Transcription
Ali Al Caragouli. I'm a NASA post-doctoral fellow. I'm also the founder of Next Level Systems, a behavior engineering company that's currently doing about seven figures.
This video, I'm going to explain to you why people with ADHD procrastinate. So, if you're someone higher up on the ADHD spectrum or you tend to procrastinate, not stick to a schedule, not get things done, not get started on things, kind of just push things and feel some kind of emotional anxiety whenever you you need to get started on a task. You just like distract yourself with other things. I'm going to explain to you what that why that is actually happening. And actually understanding why it happens is 80% of the the value, 80% of the realization. But then I'm also going to show you a very simple technique using AI to break through procrastination every single time. That's something I actually do uh when I am procrastinating on something. I'm trying to figure out what it is. And that's basically a little trigger that I'm going to show you how to do.
Uh, this is basically knowledge I've accumulated from learning like uh reading a lot of ADHD books. One of them is this book called Executive Functions by Dr. Russell Barkley. uh, it's very it's a little bit expensive and too academic. You don't have to read it. So if you just watch the rest of this video, it'll be as if you have read the bulk of this book, at least the chapter that talks about u memory, dopamine, um, and and and how to actually solve these issues.
So the the problem is actually broken down into two problems. So why why do people with ADHD procrastinate? Well, the first reason people with ADHD procrastinate has to do with working memory. And you can think of memory as like just a little tank like where like you can fit all the information. And you can think of a neurotypical person, like a quote normal person person who does not have ADHD, um, as having like a large memory tank, like almost like a gas tank where where the gas is basically the amount of things that you can remember. And someone who has ADHD has a smaller memory tank. Now, as a result of that, you can only store a limited amount of data in this tank for for a given set of time.
Now, if you were to imagine doing a task, especially if it's a complicated task, doing a complicated task is basically a series of steps that you need to take in order to go from like start to finish. Now, the problem is due to your limited working memory with ADHD, you're going to have a smaller tank, meaning you're not going to have room to fit in all the steps. Now, what's that going to mean? Means you're not going to have all the steps in the back of your mind, and your brain is not going to be able to pull these steps. So, why is this an issue? That's an issue because when you go to get started on a task, your brain is basically searching inside that memory of like a visual of how to get started on that task. And when it cannot find it, it tucks it away in this like unknown territory. Like basically, you're not you you become unclear on what the task is. 99% of ADHD related procrastination, unless like it's emotional avoidance, that's a completely different topic. I have separate videos on that. But if you're procrastinating something that you know you should do and you're just not doing it, and it just especially if it's like a tedious task, that's just a signal that you're not you're literally not clear on what the f what the steps are, especially the first few steps.
For example, like like I'll give you a very simple example. Let's say you're trying to read a book and you tell yourself, "Oh, I need to read a book." Like that just sounds so overwhelming and there's so many steps involved in that. Like there's grab the book, open it, look at the first page, read the first sentence. Like there's these things that your brain just does not have the capacity to actually think of in terms of like what order it needs to go through. And as a result, the brain just jumbles it as this like very vague task and then like it pushes it aside. So there there's a solution for that and I'm going to go over it in a in a second.
But now the second problem is, in addition to this limited working memory, you have a dopamine issue. People who have ADHD or higher up on the ADHD spectrum have chronically lower dopamine levels. That's why something like stimulants works work temporarily because stimulants temporarily jack up dopamine and norepinephrine, which is more responsible for urgency in your system. So basically, when you're taking Adderall or you're taking uh Vyvanse or you're taking something that stimulates your nervous system, you're you're artificially inducing dopamine, which is making you more curious and more interested in the task and more willing to think about it longer. And it's increasing norepinephrine, which is causing you to have more urgency and alertness and presence in the moment to actually sit down and get it done.
Now, the problem with doing something like that is um, what goes up must come down. So a lot of these drugs come with very harsh crashes. uh, if you've ever taken Adderall or if you've ever taken Vyvanse is more of an extended release uh drug over a longer period of time. So the crashes may not feel as strong, but if you've ever taken short-term release Adderall, uh, you're you're going to experience like a jolt or like a jump and like that dopamine or norepinephrine ability to actually focus and sit down and get something done. But then all of a sudden um, when once the drug starts to wear wear wear out, uh, you're not going to go back to baseline. You're actually going to go below baseline because the body now is is thrown out of balance and the the brain is thrown out of balance. And guess what you're going to feel? You're going to feel very irritable, very moody, very crabby. You're going to be like, "Oh man, I don't feel like doing anything." uh, and I would encourage you to not talk to people if you're going through an Adderall crash because you're going to be very mean. You're going to say things that you're going to be just very impatient. You're going to be like not very nice to people.
