I know that the title sounds a bit daunting but don’t worry, I’m not going to get you to run outside military drills. It’s just to illustrate the strict manner in which I manage my ADHD symptoms.
I have not been connected to the ADHD community for years for the very ADHD reason of forgetting my password on the ADD Forums and not being able to get back in. Anyway, it’s been years and I don’t really feel like I need to go to those boards everyday for help with managing my symptoms and having a group I relate to. After all, I still have my Wrong Planet password somewhere.
Recently I’ve noticed the occasional post by someone with ADHD pop up on Twitter and people have been finding out what executive dysfunction is for the first time. I think it’s great that the ADHD community has connected this way on Twitter especially as it’s not easy to get back to the old style message boards once we inevitably forget our passwords.
It’s been 10 years since I was diagnosed and in those years I’ve developed a number of coping strategies to manage my ADHD. So, here I am finally sharing those strategies with you.
I’m separating each subject into ‘tips’ to help me control the amount of text I write. It’s also very clean and organised and my OCD smiles upon it.
Tip 1: Working On Increasing Patience and Rewarding Progress
From the beginning of my diagnosis I have been working on strategies to better manage my ADHD and I have been sharing that information with other people with ADHD.There was this one person I was trying to help motivate to do a task by telling him he could reward himself with a cake or some other snack, but he ate the snack before doing the task. I thought hmm, this is going to be harder than I thought.
The snack is meant to be the reward so what’s important here is to not touch it until you have accomplished something. For this test we put snack in front of us (I chose chocolate biscuits) and time how long it takes for us to eat it. If you’re the type who can’t resist a tasty snack in front of you then try to resist it for one minute, then five, 10 and so on. I was able to resist this snack for one and a half hours and it would have been longer if I was able to motivate myself to make a healthier snack. I can buy a box of chocolates and make it last for months. This was not always the case. I had to train myself to resist temptation as it were. It might be a good time to say that many of the phrases I say come from a Christian upbringing. There’s nothing religious in them, it just comes from being taught these words in childhood. Just thought I’d give you a warning.
So yes, resist temptation. Try it out and see how you go. You can increase your patience level like one increases in muscle strength by exercising that muscle. It can go further than resisting a snack. If you allow yourself to be impatient, just sort of feel your impatience but with no thoughts of urgency attached to it you can also work on becoming a much more patient person. But there are other things we can do but I’ll talk about them in other sections.
Let’s talk for a short time on rewarding accomplishments. People with ADHD struggle to achieve long term goals because we have a need for a quick reward. It’s one of the reasons I love unlocking achievements when I play video games. So, rewarding yourself with a favourite snack can help motivate you to do a task you otherwise had no motivation to do, as long as you don’t eat it first. As for achieving long term goals you can break it up into steps and reward yourself after completing each step. It doesn’t even have to be with food either but with social media or Netflix. Yes, I am the type to avoid using these just so I can stay focused on a task. To help me write screen plays for example I disconnect from the internet.
Tip 2: Organise Your Day With A To-Do List
Developing structure and routine seems like pulling teeth to anyone with ADHD, except weirdos like myself who thrive off of it. Without routine my day would be completely unstructured and I wouldn’t be able to do much more than yell at people on Twitter. Psychologists also say that people with ADHD need structure to stay organised. A simple to-do list app on your mobile with audible reminders is enough, though when I tried this I always failed to get those tasks done. I went back to writing everything down on paper, and when I say everything I mean everything. It wasn’t enough to write down important tasks in order of when to do them and what time, as you see in the next image I had to write down when to get out of bed and what I did as part of my ‘morning routine.’ This involved things like feeding my cat and dog and making my bed. As I was still on ADHD medication I wanted to fill my day doing nothing but productive work. I just didn’t want to waste those 10 precious hours I was on it. So, I would write down things to do like researching or writing, exercise or shopping and of course write down when I had an appointment to keep.
Eventually I was able to shorten my to-do lists so they only involved remembering to do what tasks I wanted to do that day. Now, I don’t need a list at all unless it’s to do things I really put off and require me to be organised, such as screenwriting.
Also, don’t beat yourself up if you can’t do every task you wrote down. Just celebrate what you could do and try again tomorrow. You’ve still got ADHD so executive dysfunction is going to get in the way a lot.
Tip3: Eliminating Distractions
When I really need to focus on something and I just can’t it helps to remove anything that could be distracting me. After I was diagnosed I had real difficulty with just having objects on my desk that I’d fidget with. I would have to disconnect my internet connection for those times I found myself going back there. I used to have to turn off the music I’ve been listening to but now music actually helps me concentrate. And I’ve not been too proud to not use a fidget spinner. I’m someone who can’t even concentrate on what I’m watching on Netflix unless I have use of my hands. Usually I eat a small bowl of snacks but nothing works than spinning a fidget spinner out of my eye’s view. There were times when writing or studying where I had to twist my body from side to side or bounce my leg to stay focused.
My biggest distraction is the phone. I do spend a fair bit of time on my phone. I don’t just post a bunch of cat memes on Twitter though I do use it to keep connected with my LGBT+ community, autistic people and keep updated with news and connect with my fellow socilaist/liberal activists. I also post cat memes.
I literally have had to just leave my phone in another room. Usually I just keep it on the charger all day. Though I do admit I can even slip and be on it when I should be focusing on other things. I like to take long breaks from social media though, usually at night when I watch TV. It’s not easy at all to sit still and watch a screen for a few hours when you’ve got ADHD.
I’m going to talk more about ADHD symptoms and how social media make them worse in a later section.
To be continued in next post.
PDA Rebellion 