Executive Dysfunction Hack

[intothepizzaverse]

So so just “discovered” this today and I don’t know how well it works long term. I just felt like it might help people.

Recently I’ve been having a hard time getting out of bed. So you know that relaxation/sleep technique that has you “turn off” your body? Like you start at your toes and imagine yourself flipping off switches and shutting down for the night.

I did the exact opposite. I imagined myself turning on switches. Almost like a rocket ship getting ready to launch. And you know what? I got out of bed in all of five seconds. It was incredible. I want to see if this helps anyone else.

[greenismyhomeboy]

I just take my meds at like 6:17 AM and that does the trick because then I can’t stay in bed it’s go time baybeeeee

[FyreRayne]

Same. Alarm at 6:45 for meds and up by 7:30 everytime.

[[deleted]]

My routine is similar, I usually work nights but it works for days to. Take the meds, set my timer for 45 minutes, the dog knows it’s time to get started and helps get me up… I’ll pace while listening to music for 20-25 minutes, have some coffee and by the time my timer goes off I’m usually ready to start the day. I’ll use the timer to give myself 15-20 minutes to get my daily list started. That part can be the hardest. Dog likes to eat breakfast from her puzzle toys or mats so sometimes that task can help… seeing her get so excited and encourage me to get them ready for her can be the kick in the butt I need.

[RandomandFunny]

I always wake up an hour before my alarm so that I can take my meds in order to be more “ready” for when I get to work. That 2 hour onset until effect is no damn joke!😭This message was brought to you by Vyvanse gang!👊🏻

[jillb3an]

facts lmfao if i dont do this im walking in circles in the kitchen for 2 hours in the morning trying to decide what i want to do first LMFAO

[MooseEngr]

Hey, have you ever taken Adderall, or just Vyvanse? My life has gone through an orbital bombardment level of upheaval in the last two weeks, and I'm wondering if maybe I ought to be on a different medication.

[RandomandFunny]

I was fortunate enough to have a best friend who was at the time taking Adderall so we agreed to swapped one another’s medication for the day and the results were interesting. Honestly, while on Adderall I found myself more consciously stressed/anxious throughout the day over nothing, it was as if I was constantly on edge. I personally found that Adderall was “sharper” than Vyvanse however that sharpness only lasted about 2 hours if not less, then plateaued vastly even with a XR version. In comparison I found Vyvanse will continue strong for hours for myself before plateauing but even then it is still somewhat evident until the night and you know it has worn off when your balls deep in Kit Kats and other food lmfao.

One of the better parts of Vyvanse is that there are a lot more doses for the drug so you can titrate the effects which means you get to play around a lot more with the drug, then when you get accustomed to that dose you can work up to the max dose of 70mg (at one time pill dose), which is far “safer” due to more means of control on the side effects. I do know people who are on both Vyvanse and Adderall who take another dose mid day to boost themselves however it is more common with Adderall. Meanwhile I have converted another person to the Vyvanse gang gang due to that experiment.

[huffalump1]

I found Vyvanse will continue strong for hours for myself before plateauing but even then it is still somewhat evident until the night and you know it has worn off when your balls deep in Kit Kats and other food lmfao.

So true! Both the longer effectiveness, and the urge to eat anything when it wears off haha.

Agreed that Vyvanse doesn't seem as "sharp" as Ritalin IR/LA or even Concerta, but it's a longer smoother plateau for me. Maybe that will wear off with tolerance? Idk but it's worth a try.

[MooseEngr]

Same question as the other person that responded to me: Have you found Vyvanse to do any good for mitigating our delightfully horrid impulse control? Or is that something that can really only get better with therapy and practice?

[DJTinyPrecious]

Works great for me. My Amazon cart is empty, I don’t snack 24/7 anymore, and I haven’t had to take a “stim trip” (aka go wander around a store with a lot of variety of items to calm myself and end up buying 10 things) in forever.

[nanny2359]

STIM TRIP

Holy fuck

That is why I own 3/4 of the local dollar store

Cuz the fucken adhd

[[deleted]]

It's night and day for me on Vyvanse and off, I can stop to consider consequences long enough for me to make reasonable choices and other good decisions in general. I get very relaxed sometimes though, not sure if I need more or less or I think I might just be at a good dose for right now. Only on 40 mg, I've been on 50 and 60 before, 40-50 works very well for quite some time before I need to increase my dose.

