Getting out of bed in the morning can be the hardest thing you do all day. I refer to that struggle as breaking free of the mattress magnet. Beds seem to come with a powerful magnet that attracts the human body. Even if you can pry yourself free from it and walk halfway across the [...]
#59 Save Your Reading Reading always put me to sleep. In fact, most days I fell asleep in my forth hour reading class during my senior year of high school. It probably didn’t help that is was right after lunch. It was also frustrating trying to read at other times because after about fifteen minutes [...]
Another challenge to a disproportionate amount of people with ADD is turning off at night and turning back on the next morning. The first step, turning off, obviously affects turning back on the next day. In fact it is key. Unless you are a teenager and can sleep till noon, getting to bed at a [...]
#55 Create a Routine Routines are a bit more complicated than a simple habit like brushing your teeth, but they don’t have to be. For example brushing your teeth can be part of your “get ready for bed” routine. If you encapsulate the routine into a well defined or documented process, taking the first step [...]
Consistency is the key to forming a habit or a routine. Some folks say that to establish a new habit you have to do something every day for thirty day. That statement presents three challenges that I can see, for people with ADD. First, consistency itself is a core issue with ADD, rooted in distractibility. [...]
#51 Organize the Steps This strategy applies to a special type of list we call a procedure. A procedure in question can be getting dressed in the morning, getting to sleep at night, settling into homework or a project, or cleaning your room. The first approach should be to simplify the process. That could mean [...]
Just like some people’s brains don’t remember names, some people’s brains, especially people with ADD, don’t remember lists. I happen to be one of those people. If my wife sends me to the store for one thing or even two I can usually handle it. If she adds a third, it better be in writing. [...]
#47 Stick a Sticky Note I think sticky notes or Post-It Notes have been a standard reminder strategy since 3M launched the product back in 1980. They epitomize the KISS principle. Just keep a pad of them by your desk, your refrigerator, and your bathroom mirror and your life is instantly better regulated. When something [...]
You know it is embarrassing to miss appointments. It also frustrates people and sheds a dim light on you. Sometimes it can even be detrimental to your grades at school or progress in a job. Sometimes you can forget completely that the appointment was today, or know that it is on Wednesday but think all [...]
#43 Schedule Blocks Most people with ADD can hyper-focus, meaning they can intensely focus on a certain activity for hours on end. What most people with ADD struggle with is working on several projects in a single day. While hyper-focusing can help you accomplish an important task, it is usually inefficient. Hyper-focusing normally has no [...]
