this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
342 points (98.9% liked)
Mental Health
7047 readers
158 users here now
Welcome
This is a safe place to discuss, vent, support, and share information about mental health, illness, and wellness.
Thank you for being here. We appreciate who you are today. Please show respect and empathy when making or replying to posts.
If you need someone to talk to, @therapygary@lemmy.blahaj.zone has kindly given his signal username to talk to: TherapyGary13.12
Rules
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
- No promoting paid services/products.
- Be kind and civil. No bigotry/prejudice either.
- No victim blaming. Nor giving incredibly simplistic solutions (i.e. You have ADHD? Just focus easier.)
- No encouraging suicide, no matter what. This includes telling someone to commit homicide as "dragging them down with you".
- Suicide note posts will be removed, and you will be reached out to in private.
- If you would like advice, mention the country you are in. (We will not assume the US as the default.)
If BRIEF mention of these topics is an important part of your post, please flag your post as NSFW and include a (trigger warning: suicide, self-harm, death, etc.)in the title so that other readers who may feel triggered can avoid it. Please also include a trigger warning on all comments mentioning these topics in a post that was not already tagged as such.
Partner Communities
To partner with our community and be included here, you are free to message the current moderators or comment on our pinned post.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Over the years, I've gotten better at preventing this. But it still happens from time to time.
I don't have all of the answers or perhaps an answer that could work for you, but I do find that having a to-do list and only entering one thing then completing it before moving on, to work best for me. I would often think negatively about myself and thing that nothing worthwhile was done that day. That was until I kept doing my to-do list. Now I'm able to look back and see that I had done multiple things that day.
As for the lack of motivation, I'm still figuring out what helps me most of all. But there really is a power in just starting in on that thing you've been putting off. As a recovering procrastinator, I keep three things I keep in mind when I feel a lack of motivation.
A. Have I been able to figure out how to take 'bite sized' chunk(s) of the project or task, and complete it?
Knowing how much you can take on is key here. We can quickly become overwhelmed if we don't scale our bites to be more appropriate to our abilities and bandwidths.
B. Am I unsure of where to start with this project?
While it may seem to be an easy preparation task, it can become quite more than just that if you over think it or aren't knowledgeable or experienced about the things you will need for the project.
C. Am I worried about the end result and/or how others might perceive the finished task or project? Is my perfectionist side getting in the way of a completed task/task list/project? Or could it be, that I'm unsure or uncomfortable with preforming and/or producing the necessary things to complete a given task/task list/project?
Often times for me, it's more than just one of these things, that are keeping me from starting and/or completing a task/set of tasks/project.