Increasing order in a scattered mind: Part 1- Constructing a supportive foundation
Has your ADHD left you at a loss for even knowing which end is up according to your current responsibilities, not to mention, your future ones? Is actually knowing what’s in your immediate and near future, much less preparing for such things actually possible for us ADHDer’s? Explore today’s tips and find out for yourself!
6 tips for constructing a supportive background
Accept yourself: strengths and flaws, just as you are. Expect the flaws of missed and sideswiping deadlines to keep coming, but commit to address them with compassion, validation, curiosity, and nurturance when they do appear.
Exteriorize your future: If you were going to physically represent or symbolize your future in a way that made best sense to you, what would it be? Planners come in all shapes and sizes from handheld to desk sized, black and white to every color in the rainbow for different tasks, with erasable and moveable parts and every other kind of diversity you can think of. You can even design your own assigning different colors, textures, or even smells for each task, day, or section of your day, digital or physical. Feel free to research ideas online about planners for ADHD minds. The sky is the limit! Whatever you choose, let it be something that’s likely to keep your attention and interest and to symbolize your coming days and weeks in the most real way for you.
Prioritize your planning time: Think of times in your day that you are most primed for thinking about your whole day or week, the responsibilities that are going to happen within that time period, and the steps that need to happen in order for the responsibility to be met. This may be a few minutes at the beginning and end of each day and or in the form of a whole hour each week allotted only for mapping out the next week ahead. Once you decide what that looks like for you, map those slots out and consider it your appointment with yourself to set your own self up for success. You wouldn’t cancel an appointment with a friend, so why would you cancel an appointment with yourself?
Name and commit to your priorities During your planning time, ask what your top three priorities in life are, write those priorities as a subtitle within each block you have designated for planning so you automatically check in with yourself about those priorities over and above all else during your planning time.
Map your priorities: During your planning time, for each priority, list the responsibilities involved in that priority within the next day or week and the steps that need to happen in order for the responsibility to be met. Schedule each step in your planner according to when it would best fit your energy level and availability. Feel free to get creative with how you represent each priority. For example: Assign each priority a specific color, texture, smell, or sound.
Dump List: As responsibilities rear their ugly heads throughout your day, designate a specific place to record the tasks knowing there is a specific time (planning time) during your day/week you can pick them back up and make the necessary preparations for each. This way you’re free to think of other things at the moment but you’ve planted a reminder that will bring you back to it at a more appropriate time.
To wrap up, organization may be a traditionally dirty word for ADHD minds, but, hopefully, today’s tips have revived some hope that the future can literally be as colorful, rich, and hopeful as you want it to be and that all it might take is allowing yourself the needed time and space for envisioning it. Stay tuned for next time on setting your environment up for success.