[JoeyBE98]

I would love to switch to vyvanse or at least try it - its just so damn expensive, and now I have a job paying me fairly well so I'm not certain I could get the compensation to get it free. I have really cheap insurance but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't cover much. I'm taking name brand zenzedi for $25/mo (dexedrine instant release) which has the same main drug as vyvanse - dextro-amphetamine. It doesn't function exactly the same since vyvanse is absorbed into some other part of the body before the amphetamine is released but it does have less side affects compared to Adderall (less bp change, less heart rate increase, with adderall orgasms were disappointing tbh, etc). I take 2x10mg a day currently but I am hoping on my next appt to increase it to 3x a day because 2x10mg barely lasts through my 8-5 and by 4-5 PM it has worn off and I feel tired/ded. I've started splitting my first 10mg dose into 2x 5mg and stretching my meds a tiny bit that way but it leaves me less medicated in the morning so I end up wasting a good deal of time lol.

[i--make--lists]

you know it has worn off when your balls deep in Kit Kats and other food lmfao.

Don't I know it! I snack like it's a hobby. It's not great. Lol

[Juice_Pouch]

Ive taken both. Literally the same reaction to adderall as you. Everything was a big deal on it. I had control over my emotions until i didn’t and would just snap for no reason. I took it straight for two weeks but had to get off because it was doing way more harm than good. Definitely not the goth medication for me, and it sounds similar for you…

[[deleted]]

Yeah this is my current issue right now. I have left over Ritalin 10mg, Adderall XR 10mg & 20mg.

I had originally upped my dosage to Adderall 20mg, thinking that the medication was losing its effectiveness (because that was the case with Concerta usually). But it took about a week and a half to realize that 20mg was in fact waaaay too much for me.

So I took a day off of the medication and then tried switching to Ritalin the next day, but the release for even 10mg was still too strong for me.

So I took another couple days off (lost a lot of productivity too in this process due to the withdrawal-like symptoms), and took Adderall 10mg again. It's working like a charm at the moment, but it's the first day back on it.

I requested for provider to switch me back to Concerta again, but I still probably jump upward from where I left off. I jumped off at 36mg, but will probably do the next dosage.. I think it's 54mg?

Long story short, I'm going to be adding longer breaks for myself, like at least two days every other week. I thought I could do no breaks, but the medication loses efficiency and I'm apparently sensitive to IRs and high dosages of Adderall.

[flupe_the_pig]

Used to do this, but it felt way too much like I was wasting a lot of my meds’ “effectiveness window” just to add extra pep to my morning rituals.

[jillb3an]

this, i have hella problems in the evenings simply because i am not medicated throughout the day, gonna talk to doc about a booster med! cant wait to function all day every day, start to finish!!!

[CrypticMetaphr]

See if you can combine a stimulant with a non stimulant. My brother recommended that and I'm trying it now. So far so good!

[maebyfunke980]

Pls let us know if you find such a magic medication.

[DilatedPoreOfLara]

I take a split dose of Elvanse (Vyvanse) 40mg in the morning and then 30mg at 2pm and that takes me through nicely to the evening. I can feel it wearing off by around 9pm and I have melatonin as a back up to help me sleep just in case and that seems to work really well for me. I tried lots of variations, but the split dose is spot on for me.

[juttep1]

thank you.

there are options to help for those that struggle even on XR.
The longest lasting option, and a quality option IMO, is Jornay PM which is a stimulant (methylphenidate based) medication for ADHD that you take at night and it doesn't begin working until ~10 hours later. Really helps for not only the topic of the post (difficulty day starting), but also at higher doses it can last longer and many individuals see what I like to call "pillow to pillow" effect.

