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Keeping a scrub daddy and shower cleaner in the shower. The only time I remember it’s dirty is while I’m in there. Similarly, I keep a toothbrush in the shower and one on the sink. Same with floss. As well as a garbage can reachable from the shower so empty bottles don’t sit in there for WEEKS.
Oh! I have see through glass jars in the bathroom for things like reusable face cloths, q tips etc. That’s not the hack (but clear makes it easy to see), the hack is that the big one is full of cleaning rags so I don’t have to go find something to clean with.
If you have pets and you feed them on a regular schedule, plan something you need to do for yourself at that time as well. They won’t let you forget to feed them, they’re going to be really annoying about it, and then you’re already up so you might we well do the thing.
I have a job working with teams to improve processes. I think a lot about waste and efficiencies, what end users will actually do or adopt, making things easier / faster, etc. Now I think about these things all the time in daily life, apply them to my ADHD, and iterate endlessly:
- If I put a thing I need to do a thing I hate behind another thing, I’m guaranteed not to dig it out. Tetris the things so the limiting thing is easy to grab. I.e., watering can, vacuum
- If I need a thing for multiple tasks or multiple locations and keeping misplacing the thing or not wanting to go get the thing, get more things and put them in all the places. I.e., gloves, sponges, tools
- Figure out what I need to do the thing I don’t want to do as efficiently as possible. I.e., Good sponges and scrubbers for dishes, vacuum that is easier to pull out/put away
Also, radical acceptance of the things that are limiters.
- High sensory levels and distaste for dampness- gloves for dishes, gloves for gardening, gloves for cleaning
- Not going to put all my clothes away consistently ever, design a dresser situation that supports clothes piling without blocking access to drawers
Amphetamines
I’m in France and we still don’t have amphetamines. We have methylphenidate.
I wish we had better :(
Being accountable to someone. Also my least favorite ADHD lifehack.
most effective answer, and therefore the one i most avoid
I feel personally attacked.
I mainly struggle with the executive dysfunction part. I found that preparing anything at all helps, even just opening the document I need to write on another screen will mean that whenever my attention next detaches from whatever else I’m doing, I will automatically latch onto what I’m supposed to do as the next thing.
This is the only way I managed to make progress on my bachelor’s thesis.
Ok but this is so smart! I’m gonna try this.
I do what I call “productive procrastination”.
I allow myself to procrastinate by doing something else instead that’s also necessary to do.
Of course, “necessary” is a slippery term.
But what definitely doesn’t fall under it is doom-scrolling, day-drinking and wikipedia rabbit holes.This actually lets me be pretty productive throughout the day, as long as I have tasks I can push back endlessly.
Like, I haven’t brought my finances and investments in proper order in over 10 years.
Which probably cost me a 5-digit amount in lost profit over that time frame.
But I’m fortunate enough to not feel it and accept things like this as my ADHD tax.
It would take a couple hours, but would involve decisions and it never becomes urgent.yes this is the way!
If you really like doing something such as watching a new episode of your series on YouTube, but hate something else like exercising, combine the two. Only watch that series, while exercising. Then you’ll start looking forward to the exercise because you get to watch your series.
This is how I do laundry. My washer and dryer both conveniently take ~55 minutes to run a cycle, which also happens to be almost the exact runtime of most hour-long shows. Or like three episodes of a 24 minute show. So I combine the two; I watch TV while doing laundry.
Episode gets done? Check the dryer to see if it’s done. That way the clothes don’t just sit there for hours and wrinkle. Get all the loads done and out of the dryer, and laid flat on my couch and ottoman. Then I’ll take an episode or two to just throw hangers on everything. Get it all nicely sorted how it’s going to go in the closet. Then focus on socks and underwear, which have accumulated in a pile. Once everything is completely done and sorted, putting it away takes no time at all. And it doesn’t feel as much like a chore, because I’m just watching TV while doing it. And the important part is that I use the episodes as a timer, not as a distraction.
This is how I do laundry. My washer and dryer both conveniently take ~55 minutes to run a cycle, which also happens to be almost the exact runtime of most hour-long shows. Or like three episodes of a 24 minute show. So I combine the two; I watch TV while doing laundry.
Episode gets done? Check the dryer to see if it’s done. That way the clothes don’t just sit there for hours and wrinkle. Get all the loads done and out of the dryer, and laid flat on my couch and ottoman. Then I’ll take an episode or two to just throw hangers on everything. Get it all nicely sorted how it’s going to go in the closet. Then focus on socks and underwear, which have accumulated in a pile. Once everything is completely done and sorted, putting it away takes no time at all. And it doesn’t feel as much like a chore, because I’m just watching TV while doing it.
