#ADHD tips and tricks

[ivyblossom]

Hi m'lovely, I hope you're doing well! It's so nice seeing you around here again <3

I've been meaning to ask you for a while if you'd be willing to talk more about the prompts (voice assistant and other) that you've mentioned setting up to help with your ADHD? I've tried to do similar things myself, like buying smart lightbulbs set to turn off at 11 and remind me to go to bed, but I still find I have a tendency to ignore them or for them to stop being helpful if my schedule changes at all. How do you make yourself stick to prompts that are easy to ignore?

@glitterarygetsit! Beloved! Most delightful of humans!

Yes, I hear you, I have this problem as well. Once routines become routine, they get easier to ignore or work around. I have not solved that yet, not completely, but I have a few suggestions.

The first thing is to think of future yourself as a beautiful puppy just here to have a good time. We don't want to hurt the puppy! The puppy is not being naughty on purpose, puppies are going to puppy, that's all! We embrace the puppy. But the puppy is stubborn and is really focused on having a good time, so we need to insert a variety of nudges leading to the key result.

When's bedtime? Are you switching the lights off at 11 beacuse you want to go to bed at 11? Your environmental nudges need to start quite a lot earlier, because the puppy is not paying attention and wants to keep playing puppy games. When the lights go off, the puppy can just switch them back on again.

Maybe it's better to think about the environmental controls as a way to indicating the passage of time more than just a message that means "go to bed". I need a variety of prompts to remind me that it's getting late, and I need them all. Your lights switching off, your audio signals, aren't just telling you to go to bed. They are interrupting what you're doing. One of the reasons we struggle to stop one activity and pick up a different one is because we are hyperfocused. Once you break the hyperfocus, you can make a different choice. Without it broken, you're stuck in a loop even if you want to get up and go to bed.

I also would like to be in bed at 11, so my nudges start at 9pm. I have the lights go off in succession: first one, then another, until there's just one left. When the first one goes off, I think, oh, it's getting towards time. Well, okay, but I want to do this other thing first. And then the second one goes. Oh boy, soon I'm going to be sitting in a dark room. Better finish this thing off. At 9am, I also have a bedtime playlist start to play. I almost never listen to it, but if I want to shut it off, I have to stop and do that.

I also follow that up with a series of other good ideas. Why not make yourself a night cap? (I make a lavender latte at bedtime.) What's for dinner tomorrow? What are you wearing tomorrow? lay out your clothes! Here's tomorrow's weather forecast! Have you washed your face? You know what would be nice right now? Wearing pajamas!

These prompts are things I would like it if I did, but they're also interruptions. I'm basically annoying myself out of whatever hyperfocus I'm in.

But also: let's not forget pleasure! The puppy likes things! That's why I introduced the night cap. When I remind myself that I could make myself one right now, sometimes it truly does tempt me, and then I'm in the routine loop. Add lovely things to your routine and treat yourself to them. Appealing things are easier to get yourself to do.

I create routines in strings, so I can adjust the timing on them pretty easily, I just adjust the start time. I do that more in the mornings than the evenings.

I think we probably need to schedule times to adjust the routine, or add fun new things to it. The best addition I've made to a routine recently is to start my morning one 10 minutes earlier and have the speaker tell me I can ignore it for 10 minutes. Strangely enough, that really helped.

Anyone else have suggestions?

I love you, @glitterarygetsit!

[rockpapertheodore]

Fun tip for my friends who have issues keeping their cars clean:

If you have an issue with just fuckin... not taking trash out of your car, start stuffing it into your old takeout/fast food/shopping bags. That's Step 1.

Step 2 just becomes practicing taking one of them out of your car every time you go to the gas station or the store. There are trash cans specifically there for you to put your car trash in, between the pumps at the station or the doors to the store.

They are there for you to use.

They are not top secret special trashcans for use by qualified personnel, and the clerks and other customers are not judging you for using them.

Nobody thinks you're a slob for carrying a knotted plastic bag or two full of trash and stuffing it into the trashcan by the door. In fact, a majority of people are grateful that you put your trash in a can instead of throwing it onto the ground!

Companies put these trashcans out specifically because they realized it was a lot easier and cheaper to clean up a bunch of trash cans instead of having a dedicated trash pickerupper guy cleaning the lots constantly. You are allowed to use them.

[loungelaughlove]

A visual of my free specialized content on tips and tricks on getting to sleep with ADHD. Check it out! <3

[adhd-for-adhders]

Tips for Working with ADHD During Online School (or Work)!

This is really late and I don’t really know why I didn't do this earlier, but here we are! I thought I’d publish a list of tips and tricks that have helped me while doing school online - mostly long homework sessions - (and might help with online working). Even though it is the summer, some people are still working or doing summer school, so I hope this helps someone who needs it!

