Such strange relief to know I’m not the only one. I just updated one page of my website and it took me a year or two to get there. By the time I update the rest of it I’ll have to start again. My adhd created the site in one day and my adhd delays the updates for years.
THIS POST WAS SO TIMELY. I JUST messaged a friend about quitting social media to focus on my own website — before I opened the email.
New content meant so much friction lately because the website redesign was in limbo for so long, social media wasn’t satisfying (and often actively enraging...), and every time I went to write a new blog post, I'd have to look at the old site again.
SOOOOON, HOPEFULLY SOOOOONNN, I can settle into my new internet home
So full of shame, I do nothing! In this case, it’s actually reestablishing my business website (instead of updating it, I just took it down altogether and now sit on the domain name) and also my father’s website which he built for one of his favorite movies that is full of tech not used anymore (videos encoded with flash, anyone?) and it’s so old (almost 30 years) and so broken and so BELOVED by fans, even to this day, that I keep it going and swear that someday I will get around to rebuilding the whole thing with AI. So much shame, and acceptance of defeat. Thanks for making us feel less alone with it! ;)
My hand is raised. I keep moving the items to be updated on multiple websites from one to-do list to the next one and getting discouraged since I can't get myself to actual make the updates. I resonate with "you’d think it would be easy, and yet here we are."
“Novelty is fuel, while maintenance is the opposite of novelty.”
I have three very active websites. But of course, that wasn’t enough. I needed a forth, a fifth. And a sixth. And a seventh. Just because I had another brilliant idea.
Then add three Facebook pages, one YouTube channel, three Pinterest accounts… actually four. And a Flipboard. (They were five Pinterest accounts at some point, but I forced myself to focus on one.)
Honestly, I should be a billionaire by now if everything had worked exactly the way I imagined when I started.
Oh well. As you said, novelty is fuel. And I clearly run on it.
I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD, but let’s just say I recognize the pattern.
This could be describing me! I felt my heart tightening and my whole body seize up reading your post… I also have an old website that I didn’t maintain because the Wordpress theme was removed and I didn’t update it and then as a consequence I didn’t renew my domain and lost it and I then lost (without realizing for 6 months) the gmail account linked to the domain with all my contacts…I only realized recently as I wanted to reach out to my contacts…
My websites were down because I hadn’t been able to make enough money last year (among other things) and my original niche audience is engineers, urban planners, and public policy analysts, people who are very judgmental and precise, and who won’t spend with you unless it’s just right.
Plus, the sheer amount of new softwares and of course their processing abilities. This wave of AI is just so powerful it’s made it even more difficult sometimes to let things sit.
But, what I am glad for is knowing that it’s the AuHD. And even though we are still discovering all the ways our brains ping too, at the end of the day, if we woke up, that’s enough to show up.
Funny story… Today I told the world I was taking stuff down, just because of this. Novelty is a driver, maintenance is not, plus my daughter’s schizophrenia. It’s a pot boiling over into thin air.
Wow, singing to the choir Chris. Not updated my author website for about three years and the longer it goes on the more shame and guilt I feel about it. It's the old 'why is everyone else so good at this and I'm a failure, why can't I do this stuff' feeling. Thank you for letting me know I'm not alone in this!
So glad I'm not the only one! I don't even have the excuse of several websites, just 1 is hard enough! I either spend no time at all there, or I get lost in endless detail. And then I feel unhappy because I'm constantly berating myself for not being better at this. I'll use your post to be kinder to me when updating :)
I have wanted to change the look of my website for many years, but I don't really know how to do it myself, and it seems like an expensive thing to pay someone to do. If anyone has a suggestion for a simple fix just to bring this into the 20th century, I would love to hear it. http://Albertideation.com
Such strange relief to know I’m not the only one. I just updated one page of my website and it took me a year or two to get there. By the time I update the rest of it I’ll have to start again. My adhd created the site in one day and my adhd delays the updates for years.
I understand so well. 🙈
THIS POST WAS SO TIMELY. I JUST messaged a friend about quitting social media to focus on my own website — before I opened the email.
