Negative self-talk is a common problem for lots of people. It can lead to low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. Negative self-talk can be especially problematic for those of us with ADHD.

Where Does Negative Talk Come From?

There are entire branches of psychiatry, biology, and neurology dedicated to understanding the various things that go on in the human mind. One of those things is understanding the seemingly different voices and inputs in your own head. You may already have some sort of definition that makes sense to you. For example, I often divide what happens inside of me as front brain, rear brain, and as a separate entity, my body.

My body is the part that will not allow me to fall asleep no matter what I try, and then has the nerve to feel sluggish and sooo tired the next day.

The rear brain is where all of those thoughts that just pop up come from. Thoughts like, “I’m bored,” or “I wonder if the McDonald’s attached to gas stations ever get gas in the food.” Some of the thoughts that come from the back brain don’t even come through as words. You just know and understand because it’s your own brain.

The front brain, then, is the brain I control. The one that says, what I want it say and thinks what I want it to think.

Perhaps an example would help:

It is 10:00 pm and I am laying down to go to sleep. I tell myself, inside my own brain, “We HAVE to start going to the gym tomorrow.” All three of my brain subparts are fine with this.

It is 6:30 am and the alarm goes off because we HAVE to go to the gym, but my body is EXHAUSTED. It can’t keep its eyes open for even two seconds. My front brain doesn’t want to hear it, but the back brain jumps in. We could go after work, or later in the evening, or not at all. There is always tomorrow.

It is 7:00 pm and I’m a combination of angry, sad, and betrayed that I didn’t make it to the gym today. The anger is from the rear brain; the voice saying “For gawd’s sake we HAVE to start going to the gym or we are going to miss out on an amazing opportunity when we are too out of shape to go. The sick feeling of despair and bile comes from my body. All three-brain parts conspiring to make me feel worse and worse.

Is SoFi any good?

It is 7:30 pm and I feel down, miserable and gray. I order pizza because my body WANTS pizza and NOTHING ELSE. My back brain picks the place. My front brain just doesn’t care because no matter what I do, it never works out.

Negative Talk and ADHD

Right now, you are

a) over it for my little sob story (but you totally recognize it)

b) thinking that this kind of thing happens to everyone, not just people with ADHD.

You are right, on both accounts.

What makes negative talk such a powerful demotivating force in people is that whenever you stop to think about something, you give your brain parts (however you like to divide them up) a chance to grab the wheel and hijack the ship, if I may mix some metaphors. If you have ADHD, you stop to think about something else all the time. This is what makes negative self-talk and ADHD so powerful. You literally stop to think about other things all the time.

Sure, sometimes you just think about how rabbits actually dig with soft paws that don’t have much claws on them, and that’s no harm, no foul.

(Unless of course, you stop working on that thing that was already due yesterday, so you look it up, do some reading, and end up wondering why the prairie dogs in Wyoming near Devil’s Tower are a respected wildlife tourist feature, when in Colorado they deliberately let black footed ferrets loose in prairie dog colonies because that is their primary food… After, of course, they distribute peanut butter pellets laced with plague vaccine around the prarie dog colony so the ferrets don’t get if from eating them – (Don’t even get me started on how a single, small ferret can take down a big ‘ol fat prairie dog.))

Yep.

There is a ton of room for negative talk in that one thought chain (literally about rabbit holes). Imagine how many times per day a person with ADHD changes their chain of thought and how many chances that stupid back brain gets a chance to jump in and derail everything.