Get everything you’ll need or even the stuff you might need. It saves you from having to get up if you’re on a roll and breaking your streak (or maybe you find you can’t get up to get it bc ~executive dysfunction~)

If you find you don’t have something you need and it’s not pressing, wait until a pause or you’re getting up anyways, ie you’re getting up to fill your water bottle and you’re gonna need your phone charger. Take that time to go to the bathroom, get a snack, etc. I find this the best way to get around executive dysfunction because I didn’t want to get up for that one small thing earlier, but now I’m up for something else and I can kinda justify my other tasks, in a way? It’s like, I get up, and I'm like “well I'm already getting water, might as well just grab a snack and my phone charger too”

I’m terrible at prioritizing, so I try to prioritize the most obvious assignments first. You have one assignment due at 3 and another at 6? Do the 3 pm deadline first. You have a certain class that you have more missing assignments in than another? Do that homework first. If you can’t prioritize, try to think of the most logical order.

I usually do all my assignments for one class in a block because I get on a roll. Like, my brain is thinking in chemistry or whatever, so I knock out all my chem assignments at one time (this has to do with ADHD brains not being very good at jumping from task to task).

I started planning heavy hw days on google calendar. For example, I just list all the assignments I have to do and what time to do them and calendar will give me a little notification 10 and 5 minutes before a new task starts (this also helps me keep track of how time is passing because adhd brains aren’t too great at that either). Tip: give yourself much more time than you think you need—I usually give an hour unless it’s a super short assignment. Even if you’re 100% sure that you’ll finish it in under an hour, give yourself an hour and you feel a sense of accomplishment (and get a lil dopamine boost—we tend to be short on that too) because you finished something earlier than expected and you get ahead of schedule (which, if you finish before you plan on, will also give you a dopamine boost at the end).

Keep a bottle of water near you and a snack or two if you want. I need my meds to stay focused on my assignments for longer than an hour or so and it drastically improves my executive function (this is specifically for me, I don't know how meds work for everyone else). But the side effects of all three different types of meds I’ve taken have all come up/been worse when I don’t drink enough water. Also it’s just good for you. My meds kill my appetite, so I don’t need snacks, but if you get hungry, go for it.

Most of the time, I like having someone or a list giving me explicit instructions, kind of like a checklist I can check off. So even if you don’t use a calendar, I suggest putting your assignments in a numbered or bulleted list and then you can just check them off as you move down the list. It also tells me what to do next, because I’ll just do whatever I feel like doing most of the time and a list gives me direction. (Also, having one central list helps me keep everything in one place so I don’t have to go hunting through each of my class schedules for all my class assignments)

I have a little calendar chart for the week I created on google docs and there I list what assignments are due on which days of the week that I fill out on Monday. Once I fill it out, I spread out the assignments over the week (because a good 75% of them are due on Friday) so I have around 4 assignments due each day (which generally takes me from 9 or 10 to anywhere from 3 to 5. Even then I’ll usually not have enough work to spread over 5 days (because most of my teachers aren’t pure evil) so I’ll sprinkle in some of my many missing assignments in there on the lighter days. Also, it prevents me from only doing one or two assignments for a few days and then realizing that to not have any late work, I’ll have to complete 5 in one day (that’s happened before. It was extremely stressful and I didn't finish all my assignments. 0/10 do not recommend).

Take plenty of little breaks. We’ll get mentally tired from hours straight of just doing schoolwork (I’m not 100% sure if this is an adhd thing so don’t quote me on it but I’m pretty sure) so take a 15-30 minute break every few hours or assignments, maybe 20 minutes every 1.5 hours or after you finish two assignments or whatever works for you. Read a few chapters of your book, watch an episode of your favorite show, or make some food and scroll mindlessly through tumblr, whatever makes you happy. Just plan them ahead so you don’t get sucked in to doing 3, 4, 5 hours of work nonstop by setting an alarm for a specific time or putting it on your calendar.

Have a special place to do your work. I can't speak for everyone, but a lot of my motivation comes from habits, so I’ll do work (and only work) at my desk and not in my chair or bed or whatever (even though it’s way more comfortable) so when I sit down my brains like “ok it’s time to work I gotchu”

Not necessarily for working, but for zoom calls: get your favorite stim to use during those. A lot of teachers will ramble on and on and I’ve gotten so fidgety during these calls its really noticeable (aka, you can literally see me trying to crack my neck/back/fingers every five seconds) so I’ve taken to having some scissors and one of my many balls of yarn on my desk so I can start braiding or fingerknitting some yarn while my teachers ramble.

