When I was doing a bit worse than now, my lists would be rather interesting. For example, instead of saying 'laundry', it would say sort, wash, dry, fold, put away laundry. Then at the end of the evening I could strike off 4 or 5 items and feel pretty good about it. It's important to me to see that I really did something, anything.
Now the list will say something like laundry 1, 2, and 3, so I can mark off a number when I finish a load.
I have to put opening of the mail on my list. I usually put off opening my mail for up to a week. That shows my level of performance as well as the importance of putting it on my list. I truly despise the fact that mail comes nearly every single day. That's the sweetest part of a Federal holiday.
Some things have to be done by somebody, and sometimes that's me.
I agree with the huge gaping holes that are left my the majority of ADHD self help books. I am pretty much resigned to the fact that 95% of any self help book is not going to work for me as an individual. The things that work for me are really odd.
In my universe:
Setting goals: "Setting goals" is not really the right term. I would say, "apply large amounts of stubbornness in a short period of time." Then I set my watch alarm, my bedroom alarm, or find some other time limit to keep me focused. I refuse to sit down, talk to anybody or take a break until it gets finished. When all else fails, "You can't eat until you get it done." generally gets results. When I am finished, I appologize to anybody who happened to get in my way and give myself a treat.
Break projects and tasks down into simpler steps: For some reason ADHD makes simple tasks keep growing and growing.
For example: I need to vacuum the living room. But first I have to pick up the newspapers on the floor and take them outside to the recycle bin. On my way to the recycle bin, I grab a couple of empty bottles too, but there are a few left, so I make a second trip. Then I come back inside and I get out the vacuum cleaner, but the beater brush is full of dog hair. So I get out the tools to clean it. After that, I realize that I still need to pick up a bunch of bags that I just dropped when I got in from the store, so I go put that stuff away. Then I realize there are mud stains tracked in by the dogs, so I spray spot cleaner on them. By this time, I have been attempting to vacuum for an hour, I need a break. Then I may or may not actually get to the vacuuming.
SOLUTION: JUST VACUUM! Vacuum around the newspaper with the dog haired beater brush, vacuum around the groceries, leave the spots where they are. Make a list of those other things if you have to, and put the actual vacuuming at the bottom. The list is a task broken down into smaller pieces. Vacuuming does not actually involve 20 other tasks. This concept is hard for us.
Here is a book that has helped me a lot though I still have far to go: Getting Things Done, by David Allen. The focus is different. It's about identifying the "next action" -- not planning the whole unbearably complicated oh-f**k-it-I'm-watching-TV-instead thing. Also, check out this "procrastination hack" -- http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack -1025/ . [QUOTE=lateralcheese]When I was doing a bit worse than now, my lists would be rather interesting. For example, instead of saying 'laundry', it would say sort, wash, dry, fold, put away laundry. Then at the end of the evening I could strike off 4 or 5 items and feel pretty good about it. It's important to me to see that I really did something, anything.
Now the list will say something like laundry 1, 2, and 3, so I can mark off a number when I finish a load.
I have to put opening of the mail on my list. I usually put
off opening my mail for up to a week. That shows my level of
performance as well as the importance of putting it on my list. I
truly despise the fact that mail comes nearly every single day.
That's the sweetest part of a Federal holiday.
Our lists would look very similar I think. For laundry -wash, dry,
put away , wash, dry, put away, wash, dry, putaway -(more than
one load) Same reason, I can mark them off faster? Counters
in the kitchen are 1,2,3, Then there is the lists of lists
I need to make. NO mail, that's ok, but any holiday is stressful!
Some things have to be done by somebody, and sometimes that's me.
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