ADHD, Motivation, and Procrastination: Why Action Comes First

(Why I Stopped Waiting for Motivation to Magically Appear)

Man, for the longest time, I seriously believed motivation was some kind of fairy godmother, like, one day, I’d just wake up pumped outta my mind, and boom, productivity would happen. Yeah… guess how often that actually worked out? Pretty much never. Like, zilch.

Picture this: me, sitting at my crappy desk, staring at those endless coaching modules. Deadlines in my face. Me? Thinking, “Eh, I’ll get to it… tomorrow.” Or, oh god, Anchored Coaching, I had this to-do list longer than my will to live. Build a website! Design client worksheets! Tweak the content! And what did I do? Waited for that legendary “burst” of motivation, which, let’s be real, might as well be Bigfoot. Spoiler alert: never came. Shocking, I know.

Turns out, having ADHD basically means the “wait-until-you-feel-like-it” life hack is a total scam. Like, waiting only made everything feel… monstrous. Tasks ballooned in my brain until they felt impossible. Fun times.

The real game-changer? Realizing motivation’s a follower, not a leader. You don’t wait for motivation, nah, you start doing stuff, and then, weirdly, motivation catches up. Who knew?

So now, whenever I’m glued to the couch and considering selling all my belongings just to avoid work, I just… do the tiniest thing. Open the damn laptop. Write half a sentence. Listen to five minutes of some mind-numbing lecture. Fire off one sad little email. And, almost every time, that one almost-pathetic step is enough to break the spell. Next thing you know, I’m actually moving.

Perfection? Lol. Not even close. I’m still just me, but with a little momentum. And honestly? That’s all it takes. The starting bit feels so random, so tiny, it’s almost laughable, like, is this really going to help? But it totally does.

So if you’re waiting for motivation like it’s a bus that’s running late? Stop. You don’t have to. Just take one, super small, “seriously, is this it?” step. Because, plot twist: you don’t have to feel ready to do the thing. You just gotta do the thing, and let the rest catch up. Simple, but kinda magic.

If procrastination keeps holding you back, Anchored Coaching can help you find momentum. Coaching for ADHD, Autism, blended families, and mental health that works with how your brain really ticks.