Sidenote: fingerknitting is a really great stim (for me, at least) because it requires basic, repetitive motions that don’t require me to look at my fingers. I once read like 14 (?) scenes of Shakespeare almost all in a row and I swear, I was only able to do that because of the fingerknitting. It’s super simple and you could probably find dozens of short tutorials on youtube.

I'm pretty sure this is only a mac thing, but on my computer, I have it set to announce the time on the hour, every hour and I find it helps with my complete time blindness and helps me not get sucked into doing a 1 hour project for 2 hours. Also if i'm working on a project that’s taking longer than expected and I have a zoom call at, say, 11, then the computer will break me out of my homework trance and I’ll realize what time it is (if that makes sense) and it’s prevented me from being late to a zoom many times. To get your macbook to do this, you go to the desktop —> settings —> date and time —> and then click “announce the time”, and you can choose whether you want it to announce it every hour, half an hour, or fifteen minutes.

Feel free to add your own! Happy studying/working!

[merganize]

This book. This. If you are looking to find help organizing your home in an AD/HD friendly manner this book has all of the answers. 

Here is a summary: 

ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, are prevalent in society today, afflicting about 4.4% of the adult population, which is over 13 million Americans. Four out of every five adults do not even know they are ADD, and while it is often difficult to differentiate adults with true ADD from adults who are merely forgetful and disorganized, Organizing Solutions for People with ADD outlines new organizing strategies that will be of value to anyone who wants to improve their organizational, or lack of, skills in their life. The chapters consist of practical organizing solutions for ADD at Work; prioritizing, time management, and organizing documents, ADD at Home; paying bills on time, de-cluttering your house, scheduling and keeping appointments, ADD with Kids; driving them to various activities, grocery shopping and meals, laundry, babysitters, organizing drawers and closets, and ADD and You; organizing time for your social life, gym, and various other hobbies and activities. Color photographs that capture the short attention span of the reader are featured throughout, as well as sidebars and testimonials from adults with ADD, providing numerous organizational tips, such as, the importance of dividing time into minutes or moments, task completion, how to avoid procrastination, asking for help, and how not to be a packrat.

[crowbraincoin]

Notion Template Roundup

I found you some free aesthetically pleasing and functional notion templates and more!

Life

Entire Life Dashboard by ??

Bullet Journal Basic Template by Alyssa Lost in Space

Planners

Aesthetic Weekly Planner by Samantha Reily

Life Hub by Sija

School

College/High School Planner by Sija

Misc

35+ Free Aesthetic Dividers for Notion

Flaticon for free icons to make your page fit any vibes

Giphy for gifs to spice up your pages

Indify to make widgets for your pages

[crowbraincoin]

Tips for ADHD Plant Parents

Let’s face it, you love plants, but it can be hard to keep them alive and thriving when you have a hard time even finding the phone in your hand while on a phone call. So what can you do?

Here are 9 tips on how to care for plants when you have ADHD.

Gif by emimonserrate on deviantart

1. Less is more

As tempting as it may be to buy a cart-load of plants–trust me I know the feeling–it’s not the brightest idea to start out with a houseplant forest. Start with a few smaller and less care-intensive plants such as a ZZ plant, Snake plant, or Spider plant. Don’t let the names fool you, these babies are just as leafy and gorgeous as their more extravagant relatives.

2. Play to your strengths…and know your weaknesses

If you know that one particular aspect of plant parenting is what’s difficult for you, try finding some plants that need less of that care. If watering on a schedule is hard for you, try getting a cactus. If keeping them in a well-lit spot is difficult, try getting a plant that requires low light (or get a plant lamp). If repotting is hard for you, try getting plants that are slow growers, or try air plants, which don’t require soil at all!

3. Give them a shower

One of the more daunting things ADHD people deal with are tasks that involve a lot of tedious work. Going around and individually watering all of your plants takes time and effort–which we ADHD folks care greatly about. So here’s what you do: Take all of the plants that you can fit in your bathtub and place them at enough distance that they won’t overshadow one another. That way they can get as much water as they need. Then all you need to do is use your shower head (a removable one works best for this) and let it rain! Not only does it make the task go much quicker, but it’s also an easy clean-up.

Pro tip: When using this method I suggest that you get a filtered showerhead, as some tap water can have minerals or chemicals in it that can cause build-up on your plants or worse, cause them to start dying.

4. Use watering bulbs

If you have plants that don’t fit into your shower, or you don’t have a shower, try out watering bulbs. They come in many different colors, sizes, shapes, and materials. Here are some that are shaped like mushrooms! When the soil dries up, the bulb releases more water to keep the soil moist. Be careful with these and do your research, though, since not all plants like constantly wet soil.