Tips to Avoid Negative Self-Talk

• Challenge Negative Thoughts: Often, negative self-talk is based on distorted or irrational versions of events. You don’t always order Chinese food instead of cooking. You don’t never go to the gym or do the right thing. Challenge these thoughts and replace them with more realistic ones, we can change our perspective and improve our mood. For example, if you find yourself thinking, “I’m never going to succeed,” challenge that thought by asking yourself, “Is that really true?” and replacing it with a more realistic though.
• Focus on Your Strengths: It’s easy to get caught up in our weaknesses or shortcomings. Try to focus on your strengths. You still play well and have lots of fun with racquetball, so you aren’t completely out of shape.
• Surround Yourself with Positivity: Negative self-talk can be reinforced by negative influences in our environment. You’ll get a lot more milage out of a picture of a beach in the Bahamas than a self-mocking photo of you eating an 8-scoop sundae.
• Surround yourself with positive people and seek out positive experiences and activities. This is NOT permission to dump on your friends. This is about positive experiences. Meet up with a friend. Talk about baseball. Play darts. Go home. You should feel better.
• Get some sun. There are multiple studies now that show being in nature helps people with ADHD, AND people with depression. There you go. Two birds with one stone. If you really want to kick it up a notch combing in a hike or walk. Your brain is designed to observe and analyze its environment. will do that a lot more if there is a new, moving environment to observe.

Mindfulness and Negative Self-Talk

I believe in mindfulness, and I believe that the key to mindfulness is some form of meditation or inner exploration. However, I do not recommend going to this well when you are battling negative self-talk. This just gives your brain time to wallow in pity. Do meditate and practice mindfulness, just don’t do it in this case. Wait until you can at least feel good after a deep sigh.

Negative Talk and Beating Yourself Up

A wise woman once said (okay, fine a therapist, but still…) “If beating yourself up worked, it would have already worked by now.”

I like that.

Of course, knowing rationally what to do and think is a lot easier than doing it. It still is hard to go to the gym, not eat the cake, and stick to one serving of mashed potatoes. (Yes, food is my love language. Shut up.) That is the whole point. Assuming you divide your brain up the way I do, you have no control of the back brain or your body. All you can do is control your front brain, but there lies the path to victory.

If you do not feed the negative loops in your head with your front brain, then eventually the other two will give up. Sure, it’s not perfect and sometimes it will take a long while, but beating negative talk is critical to dealing with ADHD and making life better for all your brain parts.

So, write down, “EXERCISE” in your calendar and circle it in read. Set your alarm for 6:30 am maybe once, just this once, when your body is sooooo tiiiiirreed, force yourself up anyway. When your brain complains about how much time being at the gym “wastes” remind yourself that you can put on the latest show that you’ve “been meaning to watch” while you work on the Precor, or bike or whatever. If you can’t think of anything to watch, remind whichever part remembers stuff that you can always watch Eddie play Metallic on top of a motor home in order to rage-attract some demons.

You will never win “for good” but you can get moving in the right direction.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need go rewatch Stranger Things 4.

How To Diagnose ADHD

ADHD used to be called ADD (cue Istanbul not Constantinople by They Might Be Giants). One can use ADD and ADHD interchangeably and everyone will know what you are talking about.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodivergent disorder that affects both children and adults. It is characterized by symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness, which can have a significant impact on a person’s daily life.

Diagnosing ADHD involves a multi-step process that includes an evaluation of symptoms, medical history, and other relevant information. The first step in diagnosing ADHD is to schedule a visit with a doctor or mental health professional who specializes in ADHD.

Medical evaluation

During the initial visit, the doctor will take a detailed medical history, including any previous diagnosis or treatment of ADHD or related conditions. If your current primary care doctor is willing to discuss it with you, you can skip some of the “get to know you,” steps. The doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and their impact on daily life. The doctor may also ask about the presence of other physical or mental health conditions that may be related to or mimic ADHD symptoms. As well, there are some other psychological conditions that are co-morbid with ADHD.

Behavioral assessments

Behavioral assessments are a key part of the diagnostic process for ADHD. These assessments can include standardized questionnaires, rating scales, and observation of the patient’s behavior. The results of these assessments can provide valuable information about the presence and severity of ADHD symptoms, as well as any related behavioral issues.

Most providers use questionnaires that are not subtle. This is where you can decide whether you want to have ADHD, or you do not to have ADHD. (More truthfully, whether you want an ADHD diagnosis or not. You have what you have no matter what the medical chart says.)

