You know those days when it feels like ADHD wins? You have so many things that you want to do and you can’t even do one thing? At the end of the day you are asking yourself what you even did?! Your ever-growing to do list is sitting beside you and it feels like it is getting longer by the second?
This is what my past week has been like. My school is in-between sessions and I found myself with a lack of structure and I was flopping all over the place. To be fair with myself, I did accomplish quite a few things but not to the extent that I would have liked.
I have been super creative the past week and my ideas are flowing. I love when this happens! The problem is that I am also left with A LOT of work that I wish I had done in my “free time”.
What’s the solution here?! PLAN!
The funny part is that I love planning and I love having structure. So why is it so hard for me?! Thanks to my lack of executive functions I have some issues with actually planning and structuring! My thoughts just run rampant and I have trouble harnessing and containing them into productivity.
So today is the today that I take the bull by the horns! I’m pulling out my planner and I’m making a plan! What does that involve? Here ya go:
- Make a list of all the things! Write down anything that you feel like you want to do that is taking up space in your mind. (The part here that is overwhelming me is there is SO MUCH reading that I want to do and it is completely bombarding me! I have to make a list of all the readings and that way I can go through them one by one!)
- Look at your day and write down all of your appointments and time slots that are non-negotiable. Example: family dinner or meeting with client.
- Take a look at your list and choose one thing. I like to set my TimeTimer for 1 hour and tell myself that the “one thing” is all that I will be doing in that one hour.
- Once step 3 is completed, choose a new thing and use the same method!
How do you get yourself to stop flopping like a fish out of water?! I would love to hear your strategies 🙂
I recently started a system where I have to do certain things before I can get on social media. I need a reward to motivate me. And because of the people I follow (like you) social media can be really inspiring and educational, but… once I open those apps my brain cannot close the mental tab and I can’t stop compulsively checking it. So I thought having it be something I earned after I got some things done would be a good idea. Anyway, I have a few categories (like cleaning, errands, education, spiritual, exercise, etc.) And I have to choose one thing from each category to do every weekday before I can get on social media. It can be a big task or small, depending on how I’m feeling that day. Because sometimes I will feel super energetic and productive and other times I won’t (and that’s normal and okay). And if I don’t get everything done, that’s okay. It just means I need to rest or let myself be free for a bit. But social media isn’t going to help with that recharge so it keeps me from getting on mindlessly and sabotaging my own rest. Not sure if that makes sense, but the system makes sure I’m still getting things done but also am resting/recharging when needed. I just started a few weeks ago and tweaking things here and there but it’s REALLY working for me.