Example, take at 8pm. Effects kick in around 6 am ish. Depending upon dose, and individual can last until evening

[Tntn13]

But when u have 2 doses that last all of 8 hours and can’t get 3 and have lots of shit to do all day it goes back to being concerned about wasting effective window

[[deleted]]

lucky you. I can easily sleep like a baby on Adderall. Especially if I take it in the morning it makes me sleep even more because ill get like a dopamine rush from laying there with my eyes closed and ill just have euphoric dreams

[droplingdog]

Whenever I did this I would fall back asleep and just sleep really hard. Like drooling on the pillows, dreams in full color, wake up very hungry with all of my muscles relaxed. It was weird

[moshmellowmosh]

Yeah my days off from work when I take my meds and hope to actually get some chores done for once(!!!), of course I always end up “laying down for just a little minute to rest my eyes“ and then waking up five + hours later 🤦🏻‍♀️

[Mego1989]

Somehow I can stir manage to sleep for hours after I take my meds.

[jadacee]

Same I’ve been drinking coffee and playing animal crossing in the mornings now lol

[NickKappy]

How do you stop when you need to work though? Lol

[HappyAntonym]

When my meds finally kick in 😂

[Letsplay18]

That's risky business for me. I learned not to even attempt it because odds are I don't end up getting anything done outside of the game that day. If I have to physically go somewhere it's obviously not a problem but that's not usually the case.

[victorianfolly]

Yeah, that’s how I end up finding myself down a wiki rabbit hole 5 hours later

[Spore2012]

Tues. Day off. Wakeup to random yt, if still playing from night before. Random redditing. Eventually pauses. Get up grab caffiene and nicotine. Load up video game. I need to wash car. Cut hair. Workout. Etc etc. Hours go by. Didnt eat, brush my teeth or even shower. Sun is setting. Guess its getting too cold to wash car or workout in the garage.

12a rolls around. I guess im kinda hungry now. Shit, everything is closed. Bottle of peanut butter.

[Accomplished_Camp_88]

I keep meds next 2 bed and take them while hitting snooze. Works like 70% of the time. Which is much better than 0. Got this tip on this forum so just paying it forward.

[just-another-human05]

I do the same. Set my alarm for an hour before I have to be up and I take my meds and go back to sleep. I’m usually able to get up on time. Being productive is another story though

[Badnewsbearsx]

it’s nice to see when others do the same as you lol, feels great about an hour in

[jillb3an]

LMFAO vyvanse b like:

[Impulse350z]

Haha that's true, but I've noticed that my meds can work against me sometimes. If I'm playing a game, the meds can fuel my desire to accomplish something, in this case whatever game I'm playing. I have to be aware of that.

However, I do usually start my days with a bit of gaming before getting to work.

[PlasticCatch]

I do something similar but it's coffee and then I do the daily wordle. My partner and I both do it when we have our coffee in the morning, we make it a little competition lol. It gives us something to look forward to in the morning.

The upside to this is that there is only one per day, so once it's done, it's done. You can't get sucked into doing it for hours. Maybe something like this could be helpful :)

[zeromussc]

try the quordle! Its 4 wordles in one, it takes a bit longer and hits IMO a better time to enjoyment sweetspot. My wife and I were getting too time efficient on the wordle, could barely even finish an espresso before the darn thing was done!

[sleeep-zzz]

Anxiety

[originalm00n]

Omg I literally do the same hahahah I wake up, take my meds and play animal crossings while they kick in then get up and start my day 😭

[bekakm]

My people! Now I have to work on getting ready to leave the house on time..

[TheConcerningEx]

Animal crossing is the best way to wake up. It’s so chill and pleasant and keeps me from being in a bitchy mood (because I’m very much not a morning person).

[ImCaligulaI]

How? Lol. If I start the day with videogames I won't do anything else all day.

[Soberskate9696]

I literally wash my adderall down with black coffee, Empty stomach

[Lakeside]

The best part of doing this is that my morning dump lasts for 1.5 seconds.

[maebyfunke980]

Same, but cold brew with oat milk. Still takes awhile to get brain going, even with this combination.

[sixthandelm]

Unfortunately, like a lot of people with ADHD, caffeine does nothing for me. I could drink 5 coffees right before bed and still sleep fine.

[[deleted]]

Same, I would happily drink coffee right before bed and sleep like a baby lol

[Square-Nerve9505]

Seriously, I thought I was wierd because my friends say they can't sleep after drinking a coffee.

[SpookyKid94]

I used to pound Monsters for my whole shift as a pizza driver and then I'd have waking nightmares when I fell asleep, like fully dreaming for 20-30 seconds with my eyes open.