Diagnostic criteria

The diagnosis of ADHD is based on the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). The DSM-5 defines ADHD as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with daily functioning.

The DSM-5 is also what changed ADD to ADHD. The committee of authors putting together the DSM-5 were concerned that ADD might be going under diagnosed since a doctor might not come across ADD if they were only looking for indicators of hyperactivity. So, the DSM-5 changed ADD to Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Ironically, adding the H caused years’ worth of children (shout out to GenX) to go underdiagnosed because while they had all the other ADHD symptoms, they were not hyperactive. (shout out to the Predominantly Inattentive Presentation)

To meet the criteria for ADHD, the following symptoms must be present:

1. Inattention: Six or more symptoms of inattention for children up to age 16 years, or five or more for adolescents 17 years and older and adults, which have persisted for at least six months to a degree that is inconsistent with developmental level and that negatively impacts directly on social and academic/occupational activities.
2. Hyperactivity-Impulsivity: Six or more symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity for children up to age 16 years, or five or more for adolescents 17 years and older and adults, which have persisted for at least six months to a degree that is inconsistent with developmental level and that negatively impacts directly on social and academic/occupational activities.

The specific symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity that are used to diagnose ADHD vary depending on the age of the patient. For children, symptoms may include forgetfulness, distractibility, and restlessness. For adults, symptoms may include disorganization, impulsiveness, and difficulty concentrating.

Differential diagnosis

It is important to note that ADHD symptoms can be like those of other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, or a learning disability. Your doctor or psychiatrist may wish to pursue alternative explanations for the symptoms before making an ADHD diagnosis.

Congratulations You Have ADHD

Once you have an ADHD diagnosis you can take it out for a spin. You may be disappointed in the reactions you get. ADHD is not uncommon, and many push the idea that ADHD is over diagnosed. Among your friends, acquaintances, and coworkers you’ll find several who also have ADHD. If not, they know someone who does. You need advice about living with ADHD, but you need good advice. Start with a book or two, or a website like this one (shout out to addessories.com). That will give you a foundation of knowledge to take with you out into the world of essential oils, Hamalian lamps.

That may not sound out there at all, but what if many other mental states are triggered, or even partially triggered by external events? Those of us with ADHD talk about losing our focus or being distracted. These are obviously external events, but what about the ones that aren’t so obvious?

Distracted by Distraction

There have been many studies showing that depression and ADHD are common comorbid conditions. Yours truly probably falls into that bucket. Now, depression we are taught is a continuous state, possibly caused not by stimulus but by brain chemistry. It seems that our brains have a tendency to produce low amounts of serotonin or produce excessive amounts of the chemicals that clean serotonin from the body. Either one results in less serotonin than optimal. This condition may cause depression.

But the brain is nothing if not a reactive beast constantly inundated with so many signals and stimuli that it must frequently block or discard them entirely to function properly. For example, as you sit there, what does your shirt feel like on your back?

If you are like many people, it feels like nothing, and yet the fabric of your shirt is touching your back, and you know that your back can and does feel things. So, how do you explain that your shirt feels like nothing until you bring your attention to it?

Which brings me to my points. First, could ADHD periods of distraction be caused by not properly excluding outside stimuli. Do I, as an adult with ADHD, receive and react to more stimuli about, say the update icon on my WordPress editor, than I should. Should my brain be throwing that away as irrelevant as the feel of the shirt on my back, when instead it draws my eye and my attention and throws me off of my work cataloging cool day trips from Denver for a future project?

Second, if depression is an ongoing constant depleting normal levels of serotonin, could the triggering of ADHD actually be that there is too little serotonin to please the brain about external stimuli, and so, that update icon shoots through where a serotonin pool should have stopped it with a nano-sized splash and bounces instead into my brain where it demands processing?

