Title: This question might come across as dumb, especially for a 30 year old, but I come from a culture where this aspect of work was never emphasized and at this point, I don&#x27;t know who to ask.<p>Basically, since as long as I can remember, I&#x27;ve had issues motivating myself to work and focusing on a single task.<p>I&#x27;ve used everything from rewards (&quot;If I work for X hours, I&#x27;ll play a video game&quot;) and punishment (&quot;If I don&#x27;t work for X hours, I&#x27;m a complete failure&quot;) to get myself to work.<p>I have to come up with elaborate new schemes to get myself to focus. I&#x27;ve tried awarding myself &quot;points&quot; for doing a task, turning my work into a virtual RPG. I&#x27;ve tried keeping elaborate spreadsheets of my work habits. I&#x27;ve tried the Seinfeld method of mapping out my &quot;win&quot; and &quot;fail&quot; days.<p>Essentially, I come up with a new tactic to motivate myself every couple of months. If I don&#x27;t do so, I find myself struggling to meet my goals and distracted.<p>Part of the reason for this is perhaps the nature of my work. I&#x27;m a freelancer and have been one since I graduated from college. I make a decent enough earning because I&#x27;ve acquired a niche set of in-demand skills. But I struggle to meet deadlines and never have enough dedication to meet any of my long-term tasks (such as building an app or starting a business).<p>For years, I thought this was &quot;normal&quot;. But I&#x27;m now starting to think that maybe I just don&#x27;t have a regular case of procrastination.<p>Does anyone else feel this way? Is work such a complicated endeavor for you as well? Am I suffering from some form of undiagnosed ADHD?
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