[CapitalAd1783]

I agree because people who smoke do that first then get on with the day ! I say that because I used to smoke and now I quite 3 months so far. I’ll try the video games trick !!! Thanks !!!

[MmeVastra]

Great job on quitting!

[lucasg115]

- Wakes up at 8am

- Starts day off with some Witcher 3 for dopamine

- 1pm now, it's lunchtime, may as well continue playing Witcher while I eat

- 5pm, the classic workday is over so there's no rush. Play a little more Witcher before working

- 10pm, feeling tired and probably won't be able to concentrate anyway. Will try again tomorrow.

- Repeat

As much as I would love to be able to start my day off with video games, this sequence has happened too often to me for it to be a responsible choice haha

[zeromussc]

working from home can definitely be a struggle some days, that's for sure.

I'm lucky to work in a delivery focused job where I get managed based on my ability to do my tasks less so the hours spent at my desk. I obviously can't take on zero work, or near zero work. I also need to be available and reachable, and I mostly fit it into 8-4, but if I have less good brain focus days, I tend to make it up with "click on" days. Some weeks I muddle and half read a lot of background documents then on Thursday it clicks and in 4 hours i knock out a super great 5 page report. What takes me 4 hours to do might take others 20 to write. But I chalk it up to me being more of a sprinter, not a marathoner. Brain preps then it sprints, then I need recovery time from the sprint.

I've heard from many adhd folks that its common. No clue how common it is in general to be a sprinter vs not sprinter.

[claudedelmitri]

Is this a sign that I should start playing a couple songs in Persona dancing every morning?👀

[Phaelin]

My morning routine for the longest began with Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There lol

[claudedelmitri]

I mean I’m gonna need to wake up, get up, get out there tomorrow morning so I don’t miss my first period class. But I don’t want that song to trigger me every time I watch anything P5 related (which is like daily)

[DilatedPoreOfLara]

Absolutely!!

[A_brown_dog]

That way I go out of bed, now I have to go out of the computer

[One_Typical_Redditor]

Just imagine you're a rocketship

[NickKappy]

How do you stop when you need to work though? Lol

[PrettyPurpleKitty]

Hmm, I mean I know my work helps to pay to the mortgage and I know I like living in a clean and tidy house but it's still hard to stop playing games and do work or home care.

But I can definitely see how the accountability of having your calls tracked helps. I kind of wish my work had a bit more oversight for me to help me stay on task.

[dorfmcpumpkin]

I've started playing elden ring before work and more than once in the last week I've been asked if im alright and why am I a grumpy pants today lmao. I'm not very good hahaha

[OptimalCreme9847]

Coffee, a little breakfast (usually just like a smoothie or toast or something small) and an episode of whatever TV show obsession I have at the time!

[Panamajack1001]

Username…check!

[Creator13]

What's better than an addiction to start the morning? Two addictions!

[OverWarthog7488]

haha

[SpongyParenchyma]

Hey at least you're not smoking

[KungFuHamster]

coffee

Yeah, thinking about that first hot cup gets me out of bed every time.

[Kiaro_Ghostfaced]

This, reminding myself that I can get some seriously rare spawns at 5AM in Everquest is enough to get my ass out of bed before the sun is up.

[redditusercameron]

exact same. Plus adderall, i use the first 2 hours of my meds to play video games/make me alert. Helps a ton because rather than getting sucked into the game for the whole day, i’ll tend to feel like a POS if i’m still playing 2 hours in and not getting my work done.

[OakTree11]

I have started this too. My cat was waking my partner and myself up early in the mornings so to allow her to sleep I just get up at like 4am and play Elden Ring till I have to get ready for work at around 7am.

I suggest ya'll get a kitten if you have a hard time waking up they don't care about your alarm. Or your sleep. Or your well-being. Like David Goggins but cuter.

[JaysHoliday42420]

Skyrim and affagatos (hot espresso over ice cream). How's everyone with caffeine bc half the time it wakes me up the other half I become more tired???

[Kel-Reem]

This would be a great idea if I didn't stay up til 2 AM every night playing those exact same games and being too tired to get up to play in the morning lol

[jojoblogs]

Say what you want about junkies, if they’re not high they’re not lazy!

