Why Is It So Hard to Do Something That Should Be Easy? (Wall of Awful pt. 1)
Why Is It So Hard to Do Something That Should Be Easy? (Wall of Awful pt. 1) on HackerTube: recommended by 6 Hacker News commenters across 6 separate months, 2020–2022.
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.
What HN commenters said
9 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
nullsenseJan 2021Strongly recommends
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]
in “How hard should I push myself?” · View on HN
sosukeJun 2020Strongly recommends
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
in “Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert” · View on HN
sosukeJun 2020Strongly recommends
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
in “Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert” · View on HN
coldteaJan 2022Recommends
Here's the same concept, refrased as "Wall of Awful", in a neat video for ADHD people: ▶ this video
in “Procrastinatory Doom Loops” · View on HN
zubspaceNov 2021Recommends
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]
in “Ask HN: What mental models do you use everyday?” · View on HN
alexanderjchunApr 2021Recommends
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.
in “Ask HN: Tips for handling chronic stess?” · View on HN
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hnickFeb 2021Recommends
Maybe the concept of the "wall of awful" will help you understand it more. I struggle with it too though. ▶ this video
in “Me and ADHD” · View on HN
nullsenseSep 2020Cites it
>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.
in “'Ugh fields', or why you can’t even bear to think about that task” · View on HN
munk-aJan 2020Cites it
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
in “ADHD, a Lifelong Struggle (2018)” · View on HN