3 Tactics to Solve the Organizing & Time Management Challenges of ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a complex condition affecting adults and children in a variety of ways. Some of the common characteristics include:

• inattention involves difficulty sustaining attention to task, attending to details, organizing spaces and tasks, etc.
• hyperactivity includes fidgeting and related activities
• impulsivity, such as interrupting

In our crazy-busy society, many people have some characteristics of ADHD and have made a self-diagnosis. In reality, ADHD can only be diagnosed by a qualified professional. Many specialists use a questionnaire and interview format that takes several hours. Some professionals also use a battery of neuropsychological tests for diagnosis.

Since there isn’t a blood test for ADHD, information the doctor will request includes:

• Are the behaviors part of a long-standing pattern?
• How frequently are the symptoms displayed?
• Are the behaviors consistent across multiple settings?
• Can the behaviors be corroborated by others?
• To what extent do the symptoms impact a person’s functioning in their personal and professional or scholastic lives?

As you can imagine, there are many myths surrounding ADHD. A few of them include:

• If the person would put in more effort, everything would be fine.
• Medication is the only way to treat ADHD.
• Children outgrow ADHD as they age.

In reality, ADHD is a family of neurobiological disorders that affect your executive functions.

With all the information (and misinformation), people who have ADHD, or are affected by ADHD, experience high levels of frustration. It goes something like this:

“I don’t understand why…

I never get anything finished.” People diagnosed with ADHD are prone to begin projects and have difficulty completing them. This happens for a variety of reasons, the most prominent is boredom. It’s exciting to start something new, but sustaining the motivation to finish the project is another matter altogether.

How do you get around this problem? Here are several suggestions:

• Joint project? Be the idea person who gets things started, and assign someone else to be the completion person.
• Break it down. Divide the project into smaller tasks. Reward yourself as each part is finished.
• Keep it exciting. Purchase limited quantities of new supplies for different portions of the project. Maybe new post-it notes for one part and new highlighters for another.
• Plan breaks. If you work for 50 minutes and take a 10 minute break, it allows your mind to refresh and the task may not seem as tedious.

I can’t get organized.” My first question is “what does organized look like to you?” Your vision of “organized” may differ from someone else’s. In which case, the methods you use to get organized will be distinct as well.

Second, someone with ADHD is drawn to colors, fun, and brainstorming. Maintenance doesn’t fit this description! While setting up systems is exciting, keeping them up is boring. So you need to create fun but simple systems to organize your stuff. You also need to establish a strategy for upkeep. That plan might include delegating the maintenance piece, devising a game to help with upkeep, or developing a reward system when you manage your space well.

Third, “traditional” organizing systems may not work well for you. As such, it might be difficult for you to read a book and implement ideas, or use methods that work for friends or colleagues. Instead, your sources for organizing approaches will be ADHD websites and professionals such as coaches or organizing experts who specialize in working with people with ADHD.

Everything takes longer to complete than I expect.” This might be because you don’t consider how much work a project involves, so you plan very limited time for it’s completion. This could be because while you account for the various facets of a project, you mis-estimate how long each step will take.

So how do you bypass these issues?

• Ask “what occurs next?“ when breaking a project into tasks. A related query is “how does <this> happen?” This is a cue to help you determine when a phase is missing. Asking questions throughout the planning process makes it less likely that you’ll overlook steps.
• Think time-and-a-half. If you estimate that an activity will take 30 minutes, plan for 45 minutes. You’ll find something to do if you end up with an extra 15 minutes! Remember to set a timer. If the job takes the whole 45 minutes, then you are still on schedule.
• Arrange “white space” in your schedule. If your day is completely booked from start to finish, you have no wiggle room when something unexpected occurs (and it will). Therefore, you need to have undesignated time in your day. So your schedule might look something like this:
  • 8:00am email
  • 8:30am Project A (if you are a morning person, this should be your highest priority for the day)
  • 9:20am short break
  • 9:30am Project A continued
  • 10:20am short break
  • 10:30am Project B
  • 11:20am break
  • 11:30am “white space” which can be used to finish up Project A or B or can be used to address emails or voicemails of importance
  • 12:00pm lunch

Being informed and intentional are the best way to thrive with ADHD.

Still stumped by some of the challenges ADHD creates? You’ll receive my ADHD Organizing & Productivity Resources when you complete this form.