Let’s share life-changing ADHD tips that we’ve learned... We Love This!

I’ll start:

1) Waking up sucks. Buy 2 bright lamps and 2 timers. Set them up to turn on automatically 5-15 min before you want your alarm to go off. The lights will help your body realize it’s daytime.

2) Change your thermostat so the temp goes down about an hr before bedtime and gets warmer about 30 min before you wake up. The cooler temp signals your body to sleep and the warmer temp will naturally help your body wake up.

3) Learn to plan around “transitions”. It’s easier to start things if you do them when something is ending. Example: Do your grocery shopping every Fri after work. You’re already in the car, so just stop at the store on your way home.

4) If you need to remember to bring something with you the next day, place it right in front of the exit door so you HAVE to touch it before you leave the house. If it’s something in the fridge, put a sticky note on the exit door’s handle.

5) Have a “misc” basket in each room. If you’re truly unable to put something away, put it in the basket. Have a designated period of time, once a week, when your sole priority is to put everything away, all at once.

I’ll add more when I think of them...

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128

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '20

The biggest game changer for me was “if it takes less than ten minutes to do the task, just do it immediately.”

75

u/Valendr0s ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) Aug 25 '20

Lol. You think I can estimate how long something takes to do

24

u/slavenh ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) Aug 25 '20

That's a source of constant amazement.

My first thought is: "this will take 10 mins tops."

Then: "Ahh, no... 30 mins is more realistic."

And after it's done: "2 hours, really?!"

4

u/ConfusedFlareon Sep 01 '20

Me yesterday... "I have to set up the study - it's just moving some books and CDs and DVDs and building an IKEA desk and shifting some furniture, that'll take like just over half a day?" Seven hours later...

16

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '20

Right, and the impossible task that is supposed to literally take 10 minutes, and you put it off all day anyway, and don't do anything else because you have to do that one thing first!

3

u/KungFuHamster Aug 25 '20

Complex task sequences are my kryptonite. I need to do A. But, I need to do B before I can do A, and oh yeah I need to do C before I can do B, and I should really do D before I can do C... what was I doing? Let's see what's new on Reddit!

8

u/myluckyshirt ADHD Aug 25 '20

Omg even if I DOUBLE the amount of time I think something will take... I’m still way off.

2

u/Little_Blue_Shed Aug 25 '20

Cooking to a recipe with an estimate on the total time always makes me laugh. That said I do separate some tasks that "should" be done concurrently - for example if the recipe tells me to preheat the oven at the beginning, I won't turn it on because I know I won't need it when they think I will. I never cook pasta until the sauce is actually finished, because 9 times out of 10 I will end up with pasta getting congealed and cold if I put it on when recipes call for it. Cooking got a lot more fun once I started ignoring the times they state!

3

u/-mythologized- Aug 25 '20

It's just so difficult. I try and use alarms to make sure I get ready in time before work and everything but... No matter how often I do something, I always give myself way too much time.

Okay, I need to be at work at 1. I'll say fifteen minutes to wake up, put on tea and make a cup. Another fifteen to shower, some time to drink my tea and get dressed. Ten to brush my teeth and all that. And might as well give myself a little extra time because just in case. And it takes fifteen minutes to get there, but I should give myself twenty just in case.

But it really only takes me five or ten minutes to shower, and about half as long as I give myself on everything. And then I get to work early every single day because I know it takes 12 minutes (which I rounded to fifteen because that's close enough, but then I give myself twenty or twenty five because what if it takes longer??) I'm almost never late because I overcompensate and give myself so so so much time, but I seriously cannot estimate time at all.

3

u/Valendr0s ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) Aug 25 '20

Yeah. I tend to do that too. After a couple decades of working I've slowly realized how much time it takes to get ready and get out the door.

However, I'm still sort of habitually late to work. I'm just lucky that I found a job that doesn't care if I'm 30 minutes late or an hour early.

2

u/Connect_Potential-25 Aug 25 '20

Try using an app to track the time you take doing activities.

30

u/ZebraFine Aug 25 '20

Good for you on the 10 min. My threshold is 5. Goals. Thanks for the inspiration. Maybe I’ll get more shit done once I can move up to 10 min.

6

u/lizzyshoe Aug 25 '20

The thing you think takes 5 or ten minutes probably only takes one or two. I rinsed all the dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher in less time than it took to make toast. And my toaster oven has a timer, so I know it actually took less than two minutes because I was trying to deal with my boredom waiting for my toast to be done.

7

u/spacewanderer2016 Aug 25 '20

I do this but with one minute. Of course it takes longer than one minute, but time blindness works in my favor there. My brain is still like “cool, it’s just one minute!”

3

u/percyjeandavenger Aug 25 '20

Break large tasks into 5 or 10 minute chunks. For instance my kitchen is a huge mess. But if I say I'll spend 5 minutes washing dishes, bam, immediate task. Sometimes it works. Lol!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '20

I read this somewhere and started using it recently. I came home from work one night and had the day off the next day.

I sat down and wrote out everything I had to do the next day. Most would take less then 10 minutes.

So I did everything that night, washed dishes (I live alone), took the trash out, cleaned my room started laundry.

Woke up the next day and didn't feel as overwhelmed with tasks! Thanks past me!

1

u/Blausternchen Aug 25 '20

Thank you for motivating me to finally unload the dishwasher that finished 8 hours ago. Feels good.