None of this is scientifically backed. I’ve been sloshing through what may or may not be useful data that in some cases includes various mental health factors. Without math, we see what we want to see, and I see a lot in the data that is not only not causation, but not even correlation.

There. I have typed. My brain should be mine again for at least a while.

Happy Election Day to you who are fellow Americans.

Psst

ADHD Is a Superpower

There is a scene in Top Gun (original, not Maverick) where fighter pilot and training school commander Viper tells Maverick, who was just in a plane crash that killed his copilot and best friend Goose, that he isn’t there, “to blow sunshine up your ass.” I can appreciate that. While there is never a reason to be down on someone, it’s not like there aren’t people in this world with advantages and disadvantages. Or, as Syndrome says in the Incredibles, “When everyone is super, no one is.”

If it makes you feel better to claim ADHD is my superpower, then do it. No one is stopping you. If you want an objective opinion of how ADHD affects people in this world– not how it “should”– then you need to look at both the advantages of ADHD and the disadvantages of ADHD.

The Advantages of ADHD

So, how is ADHD a superpower? It turns out that there are many advantages to ADHD, especially when you are aware of how it affects you and deal with it accordingly. The concept of super focus has been beaten into the ground by the why ADHD is a superpower side.

Super focus is an advantage, sometimes. Unfortunately, many adults with ADHD can’t direct their superfocus. That is, they can’t sit down at a desk and go, “Super focus on this task now.” That just isn’t how most ADHD brains work. If they could, there would be a lot less people out there looking for ADHD treatments and answers. When super focus aligns with your goals, or even just your free time, it is a glorious and wonderful ADHD advantage in life. Stories of ADHDers picking up a new hobby and mastering it in just days because of near constant, dedicated, focus are legendary. So are stories of ADHDers super focusing right through the date they were supposed to go on, pick up time for the kiddos, or even just bedtime.

Other ADHD advantages include the ability to process many streams of thought or data at the same time. The ability to multitask and being able to change activities instantly are all advantages. The ability to get there faster, when you can stay focused on getting there at all.

The Disadvantages of ADHD

Of course, there are plenty of ways ADHD is not a superpower. The inability to keep track of time is a big one that often goes hand and hand with that super focus superpower. Poor organization, inability to follow a conversation, blurting out words in the middle of someone speaking, and forgetting what you were told just minutes ago are all disadvantages of ADHD.

For some (me) the biggest disadvantage of ADHD is procrastination. In some ways, procrastination is the opposite of super focus. Not only are you not focusing on what you need to be, you may be unable to focus on anything. In this case, the ADHD mind rejects any one thing taking over focus for fear that there might be something, more fun, more interesting, or even just shorter than the activity you want to focus on.

Missing meetings, missing deadlines, starting, but never finishing projects are all classic ADHD disadvantages.

Why Is ADHD a Superpower?

There is a need, especially among children to ensure that the various differences between people, including themselves, do not make someone defective. The idea that someone can’t do something goes against human nature, thus it is critical that ADHD is not perceived as a limiting problem.

In many ways this concept is completely valid, but just like someone with poor eyesight may need glasses, or someone with diabetes may need to avoid certain foods, it is important to understand that just because ADHD isn’t a defect, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do anything about it.

Obviously, people with ADHD can and do live in society without any treatment or medication. Indeed, many adults diagnosed with ADHD were only recently diagnosed, after spending decades without any idea. Typically, however, many people find relief in knowing that there is something different about them AND that they can now take steps to manage or understand themselves better.

If you want ADHD to be your superpower, go right ahead, but don’t disregard the options that may be available to you just because of an ideal.

Even people without ADHD have a tendency to bookmark things in order to do them “later.” All too often later never comes. But what about those bookmarks? Was there a Tweet that had an answer to a question you have? Was there a link to something new and amazing? Or was there just a cartoon that made you laugh, and you wanted to share it?

Making Bookmarks Part of Organization

Let’s face it, organization tips for ADHD that you can actually use aren’t all that easy to come by once you collect the easy wins. This one could make a big difference.

