ADHD

Medication, alarms, chore lists with reminders, project boards (jira @ work, notion @ home).

My wife and I keep EVERYTHING in notion. Our entire lives, pretty much any plan or thing we need to remember to do or communicate goes in that app.

I use other stuff on top of it, but notion has allowed us to split the mental load of managing our household much better than before. I have terrible memory, but I can no longer use it as an excuse. I've gone from "oops I forgot" to "oops I didn't set a reminder, what do I need to do to prevent this in the future?"

It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that the combination of process and home project management through it has saved my marriage. Oh, and I guess therapy helps. Find a good therapist if you can afford one.

I wish I could use lists. If I decide something, then–according to my brain–it's not a rule I strictly have to follow. Help lol 🫠

I also don't know what I'd do without a to do list to check off and my Google calendar.

I use Habitica and Forest. I try to gamify everything. Also rewarding myself for staying on track with 10 to 30 minutes of video games. I find I like audiobooks and podcasts to be in the background when I'm studying. I also use the Calm app a lot when I'm working. I like the city and coffee shop soundscapes. I've listed to This American Life Cars 129 about 50 times while doing my literature review. I am working full time, my wife and I have a new baby and I am also getting my doctorate. Another key strategy is waking up early like 5 AM to do a self-care routine to start the day. I meditate and exercise as part of my Habitica habits. It helps me get focused and feel ready for the day. I never took any medication growing up although the doctor recommended it. My parents made me meditate every day for 30 minutes when I got home from school and on weekends. I was basically grounded until I did that. It helped a lot for me. Those are some of my strategies.

Seems like most of us are "list people".

How do you all prevent the list from growing too large and just becoming another overwhelming thing?

Meds and lists gang checking in.

Started Trintellix a couple months ago and has been working pretty well with no noted side effects, which is nice.

I took up sim racing to help improve my focus. Every day I do 2 - 3 hours worth of laps, and I make it my goal to do consistent laps. Not necessary fast but just consistent. If I can stay within 0.5 - 1 second for x laps in a row, I count it as a win and I try to break that record the next day or at the very least meet the same number.

Helps with my memory retention too as poor memory is sometimes another side effect of ADHD from what I'm told

Still learning this lol. I have discovered by now that using meds is helpful but I can still wind uselessly spinning in a circle because I don't know where to begin with my to-do list. I have a whiteboard for each day of the week and I write down things I mean to do for each day on it. Even if I don't complete everything - which I usually don't - it helps me keep track. I want to get a couple white boards for different reminders. Not so much that it gets overwhelming though. I use a big monthly calendar for writing down upcoming appts. It helps me if both are big enough to read from across the room and out in the open so I don't forget to check them.

I'm absolutely horrific with organisation, but I found a few ways of managing things. I never really managed to grasp notifications, eventually they just became an auto-ignore for my brain. What worked more for me was having hints of what I need to do in places that I would naturally look throughout my day.

For instance, with my iPhone, I use dynamic island to keep my current task in a persistent way. It's not forceful and it doesn't interrupt what I'm currently doing. I've also got a large widget on my home screen which shows me some things like weather, date, reminders and calendar events. I see it a few times and eventually I usually manage to enact on it. I unlock my iPhone more than 100+ times per day, so that's 100 potential opportunities to see it and enact on it.

As for filling it with tasks, I usually do that just before I'm about to go to bed. Once I plug my phone in, I have shortcuts give me a notification that reminds me to fill out the tasks for tomorrow. This isn't bulletproof of course, but it helps to try and make it habit somewhat.

Despite the deficiencies, we're still brains of habit, so trying to make that habitual does help. It does help that it's a task that doesn't change.

Both. But it also helps to have a supportive husband. Would recommend.

I use both but I'm terrible at taking meds regularly (ha, the irony!).
For losing track of time during meetings/focus sessions, I use a Time Timer to visually see time passing by/showing how much time is left.
For reminders, I use Due on iOS (+ Apple Watch) as it continues to send reminders until you do the thing and check it off.
For to-do lists, I use both paper planning with a bullet journal-esque notation as well as a whiteboard for "temporary" planning, like creating a prioritization matrix, as it allows me to shift things around more easily.

I've tried medication, but unfortunately everything I tried had the side effect of pushing up my heartbeat to unhealthy levels, or causing anxiety issues. So currently unmedicated, although I miss the focus and motivation to get things done they gave me, the side-effects weren't worth it.

I try using todo-lists. But having been diagnosed at 36 it's so hard to break bad habits, especially during work, so I still often have days where I just jump between tasks. I've learned to accept that will happen and try to pay more attention to my to-do list again. Not getting frustrated helps a lot.

I've also taken up piano lessons, having to focus on playing a piece of music has improved my concentration quite a bit.

Has anyone tried nootropics and found it helpful? I've been trying some over the years (I'm not diagnosed but I suspect I have ADHD), and so far nothing has really improved my focus & attention.

I use both.

I had some very successful behavioral/environmental prompt ‘scaffolds’ - which I only realized later - at the time I didn’t know I was ADHD - when I started failing dramatically without them. 😅 I also found it nearly impossible to re-create them in other contexts or at other jobs.

Many years later and getting diagnosed as an adult led to being prescribed Strattera and HOLY CRAP is it effective!

Getting the right med is incredible.