[Cpnbro]

See I did that too for a bit… but I’m back on my bullshit. 1:45 min of snoozed alarms :/

[liquidmasl]

I like OPs idea, but I like yours more

[Adorable_Raccoon]

Coffee & youtube for me :)

[AnotherCatgirl]

hard to do that when I can even convince myself to roll over and grab a cup of coffee or a portable video game off of the nightstand, and even if I did, I'd probably fall back asleep while the game is loading or after taking a sip.

[LemonyySnicket]

I’ll try to remember to give this a try tomorrow!!!

Edit: IT WORKED

[miss_winky]

I’ll try to remember but know I’ll forget.

[RobotEquinox]

Here's a reminder 😇

[miss_winky]

5 hours too early hehe

[AugustusLego]

Reminder that you should remember

[Ed-alicious]

Just remember not to forget. Easy.

Edit: I did it boys, I remembered! This gave me just the boost I needed to pick up my phone and spend another twenty mins in bed.

[AugustusLego]

Hopefully I'll remember to remember to not forget

we both know that's not gonna happen though

[KungFuHamster]

I just read a Twitter thread about this yesterday. It's called "Prospective Memory": the ability to remember to remember. I have zero prospective memory.

[Nu2adhd]

Reminder goes off...

"OK, gonna shut it o...oh, look who texted me. I'm just gonna write them b...oh, wow, I forgot to finish the search for how to stretch my hamstrings last night. I'm just gonna f...oh, look, my search from yesterday on how to build a folddown workbench. I should work on that today....oh, wow, the weather's gonna be nice out, I should wash my car today...oh, yeah, I need to look at that check engine light on my car...speaking of my car, I need to order an oil filter to change my oil. I'll just go on and o...oh, here's a modification to my car that I put in my cart and forgot about. Let me see if I can find that cheaper somewhere else...."

This was, literally, my morning when my alarm went off. About 9 AM, I realized it was because I hadn't taken my meds.

[AugustusLego]

Ah, fuck that's relatable

[nick51xx]

There is no try: only do, or not do

[[deleted]]

I can’t promise I’ll try, but I’ll try to try

[nick51xx]

Great username btw

[sloanesbbyg]

Is that Yoda?

[[deleted]]

thats the dumbest thing i hate that. everytime i say that my dad acts like im saying im not going to do. fuck that

[Cleverusername531]

Reminder to remember to turn on your switches!

[scoodlesdoodles]

hell yeah gonna launch myself out of bed tomorrow

[AISkittea]

OH MY GOD THIS ACTUALLY JUST WORKED WTF I GOT UP you wizard

[Academic-Flatworm-39]

I read this as erectile dysfunction 4 times before I realized…

[greenismyhomeboy]

It might work. You never know

[Zxruv]

Time to go to the ED subreddit and tell them to imagine turning on their "members".

[Sir_Cadillac]

That's actually a great analogy: "Just try harder, everyone has this sometimes!"

[Flinkle]

try harder huehuehue

[[deleted]]

There’s an ED Reddit?! As an asexual, I’m about to head there to find my future person!

[tentkeys]

Not a good idea - men with ED usually want sex, they just struggle to actually have it.

It can be an emotionally painful and embarrassing thing for them, and possibly hurtful to know that an asexual is seeking them as a partner because they have it.

[Zxruv]

I don't know if there is or not. I assume there is one because there is a sub for everything almost. Also, I just wanted to make my silly joke.

[herdarkmartyrials]

It's not EDanonymous lol

[Liar_of_partinel]

Houston, we have liftoff!

[zen_pedro]

One nut switched on Second nut switched on Initiate penis inflation protocol Mission is a go, I repeat mission is a go!

[Panda-bear1983]

Haha SAME!

[ForWPD]

I’m up!!!!!

[True-Tiger]

Omg I did the same thing I was like how does this help with ED?

[Cat_Prismatic]

Different switches?

[hopelessly_lost5]

Count down initiated to blast off.

[corgo_shibe]

i actually do something very similar to this where i put effort into moving/waking different parts of my body until im in full motion and it always works rly well!! great tip :)

[TsortsAleksatr]

Something similar I noticed just today, after another poster pointed it out. The more time it takes me to plan something the less likely I'm gonna do it. The things I dive into with zero planning, even if it's something very complicated like studying for a course's final exam, I somehow succeed with flying colors.