It is often said that people with ADHD only understand two kinds of time: now and not now. That’s not 100% true for me. I also have wife will be pissed and wife will get it over it. The point is that bookmarking things for later is good. It means that you resisted the distraction and continued on. That is a solid skill for adults with ADHD. Let’s make sure you get the benefit.

Use your ADHD planner or calendar and mark off a time for you to go back to your bookmarks. Make sure there is some “space” around it. Don’t pick something you know will get scheduled over, and for the love of jeebus, don’t schedule it for the day before a deadline. (You know darn well that you will be using that time to avoid deadlines that you procrastinated on.)

I like to do a whole day, but my schedule doesn’t always allow for that. Like most adults with ADHD procrastination is a big problem for me. Knowing that I’m going to need the time right up until it is time to stop working, or turn in a big project, I schedule my half days for first thing in the morning. That way, the time slot won’t get stomped over by work or family deadlines.

Obviously, this technique works for other things. Notebook Day might be a nice thought. Go back through all of those ideas and thoughts you wrote down only to turn the page and forget all about them.

Do you do something like Bookmark Day? Let me know.

ADHD Mind and Videos

It is easy to make the mistake of thinking all ADD is like your ADD. Hang around long enough and you’ll find that nothing could be further from the truth. Just like some normals learn better by reading, and some learn better by hands on, some ADHDers learn better from reading than video. I’m one of them.

I read fast. Really fast. I used to think I was a fast test taker. Turns out, that I just read the questions faster than anyone else. As someone who reads and retains quickly, I hate video, especially when it could have been an article. I promise I can read your 5,000 words faster than I can listen to you say them to the camera. If that weren’t enough, I’m also a writer. You can about imagine how I feel then, about reading versus watching.

Check out my Plynk reviews.

But, sometimes the world doesn’t cater to you and sometimes the subject matter doesn’t lend itself to standard reading documentation. Whatever the case, sometimes you just have to watch the videos.

ADHD and 2x Speed

You know how training or informational videos work. The people introduce themselves and they tell you what letters they have after their name that proves they are an expert. If there are two of them there is some banter. I don’t think you need to have ADHD to be eye-rollingly bored at that kind of stuff. A fast forward or clicking down the video progress bar is easily done.

By now they have started covering the material and it is STILL not happening fast enough. You could skip or fast forward, but the point of this course is to fill in some gaps in your knowledge. Skipping ahead might mean skipping that information you need. At this point, your ADHD brain is clawing at the insides of your skull begging you to let it out. You pick up your phone, or your pen and paper and suddenly, you’re practicing calligraphy or scrolling and now, you might be missing something, and you don’t even get to skip ahead.

Enter 2X speed.

As someone with ADHD and all kinds of advertising and interface blindness I never paid any attention to the icons down in the corner. Sure, if you told me to look at them I would, and I know close captions is down there if I can’t understand someone, but I never mess with the video settings and I control the volume with my speakers, so you’ll forgive me if I never really paid any attention to that 1x down there.

But, one day while watching some college admissions thing, I sat there as my daughter clicked that 1x and something magical happened. It turns out you can watch online videos at twice the normal speed. And the best part is that most of the time, you can still understand what they are saying. In fact, your ADHD mind is basking in the glow of someone, anyone, finally talking fast enough for your brain.

It doesn’t have to be 2x. Depending on what you are watching, you can do 1.25x or 1.5x, whatever speed keeps your mind behind your eyeballs where it belongs while still letting you follow along. Unlike skipping, you see everything, so nothing slips by, and you still get to finish the video in half the time.

Finding ADHD tricks like this makes living with ADHD better turning it into the oft desired advantage ADHD can be if you can understand it and feed it properly. Try watching your next training or video at 2x speed. You’ll be surprised how little it changes your understanding, but don’t expect miracles. Your brain will soon adapt to 2x speed and find it too slow. So far, none of the things I need to watch offer 3x speed, so don’t chuck that ADHD medication yet.

