Procrastination is Not Laziness

I got some help during college, but unfortunately for me, medication would lead to very high blood pressure (probably combined with stress and other factors at the time and due to a predisposition that runs in the family) so I stopped taking them after a couple of months.

I have found that I don't need them as much though. Like danenania suggests, your problem is likely one of body chemistry that few understand (kind of like depression), and one especially of brain chemistry. I've tried l-tyrosine only and haven't really noticed much change, but try it (GNC has it). What's really helped me, specially lately -- and when I look back at High School -- is exercise. Exercise, exercise, exercise. I have found for me, that exercising intensely even for 10 minutes (though more is ideal) during the morning is an excellent way for me to feel very focused and energetic the rest of the day. The key is intensity.

So here's what I suggest, especially since you like extreme sports: * wake up early -- it's not easy with ADD, I know, but sleep early the first night before it. * hit the gym, or visit to your favorite jogging place * Run your guts out!

Jog at a good pace for ~4 minutes after stretching a bit and walking one minute. The 5th minute, sprint/run as fast as you can without stopping. Then walk for 1-1.5 mins, and do at least one other set of this, but ideally 3. (As always, build up to it an adapt to yourself--as long as you really push yourself for one minute). What also works for me is also listening to music that gives you a "braingasm" during your sprints -- I love Radiohead's "Weird fishes", for example, because it's a great song and is conveniently 5 minutes long. Best of all it has the lines "I hit the bottom and escape" during the last minute--during my sprints. This seems to release dopamines (I feel a great rush) AND pushing yourself beyond the point when you want to quit will also build will power. I try to do this at least 3x a week and unless I stay up (sleeping well is also key!), I always look forward to this because of how great I feel the rest of the day. Working out intensely has also been great for my body weight, and for reducing stress -- which means less stress eating and less impulsiveness (it's a feedback loop). Just walking isn't that great for stress (which you need to take care of first). You really, really have to push your body beyond its limits.

Once you take care of your stress, I'll echo others: find what you're passionate about. If your passionate about engineering, but hate some classes like I did, get help on those classes (do study groups, office hours, etc). And take what you learn in the courses you love and build something great with it.

Most sources (books, gurus, seminars) are all for different flavors of doingness: Do this, do that. You haven't done this - so you'll need to do it more. Etc...

Almost no one addresses real solution - dissolving inner fears.

I personally think that, if you're lacking in motivation to do something but you realize it's something that needs to be done, you're lacking in self-discipline. Instead of waiting or hoping for motivation, you need to be disciplined and /do it/. Start with sleeping discipline: go to bed at 11 sharp, get up at 7 sharp, and stick with it. Excercise disipline: force yourself to go for a run every night, whether you feel up to it or not. That kinda thing.

With procrastination, the general advice is to force yourself to sit down and do something that needs to be done for five minutes. Surely you can do five minutes, right? Then reward with an instant-gratification thing. The general advice is to do 30 minutes, but I'd go down to just one minute or something if it's really bad.

Ask for help / monitoring, too. My brother had serious procrastination / concentration issues when he had to finish one of his last assignments. I was asked to help him out; I just asked him where he was, what needed to be doing, and er. Well, I just sat and read something while he worked.

So, self-discipline, and a friend to help you keep focused on the task at hand. Ask him to shock you if you reach out for distraction or something.

I was pretty lucky to be able to get a good job thanks to my computer skills, one that was more immediate; very little long-term objectives (tech support), and managed to get enough impressive stuff to put on my resumé to more than catch up to those who did graduate college.

Unfortunately, as I move up in the field (towards sysadmin), more long term objectives tend to crop up more and more in my professional life, whether I want it or not, and I am not any better at dealing with them than I was before.

Unless the person you're responding to is content not to moving up professionally, I fear that he will have to tackle his lack of mental discipline one way or another...