Go to dayoneapp.com/struthless and use the code struthless to get a limited-time offer of a two-month free trial with Day One Journal Premium :) p.s.: hope ya liked the video! curious as to people's favourite adhd workaround ideas, and lmk if i should make a deep dive on any of them :) cam xoxo
Would you be willing to deep dive on AI use for this kind of thing? I've been thinking recently about how useful an "AI secretary" will be in the future and I'd love to start doing that today. I know it can be a controversial topic, and I don't like generative AI myself, but the tech exists, I may as well get some use out of it.
The Reverse Pomodoro for when you're struggling with a task. Attack it like a ninja for 5 minutes, then spend 25 mins in "recovery." Makes it so much less threatening, you can actually make progress.
Yes I love this, I do this for house work!!!! I find that sometimes when I start I'm keen to keep going, but I make sure that I only go into it being fully accepting that I ONLY have to do 5 minutes. And that way, IF I continue, it's fully my choice 😄
One of my life mottos when I'm stuck in a perfectionist-procrastination loop is "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." Or, same rule different wording, "It's better to half-ass often than to whole-ass occasionally." So while "anything worth doing is worth doing well" has its place in my life, when I'm stuck, I remind myself that it's also worth doing poorly. Floss *one* tooth. Clean *a tiny part* of the mirror. Sometimes I keep going. Sometimes I don't. But my mirrors (and teeth) are a lot cleaner than when I thought I had to make the mirror spit-shine perfect, and floss my teeth so well I made dental hygienists jealous.
THIS^^ !! This has helped me so much in the past year or two. Cleaning my room has become so much easier when I can just focus on clearing off my desk one day, cleaning off a chair another day, cleaning my closet when I have a burst of energy. Then you realize at some point "Oh my god it's working!" and you're motivated to do more. I'm actually about half way through making a video game and writing a book thanks to this.
I love that! Come to think of it, I only use that dadcore "worth doing well" phrase at the eeeeend of tasks, but never at the beginning... damn! My starting mantra is closer to the sentiment "start like shit 💅✨️ "
My favorite meta-hack is this: with ADHD, no system or technique will help you forever. Our brains want novelty. I'm no longer stressed when GTD stops working for a bit, or I fall off of journaling, or pomodoros stop giving me focus. I just grab another trick from the bag and do that for a while instead.
100% agree with this! The key is to have a bunch of tools in your tool belt so that when one stops working, you switch to another. This is a great meta-hack.
I picked up the phrase "'should' is a 'could' with guilt". Saying things like "I could draw something" is a lot more likely to get me going (and feeling good about it!) than "I should draw something" ^-^
This one made me really sad really quickly and literally one of the main reasons why I have wanted to end my life for so long now, and each day think about it... The only thing that I made really a part of my life and do quite regularly and consistently is weight lifting/exercise. It's a great habit to have, but it's not something I can make money out of. I in general like going jogging, but the place I live in now is really not great at all for that. In general the area is meh and it's maybe just a mile (if that actually) away from a huge sewage treating facility. So if they are working full capacity and the wind is blowing the right way, running becomes just that much more fun... Also I live right in the path of airplane take-off/landing path, which to some people might not be a problem, but it's another drain on my sensory system.
@@misanthrophex 😥 Have you though about not leaving from home to run? I drive over to a local park to walk around on the paths. Being outside is so much better than a gym. I'm older, slower and tottery anyway but other folks run in my park. I COULD walk around my neighborhood but even though it adds an extra half hour of time the park is better and I feel more interested there. I also feel safer in the park. I started walking after back surgery in my 20s. So I made a rule, on a day that met walking conditions, no blizzards, hurricanes or temps below 15F, I had put the shoes on and walk to where the apartment complex entry drive meets the road, about .20 miles. (I was a road walker then, young enough to survive a jump off into the ditch if things got scary.) If I made it that far and I still didn't want to go farther I could turn around and go home. I only turned around twice in about four years.
My niche ADHD life hacks: 1: get a clothing steamer so you can easily get wrinkles out of clothes when you inevitably forget to fold them but then have something important to go to. 2. Use deli containers for food and meal prep, they all have the same size lid despite being different sizes, they're stackable and they're cheap enough that if you forget to clean one out you can just throw it away. 3. Only worry about organizing the things you need for day to day life. If you try to organize everything you're going to fail. Organize the things you need for day to day and everything else can go into a junk drawer and you can worry about it later. 4. organize things visually. hang things on your walls with hooks, pegboard etc. I can't remember to put things back in drawers but storing stuff on my wall I can instantly see when something is not where it is supposed to be. 5. shop at yard sales. Yard sales are so cheap you can impulse buy stupid shit without breaking the bank or feeling ashamed, plus you never know what you're going to find so every shopping trip is like a treasure hunt.