That’s actually genius. Imma try that.
This strategy is known as “temptation bundling.” It’s a thing. Amusingly, I learned about this because I was doing it (mowing the lawn + my favorite podcast.)
https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/temptation-bundling/
Reading, thank you. Always down for a podcast rec too!
I learned about it on No Stupid Questions, a podcast by Stephen Dubner, the guy behind Freakonomics, and Angela Duckworth, who wrote “Grit.” I linked to Character Lab, which is/was a nonprofit by Duckworth and others at UPenn.
Katy Milkman, who coined the term temptation bundling, is a behavioral economist at Penn and often collaborates with Angela Duckworth. I also recommend Milkman’s recent book: “How to Change.”
Thank you!
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Alarms and timers for everything.
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Custom sounds for phone to be 10dB higher than normal, to ensure I hear them and don’t just block it out as noise.
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Putting things that need taking care of later somewhere visible, like my laundry directly in front of my bedroom door so I have to do something with it just to open the door.
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Having autism, too, so the ADHD problems just naturally balance out.
Putting things that need taking care of later somewhere visible
That can work but also can lead to tons of clutter.
Yup! And you can get where you’ll step right over the garbage that needs taking out as you go outside and not even notice.
Where exactly does this ‘balance out’ part supposed to work? Cause that sure would be nice
For example My autism wants me yo keep doing the same things and stick to a routine, my adhd wants me to keep trying new things. Not everyone’s ND is the same ofc.
Putting things that need taking care of later somewhere visible
And that is why the Christmas wrapping tote is still sitting in the hallway.
not too many alarms, though, otherwise they become noise
I was like “somebody likes lists more than me!” and in the last point, “ah, yes, just like me :)”
Timers are probably the sole reason I have a smart watch.
Different alarm sounds for different activities. E.g. shower alarm sounds like a shower running.
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Noise canceling headphones and white/background noise or music. Rather than true “white noise” I prefer deeper stuff like cosmic or other low wavelength noise.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Mynoise has tons of free soundscapes of all kinds, they’re all customizable with sliders with different sound tracks, and the different sound tracks never terminate at the same time, so there’s never a jarring loop. And there’s even more if you donate any amount, even just one time.
I use this a lot. Usually rain spunds, but when I’m feeling spry I also like video game sound tracks and atmospheric black metal.
Where do you find “cosmic noise”?
Youtube. I used to have a front end that would allow the phone to lock while playing but that broke so I just raw dog it now.
Don’t punish yourself for not succeding in something, punish yourself for not putting the effort
What if I’m not successful in putting in the effort?
Doesn’t matter, try as hard as you can even if you are procrastinating, try to stop and do something, it’s hard for normal people and even harder for us
Loud, energizing music will calm you by feeding a steady stream of dopamine.
Sadly this is also why I can fall asleep at a party after a coffee.
If you’re trying to do thing A but your brain can’t stop thinking about thing B, take out a notebook and write down all your current thoughts on thing B. Trust yourself that when you get back to it, you will be right where you left off. Then do thing A.
For example, trying to work on a paper but you can’t stop thinking about the season finale of your favorite show you just watched.
Doesn’t always work but helps a lot.
Then do thing A.
Hahaha, thanks that’s so easy!
Haha, you’re right. I guess I should have written “then try to do thing A”.
Hahaha thing A who?
nope… not until I’m almost but not quite done with thing B. THEN I’ll leave B unfinished and go back to thing… wait, what about thing C?!
I live and die by my pocket notebook and phone calendar.
My kids do “the board”, write a checklist for the morning on a whiteboard.
I use the heck out of the phone calendar, and set alarms in both home system and work computer to make me stop and focus.
A “we have food for” list on the refrigerator.
To some extent, just aligning my schedule to fit my better hours, which are in the afternoon. I don’t go to work so early, because I’m kind of useless before lunch anyway.
If you feel like you’re struggling to accomplish a task, take a moment to think about your stimulation level. Are you understimulated or overstimulated? Sometimes just acknowledging it is enough, everyone has their own techniques.
For example, if I’m trying to work and I’m understimulated, I might throw on some metal music or something like that. If I’m overstimulated, probably means I should sit in a dark room for 5 or 10 minutes until I feel better before trying to do anything.
