I do things little and often, the above don't work for me

The most important thing for me was to select a task (like move the mugs), and let that be the end of the task if I'm not feeling great. If I know that I'll have to finish the room, it makes starting the first task impossible.

Non zero days are important. Even the smallest task (one piece of rubbish in the bin) will add up if done every day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

I'll start with "move the mugs to the kitchen" but see something else that needs done on the way, stop and do that and forget where I set down the mugs to do that other task. From there I'll go pee, realize the soap dispenser needs refilling, see that the refill bottle is low and go write down hand soap on the shopping list on the kitchen whiteboard. Then I'll realize I was gonna bring the mugs into the kitchen, but then remember I also needs to vacuum the kitchen. Uh oh, vacuum is full lemme empty that, uh oh trash is full gotta empty that, and so on and so on.

At this point it's after 5pm and I remember I haven't ate anything all day.

So no, that doesn't work for me lol

No that doesn’t work for me either.

When I'm depressed and non-productive and the place is a mess, I tell myself: just one thing in every space, one thing in every space. Eventually I'll get moving.

It doesn't matter what the one thing is? Picking a leaf off the entrance floor counts, so does putting the empty toilet paper rolls into recycling, so does putting one glass into the dishwasher, so does recharging my watch. Walk into a room or hall or stairway landing, find one thing that isn't right, fix it and move to the next space.

Somewhere a little over halfway through, I'll get a run of energy. I'll usually stay in whatever room I'm in and just keep moving stuff, cleaning, straightening up, doing whatever needs done. At some point, I'll notice that I'm running out of energy. At that point, I'll finish whatever single task I'm doing in that area, and go through the rest of the place, fixing one thing in every room.

Yes. I do one of those little things every week or so. I haven't noticed any real progress.

Nope. Nothing beats a well structured plan. But I don't know why, the plan apways get screwed in the very first step. Then I go back to planninh again. And the cycle continues.

Yes, but not because I don't know where to start or feel overwhelmed. It's just a lot easier to carry the momentum once you're up and moving. If vacuuming feels overwhelming, avoid putting it in the back of the closet so you have to work just to begin, and avoid starting with it!

The purpose of this strategy, which applies to everything, is simply to carry momentum. Get off your chair and look out the window for a minute. Now you're standing up, might as well grab that dirty plate and move it to the sink. It's right there, it's so easy. Well, since you're up and about, might as well take out the trash. When you get back, your legs are in motion and exercised so you might as well grab the vacuum that you placed so conveniently.

Neurotypical people who write these type of hacks (OP pic) tend to think we're all the same, and because it worked for one person they told it to, that it should work for all of us.

I feel this a lot. On weekends, often times I wake up with a burst of productive energy which I can channel in tidying up the flat, cleaning the kitchen, the bathroom, doing laundry etc. This keeps up for a couple hours before the momentum starts to fade.

I have always relied on this "magical" momentum boost, but I'll definitely try conjuring the momentum up via this "trick"

This method also really helps when you're the "Why did I get up? What was I going to do?" Type.

You might forget why you got up, but you take the opportunity to do one of the things that needs doing.

The mantra of "no empty hands no empty trips" helped me; if I'm up from my desk I'll take any mugs to the kitchen, I'll grab a drink while in the kitchen, might as well do the bins, but if I'm doing the kitchen bins, I might as well do the whole lot and take them out. Then suddenly one of the bigger cleaning jobs is done, all because I wanted to get a drink.

Umm, I'm sorry, but it sounds exactly like it's working? You're getting stuff that needs to be done, done, that it's not exactly the thing you started out with doesn't really matter, does it? If you do it like this, no matter what you do exactly at any point, eventually you're done with everything.

I have ADHD and that's exactly how I manage it, I simply stopped caring about specifics and just that I did something, if I went to the bathroom to pee, refilled the soap dispenser, and forget what I was doing originally, that's just a win in my book, I refilled the soap dispenser.

i think the most important bit is: you finish it before picking up another task.

it shouldn't be anything to arduous nor should it be bullshit.

and if on the way, one finds there is more to do, thats just the todolist flying by, it will still be there when the current task is finished... and i can see it can be difficult carrying five mugs to the kitchen when encountering another group of five mugs somewhere in the house..... or something worse... but its important one finishes at least that one originally set task

This is why I only have one mug

Autistic inertia is real.