I do most of these on the regular. Totally agree these work. I'll have to look into the clothing steamer though. My grandma is always worried about my clothes being wrinkled. Usually I just assume no one is going to care because I can't be bothered, but if there's a quick fix out there that'd be nice.
a really cool thing for #1 as well if you're like me and will just forget about the clothing steamer after buying it is to hang your outfits in the bathroom whilw you're taking a hot shower, it won't be as effective as a dedicated clothing steamer but it will diminish the most obvious wrinkles
I’d replace the plastic with glass on second tip, as they get super nasty and are a waste, but definitley having the same size helps out neurotic brains haha. Silicone moulds that are used for meal prep are also amazing. They have perfect sizes for 1-2 cups and are rectangle size to stack neatly
Mine: 1) If you really absolutely have to do something now, write it on a slap bracelet (from the 90s) in dry erase marker. You can't take it off until you're done. Super motivating to finish! 2) I have so many interests, so to keep myself from totally jumping ship all the time, I do "classes" (I happen to be in circus classes that use a six-week schedule, so I just follow that timing) and I get to pick 2-3 things to do that session. I try to pick 1 piece/type of media, 1 artistic hobby, and 1 movement hobby to keep it balanced. 3) I keep a 3-song playlist of my current "on repeat" songs (yes it's sometimes just the same song three times) and if I need to, say, fold laundry, I make myself a promise that I only have to do it until those three songs are over. It's shocking how little time it actually takes to fold the laundry vs. how much mental energy I put toward not doing it.
Addition to no.3, I would spend ages making the playlist to accompany the task, but now I use spotify's AI feature (beta). Something like "make a 15 minute playlist of my most played songs from the last month" and spotify makes it for me, it stops me spiralling into a playlist mode
my most recent hack is telling myself "What if I do ____" instead of "I HAVE to do _____" It takes away this sense of doom if I don't do the thing, and I engage the curious part of my brain instead. I also found it gives me a small boost of thrill like I just tricked my brain into thinking "OH! What WOULD happen if I did that??"
I like that! I conditioned myself to thinking "I want to do ___" instead of "I have to do ___", which already helps a lot ('coz really, I dont *have* to take out the trash, I *want* to take it out because I don't want my apartment to smell bad, it's a choice). I'll try out yout method as well, I feel like this could work for me!
Yes I do this! I ask "what happens when I...?" And it's awesome for creative block. What happens when I ..mess around with crayons, set a timer for 10 mins of drawing, try to draw this lion, try to improvise knitting? If I'm dissatisfied w the results, at least I know I've successfully answered my question and Found Out What Happens
A narrow rolling cart is game changer. I can have a water bottle, a snack, chargers and whatever hobby related stuff (crochet as of now) and just move it around with me from dining room to bed to couch to random middle of hallway. The cart is THE horizontal surface I will place things on which keeps the rest of the house clean-ish and I don't forget stuff in every room. Also I do put on an aperon when cleaning, (all my supplies are in a basket I can carry) putting on "my little housemaid costume" keeps me on task as it's a constant reminder of what I was doing. - Plus no worries about my clothes getting icky.
And then you can put anything you find in one room that belongs in a different room in the pocket of the apron, instead of walking it into the other room and then abandoning the thing you were cleaning for whatever is now in front of you.
@@krgh8747 this is along the same lines as a tidy tote. Space in the middle to put things that belong in other rooms, keeping your favorite cleaning supplies in it as well. Focusing on one room at a time, not flitting from space to space.
Re: Get a library card. FULLY agreed! I've been using the library instead of just buying books when the impulse hits me, and it's so helpful for my bank account as well as getting me to actually read the book I am interested in instead of leaving it on a shelf for years and years.
Most libraries these days have so much more than books. If you explore the local library you might find they also have sewing machines and tools you can borrow, a garden seed bank, free access to Rosetta Stone to learn a language, a computer center with a proctor who can help you if you get stuck on something technical, social events like book signings or readings or poetry clubs, to name a few that I have found. Its worth exploring the possibilities.
Gives you access to BorrowBox and Libby which are both great for Audiobooks with the latter being able to sync with your eReader if that's your preferred way to read.
I got a library card, and the first book I checked out using it was "Taking Charge of Adult ADHD" by Russell A Barkley, PhD. I haven't finished it in the first 3 weeks that I had it and I renewed it which is peak ADHD but I'm working on myself.
A job worth doing is worth doing well - this has been a major freeze point for me. If I can’t do it well I won’t do it at all. “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” Has been an extremely liberating counter perspective
Once I learned that I can do things without it having to be perfect it was much easier to get started 😊 before then there were soooooooo many things that just never got done because I never even started 😢
I put off doing things unless I think I can do the whole massive thing in one go and do it well, but I had a shift in perspective recently when my mother came to visit. She's an avid gardener, and I had moved into a new place about 4 months prior to her visit. I had grand ideas about the garden I wanted to create, but in that time I hadn't done anything because the state of the garden was nightmareish and I thought I would have to devote an entire weekend to clearing out the weeds, making the soil nice and workeable, actually planting things, etc... When my mother arrived, she wanted to get cracking on part of it, and my natural response was 'we don't have the time to do the whole thing though'. She basically said 'so what?' And I realised I didn't have an answer. Planting half a garden would be better than never planting a garden. So we did what we could whilst she was visiting, and the following weekend I finished the job because I had momentum. The whole experience really made me rethink the many, many things I put off under the guise of needing to find the perfect moment where I would have enough time and energy to do the entire thing perfectly in one go. And now when I fall into the familiar trap of 'everything or nothing', I remind myself that 'something is better than nothing'. Half a garden is better than no garden.