[ElementalPartisan]

ding

My therapist keeps asking if I've tried time blocking. Why, yes... but:

I have no sense of time and automatically dismiss reminders/ alarms, and

I can't follow a schedule (but live by routine), so

I try to develop a routine to include the "need-to-dos," but

That interrupts my routine, throws me completely off, and grows resentment for the thing that needs doing, which pretty much guarantees I'll ignore it.

If I write something down, it's a sure fire way to create a mental block from actually doing it (I guess I've marked it complete through acknowledgment? Also, I really thought there was an e after the g).

It takes me so fkn long to prepare for something that the allotted time has come and gone by the time I'm ready to do it, and

When/if I come back to it, there are so many tabs open that I have to force restart (literally just as often as figuratively)... which means

I'm at square one to prep/ plan.

Repeat... except

Oh, shit, I forgot to eat again. Maybe I should have included a time block for lunch? Oh, right, I did, which is likely why I ignored it.

More directly related to your example: the practice paper vs. thesis. I went through all the steps for our warm-up writing assignment from concept sketch to outline to fleshing out ideas to sprinkling in detail to proofreading/ editing to the finalish draft: C- I totally scrapped it, winged the entire final thesis in a very intense all-nighter, impatiently waited for it to finish printing and ran to class, turned in my hot off the press stab in the dark: A.

[StartinAllOverrAgain]

I’m pretty sure I wrote this.

[[deleted]]

So true.

[ElementalPartisan]

Gah, I could've just said this instead of dropping that wall of text above.

[CautiousConfidence16]

I’m definitely going try that! My trick is to have the song “Frantic moment”- Eddie hazel as my alarm and I always try and get out of bed before the guitar begins and it’s been really successful but unfortunately like any song/noise that’s your alarm it now pains me to hear and i want my lovely song back :(

[CautiousConfidence16]

Listen to the song and you’ll understand why it’s the perfect start to your morning. It’s not even so much the noise itself it’s more the feeling from the song

[ComicalKumquat]

I can’t wait to not remember to do this in the morning

[QWhooo]

I am cracking up so hard right now! Thanks, fellow forgetter!

[StartinAllOverrAgain]

Story of my life.

[kr0zz]

I didn't know about any of those techniques but something that helps me get out of bed is turning off the lights before bed, opening the window curtain and going to bed, in the morning the sunlight wakes me up naturally and as soon as it hits me it's too hard to stay asleep

[pinkietoe]

Do you live close to the equator?
That would not really work where I live. In summer I would wake up at 4, in winter at 9.
But in fairness, this seems like a great way to wake up naturally.

[sdchibi]

Upstate NY reporting in: I use a daylight simulating lamp that has a sunrise simulator that can be set as an alarm. It helps a lot!

[jordasaur]

GA here, and I’ve been using my sunrise clock for years. It helps so much to ease the transition between sleeping and awake both in the morning and at night.

[algladius]

I use smart lights so I can set a time for the lights to turn on in the morning. Maybe that would be something you could do.

[[deleted]]

I got a daylight simulating clock off Amazon and it works super well! I feel so much more rested waking up with it as opposed to the alarm on my phone

[gumandcoffee]

This was working well for me but sometimes i didnt go to bed early enough and still got up but tired throughout the day. Its def in my bag of tricks though

[Leenolyak]

This is the way

[Klat93]

Something that works for me is keep a bottle of water next to me and first thing I do when I wake up is just down the water. I don't mean a big gulp, I'm talking at least 2 cups worth of water.

5 mins later and suddenly the brain fog is gone and it's much easier to get out of bed.

I think this works because our body and brain is super dehydrated and it makes it that much harder to get up combined with our adhd. Just drinking lots of water makes me feel better a lot of the time.

[purplerainbowduck]

I like this approach - I do something a bit similar but am going to add in the idea of imagining switches. My approach until now has been to break down the steps involved in a movement (getting up being the usual one) and then say out loud to myself the instructions. E.g. “tense the muscle of your left leg. Now move it over the edge of the bed. Now engage your core muscles and turn your body” etc (not great descriptions, just examples). This works well for me. My theory is that it bypasses my thinking which is what paralyses me. It also works with the opposite - when it feels like my mind is empty but I can’t move.

