This is…entirely too real lol

#i do. have trouble figuring out the first step.#like idk if i’m really intending to get it done or lying to myself (via @lightspren )

you’re not the only person who’s expressed trouble with the first step, so I’m gonna elaborate just a little on the concept of intent.

‘Intending to act’ can be rephrased as ‘expecting yourself to do the thing’. 

It’s the difference between your teacher giving you homework (your teacher expects you to do the homework) and you deciding to do the homework (you expect yourself to do the homework).

I don’t think you can lie to yourself about whether or not you intend to do something. even as a person who often doesn’t have a real concept of how much I can actually get done*, I can always tell when I don’t really expect myself to do a thing vs when I do expect myself to do it but I’m struggling to start.

below is a list of things that might help you tell if you really intend to do a thing. if even ONE of these is true, I believe you honestly intend to do the task you’re struggling to start.

• do you want to do it? or alternatively: do you want the benefits from doing it enough to do it?
• even if you don’t want to do it, do you expect yourself to do it?
• can you imagine yourself starting the thing? (even if you don’t have a plan for how to get there.)
• do you have even a nebulous plan for doing the thing? (my ‘plans’ often start out: ‘1. go to wherever I have to be to do the thing 2. do the thing 3. ???? 4. profit’, which isn’t much of a plan but at least there’s a sense of starting and ending.)
• are you trying to force yourself to do the thing by not allowing yourself to start any other things first (and thus continuously scrolling through twitter/tumblr, or staring at your ceiling, or whatever)?
• are you trying to make yourself do the thing by offering yourself rewards for doing the thing?

again: 

if even ONE of these is true, I believe you honestly intend to do the task you’re struggling to start.

and this isn’t an exhaustive list of ways to tell you’re planning to do it! you know yourself best, and you can develop ways to tell the difference between your good intent and your wishful thinking.

procrastination is a hell of a monster, especially if you don’t have normal executive function. be nice to yourself! you are a decent person and want to do good things.

*the real problem ADHD people seem to have (or at least, the problem I, an adhd person, often have) is intending to do too much. my to-do list for any given day usually overestimates both how much time I have & how much energy I have. as a result, I can honestly intend to clean my room, do the dishes, and do my budget in one day, but I’ll probably only end up doing 2 out 3 things b/c I’ll run out of time or energy before I get to the last one. 

this isn’t a problem of lying to oneself about your intentions: this is a problem of lacking time-awareness & self-awareness, and it demands better scheduling. this list can’t really help with that, unfortunately. :(

Yup, these are actually *really* important. And a small bit of work helps, so it’s doable even if you’re snowed under with survival work or in too much pain to concentrate for longer periods.

It’s multiply-checked by more than one person, so don’t worry about fucking it up because your concentration is fucked. Your input is valuable but not the only input.

I find Zooniverse very good, and it does Citizen Historian work too - I spent time digitising concentration camp records because a) families still don’t know what happened to some of their loved ones b) this makes the records available for historians without travelling to archives in person, which I can testify is *invaluable* for disabled historians and helps cut the need for overseas travel to do vital historical work.

It unexpectedly helped me with learning how to decipher premodern handwriting too, which proved really useful in my academic stuff. You *will* pick up valuable skills doing this. Put it on your CV.

Other places you can go to do citizen science, from the notes

(Thanks to everyone who left these in the notes! If you know more, put them in the notes, and I might add them! And ty @enbycrip for the fantastic addition that covered a bunch of details I didn't get to)

Apps/Websites

• eBird (birds
• Merlin (birds)
• citizenscience.gov (big project database, US-based)
• iNaturalist (nature)
• MapSwipe (collaboration between several Red Cross organizations and Doctors Without Borders, update vital geospatial data)
  Smithsonian archives (transcriptions, many subjects)
• Cornell Bird Lab (birds)
• FoldIt (folding proteins)
• Fathomverse (sea animals)
• Project Monarch (butterflies)

In person

• Bioblitz (nature)
  Species watch (species)
  Audobon Society (birds)

Also:

Even if you don't have time to spend, but do have some processor cycles to spare, check out the projects available at BOINC's Compute for Science: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/

Hey guys, these projects make a HUGE difference for science. For example, I run bplant.org and iNaturalist is the #1 source of images in ID guides and articles and other educational materials I develop. The plant observations are also helpful for assessing plant ranges and how these ranges are changing with climate change. And it also helps me identify local seed sources for use in restoration plantings. Use of iNaturalist, even casual use like a random person uploading pics of plants they see growing in their yard, or a random parking lot they were in, or a random vacant lot, those observations are MAJORLY helping in (1) education (2) science (3) conservation.

This stuff makes a huge difference.

Also, if you want to make the biggest impact on these sites, release any material with the more permissive licenses, like CC-BY. If you add a NC or ND clause, for instance, your photos cannot be included on Wikipedia or bplant or a number of other educational sites, because those license restrictions are incompatible with combining with copyleft material.

But yeah, go do citizen science, please!!!

I thought I'd go back and repost this because there are probably a lot of people out there who, like me, reallllyyyyyy need something to distract them right now

So, hey. You. Stop doomscrolling. Take a deep breathe. And if you want, try doing some citizen science or citizen history instead

I'm also going to especially promote MapSwipe, for those who want to do something tangible to help people now.

From their website:

Data Everywhere

In today's technology-filled world, we have access to vast amounts of information at our fingertips. This includes geospatial data, which helps us understand places and the “where?” of things - a vitally important piece of successful humanitarian programs. It is important for getting from point A to point B as well as for coordination, understanding needs, tracking impact, identifying gaps, and a multitude of other concerns. For responsible use by humanitarians, this information must be assessed, refreshed, and validated as populations, infrastructure, and the surrounding environments experience the inevitable changes that occur as time, conflicts, and disasters unfold...

MapSwipe is a free open source mobile application available on iOS and Android that empowers anyone with a smartphone to make a meaningful impact contributing to global mapping efforts. MapSwipe crowdsources the review of satellite imagery to:

Btw given the context right now I do want to say this is specifically meant for people like me who can't get out and do something in person/directly to help right now (too disabled, trapped at work, can't go outside because they're BIPOC and they might literally be kidnapped by ICE, quite literally cannot afford to get arrested, etc.)

It is not saying you should distract yourself from what's going on right now.

It's saying that if you are feeling despair, you will feel and do better if you channel that into something to help.

I especially want to highlight MapSwipe again.

Help make maps accurate so people in war zones, disaster zones, and remote locations can get medical attention, rescue, and hope - by making sure the disaster response and aid workers have good maps!!

More info about MapSwipe and the work they do on their website, and also here.

Never understood this attitude or “vagueposting”. It’s the internet. If you disagree with something, just say it. It is not that big of a deal.