Ms-demeanor: Created page with "This is a technique for defeating executive dysfunction. A lot of people with ADHD are familiar with the feeling of being stuck. You're aware that you have things to do, you know that you're not enjoying yourself with what you're doing right now, but you can't make yourself stop. You've been telling yourself that you'll stop scrolling on your phone in five minutes for three hours. You've been sitting on the edge of your bed waiting to get the motivation to get dressed..."

2024-03-09T03:09:41Z

Created page with "This is a technique for defeating executive dysfunction. A lot of people with ADHD are familiar with the feeling of being stuck. You're aware that you have things to do, you know that you're not enjoying yourself with what you're doing right now, but you can't make yourself stop. You've been telling yourself that you'll stop scrolling on your phone in five minutes for three hours. You've been sitting on the edge of your bed waiting to get the motivation to get dressed..."

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This is a technique for defeating executive dysfunction.

A lot of people with ADHD are familiar with the feeling of being stuck. You're aware that you have things to do, you know that you're not enjoying yourself with what you're doing right now, but you can't make yourself stop. You've been telling yourself that you'll stop scrolling on your phone in five minutes for three hours. You've been sitting on the edge of your bed waiting to get the motivation to get dressed for ten minutes. You're hungry but you can't make yourself get up from your desk to go get lunch.

It's often very difficult for people with ADHD to make themselves do anything; an inability to initiate tasks or switch from one task to another is a key part of executive dysfunction. 5-4-3-2-1-Go can ameliorate some of that in some circumstances, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work and there's no need to feel bad about it. It's a tool that works for some people but not for others.

== The Technique ==
The technique is almost insultingly simple. You give yourself a countdown from five and you initiate action on the word "go." 5-4-3-2-1-Go, then stand up and go do the thing. It can be a countdown from three, you can say "liftoff" in your head instead of go, but it's just a countdown to initiate a task switch.

== Why this Works ==
* Imposition of an Artificial Deadline. Sometimes having a deadline makes it easier to find the motivation for a task; a quick countdown might give you just enough of a jolt to break you out doomscrolling.
* It's a deadline you can't get distracted from. I have probably spent hundreds of hours in my life waiting for a clock to say 15 or 30 or 45 or 00. I'll tell myself "I'll eat lunch at 1" and then it's 1:03 and I'll tell myself "I'll eat lunch at 1:30" and go back to whatever thing distracted me from the clock in the first place. Clocks are fake, time is an illusion, it's not a problem if you start lunch at 1:07, 5-4-3-2-1-Go make yourself some lunch.
* Thinking or saying the countdown might help you focus on the numbers, which will help to divert focus away from whatever you're currently engaged in, which is actually the hard part of switching tasks. Remembering to 5-4-3-2-1-Go is half the battle.

Personally, I can't always remember to do a countdown, so I have little placards with a countdown in a couple of strategic places in my house, like on a sign above my monitor and next to my crafting table.

5-4-3-2-1-Go - Revision history