Step 1 read this post

Step 2 continue reading, maybe there are other great tips

Step 3 whatever

I got around vacuuming by getting a robot to do it for me. The Chinese may now see my dick, but that's a sacrifice i'm willing to make.

It does work for me. What's even worse, once i got going, i'm like: i'll do that too, and that. Then i think: wow this is actually fun, next time i'll just do it. But then next time comes and i'm back at square one.

I take the mugs to the kitchen. The sink is full. I should put stuff in the dishwasher. The dishwasher is full. I should empty it. This will take a while, I should put on something to listen to on YouTube. Oh that's an interesting short. Doomscroll for an hour. Oh yeah mugs.

Step 4 Went to take a nap

It doesn't work for me, because I know the plan. I know the intention is for this to create a cascade that results in lots of stuff happening, and so carrying the mug inherits the load of all that's intended to come after.

I don't like getting fooled, even if it's by myself, so I do nothing, like a fool.

This is also what I do. Have a one item todo list and have it be a success if that task gets done.

I wish this was how it was taught to me as a kid. "Clean your room" always felt like an overwhelming task and I never knew where to start. How much easier life could've been if my mom had tried to show me how to do things, in steps like this, instead of expecting me to somehow figure everything out myself (and then getting upset because I didn't.)

I dont keep mugs in my bedroom.

I can’t find my washing basket.

Another "just do this! Fix". Given by some one who obviously never had ADHD and has no clue what it's like..

Precisely.

Put the mugs in the kitchen but then your brain chooses its own adventure

It reminds me of a lot of simple diet advice, like smaller portions or subsititutions with less fat or sugar.

Do they think our bodies are stupid?

I just keep walking around with my hands full like some sort of roomba until there's nothing left to move from one place to another (or until I get tired)

The podcast If Books Could Kill covered Atomic Habits, and they had a similar critique: They thought it would be helpful for exactly the kind of person that really wouldn't need to buy a book about it, and useless to everyone else.

Sometimes, yes. But sometimes breaking it down has to be broken down to literally the level of "Get up and go into the room and if you go that and look around and go back out immediately, that's okay". And I have done that. Walked into the room, said "Not today!" and walked right back out.

…But not always. Sometimes I walk into the room and I'm able to do a thing, even a little thing.

Considering the fact that I have had it work sometimes for myself (as I noted in another comment, I sometimes have to break the task into even much smaller pieces than that, and it still doesn't work a majority of the time), have read others - even in this very post who say it works for them - I think your comment is quite unfair.

Does it not work for you at all? That's fair. Does your experience mean it doesn't work for anyone and is therefore worthless? Most definitely not.

I do five things at a time - take 2 mugs to the kitchen, put 3 things in the dishwasher. Or take 4 things out of the dishwasher, and fold 1 piece of laundry.
Every episode or chapter or hour (insert something that works for you) I do one round. If I get more enthusiastic or energetic, I might do 5 per room or category.
It works for me because that's all I need to do for now, and the rest will come later. The tendency is to do the easiest first, which actually cleans up most of the clutter. Trash, dishes, and laundry are the quickest way to get to 5, so I am done in about 2 minutes for the first 'rounds'.

Basically, it's a simple homemade form of gamification :)

I meantioned elsewhere, but I will sometimes break it down so far as to say "I'll walk in the kitchen and look at it. Adn if I turn around immediately, that's okay, I tried." and that doesn't always work.

But I need to do dishes right now, so I'm going to do just that after hitting reply on this and see if I can go unload the dishwasher. Will I load it again? We'll see, but i'm taking a couple of dirty dishes in there with me as I go. So it'll be progress, no matter how tiny.

edit: dishes unloaded, dishwasher loaded and started, whee

Wtf that’s a fix for procrastination, not ADHD. With ADHD I take the cups and want to put them into the kitchen, see that the plant needs water, put the cups down to get the watering can. I get the watering can, fill it with water and on my way to the plant I see that I left the window open, go to the window to close it and put the watering can down.

The whole inventory is constantly on the move.

My only problem with this hack is it acts as crutch into. This task takes a lot of thought and is overwelming so im just going to do simple housework stuff because it needs to get done to even though the other thing REALLY needs to get done. But I hate it.

To fix your deficit of executive function, simply have executive function!