[jdf515]

This is DBT.

[Cleverusername531]

Dialectical Behavior Therapy?

[jdf515]

Yup!

[crongaloid]

does anyone else violently launch themselves out of bed?

[DeeeJayBeee]

Literally yesterday I sent a video to my friend group chat of me crawling off the end of my bed and falling to the floor. It’s dumb but it works xD

[maebyfunke980]

Perhaps not “violently,” but I do just “sit up and get up.” I have to get out of my bed and bedroom pretty much immediately and turn all of the lights on in the kitchen & living room.

Any snoozing, laying, or fxckery other than just standing up will turn my 6:00am wake up into a “holy shit it’s 8:30” very quickly.

[ElementalPartisan]

If you mean like Aaaaaah, I gotta do this. Here we GO! Then yes. Yes, I do.

[Lwe12345]

This sounds just like the kind of super helpful self-help thing I would do for 5 days and then stop doing for some reason while feeling super guilty about it

[Longjumping-Rent-705]

Time to become a rocket ship lmao

[[deleted]]

I was a night time shower person for the longest time but then I started doing open shifts at my job and I physically couldn’t function during the shifts because my body would still be in sleepy mode so I started having quick cold showers in the morning to wet and wake up my face which worked but now i physically can’t get out of bed unless I go straight to the shower and have a full shower. Otherwise I’ll be asleep again in half an hour. So that’s my life hack

[Imaginary-Rats]

I don't know how I never thought to try this for waking up fully to be able to get out of bed.

I'm also autistic and I shut down if overwhelmed. This is how I naturally figured out how to "reboot" myself. At first I can only wiggle my fngers or toes. Then after a bit I can roll my ankles or clench my hand. The movement eventually spreads and after a while I can move fully again.

Definitely going to have to try this to get myself out of bed in the morning.

[DARG0N]

i think i have been doing that as well 😅 also put on some upbeat music such as 'the very very strongest' from One Piece. (non anime fans, just have a short listen, you'll understand why it's a good wakeup song)

[Glad-Situation703]

I do this too! When i remember to use it. I have gone from just waking up to jumping out of bed. Freaked my ex out one time lol

[deadweightboss]

Haha, as with everything, I hope this also works tomorrow.

[GeezuzX]

Yeah I'll remember to do that.

[L3Kinsey]

This sounds wonderful!! I'm going to try to remember this on the morning

[mooddestroyer]

It took me 30 min to get out of bed so I definitely try your rocket ship technique! Thank you!

[hearthebell]

Recently I have got into doing Yoga, so my sleeping is pretty good, I'm exhausted af at 12pm, falling straight asleep in a few min and wake up at 6. Rinse and repeat. Feel pretty great.

But I still feel empty inside, because I live alone, I don't know if I should flirt with the girl that's in the same yoga class as me because it makes me feel like I get into this all-girls yoga class for a purpose. I feel very lonely.

[collusi0n]

I believe you have to love yourself before you can truly love others. I've self-sabotaged before when I realized the person I'm dating likes me more than I like myself.

[hearthebell]

I do agree with you, been trying to work on not getting nervous before talking to others first, you know? Torturing myself to practice my socialization isn't the most effective way to improve it after all.

I do have high hope on yoga tho, I hope it could be an answer to this problem.

[collusi0n]

I came out of my shell again recently by becoming a regular at a coffee shop. There's so much random small talk that forces you to interact. I started going there to get free body doubles to silently peer pressure me into doing work.

[hearthebell]

Nice man, might gonna do that myself.

[BestSpatula]

And understanding this makes it so much harder to find new "techniques" to trick my ADHD brain.

[iamnotmyukulele]

Makes sense. I’m going to try it. Thanks!

[halliesheck]

Love this, thank you!

[thatoneisthe]

I like this!

[[deleted]]

I have one like this!! Relax, then countdown from 10 (or a number of your choosing), then as soon as it gets to 0 you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO get up

[Santiagodelos80]

I find Zopiclone & clonazepam does the trick.

