Source: National Survey of Adults with ADHD

Personally, I’ve found all three of these tools very positive in helping me to thrive in the face of ADHD.

I music in conjunction with planning to help me organize my thoughts & to give me a focus/direction throughout the day. Typically classical or instrumental music works best for me. Music with words or a catchy popular beat tend to have the opposite affect when I’m trying to focus and/or study. I’m not saying that Jack Johnson’s not good to pop in the stereo, I’m just saying that he has his time & place. This is usually when I’m trying to relax…or wanna dance because I just went on a good date ).

Here are several things that I’ve learned about planning as someone with ADHD. I tend to get super into details when I plan and end up spending a LONG time. Therefore, telling myself that I’m going to revisit my plan a little each day lets me give up the expectation that I have to plan everything perfectly. I spend a little longer on one day and then am able to just whittle away at the long list throughout the week it’s very helpful. When this strategy is working for me, each day I’ll check the list and just choose ONE thing to focus on. When I finish it, I can go to another.

Because I work on computers all day, it’s also important that I often bring myself back to reality and close a handful of tabs in my browser to make sure that I’m focusing on that one thing I’ve chosen to focus on. If I don’t, it’s really easy for me to travel between one task and another. Because this often leads to not feeling accomplished, it’s easy to then feel frustrated.

Exercise…wow, I can’t even explain how much this helps when I’m feeling all pent up inside. I like to run, it raises my heartrate and gets me all sweaty. Pretty sure that it’s the sweat that does the trick ).

Lastly, I don’t think that it was mentioned, but getting good sleep really helps me too. When I wake up in a daze, it’s easy for me to just jump into the day without setting a strategy, without planning, etc. THIS can be disasterous!

What do YOU do to help with your ADHD?