5. Spray bottles, lots of them

So many plants require a certain level of humidity and this can be hard to keep up with. I always misplace my spray bottles, so I just bought a few cheap ones and placed them wherever my plants are kept. Now when my plants are looking a little dry I can give them a spritz with one of my many spray bottles. Bonus points if you get some that are a bright color to make them stand out more!

There are some plant humidifiers that can help with this problem as well. Though that can become expensive if you have a lot of plants or you have them in various locations.

6. Keep them visible

Don’t place plants too out of the way. Make sure they’re in your everyday line of sight so that you can tell right away when they aren’t doing well. One thing rings powerfully true for those of us with ADHD, “out of sight, out of mind”. So keep your plant children in sight!

7. Make a checklist

Hear me out, I know for a lot of people with ADHD lists are the bane of our existence. However, it can really help to break down your plant care in a list format. Take one or two hours to sit and write a checklist for yourself that is easy to read and understand, and that you won’t dread looking at. Split them up based on needs, like sunlight, water, humidity, fertilizer, etc.

Pro tip: Using various plant-care apps has helped lots of people manage their plants. Plus, many of these apps have free versions or free trials. Personally, writing and having a physical checklist helps me remember but do whatever works for you to keep your plants alive!

8. Ask for help

Whether you have a few plants or a lot, it can be hard to keep up with them all on your own. There are so many times I have had to ask my housemates or partner to help with my plants. Sometimes it can be hard to remember, other times I just don’t have the energy to get to all of them. So if you can, ask for help from people around you. You may need to teach them and walk them through your process, but once they’re familiar with plant care it’ll be a breeze.

Who knows, maybe you’ll spark a love for plants in them as well!

9. Don’t get discouraged

Sometimes even with our best efforts, plants will die. It doesn’t make you a bad plant parent if you weren’t able to handle a certain feisty plant or if you got one that maybe wasn’t in the best shape, to begin with. Even if the plant died because you weren’t able to keep up with the care, give yourself some grace and take it as a challenge to do better next time.

Bonus Tip: If all else fails…

Fake plants look just as good and require no care at all — aside from the occasional dusting!

[crowbraincoin]

ADHD Tip: Learn to Love Podcasts

I always need to be consuming some sort of media--it comes with my ADHD--but if I'm consuming any sort of visual media I will just stay stuck in front of the screen.

So, if I need to be doing chores or exercise, I will put on a podcast I really enjoy.

It's kinda like when you're on the phone with someone and you find yourself walking around the house or doing random chores!

Since visual stimulation isn't available, it forces me to find something else to do. This way I can exercise, clean, run errands, or work on my art without getting bored from lack of stimulation!

Also, if podcasts aren't your thing then try audiobooks!

Here are my current fav podcasts:

Sawbones

Ologies

Dungeons and Daddies

Last Podcast on the Left

All of these have hundreds of episodes for your enjoyment <3

[adhd-for-adhders]

Online Learning

Hey all you ADHD and neurodivergent peeps out there! Just a friendly reminder—don’t be afraid to ask teachers for extra help/instruction while doing online learning, even if you don’t have an IEP or a 504 plan! They’ll likely (hopefully) be understanding and I know a little help can go a long way, and the way they’e giving information and work may not be the best for the way your brain works! If you need some help/guidance on how to ask for that kind of thing (because anxiety and/or RSD) I can give you the text I copy/paste into all the emails I send to my teachers because I always get nervous that I’m being rude or I’ll offend them somehow (love that RSD, am I right?) and I eventually just created a template of sorts. Just dm me or tell me in a reblog!

Also, super important: turning in something incomplete is much better than turning nothing at all!!! Those lecture notes that you were supposed to do but couldn’t finish? Turn the work you could finish in—you’ll still get some credit. You might get an incomplete grade for it, but 70 or even 50 percent is so much better than a flat zero. If you find you are able to finish the rest of it later, attach it to however you turn in assignments later and write the the teacher that you turned the rest in. They probably won’t give you full credit, but it shows them that you did do the rest of the work, and they may grade you a little easier for that (I got this advice all the time from doctors and school counselors all them time when I was going into high school and told them I have trouble with homework). Also, a lot of schools are going to credit/no credit grading, so those partial grades? They’re going to be the difference between getting credit and getting no credit and having to retake the class (I’ve seen this is my own grades).

These both apply for non-online learning too, by the way!

I hope you guys are doing well, social distancing, and are surviving during the time of online learning! (I’m sure struggling with that). If you ever need some advice, encouragement, or just need to vent, don’t be afraid to dm me!

Stay healthy!

Jamie