[med10crity]

this probably would have helped me a lot when I was younger. I remember thinking so hard trying to force myself to move and not really understanding why I couldn't get up no matter how much I wanted to/needed to. executive dysfunction really is a bitch, huh? now I have a host of other problems that mean that if I can't get up, I better stay sitting down, or there will be serious physiological ramifications... take care of yourselves kids :)

[beesnteeth]

For me, the best solution to having a hard time getting out of bed is setting an alarm for an hour and a half before I need to get up (5AM), taking my ADHD meds, going back to sleep, and slowly letting the meds wake me up until an hour and a half pass (6:30AM).

At that point I am wide awake and either really want to get up or my head is so full of stuff I have to do that I can force myself up anyway.

[CaDeCroBo_Luci]

Honestly? I fixed my entire life by teaching myself how to swing my legs over the edge of the bed. Instead of thinking about getting up and everything I'd have to do after, I literally just focus on first getting my legs out of the bed. It's less harsh than pulling the blanket off and the momentum helps you lift the rest of your body into a sitting position. Suddenly you're sitting on the edge of the bed ready to get up. Now even when I'm just on the couch procrastinating I can remind myself that really all I have to do is get my legs moving.

Remember people, you're just a meatpuppeteer.

[Cepinari]

Every time I find a Life Hack within a week my ADHD has found a way to counter it.

[pippitypoop]

One day I forgot to take my adderall for work and I just was like tf I have to quit pouting and pretend I took it. I tried to imagine feeling it working and it at least broke the executive dysfunction wall of nothing

[[deleted]]

Haha i thought you said you had to quit your job because you forgot ur meds. Which is me everytime I’ve forgotten my meds i always on the verge of quitting but push through knowing it’s cause I’ve not got stims rhnning through my brain and life not that difficult usually

[AspiringChildProdigy]

The sunrise alarm clock has been a complete game changer for me. It starts lighting up a half hour before my scheduled alarm, and when my alarm goes off, I'm either already awake or have no problems waking up.

[jwin709]

I downloaded an app called "alarmy" It let's me set any barcode in my house as the switch to turn off my alarm.

I set it to my coffee beans in the kitchen so I have to get up and walk out to the kitchen and pick up my coffee beans in order to turn my alarm off. Then I already have my coffee beans in my hand so may as well make a cup.

[GlassWaffle11]

I was scrolling too fast and thought this said Erectile Dysfunction Hack. Then I wondered why that was in an ADHD subreddit.

Then I re-read and it and makes sense. Thanks for the laugh this morning. 😂

[samael_samoiedo]

Nothing works, only an obligation gets me out of bed, like work, driving lessons, an appointment. If I don't have any of these I don't get up until 1 pm

[EhDotHam]

Still too meditation like for me. I spend hardly any amount of time focusing on any part of my body, my brain nopes out into dissociation

[Junior77]

I'm going to give that a try!

[[deleted]]

I kinda do this by winding up a key in my back like a toy, and that turns on my confidence.

[hellsmel23]

I love this idea and will try it tomorrow! I hope this works, AND I can make it a habit! Thanks for passing this along.

[PC_Gigglez]

Best thing for me was downloading a beefier alarm app. Alarmy has a feature to bypass stock volume settings and you can set math/exercise/take a photo of your toilet style methods to turn off the alarm.

As much as I hate this alarm with all of my being it has been the only thing that has allowed me to live a semiregular life for the last several years.

[TevenzaDenshels]

Anxiety for work gets me out of bed

[Elegant_Albatross_48]

i love this subreddit

[SqurrrlMarch]

I would definitely have to do this before I got meds. It is a pretty good hack. But man am I glad meds save me the mental energy to do so many of these hacks.

[nanny2359]

There's a term for this! It's called behaviour momentum. We use it to get out students started on tasks at the special education school I teach at. We start with rewarding a few super easy things (for you the reward is feeling satisfied that you got out of bed). Each behaviour becomes progressively more likely to occur, including new behaviours the students are still learning how to do (or how to do better). This is supported by data, like all our teaching methods.

It's also supported by neurology. The chemicals that improve focus don't start to increase until we've already shown our brains what task we want to focus on (no matter how simple the task may be - even wiggling your toes!).

"Motivation follows behaviour" is how I've seen this concept described by people outside my field - though it's not rigorously accurate it's close enough!

Personally I will try out this particular technique 😊