Real talk, lists of steps and small tasks making up a whole is super helpful to me, but that needs to be generated outside of the moment..

Along those lines and more besides is a good little book:

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL26660798W/How_to_Keep_House_While_Drowning

You can't trick me!!

It doesn't help me at all for me, because it's not that the overall job is overwhelming; I am stuck not doing it because there is a problem with my executive function. I can break it down into smaller tasks and still not ever start the smaller tasks no matter how much I want to.

Yup I collect mugs and take them to the kitchen, it takes multiple trips.
While in the kitchen on the second trip I see a piece of mail that needs to go to the desk, I take it to the desk.
While at the desk I see the jacket that needs to go to the coat hook, I take it to the coat hook.
While there I realize I'm thirsty and go get a mug of tea.
I take that to the desk and forget that I'm cleaning up mugs and the day is over.

Go to bed and realize I've practically made no dent in what needs done. But I worked all day.

Nah. If it was that easy it would never become an issue in the first place. However, any protip can work if it gives you a bit of inspiration so no shade. But for me, just habitualizing bringing stuff with me that doesn't belong in that room or place when i walk around, has made me slowly and steadily achieve a state where cleaning is less overwhelming. Well, that and audiobooks. That's also the singular most powerful tool I have heard others praise. Audiobooks is a honest cheat code but I suspect most people here knew that already. But just in case someone tries it from this: you're welcome ;)

The underlying idea is sound, but it's written by someone who doesn't understand that "collect all the mugs and take them to the kitchen" is still too large of a step. Take one mug, and don't even think about next steps until that's done. If you want to continue, great. If not, don't push yourself.

Repeat tomorrow with another mug and see if you're feeling up to more. So long as you're doing something - anything - every day, you're building up a sustainable low-stress routine that, while ineffective at actually cleaning your room at first, can eventually be built up to something effective.

If you start with something effective but stressful, then it gets abandoned - get the routine established first, then tie effective actions to it slowly enough to prevent it from ever becoming stressful.

Kind of, but you dismiss the fact that they are ever so slightly closer to their destination. Well.. more often than not, at least :) but it's not exactly a cheat code. More like a very basic strat that at least isn't net negative.

(Btw, you probably bash yourself too hard and miss celebrating small steps forward, but it's just a feeling. Pun intended.)

I take this a step further: a "clean room" is an abstract, subjective end-goal, it is not a task in and of itself.

Picking up the laundry, clearing out the dishes, and organizing the bookshelf, are tasks. And they needn't be done all at once so long as the progress outpaces the entropy of what cleanliness you have accomplished.

Don’t worry, I am absolutely happy with how I live my life and I have accepted my traits years ago. But it is very kind of you to address it.

Excellent! That makes my day. Just curious, how do you handle food? Like, insertion of nutrients every so often.

I don't like getting fooled, even if it's by myself, so I do nothing, like a fool.

I also have this honestly very frustrating mindset. All this inaction and foresight is really fucking hard to get rid of sadly. I hate it

I keep posting this quote because it remains true and has helped me a lot with overcoming my executive dysfunction:

"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly"

It doesn't matter if you don't take all the dishes to the kitchen; just take 1.

It doesn't matter if you don't do all your laundry; just put 1 shirt in the hamper.

If you're in school, turn in unfinished assignments, even a 1 sentence essay.

At work, do the smallest task you can imagine, even if it's just opening a document.

The point is, while all of these things aren't perfect, they are infinitely better than doing NOTHING. Plus, that one small thing will often snowball into doing more. And if it doesn't, so what? You met your goal already. Anything else is extra.

You are not lazy. You are not a failure. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. It's the world that is wrong. Remember, society has evolved WAY faster than our brains have. Quit placing such high expectations on yourself when none of us are meant to be doing any of this in the first place.

How I handle food? Exceptionally bad. I jump from phase to phase every couple weeks.

Phases that I am aware of:

• frozen pizza diet
• yfood-like-shakes diet
• healthy one-pot diet
• self-made shakes diet
• pasta diet

All in all I survive, but I am far away from having a working system, which would lead to a healthier gut. At the end of the day, my energy flows into bigger issues and I am aware of the consequences.

step zero: create a new web based app in a front end framework you want to learn, to keep track of your tasks. then never finish it. trip over a pile of mugs on your way to bed.