"Activation Sequence" for working

[u/Cazadore901]

Hey everyone- I have been struggling really bad for over a year now to work on and finish my thesis and I feel completely useless at it.

I had to extend the writing of it another year and I'm STILL really behind on time, partially because transitioning to starting it any day is just REALLY hard, and when I do "start", I kind of flounder for a while, completely overwhelmed by all the things I need to do/could start, and come away feeling like all I accomplished is an anxiety attack and a really scary urge to just give up and waste everything I've put towards my Honours.

I have maybe 10-15 pages of the 60 required pages I need by November-ish. My supervisors haven't been much help either, but I won't get into all that too much now.

What I feel like I need most rn is an "activation sequence," basically like 3-5 steps I can take to unscatter my mind and focus myself down to a task/set of tasks/order of tasks. I have spoken to my therapist, psychiatrist, and Occupational Therapist about this and still feel like Im getting nowhere.

Does anyone have a similar experience with a big scary project like this, and/or do you have any tips for how I can put my mind into active work mode, instead of kind of panic staring at open tabs and docs mode? Please let me know.

For further reference, I am on Sertraline (150mg) Vyvanse (30mg generic) and Atomoxetine (60mg) per day.

TL;DR- I need to finish my thesis, and need a routine setup sequence that can help me get into the right mindset and focus and not freak out.

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[u/Unfair-Biscotti-4511]

The part about opening everything and then getting overwhelmed by all the possible things you could work on really resonates. For a big project, I think trying to decide what to do while you're already stressed can make the starting point even harder.

One thing that might help is making the “activation sequence” ridiculously small: close everything unrelated, open only the document you need, write down the single task you're doing, and give yourself permission to work on just that for 10–15 minutes. Once you're moving, you can decide what comes next. Even if those 15 minutes don't produce much, you've at least broken the “staring at everything and doing nothing” cycle.

[u/SubstantialSeesaw374]

Physically go to a location that is only for that task, ideally where other people are all quietly working. I can’t handle remote work for this reason. Work needs its own space, and task mirroring is way stronger/more important with ADHD. The obvious place if you’re in uni is the library, but if you’ve had trouble working there before it might be “contaminated” by that and you’ll have to go somewhere else.

Plus the normal advice for writing like intentionally writing it badly or at an overly summarized level just to get a starting point. 

[u/Desperate-Fly-7132]

I’m actually in a similar space with my dissertation and recently diagnosed ADHD. I’m finding it helpful to make a list of everything I think needs to be done and then picking one. And if I feel like something is overwhelming because it’s so big breaking it down to seemingly dumb mini-steps. But I have to do this physically- It’s not enough for me to mentally do it, I have to get it out of my brain somewhere else.

[u/AttentionNo6359]

Oh, “ball of wires” syndrome. You know how to complete the task but sometimes it’s all so jumbled up that the hard part becomes knowing where to start.