5 Practical Tips to Manage Your ADHD (from a therapist)
People with ADHD often deal with issues like procrastination, prioritization, forgetfulness, and impulse control. Many of these issues are related to our executive functions. At PRGRS Therapy we specialize in the treatment of ADHD. A lot of the work we do with clients is to improve executive functioning. The good news is that with practice, we can improve executive functioning. In this article I want to share with you some skills and tools we teach our clients.
Before we dive in though, a few words on shame…
Many people feel a sense of shame when needing to work on executive function skills. We often hear: “this is common sense”, “I should just know how to do this”, and “I feel so stupid needing to work on this”. It’s important to know that ADHD challenges are not due to deficits in intellect. Moreover, an ADHD brain is different than a non ADHD brain. People with ADHD tend to struggle with executive functioning as a result of a different neurological make up. It’s less about knowing and more about having a brain that benefits from practicing.
A Prioritization System: The Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple method for prioritizing tasks. You have many tasks that come across your consciousness throughout the day. How do you choose where to start? Have you ever thought about that? Many people rely on in-the-moment decision making to prioritize tasks, but this leaves far too much room for error. Moreover, as we are presented with more tasks, it can quickly become overwhelming, making it difficult to prioritize. Or perhaps you think you know where to start and end up picking a task to work on, spend half the day on it, and realize there were other tasks that were more important. Either way, we all need a framework for prioritizing tasks. Enter The Eisenhower Matrix
Fun Fact: This matrix is named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower who was known for his highly effective time management skills.
Graphic Credit: ToDoist
When to use the matrix
Use the matrix to prioritize any and all tasks.
How to use the matrix
The matrix is divided into four sections
Important - Items that bring you closer to your goals
Not Important - Items that do not bring you closer to your goals
Urgent -Items with clear dead lines and consequences for not completing them
Not Urgent - Activities that do not have a set deadline
Let’s imagine a task comes across your radar (i.e. you need to email your boss a report that is due tomorrow at 9AM). You would then decide if the task was important or not important and urgent or not urgent. Depending on the importance and urgency you would then follow the matrix as follows…
Important and Urgent - Do it right away
Important and Not Urgent - Put it on the calendar
Not Important and Urgent - Delegate
Not Important and Not Urgent - Delete
The example of needing to email your boss a report would most likely be important and urgent. That means you would do it right away.
You will run all your tasks through this matrix for improved time management and prioritization. For even greater time management, set some time aside each morning or evening and run your pending tasks through the matrix for a head start on the day ahead.
The matrix takes a little practice, but once you are familiar, it becomes muscle memory.
Estimating Time
Do you ever over or underestimate the amount of time a task will take and end up screwing up your whole day? You thought it would take 20 minutes to get to work, but it took 1.5 hours and you missed the big meeting? Your not alone, some people have a hard time estimating how long a task takes and it results in a lot of problems. Taking a few weeks to collect data about how long your common tasks take will help tremendously with time management.
Why use this skill
This skill is to be used to improve time management and prioritization
When to use this skill
You can use this skill at any time.
How to use the skill
This skill takes a few weeks to complete and it is quite simple, but does take a bit of patience.
Identify the tasks/events that are common (i.e. morning routine, commute, meetings, etc.).
Time those tasks over a period of weeks. Use a piece of paper and a timer.
Determine the average amount of time your tasks take.
Make decisions based off your average as opposed to guesstimates.
Calendaring
Spend a few minutes each evening listing out what tasks, items, and events you have for the next day. Estimate how long each one will take. After this, plug them into your calendar. You will have a visualization of your day and the time you have to work with. Moreover, this provides you with a foundation to refer back to if you get distracted.
Chunking
Many people become overwhelmed at the prospect of completing a big task. They may know they need to prepare a report, but the task is daunting. It seems too big. This is where chunking comes in. Rather than the first step to be to start the task, it should be to chunk the task. In other words, begin any task by doing an overview of the whole task and then breaking it into steps. For example, if the task at hand is a report for work, start by reviewing what the report entails, list out the different components (i.e. research topic, write about topic, create Powerpoint, etc.), and then give each section a deadline. Put them on your calendar.
Outsource Memory
Many people with ADHD report poor short term memory. They will be asked to do something and within five minutes they forget what they were asked to do. This can lead to a lot of frustration and conflict. They often “try harder to remember”, but this is not a matter of effort. What works best is to find a way to outsource short term memory. People often try checklists and these work for some people, but not everyone. Other people benefit from outsourcing memory to the reminders app on their phone, some like post-it notes, others like a white board. The method doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that the system helps you to remember. This may take some trial and error, but spend some time thinking about how you can outsource your short term memory.
Next steps
If you are interested in improving your executive functioning and reducing the symptoms of ADHD schedule your free 15 minute phone call with us today. We would love to talk with you about how we can help.