Now, for this very reason, I do not take any medications for ADHD. I do not take any education uh ADHD stimulants or drugs. Um, if if if if you're someone who's taking them and and you're having a great time and the crash is not an issue for you, keep doing that or consult your doctor on that. I'm not a medical expert here. I mean, I am a doctor. I'm just not a medical doctor. I have a PhD in systems engineering. But I look at the human brain from the perspective of engineering and and from from this like root cause analysis.
So that's kind of one one class of drugs. Another class of drugs are the reuptake inhibitors. They're the ones that just keep the dopamine and norepinephrine in your brain there for a longer period of time, which again causes you to like want to act on on what's going on. So, okay. So, now we figured out that memory is an issue. Dopamine is an issue. How do you actually solve these problems? Basically, two birds, one stone. How do you how do you solve them with one single solution?
Well, this is where assuming the problem is is memory and dopamine, you need to externalize it. You need to diagnose it. And then you need to have the action trigger. And you can actually achieve all of these three things in one step, which is you can go to ChatGPT right here. So, as you can see, I have ChatGPT open. And I'm just gonna say, hey, why am I procrastinating? Like, let's say making a YouTube video. I have ADHD. Can you break down the steps I need to take? Obviously, you can prompt it into something like let's say much much shorter. But it basically is just going to like like what what we're what we're doing here is we're trying to get the brain to think about it more. And it's basically telling me like clarify outcome, prep, blah blah, record, blah blah blah. Like I'm saying I'm I'm going to make it like say, okay, make it less overwhelming, short to the point. Okay. And then I'm just going to think of all the steps. Write three bullet points. Setup camera, mic, record once, blah blah blah.
So obviously these are things that you might look at and be like, "Okay, Ali, well this is obvious. I already knew that." Well, the problem is when I was over here or when I was when I was still like thinking about making the video, I was not thinking about setting up camera, mic, the the whatnot, like all the steps needed. What I have done over here is I have externalized the steps needed to actually complete the task. And this is huge because now I've basically said, "Okay, I've I've I've went from making a video, which sounds so overwhelming and so vague and so easy to be like tucked aside and and with my limited working memory, I don't even know what these steps involved are, and I've externalized it to a series of steps that I can actually read."
And now like that like let's say that takes part of the memory. And then like um, if I want to take care of of the dopamine, basically I I can only think of the first step and I can only sit down and write the three bullets. And let's say I need extra help. What should three bullets be about? My video is on ADHD and procrastination. Like let's say for example, that's that's the case. Uh, if we were to like zoom out, this is actually not what I've done for this video. I I I relied on the book for this video. But just to show you that step one is you need to externalize the steps involved. And it doesn't have to be ChatGPT. It could be like pen and paper. It could be like you talking it out loud with someone. The idea is you want to externalize the verbiage of the things that need to take place. And you need to look at it. That way you're going to engage your senses. Like if I engage my eyes or my ears into the series of steps that need to happen to complete my task. Well, that's actually going to increase my odds dramatically of having clarity on what the task even is and actually being able to initiate it and begin it. Especially if I focus only on the first step and and break that down even further, then I'm I'm I'm dealing with whatever little dopamine I have to just say, "Okay, I only need to focus on the very first thing. I don't need to worry about the rest of it." And then once I go do that, I do the rest and I do the rest. And the nice thing about ADHD is that like even though starting is very hard, once you do start, you can generate momentum and you can get into flow and you can get into hyperfocus, especially if the task is something that's very very interesting to you. But the idea is that you need to externalize that. And until you externalize it and you figure out um like like what what the immediate first step is uh, you're going to be stuck for a very long time and you're just going to keep putting it off. And this very same process again could be done with AI, could be done with pen and paper, could be done with talking to people. Uh, that's actually the trigger that can help you um go ahead and execute on the task.
So anyway, if you find this to be very helpful, please let me know in the comments. Say hi, tell me. Um, this channel is still fairly small. Um, and yeah, tell me what your thoughts are on on what are the things you're struggling with, what are things you need help with, what are some more future videos you'd like to to do. And if you're curious about the personal productivity system, sorry, I'm like dying. If you're curious about the personal productivity system uh I use day-to-day, I'll put a link for that in description. So, go ahead and check that out. That should instantly double your productivity if you're interested that. But yeah, with that being said, I'll see you guys around in the next video. Peace out.