Remember the phrase “use the right tool for the job? Well, when you’re ADD/HD, that’s never been more true.
For someone with ADD/HD, tools can be the difference between productivity and a wasted day. For me, I know that I’m able to control my Faster Than Normal brain and use my extra speed to my advantage by using the right tools for the job. Below are my top three.
- Six days a week, my day starts super early with a workout, and the best way I’ve found to wake up is by using the Aura Sleep System, part of the WiThings family. Aura lays under my mattress, and figures out the optimal time to wake me up based on my breathing, sleep patterns, even my heartrate. It sounds the wakeup alarm at the optimal time, when I’m just coming out of light REM sleep, allowing me to wake up feeling refreshed, and not tired at all. It really works – I haven’t hit the snooze bar in months. I partner that with the WiThings scale and blood pressure monitor, all three of which track my health. Best part, they all talk to RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal, giving me a full picture of my health. As we all know, what you track, you do.
- Wunderlist is a game changer. It’s a beautiful, simple to-do list that syncs across all my devices. Having it on the main screen of my iPhone guarantees that when I think of something, it gets written down.
- Finally, I’ve recommended these guys before, but I won’t go anywhere without my RoadID. It’s a simple wristband with my personal health information. If I get knocked out or injured during a run or long bike ride, (or even if I get hit by a bus crossing the street,) my RoadID has a code in it that emergency responders can enter to find out my medical history, medications I’m taking, and emergency contact information for my family. I won’t leave the house without it.
What’s your favorite tool to help manage your ADD/HD? Tell me in the comments, and get a Faster Than Normal bracelet as soon as they arrive!
PS: Faster Than Normal occasionally uses affiliate links, because… Why not?
I’ve tried scheduling blocks of time onto my calendar to work on all my various projects, but that never works for me. I just ignore them and work on whatever project the muse is speaking to me about. And one email or computer issue can quickly eat up a large chunk of my day before I know it, throwing off the whole schedule. One thing that does help me is to take a few minutes at the end of each day to think about what I need to accomplish the following day and write down a list of those things. Going old-school with pen(cil) & paper is most effective for me, but when I’m in my office all day that’s fine. When I complete an item on the list, I draw a big “C” through it to mark it off, which is quite satisfying!
[I’ll have to come up with another idea to get a second bracelet; those things are the Golden Boys’ favorite toys, and I have to have one for each of them!]
My son has ADHD; I have ADD. It took a long time to get to a system that worked for us, but we’ve finally found it.
My favorite tools are:
1) my Google Calendar and is the very low-tech giant dry-erase wall calendar on my son’s bedroom wall.
Because I’m never without my phone, everything goes into the Google Calendar ASAP–invitations, even tentative appointments with a TBC (to be confirmed) or TBD (location/time to be determined) if necessary. All those appointments, etc. go onto the master calendar at the beginning of the month as well as during the week, color-coded for my son, myself, things we do together, and appointments I manage for my father. At the end of the month, I take a picture of the calendar so that if I need to backtrack something, I can.
So simple, but until I committed to it, I was chasing every other kind of solution imaginable.
2) Unroll.me – I don’t use this email aggregator as well as I should, but even with minimal use, it’s helped me winnow down my inbox. The best feature is being able to unsubscribe to unwanted emails with one click rather than having to go into each email and jump through whatever hoops are necessary to unsubscribe.
My other favorite tools–both thanks to you, Peter–are Wunderlist and FollowUpThen. Still seeking the elusive zero email inbox, but it’s helping.
so here is a trick i use. i create projects that i procrastinate that arnt important. so at the top of the list right now is a portrait of my grandmother. i dont know why but i tend to do the second thing on my list and forgo the top, so my grandmothers portrait is top and i post it all over, and then i do the next thing. I essentally play mind games with my self. which i know is weird but it works for me. I tend to use paper lists but I might try a digital one after reading this site. the thing is that digital things really distract me, so if i get on pinterist, day is gone lol facebook? same, ive been killing time on websites for 30 minutes but i set a timer, so im about to get back to work. so tip two, set a timer, i try and reward my self for getting stuff done.
Holy cow, Peter – I’m so glad you started this site! I found out I had ADHD about a year ago, and it explained so much. I decided to use it to my advantage, but I’m still putting a toolset in place. The one thing I do that works so well is the Pomodoro Technique. You can read about it here, if you don’t know what it is: https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-work-40-hours-in-16-7-d9038681e652#.u4fwp91im
I’ve tried using PM tools like Basecamp and Asana, but I tend to ignore them. I’m at my most productive with a project plan in Excel on file, but using a daily task manager with a Pomodoro timer. I use Kanban Flow, and I just knock stuff out!! It doesn’t work for everything – I can write on the timer, but I can get all the smaller tasks out of the way with Pomodoros so I can *focus* when it’s time to write.
Hope this is helpful to others! And Peter – I’m down for a duet of La Vie Boheme sometime. 😉