Executive Dysfunction or Just a System That’s Been Gaslighting Us Since 2nd Grade?

Some days I’m a productivity god. I sprint through a to-do list like it personally insulted my mother.
Other days I spend 45 minutes staring at a sock on the floor and another 2 hours recovering from that confrontation.

People call that procrastination. Or laziness. Or lack of motivation. Or “You just need to focus!”
Apparently that’s executive dysfunction, baby. And also possibly a system-level scam.

Let me explain.

The Pendulum Swing of Neurospicy Life

If you’ve ever found yourself working way too hard or doing absolutely nothing (with very little in between), congrats you might just be running on a nervous system that’s been fried by decades of mixed signals.

We were taught:

• Hustle = worth

• Rest = laziness

• Productivity = morality

• Burnout? = character flaw

So what do we do?
We overcompensate. Until we collapse. And then we hate ourselves for collapsing.

It’s not just dysfunction. It’s a perfectly rational response to a world that rewards overwork and punishes softness.

Why Do We Do This?

Because the systems that we created to be functional as we grew up were just functional enough to keep going, and just dysfunctional enough to break you in slow motion.

School trained you to sit still, follow directions, suppress emotion, and “try harder.”
Work reinforced it.
And now your brain thinks if it’s not constantly proving its usefulness, it’s in danger of being discarded.

So yeah. You can’t relax.
Even when you have time off.
Because your nervous system still thinks it has something to prove.

Executive Function Called in Sick (Again)

Let’s talk about that missing project manager in your brain. You know the one who’s supposed to prioritize, organize, motivate, initiate.

Yeah. They ghosted you.

So now everything feels like too much. Not because you’re incapable, but because your brain is doing twelve things at once before you’ve even started the task.

It’s not that you’re avoiding work. It’s that:

• You don’t know where to start

• You’re afraid you’ll mess it up

• You already feel behind

• And your body is screaming “danger” at the thought of opening your inbox

So you binge YouTube instead. Or write a to-do list so detailed it needs a glossary. Or do literally anything except the thing you were “supposed” to do.

This Isn’t a You Problem

Let me be clear: you are not lazy. You are not broken. You are not a walking failure of adulting.

You are a person trying to survive a system that runs on urgency, shame, and unrealistic expectations—and wondering why your body keeps hitting the brakes.

Maybe you’re not overworking because you’re ambitious. Maybe you’re just afraid of being seen as lazy.

Maybe you’re not avoiding the task because you don’t care. Maybe it’s because you care too much and your brain short-circuits under pressure.

Let’s Build Something Better

Here’s your radical act of rebellion/acceptance:
Don’t try harder. Try different.
Instead of defaulting to overwork or collapse, ask:

• What would a sustainable rhythm look like for me?

• What can I subtract before I try to “fix” anything?

• Who benefits when I burn out trying to meet expectations that were never designed with me in mind?

You don’t need to hit rock bottom to deserve a damn nap.
Rest isn’t a reward for suffering it’s a requirement for survival.

And if you ever need help coming up with ideas? Let me know.
I’m so much better at helping other people than fixing my own mess. LOL.

We got this.