How to ADHD

General Tactics

• Take ADHD Seriously

• Connect with others

• Work with your brain not against it

  • Don't try harder, try different
  • build strategies and systems
  • Do challenging work at times when your brain works best
  • When possible choose, ADHD friendly products and services
  • Ask for tools and accommodations or provide them yourself
  • Approach tasks as a negotiation, what do I need to get the things done, what does my brain need for that thing to be able to happen

• Keep going

Focus

• We don't lack attention, we lack the ability to regulate our attention

• Multi tasking is not time saving

• Boost the signal, decrease the noise

  • Create clear cues
  • Make a plan for what you want to tackle and how before you start
  • Fight distractions with distractions (music or background TV)

• Practice non judgmental redirection

  • mindfulness / meditation
  • Add friction to what prevent you doing bad things / write them down to create awareness
  • If other concerns and ideas come up, write them down to deal with later

• Make space for hyperfocus and install guardrails

  • create the right conditions for hypercfocus (dedicated time where that's the focus, plus environment)
  • Cut off time (with alarm)
  • When you finish leave notes for what just did and what would I have done next

• Move your body

  • Exercise
  • alternative seating (stand, sit weirdly etc)
  • got to another room

• Rest your brain

  • take a brain break
  • Plan time away from your task
  • take a break from self-reg, (let your brain do what it wants)

How to Executive Function

• Executive Function (brain parts to allow, effectively plan, prioritize and sustain effort towards long term goals) is impaired in ADHD brains

  • Response Inhibition: suppression of actions that interfere with a goal or are inappropriate in a given context
  • Working Memory
  • Set Shifting: switching between tasks that require different cognitive demands, like reading a recipeit and cooking it, switching from speaking and listening. Often ADHDer's go slower or make more mistakes in times like this
  • Executive function is more slow to develop in ADHD brians
  • Hot and cold versions (hot being the more emotional driven vs cold being the more logical)

• Have less stuff to manage

  • Delegate areas of responsibility
  • Keep systems simple so they're easier to maintain and use
  • Practice minimalism
  • Say no to at least some things (limit on going projects)

• Accommodate yourself

  • Add scaffolding, get support your first few times
  • Self advocate
  • Ask for formal accommodations

• Account for the ADHD tax

  • It's expensive in time and money to have ADHD and make ADHD style mistakes, hedge and reserve extra time and money to compensate
  • Use services that are more error tolerant
  • Setup shortcuts (less steps are easier to manage)
  • Invest in tools that can help

• Build what works for you

  • Look at what's worked before
  • Look at what you currently do
  • Consider your preferences
  • Remember you have ADHD

How to sleep

• We're more likely to miss sleep

  • We're not tired yet
  • We're not done yet
  • We're too stimulated (or not stimulated enough)
  • Revenge bedtime procrastination

• Prioritize the right amount of sleep

• Practice good sleep hygiene

  • Time your stimulants
  • avoid conflitc right before bed
  • keep bedtime and wake times consistent
  • Associate your bed with sleep (no electronics)

• Motivate yourself to sleep

  • Get your needs met during the day
  • create a winddown ritual
  • consider your sensory needs

• Work with your chronotype

  • tackle the heaviest work when you're most alert
  • Prep for mornings
  • create light cues

• Have a backup plan

  • Sleep somewhere else
  • rest
  • make a wakeup plan

How to see time

• Time blindness, is a problem

• Build up your time wisdom

  • When you plan work backwards: start with what you want to accomplish and by when and go backwards from there.
  • Track your time, guess and then actually track
  • Notice where you're stealing time: making up for lost time isn't a thing, notice when you're taking time from something else you were suppose to be doing

• Make time real

  • Get specific: later should be a specific time
  • Use time pillars to prop up your day: regularly scheduled activities to anchor your day (otherwise time can loose meaning if you don't have any time pressure or reference points for a day)
  • Create some "time buckets": ares of your day, week or month dedicated to certain types of activities, like admin or hobbies or deep work.

