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by jrib 1502 days ago
This was a slow process, but:

1. Regular written self-reflection, i.e., keeping a journal and

2. Re-framing "failures" as learning experiences; forgive yourself

helped me a lot.

The written part was important to me because it forced me to revisit my previous thoughts and reevaluate them in light of what had happened since last time I wrote.

(2) also helped me do things with the mind-set that "failure" wasn't actually failure. The goal was to try and learn from it.

I didn't get around to doing this until after school, but I wish I had. In your situation, I'd try to get myself to do the assignment with a quick pass early on leaving notes for things I wasn't sure about. Take a break, then revisit and revise. Afterwards, write in your journal what worked well and what didn't. Write about what you want to try next time differently if some things come to mind.

Hope you find a solution that works for you. E-mail is in my profile if you want to talk more about what's worked for me.

1 comments

I've tried to keep a journal. I'm about to start again -- for the n-th time-- but i don't know how to use it, beyond writing my thoughts. How am i going to use the reflections i wrote nine days ago? Sometimes i re-read what i wrote, but i can connect with the words and thoughts that are written on the paper.
Personally, I had a specific time (Friday mornings) dedicated to journaling.

Before writing anything, I would read the previous entry.

Usually, I'd include a small goal I thought was achievable for the upcoming week.

That allowed me to slowly build up good habits. I'd reflect on how well my attempt over the past week went.

Beside the habit forming, I found value in just reading my thoughts from the past week. It was helpful to recognize negative thoughts that persisted week to week. And I spent time thinking about ways to improve the situation. It was also helpful to recognize desires I had that I wasn't making progress on and translating those into actionable steps.

The _key_ imho is the reviewing. That helps you set yourself up for improving instead of ignoring issues and stagnating.

You have ADHD. Your anxiety is a comorbidity. Get a specialist psychiatrist. It has to be a specialist on ADHD.
I'm curious, how did you come the conclusion?