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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • Yeah, I think challenge can be a bit motivator for adhd folks. Once I’ve completed the main part of something, I find it really hard to care about the details, to the extent that the unfinished parts sometimes spoil the bit I had completed.

    I feel like it’s the dopamine of the chase is actually what’s motivating, and challenge is a version of that. I’ll get sucked into finding some obscure game and getting an emulator working to be able to play it and all the way I’m super engaged. Then I start playing this game I was so excited about and meh, don’t care.

    Maybe you could think about ways to refocus that drive? A therapist told me once that adhd people don’t get satisfaction from completing things, but are excited about new things. So, instead of feeling proud of getting into college try and immediately find the new challenge (now I want to get a prostigious internship!) if you succeed at your fitness goals, maybe you can raise the stakes see if you can beat a friend or a record or something?







  • Acamon@lemmy.worldtoADHD@lemmy.worldLanguage for "Want"
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    8 months ago

    In philosophy there’s a term “second order desire” which is “wanting to want” something. So, when you want ice cream it’s a first order desire, you just want it. But when you want to eat healthily, it’s often a desire for wellbeing, long-term goals, etc. Not a sudden urge for carrots.

    The challenge for adhd is that second order desires aren’t that motivating. When I’m in a sporadic fitness phase (seems to hit for a few weeks every few years) then I really want to exercise (first order desire). I’d rather do exercise than play on my phone or watch TV. But the rest of the time I want to want to do exercise (to be fit) and if I had a magic wand or a pill I could take I’d prefer that to the exercise, because it’s not something I genuinely want for itself. But going for a walk somewhere beautiful, or going dancing with friends, are things I genuinely want to do, so are easy to achieve. And they have a byproduct of being some physical exercise.