A short How to ADHD explainer, featuring Brendan Mahan, on why simple tasks can feel impossible for people with ADHD. It introduces the 'wall of awful', a pile of past failures, shame and anxiety that builds up in front of a task and blocks starting it.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN commenters use it as the go-to name and explanation for task paralysis and procrastination, and say it helped them see why they avoid tasks.
“It totally changed how I approached my procrastination by simply asking myself "why" I was avoiding a task.”HN comment, 2020
“It totally changed how I approached my procrastination by simply asking myself "why" I was avoiding a task.”
Wall of awful: emotions blocking task starts.
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Looks like I'm late the party but I submitted a YouTube video talking about this as "The Wall of Awful" emotions and experiences you need to get through in order to start a task that has negative emotions associated with it. It totally changed how I approached my procrastination by simply asking myself "why" I was avoiding a task. this video
Strongly recommendssosukeJun 2020
“Again totally recommend this video on the wall of awful for ADHD procrastination”
Explains the wall of awful behind ADHD procrastination.
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I haven't been able to find a "final" solution. Most recently I've been writing things down with pen and paper to keep me on task. To make the ethereal physical and break it down into steps and checklists. Again totally recommend this video on the wall of awful for ADHD procrastination this video
Strongly recommendsnullsenseJan 2021
“My 2 favorite videos on How To ADHD are: Wall of Awful”
One of the commenter's two favorite How to ADHD videos.
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My 2 favorite videos on How To ADHD are: Wall of Awful this video The ADHD Tax link Driven To Distraction is available on Audible and I think you get one free book if you create a new account. That's how I read it anyway. This video is hands down the best explainer video Ive found out of all that I have watched link Also this video highlights some really interesting research which shows why we get distracted. Basically the Default Mode Network and Task Positive Network are supposed to anti- correlate and in ADHD brains they don't perfectly do that. link
RecommendshnickFeb 2021
“Maybe the concept of the "wall of awful" will help you understand it more.”
Helps understand the wall of awful concept.
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Maybe the concept of the "wall of awful" will help you understand it more. I struggle with it too though. this video
RecommendsalexanderjchunApr 2021
“I've watched this video several times”
Helped explain part of why starting tasks is hard.
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Totally. It's a negative feedback loop. I need an efficient circuit breaker and the only thing I can really think of is Nike's "just do it." Why is it so hard? Feels like I'm hitting a wall. I've watched this video several times this video and it helped me understand what part of the problem was, but it's still been hard getting things going. It might be an inspiration problem. I'm not proud of it, but during this lull I bought Animal Crossing on a whim and logged 200 hours in a month. I was able to wake up early, be super productive in that game with no caffeine and little food. I don't understand.
RecommendszubspaceNov 2021
“Climb the wall.”
Climbing the wall of awful stuck as a daily mental model.
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Climb the wall. Written white on black on my desktop background. It's kind of funny, how sometimes random stuff you see on the web sticks to your head. I think it was one of those procrastination links on Hacker News which somehow brought me to this weird video [1] about how to "Climb the wall of awful". I was a hobby climber before and it somehow made sense to me at that time. Another thing I like to say to myself is "Just do it" at moments when I read Hacker News, Reddit, Twitter and come back to Hacker News for another round. [2] [1] this video [2] link
RecommendscoldteaJan 2022
“Here's the same concept, refrased as "Wall of Awful", in a neat video for ADHD people”
Same concept as wall of awful, neatly explained.
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Here's the same concept, refrased as "Wall of Awful", in a neat video for ADHD people: this video
Cites itmunk-aJan 2020
Explains the wall of awful analogy for ADHD task paralysis.
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I mean, that's sort of normal with neurological disorders though - a few have really clear symptoms that are blindly obvious to anyone from the outside. We, as humans, both can't see into other minds and can't let others see into our minds. If you analogy for ADHD is building a wall of awful[1] then normal people do place bricks in front of their actions, it just doesn't spiral in the same way as people with ADHD tend to do regularly - most of the bipolar people never act "inhuman" they just spend a lot of time at extreme emotional levels that most of us, thankfully, only visit occasionally... OCD (specifically, as a disorder) isn't liking things neat, it is harming yourself trying to keep things in a certain state - being late to a meeting because when you locked the car the click of the keys didn't sound like they should. And everything is a spectrum, everything - nobody is immune to indecision fog, getting sidetracked, feeling helpless in front of a decision that feels bigger than it rationally is, etc... but those moments usually happen rarely, for some people it is a constant fight that actively lowers their quality of life. 1. this video
Cites itnullsenseSep 2020
“it's called the "Wall of Awful”
Names the 'Wall of Awful' for severe task avoidance.
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>Most people experience this from time to time. If you're unlucky enough to be at the tail end of the distribution where basic tasks make you feel this way every day it's no longer called an 'Ugh Field' instead it's called the "Wall of Awful" this video One of the absolute best techniques I've found for breaking it is a trick I learned from DBT called "Improve the moment" where you simply think about what pleasant sensory experience could you introduce right now to make you feel better and then you do that quickly. I find if I put on a song or smell the lemon scented dishwashing liquid or run my hand under warm water it helps me to get moving on a task. It's not fool proof but it's a good tool to have in the toolbox.