• Communicate about time

  • Ask for help prioritizing
  • Share your plan with others and get a reality check
  • Before committing to something, ask what it entails
  • Ask for a time-related accommodation

• Have times when time doesn't matter

  • Sequence instead of schedule
  • keep some days meeting free
  • set aside flexible days
  • take a time vacation

How to motivate your brain

• Add motivation

  • add urgency
  • find the right level of challenging
  • tie the task to a personal interest
  • add novelty

• Reduce friction

  • Do what you can ahead of time
  • rmove physical obstacles
  • invest in tools you enjoy using
  • tap into your why
  • ride the wave
  • eat the ice cream first

• add or increase accountability

  • decide on what you're going to do and what you're not going to do
  • find productivity partners
  • shorten feedback loops
  • make it a competition

• make rewards more salient

  • pick meaningful rewards
  • scale rewards strategically
  • make rewards more immediate
  • give yourself the rewards for doing the thing

• don't expect yourself to stick with things

  • cycel through hobbies and jobs and intestests
  • cross pollination between interests is great
  • set a date to reevaluate

How to Remember Stuff

• use an assistant

  • Journal
  • todo list
  • Project managemet software

• Lower the deamdn on your working memeory

  • visual or auditory reference
  • active body double (real person to quiz you for answers)
  • one task at a time
  • take one step at a time

• improve encoding

  • give yourself a hook to hang onto new info
  • use active studying strategies (reading bad, flashcards and taking notes actively good)
  • make it sticky (weird stuff is easier to remember)
  • teach it to someone
  • Give it time
  • sleep

• Use cues but with caution

  • Put things where you can see them
  • keep "to-do" cues to the time and places where you can follow through
  • ignore cues mindfully
  • use cues to remind you of your intentions

How to Feel

• Label your emotions

  • Label intensity
  • use external prompts
  • create your own labeling system
  • look for the emotions behind the emotions

• Make space for your emotions

  • WAIT before taking action
  • sit with your feelings
  • take time to explore your emotions

• Use your emotions

  • use them as motivation
  • use them as a compass
  • enjoy them
  • foster connection

• find your emmotional balance

  • practie meditation
  • seek support before and take breaks from emotionallhy difficult situations
  • put your effort ito things you can control

How to People

• Figure out what you have to offer

  • Notice the qualities you appreciate in others
  • list to what others say they appreciate about you
  • figure out wha tyou're looking for
  • reassess!

• Meet new People

  • Go where people meet people
  • go where your strengths will shine
  • prop some conversation topics in advance
  • look for shared values

• level up your social skills

  • Observe others
  • ask for stronger social cues
  • try a tutorial
  • play on levels you enjoy

• Make socializing routine

  • Set aside regular day or time to check in with people
  • have go-to people for certain activities
  • reach out when you remember to

• Communicate your boundaries

  • differentiate between want to and willing to
  • talk about expectations
  • ask for what you want but respect their limits
  • when you're the one giving, respect yoru limits
  • set your own policies

How to Make ADHD harder

• Learn what you're dealing with
• Think holistically
• Seek community with people who share your condition/background/identity
• Respect your own journey

How to Heart

• Engage in empathy

  • Ask about their experience
  • ask about their inner world and thought processes
  • Be an advocate

• Choose your battles

  • prioritize
  • let us fail
  • let some stuff go
  • find other solutions with the milk carton rule (buy a person copy for something shared so it can always be on your settings)

• Collaborate on Solutions

  • Be clear on the goal
  • allow us to achieve the goal in a way that works for us
  • Look for the and
  • Stay in your lane (you are not a coach or therapist)

• Look for the good

  • notice their effort
  • flip the coin (look for things you love about them)
  • Assume the best intent
  • Celebrate their successes

• Take care of yourself

  • Set boundaries
  • engage outside support
  • allow yourself to have feelings
  • Take a break

How to Change the world

• Find your fuel

  • Keep an inspiration for a rainy day file
  • be the person you needed
  • spend some time ideating

• Focus on what you want, not what you don't want

  • set constructive goals
  • frame requests in the positive (walk instead of don't run)
  • respond to the people who add to the conversation
  • vote

• Join forces with the people doing the work

  • Donate or fundraise
  • signal boost
  • share resources
  • collaborate

• Share your story

Lean into your strengths