New content meant so much friction lately because the website redesign was in limbo for so long, social media wasn’t satisfying (and often actively enraging...), and every time I went to write a new blog post, I'd have to look at the old site again.
SOOOOON, HOPEFULLY SOOOOONNN, I can settle into my new internet home
It's such a love/hate thing ... new content! Friction! New features! But then something's broken! Etc. etc.
So full of shame, I do nothing! In this case, it’s actually reestablishing my business website (instead of updating it, I just took it down altogether and now sit on the domain name) and also my father’s website which he built for one of his favorite movies that is full of tech not used anymore (videos encoded with flash, anyone?) and it’s so old (almost 30 years) and so broken and so BELOVED by fans, even to this day, that I keep it going and swear that someday I will get around to rebuilding the whole thing with AI. So much shame, and acceptance of defeat. Thanks for making us feel less alone with it! ;)
My hand is raised. I keep moving the items to be updated on multiple websites from one to-do list to the next one and getting discouraged since I can't get myself to actual make the updates. I resonate with "you’d think it would be easy, and yet here we are."
You were basically describing me 😆
“Novelty is fuel, while maintenance is the opposite of novelty.”
I have three very active websites. But of course, that wasn’t enough. I needed a forth, a fifth. And a sixth. And a seventh. Just because I had another brilliant idea.
Then add three Facebook pages, one YouTube channel, three Pinterest accounts… actually four. And a Flipboard. (They were five Pinterest accounts at some point, but I forced myself to focus on one.)
Honestly, I should be a billionaire by now if everything had worked exactly the way I imagined when I started.
Oh well. As you said, novelty is fuel. And I clearly run on it.
I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD, but let’s just say I recognize the pattern.
I love your newsletter, by the way ;)
Totally. In my case it's my Etsy site. It's like an albatross, but I can't get myself to do anything about it because it feels like so much.
In total agreement… and in the same position. We are website shamed 🙄
This could be describing me! I felt my heart tightening and my whole body seize up reading your post… I also have an old website that I didn’t maintain because the Wordpress theme was removed and I didn’t update it and then as a consequence I didn’t renew my domain and lost it and I then lost (without realizing for 6 months) the gmail account linked to the domain with all my contacts…I only realized recently as I wanted to reach out to my contacts…
Me too! You’ve nailed it.
With mine, it’s because I can’t even get in to it anymore.
Oh I have some like that too. Very frustrating ... and usually a problem of my own making, at least to some degree.
Things that are and were and will. Thanks for articulating so well a constantly alive and suppressed struggle.
My websites were down because I hadn’t been able to make enough money last year (among other things) and my original niche audience is engineers, urban planners, and public policy analysts, people who are very judgmental and precise, and who won’t spend with you unless it’s just right.
Plus, the sheer amount of new softwares and of course their processing abilities. This wave of AI is just so powerful it’s made it even more difficult sometimes to let things sit.
But, what I am glad for is knowing that it’s the AuHD. And even though we are still discovering all the ways our brains ping too, at the end of the day, if we woke up, that’s enough to show up.
Funny story… Today I told the world I was taking stuff down, just because of this. Novelty is a driver, maintenance is not, plus my daughter’s schizophrenia. It’s a pot boiling over into thin air.
Wow, singing to the choir Chris. Not updated my author website for about three years and the longer it goes on the more shame and guilt I feel about it. It's the old 'why is everyone else so good at this and I'm a failure, why can't I do this stuff' feeling. Thank you for letting me know I'm not alone in this!
So glad I'm not the only one! I don't even have the excuse of several websites, just 1 is hard enough! I either spend no time at all there, or I get lost in endless detail. And then I feel unhappy because I'm constantly berating myself for not being better at this. I'll use your post to be kinder to me when updating :)
I have wanted to change the look of my website for many years, but I don't really know how to do it myself, and it seems like an expensive thing to pay someone to do. If anyone has a suggestion for a simple fix just to bring this into the 20th century, I would love to hear it. http://Albertideation.com
The funny thing is, I'm pretty adept at WordPress