2x Speed and Accents

There is a funny bit I wanted to relate. I have been watching this one lady’s training course. It’s a series of several videos and I have watched them all on 2x speed. Then, we hit a bit that I wasn’t quite getting. So, I went back and then selected 1x speed. I was shocked to find out she had some sort of Australian or British accent. It turns out that speaking faster eliminates accents.

Who knew?

Are you ready for the best ADHD tip for overcoming ADHD symptoms? It is surprisingly easy, and once you see how this powerful attention deficit disorder tip can be for managing ADHD at work or school, you’ll want to use it all the time.

Is there a catch?

Well, did you see that asterisk up there? That means that there is a catch.

Overcoming Distraction to Get Work Done and Be Most Productive

The key concern when it comes to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is how constant distraction can be overcome in order to be more productive at school, more productive at work, and more productive at home. All the other ADHD symptoms are sort of secondary. If ADDers could just get a handle on increasing productivity in the face of having ADD, everything else would be a little easier to manage. (If you were as productive as you are capable of at work and around the house, do you think it would matter as much that you occasionally tune out or interrupt your spouse during conversations?)

To become more productive and improve your standing at work or improve your grades at school, the person with ADD needs only do just one little thing: keep working.

See, I told you there was a catch.

However, hear me out. For those of us with ADD, the symptom of distractibility is one that keeps us from focusing properly on important tasks. When a major report is due the next day, we find ourselves intrigued by something else entirely. When this happens, there are only two choices. One choice involves using all of the ADHD tips and ADD tools that one can muster to overcome one’s natural tendency to have attention wander from the important tasks at hand, to those of lesser importance, or even no importance at all. The second choice involves just going with the flow or allowing the mind’s attention to wander as it sees fit.

* The Catch: (That asterisk does indeed mean that there is a catch. Typically, it means a footnote, which is where some company uses really small fonts to explain how they are going to screw you over, and therefore cover themselves legally by “disclosing” the information that you need to realize that the whole thing is a scam. Here on Addessories, we have no reason to trick our fellow ADDers, so this explanatory asterisk is in full-size font type.) The catch is that in order to follow the path of least resistance and give into your mind’s typical urges to find ever more interesting things to focus on, you have to keep working longer than you would if you went the other route.

How much longer?

That is the essence of the catch. You have to keep working until you have finished that important task. That major report, or that semester-long project that you just started and is due tomorrow, must be finished before you stop working, whether that takes four hours or thirty-four hours. You’ll find that you are happier along the way, but the destination will end up being much further away than it should have.

Whether or not this is a good ADD trick for you depends entirely on whether you are the type of person with ADD who finds the journey more important than the destination, or whether you are the type of person with ADHD who finds crossing the finish line the most satisfying.

Which one are you?

There are many methods of time management out there for people ADHD. They range from great ideas like Eating That Frog to dumb ones, like blaming everything on perfectionism. The reality, however, is that you are unique, you always were. You were unique before you realized you had ADD, you were unique when you started treating your ADD, and you’re unique now, when you are living with ADHD. It’s not wonder then that other people’s solutions don’t work for you. You need your own unique solutions to living with adult ADHD.

Just because you need to build up your own unique ADHD tips and tricks to get through a life that requires you to things and to do them on a schedule doesn’t mean that other ideas won’t work for you. You just have to find your arrows and load them up in your quiver, metaphorically speaking.

Do One

One method that with my ADHD that I am tinkering around with is the idea of doing one thing. Similar to the concept detailed in Eat That Frog, the idea is to commit to doing one thing from a list of dozens or even hundreds of things. Unlike the eating that frog, where you jump in with the worst, or most dreaded task of the day, I’ve had some success working with my brain instead of trying to force it to do something it doesn’t want.

