Are ADHD Tips Only For Those With ADHD? ... No
ADHD Tips Part Two
Welcome back to the ADHD Tips series! If you haven’t read part one yet, be sure to check it out here for the first three tips to help manage life with ADHD.
In this post, I’ll share three additional tips that have been game-changers for me. These strategies focus on tackling common challenges like time blindness, procrastination, and overwhelm. Let’s dive in!
1. Use Timers and Alarms to Manage Time Blindness
If you have ADHD, you know how easy it is to lose track of time. One minute you’re looking up the weather, and eight hours later, you’ve gone down a deep internet rabbit hole. Timers and alarms are essential tools that help combat time blindness and hyperfocus by keeping you aware of your surroundings and schedule.
Here’s how timers and alarms help:
Breaking Hyperfocus: Setting a timer for 30 minutes ensures I shift gears when I need to, like cleaning my room after watching a video. Without it, "just one more video" turns into hours of procrastination.
Staying on Track: Timers remind me when it’s time to leave for an appointment or switch to a new task. They’ve saved me countless times from being late!
Reducing Anxiety: Knowing I don’t have to rely solely on myself to keep track of time alleviates stress and improves my productivity (at least I like to think so).
Whether it’s a smartphone alarm, a kitchen timer, or an app designed for productivity, this small adjustment can have a big impact.
2. Plan Your Day the Night Before
Spending just 10 minutes at night to plan the next day has been transformative for me. This simple habit reduces morning stress and makes it easier to get out of bed.
Here’s what planning ahead can include:
Writing a To-Do List: Jot down what you need to accomplish the next day.
Laying Out Clothes: Picking your outfit the night before eliminates decision fatigue in the morning.
Prepping Food: Preparing meals or snacks saves time and energy. I have even started prepping my coffee the night before. If you don’t mind iced coffee, I also recommend giving this a try!
This practice has stopped me from spending hours scrolling on my phone in bed every morning. Instead, I wake up feeling focused and ready to tackle the day.
3. Stick to One Calendar (and One List)
With ADHD, having multiple calendars or to-do lists can create chaos. Your brain is already moving a mile a minute, so juggling several different systems often leads to overwhelm and, ultimately, inaction.
The solution? Stick to one calendar and integrate everything into it. Many digital tools allow you to sync multiple calendars into one place. For example, you can combine your Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and even work schedules into a single platform like Notion.
By simplifying your system:
You reduce mental overload.
You always know where to find important dates and tasks.
You’re less likely to forget something critical.
This approach may seem simple, but it’s been a game-changer for me. It keeps my mind clear and my schedule organized.
Let’s Hear Your Tips!
These are just a few strategies that have worked wonders for me, but I’d love to hear from you! What tips and tricks have helped you manage life with ADHD? Share your ideas in the comments, and who knows—maybe I’ll feature them in a future post.
If you found these tips helpful, don’t forget to subscribe for more ADHD-focused advice and insights. Thanks for reading, and see you in the next post!
One simple but powerful thing that’s really helped me: to stop fighting the non-linear way I approach tasks. I am very late diagnosed (in my mid-50s) and my whole life I had naturally thought I should be doing things the way most people do them, which is linearly: doing one thing at a time, completing it, moving onto the next, and repeat. Once I learned that my pattern of starting multiple tasks at once was due to the way my brain fired, I stopped fighting it. Now I allow myself to do things “my way” whenever possible. This has lifted so much of the negative self-judgement, really helping with my overall self-esteem and even sense of accomplishment.
Btw, the medication in the morning before waking…I need to try that. Waking up is incredibly hard for me and always has been.
The calendar is my biggest tip, if it doesn't go on the calendar I don't attend, because I don't remember. I used this before I knew I had ADHD because as soon as I was able to outsource the job of remembering where I had to be and when, I was free to not worry and concentrate on other things. Just make sure you have reminders on and set them, 1 day, 10 hours, 3 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour and 30 minutes before an appointment 😂