ADHD and the Motivation That Never Comes |
I spent 45 minutes last week staring at a pile of clothes on the chair that needed to be put away. With each passing minute, the shame increased.
The rational part of my brain knew that this task would take less than 5 minutes. But my body acted like I’d just been asked to walk on a bed of hot coals.
The clothes sat there for another three days.
When did I become such a lazy person? When did such a simple task become so paralyzing?
Turns out I’m not lazy. I have ADHD, which means my brain works differently.
If you have ADHD like me, boring tasks aren’t just boring — they feel impossible.
Maybe it’s the laundry basket that haunts you for weeks. Or maybe it’s responding to an email, paying the bills, filling out the paperwork, or doing the dishes. You know it shouldn’t be this hard. But that doesn’t change anything. Why?
Because ADHD brains run on interest-based motivation, not importance-based motivation. That means that knowing something is necessary (like showering or booking that flight) doesn’t make it any easier to do. Your brain needs