As I arrive at my desk each morning, or even upon returning from a trip to the coffee pot, or from lunch, I often find that my brain looks around and has one thing that it wants to do. Many times, that one thing is something productive. Rather than trying to save that motivation and harness it later, I jump in with both feet.

My brain feels like finally cleaning up my desk? Let’s clean my desk.

My brain feels like writing that technical writing proposal? Let’s write the proposal.

My brain feels like rescheduling the dentist, ordering my meds, or filling out this month’s writing calendar? Let’s do those things.

My brain feels like writing an article on doing one thing? Hey! Inception!

How To Do One

If I were trying to turn this one idea into a book, as so many time management, and organization self help books are wont to do, I would add a swear word and start writing the 150 pages of backstory, history about myself, and obtaining the epiphany that goes into turning an idea the length of a pamphlet into a 300 page book that you can stick on the shelf at Barnes and Noble (irritation Segway!) A name like Do One Damn Thing! or maybe One F*cuking Thing!

You’ve seen the books. You know what I’m talking about.

Instead, let’s just keep it real among fellow adults with ADHD, or those of you without ADHD who have reached the intelligent conclusion that if it works for people with ADD, imagine how well it would work for someone without ADD.

The secret to how to do one thing is to let yourself. Give yourself permission to do what your brain wants to do. Often, you will find that the one thing is not what you should be doing, or what would the the most productive thing you should be doing. That is okay. You can come back to that thing later. Heck, if if works for you, promise yourself that that will be the very next thing you do.

The point of doing one is to harness your motivation if only for a moment. Finding motivation with ADHD can be really, really, hard. Give yourself permission this one time each day (or a few times, however, you want to use this) to enjoy the motivation. You will find that much like procrastinating forward, doing one thing results in more things being crossed off your ADHD to do list than fighting against it. After all, a list with 30 things on it gets shorter whether you cross off #1 or #28.

Me?

Well, I broke my own rule.

My brain wanted to clean up my workspace and I was going to let it, but then I thought about what I was doing and got distracted (nach) by the thought of writing up an article about using your motivation to do that one thing and here we are. Writing about ADHD when you have ADHD is a nonstop adventure in inception.

Try doing just one thing and let me know how it goes for you.

BTW, I ended up cutting and pasting a bunch of what I originally wrote here into a new article where I have noticed that I can write for clients about the same topics I write about for my own websites much faster. The differing factor that I’m noticing is that I write their stuff in Word and then just send it off to them. Maybe, just maybe, there is something about writing inside of WordPress that stifles my brain or otherwise slows it down.

It might also be that without thinking, even in the back of my head, about linking, SEO, keywords, length, or finding stock photography that my brain just cranks out text further. So, I’m trying something that I am very, very nervous about. I created an “In Progress” folder where I can do the Just One Thing when it is writing something.

My fear, which I’m sure that many of my adult ADHD tribe can relate to is that many “in progress” things end up becoming “never finished” things when our ADHD brains move on. But, I crave more success than I have been having and doing more/getting better requires trying new things, so here we go.

As always, wish me luck. I do the same for you.

This post will be short because, as a follow-up post will show, I have already spent way too much time “off task” today. I haven’t been screwing around, per se, nor have I been wasting my time. Most of the tasks and functions that I have tackled this morning have value and will benefit me in one way or another.

However, as is often the case with focus problems, there are other very important tasks that I should be doing right now instead. In fact, when I sat down this morning there were some “must do” tasks on my plate that have not yet found their way to my fork – metaphorically speaking.

One of these many sideline tasks that have been distracting from important tasks is re-finding, downloading, and installing an old ADHD tool that I used to have on my computer that I forgot about when I did my upgrade to a newer, faster system with Windows 7 installed.

ADHD Tools Timers

One of the tough things to swallow about all the ADHD advice and ADD tools or tricks thrown around is their mind-numbing similarity. After a while of reading about attention deficit disorder and the research being done for ADD, as well as the number self-help books and other books for ADHD, you start to see a lot of the same things mentioned over and over again. Sometimes, that is for good reason. Many of the ADHD tips given by these resources are good ones that are particularly effective. Sometimes, on the other hand, it seems that the conventional wisdom is just being repeated within the mental health community echo chamber and that all innovation in the realm of helping with ADHD symptoms has ceased.

