ADHD Coach Blog

Works for Me

Archives: July 2009

Overcoming ADHD Procrastination One Step at a Time

It is important for those of us with ADHD to deal with overwhelming tasks one step at a time.

“Take it one step at a time” is sound advice for anyone when things get overwhelming. It’s especially helpful for those of us with ADHD. 

If the whole project is too much to deal with, just identify the first step and focus on that.?? I take this advice literally as a transitioning strategy. When I’m lying on the couch watching TV or reading a book, and it’s time to go to bed, it’s almost impossible to get up. Turning off the TV and making the arduous climb up all 14 stairs seems like way more than I can handle. So I procrastinate.  ??

I know how important it is to get a good night’s sleep and I really want to be able to focus tomorrow. I won’t be able to do that without enough sleep. So I do what any responsible person would do: focus on my left foot.  

All I have to do is put that one foot flat on the ground, next to the couch. It takes every ounce of energy, but I can do that much.  Then I wait about 30 seconds to get used to this somewhat uncomfortable position. Then I focus on my right foot. I put it flat on the ground, next to my left foot. Do you realize how hard it is to lay on the couch with both of your feet flat on the floor? It’s very hard. It’s much easier to just sit up. 

Once you’re sitting, with just a little more effort, you can be standing. Does this sound crazy? Slightly ridiculous? Maybe. But it works for me every time. ??Late night TV watching not your demon?  How about the internet? I have one for that too: Just click the “X”.?? Like the TV, it takes Herculean effort to resist the internet’s late-night charm. If I think about stopping my research and making that arduous climb up all 14 stairs, it’s just too much. So I focus on the little “X” in the upper right corner of my browser window. I just have to click it, and like magic, the internet is gone. And I can get some sleep.??

Transitioning is hard for people with ADHD, especially when we’re hyperfocused and tired. This strategy just might make it a little easier.

Finding Productivity, Losing the Muse

I have realized that the more I turn my creativity away in the name of ADHD-sensitive scheduling, the less it will come to see me.

Sorry it's been a while since I've written in my ADHD Coach blog. I'm using a new productivity tool to help me stay focused and get more work done. It's working phenomenally well, except for one thing: I can't schedule my creativity for Tuesday at 2:00. Not that something else is happening on Tuesday at 2:00. It's just that creativity won't adhere to a schedule. It comes and goes whenever it darn well pleases.

Week after week, Tuesday at 2:00 would roll around and it would be time to update my blog. I'd feel the pressure to produce. But nothing came to me. Surprise surprise. It got steadily worse as the clock ticked closer to my 3:00 deadline. And week after week, I came up with nothing.

It's one thing to be disciplined. It's quite another to be so regimented that you don't allow the seeds of random thought to germinate. I know we're only talking about a blog. But it takes creativity, among other things, to connect words into a cohesive, entertaining, informative piece. I never thought it was possible, but it seems that I have actually become too structured for my own good!

It used to be that an idea would knock on my door and keep pounding until I let it in. Excited to hear what it had to say, I would stop whatever I was doing and start writing. The idea would speak its mind and then leave as abruptly as it had arrived. Sometimes it took ten minutes, and sometimes it took three hours to get it all out. Didn't matter. I always let it speak on its own terms. With my new schedule, I'd jot the idea down and come back to it at - you guessed it - Tuesday at 2:00. But by then the magic was gone. I have a whole pile of incoherent, abandoned drafts. I have realized that the more I turn my creativity away, the less it will come to see me. It's no different than a person. Nobody likes rejection. I'm hoping that by showing it some respect, by making time for it, it will visit me more often. This is not to say that I am abandoning my new productivity system. No way! It works too well. I'll tell you about it another time. But, I do want to find a way for my productivity and my creativity to live in harmony.

I think what I need to do is write a new rule into my productivity system: When a good idea comes, I'm allowed to make room for it if at all possible. I'm certainly not going to skip a client session because of an unexpected visit from my muse. But fortunately, I do have some flexibility in my schedule. If I build time for writing into my week (as opposed to a specific hour), I can rearrange things and still get everything done. Fingers crossed!