Add - Simple Time Management
Some folks with ADD can find themselves in dilemma after dilemma, because they haven’t found a way to organize their “must-dos.” For example, if you don’t pay the light bill, you’ll have no electricity. If you don’t take your clothes to the cleaner, you’ll either have nothing to wear or you’ll smell bad and have no friends. And if you don’t have your hair cut, you could become the next lead singer of Van Halen, but will you get that important job you have your eye on? Probably not. So, how can you make sure you do these things in an ADD friendly manner?
The first thing you should acquire is some kind of planning software. Microsoft Outlook works well for ADD forgetting, for example, because you can set an alarm for every appointment during your day, and it will pop up on your computer to tell you to do what needs to be done. There are other brands of electronic organizer out there, such as Time & Chaos, which I use. But some people will prefer to write things down, and then, desk pad calendars are a great, too, if you’re working at a desk all day. You’ll have a hard time missing things that are right in front of you. However, you may still need to set alarms for really important things that need doing. People with ADD sometimes miss things sitting right under their nose.
But systems will only work if you’re at a desk all day. If not, get a big white board calendar that you can write on and erase. Setting up recurring tasks like washing the floors or your kids’ soccer practice is easy. Make it a ritual that you go wherever the white board is first thing every morning and see what you need to accomplish that day. In the evening, after work or whatever, go back to the white board and be sure that you’ve done the things listed. If not, and there’s time to do them, get them done! If not, move them over into the next day. Just don’t make a habit of doing this or you’ll end up on the last day of the month with a truckload of tasks to do.
ADD friendly systems only work well, if you don’t overtax yourself. You know your ADD won’t do well with that. What happens when you plan too many? You’ll never, ever do them. And when you fail, you’ll feel bad about yourself and the whole system will break down. You want it to work, not to become an added source of guilt and bad feeling.
Try to ease into the system by writing in only one or two main tasks each day, if that’s possible. That way, your ADD boredom alarm won’t go off and you’ll have a better chance of making the system work. Keep the system as simple as you can, and then, add to it as time progresses. This can be very powerful, if you handle it properly. Teach yourself to overcome the obstacles ADD puts in front of you. You can do it!
Tellman Knudson is CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc. and a certified hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner who has helped many clients achieve ADD Success. Visit his comprehensive library of ADD information and take the ADD test, and sign up for Tellman’s Free Weekly ADD Success tips when you visit Instant ADD Success at http://instantaddsuccess.com/
Tags: ADD, ADHD, adult ADD, adult ADHD