Using a timer is one of the most common suggestions for helping ADHD time management issues. This tip occupies both of the realms mentioned above, being both a good tip, and one so rote as to be wholly unhelpful to many people. Which is why I wanted to pop up a post about one computer-based ADHD tool that has proven helpful for me to some degree.

There is a small Windows utility called Multi-Timer 1.1 which is freeware. The guy who developed it has also written a fancier, nicer looking version, but that one is not free, and as ADHD tools go, sometimes simpler is better.

What makes Multi-Timer so useful for ADHD time management is that it shows multiple timers at once. Obviously, the ADHD mind likes to do more than one thing at a time. Sometimes this stream of multitasking works well, and other times, not so much. Either way, it is very likely that while working, an adult with ADHD will encounter another task that is just as important or more important than the one being worked on. Having multiple timers allows for the original timer to keep running (or be paused) while the timer on the next task starts.

Even more useful, this timer utility allows for both count up and count down timers to be used simultaneously. This provides the ability to both time how long something takes, as well as provide a time structure for something that should take a certain amount of time. By default, Multi-timer displays 10 timers at once and each time can be selected individually via a tab. I like to set the 5 timers on the right side to my most common count down timer periods. For example, I have 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 5 minutes, and 1 hour as my count down timers. (The last timer is the one I use for variable times like 25 minutes if I need that for some reason.)  I use the timers on the left as my count up timers, starting one for each change of task or setting as appropriate.

Ironically, some of the best ADHD help comes not from the timers themselves, but from seeing the timer application on the screen counting down (or counting up) and become embarrassed, upset, or disturbed by what is showing on the timer. This can be a stunningly effective way to refocus. Imagine that you have a writing project that should take 30 minutes. You start a timer and hammer away. Later, you get distracted by other tasks. Eventually, you close enough windows that the timer shows through, and you notice that the time spent on the task so far is 55 minutes. This can make you stop looking for that Jim Croce song you just remembered you love so much and get back to finishing the writing, because you aren’t going to let it go over 1 hour!

Try downloading the timer and see if it works for you. Often the toughest part of using it is remembering to start it up in the first place and then remembering to trigger the timers themselves. Even so, it may work just often enough to make your days more productive.

I’m a computer guy from way back. Before I jumped ship to be a financial planner, I was probably one of the top Microsoft Server administrator/engineer guys around. Since then, I’ve dug into writing, but I still can code just about anything and when the situation suits, I can honestly call myself a web developer.

But, for the most part, I ignore all of the shiny new things the tech industry spits out. When you live through Pets.com unironically, you tend to get the old wait and see on. I joined Facebook way after everyone else and only stayed because friends from high school and family members were on there. I have my privacy set to friends only and the only friends I have are people who would honestly want to see pictures of my kids.

I do Twitter but mostly to blurt into the void. Technically, I’m trying to build an audience but I’ve never tried hard. I still don’t use GitHub (I work alone, dammit) and I finally got into TikTok as a way to pass the time while I wait for my kiddos to finish “staying to support the team.”

GPT-3

But, I started seeing tweets about GPT-3.

Whatever.

I’ve seen / heard AI before.

But, he’s doing this…

And she’s doing this…

And it can…

Needless to say, I found the GPT-3 and I’ve been devouring tutorials and what documentation there is. I tried to find books but it’s too new.

Oh, and I’m supposed to be working.

But, it looks like I can get it to do this…

See ya down the rabbit hole.

Hee hee!

The GPT-3 AI playground wrote this:

What about ADHD and learning AI? There is no known link between ADHD and AI. However, people with ADHD may be more likely to be interested in learning AI because of their natural curiosity and tendency to be analytical.