clean up the house in an hour. In fact, you need more time than that, so you are forced to stop cleaning the house before it's done because you have to do other things.
Other symptoms of ADHD
Apart from procrastination, there are a variety of other symptoms you should be aware of if you suspect you have ADHD in an adult. The reason is, although most cases of ADHD have appeared in childhood, it is not impossible that someone is diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. Symptoms of ADHD in adults include:
- Have academic problems when you were in school or college
- It breaks easily in concentration even though your environment is quite conducive
- It's easy to forget and lose personal items
- Like to be dumbfounded
- Restlessness and restlessness, for example by tapping on the table, shaking your legs, or walking back and forth
- Often late
- Moods are volatile
- Difficulty controlling anger and emotions
- Impulsive, which is doing risky things without thinking
- Addiction (smoking, alcohol, or drugs)