This is an amazing mind shift - I too am a new gardener and in my head it was going to be the most amazing garden but the physical reality of prep and then overwhelm has meant I do very little.
I've realized something like that myself fairly recently. I spent months trying to perfect a website sequence with a whole invisible workflow for each step in the process in hopes of maximizing sales. It turned out ok but really drained my batteries, took way too much time, left me feeling mentally overwhelmed and fragmented a fairly simple process into hundreds of different micro-concerns that took away my focus from the main objectives. I don't expect you to understand the ins and outs of that process but the point is that I tried building something way too complicated for my skill level (at the time) and almost destroyed my drive to continue in that line of work. What I realized after that was to just start small with the necessities, keep things simple, and refine it later after looking at it and seeing what's missing or what areas need improvement. Even after losing money on this project, I felt a tremendous weight lift after realizing this. To make it even more simple, I'll remember your story and adopt your saying "Half a garden is better than no garden". Thanks for sharing!
This might not be an obscure hack, but I love 'follow the dopamine'. The concept of not having to struggle through the hard/guilt stuff before being 'allowed' to do something you actually want to do is having a major impact on my life, and it turns out that yes, once I'm going, the hard tasks become way more doable and I get both done! I'm autistic, but most of my friends have ADHD, so bonus: Tell your ADHD friends that you love them, that you appreciate them, remind them of fun things you did together or suggest/bring something they enjoy! They will forget, and reminding them of the good mental 'out of mind' stuff is one of the most powerful boosts I found.
Countdown timers! I’m a freelance artist and do basically all my work on my iPad, so I’ve got a little widget set to tell me how many days left til each deadline. Because of the way ADHD messes with a sense of time I find it a lot easier to see a constant reminder that I have X number of days left, rather than just seeing a deadline on my calendar at some point in the future, especially if it’s several weeks away when you first get it. Also, buy things in bright colours. I WILL put my headphones down somewhere stupid, but it’s a lot easier to notice em when they’re turquoise rather than black or white.
I have countdown timers on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. They’re always reminding me and always keeping me aware of time so I can manage my time better. I call it “time awarenagement”. If I forget to set my countdown timers, my day is a trainwreck.
If a countdown timer isn't an option: multiple entries! When I used a paper planner, major assignments would have a two entries in advance of the actual deadline.
Instead of asking "Why can't I..?" asking "What is preventing me from..?" also adding or removing a layer. Often my concentration is hurt more by being a bit too cold or hot and it isn't until it becomes unbearable and I change my clothes that I realize how much it was adding to the struggle. Finally, I put tons of extra things in my phone/calendar, people's ages, siblings names, the full details of events including when need to leave, where and when everything is happening, maybe even what I am going to wear, even notes to my future self: "A lot of old traumas come up this time of year, be gentle with yourself", "The holidays are going to take more time than you remember" etc. The seconds of focus that takes at the time reaps huge rewards later when I do it.
"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" is a go-to at work; if I try to speedrun an assembly it's usually shaky with room for error, but if I take time to actually process what I'm building it goes much faster with fewer (or no) mistakes
same. My biggest mistake is when I don't feel like doing work but take pills thinking they'll make me realise work is important. Instead I called my friends and family better than anyone has ever called their friends and family
I spent years chasing the dragon of mental clarity from the first time I took meds not realising that they were working the whole time, I just wasn't directing them.
I appreciate the acknowledgement that things like "Gamify your tasks" "Get a planner" "set alarms" etc. are suggested everywhere... And from my personal experience and talking to other ADHDers, not very effective.
I read this as "glamify" your tasks, and just discovered a new tagline for a hack I've been subconsciously using - make your tasks more glamouruos! Need to write a report that you're not excited about? Dress up, tidy your space, light a candle, put your best playlist on, prepare your favourite snacks, etc... basically make every other aspect of yourself and your environment while doing the task as glamourous/enjoyable as possible. "Glamify your tasks" is going into my tagline toolkit!
He didn’t say they don’t work, he said we all know about them which also isn’t true. Gamify your life and set alarms work great. If they don’t work, people aren’t doing them, especially using Google calendar for a planner and setting alarms. I never forget anything because I put it in my Google calendar as soon as I know I have something to do. Like I tell people - If it’s not in my calendar, it forms exist. And I set 3 alarms for every appt, which stresses me out by the last alarm and I actually leave the house.
@@serenityjewel great! Glad those things work for you. You'll notice I wrote "From my personal experience" in my post, thus indicating that the post was about my experiences, which are different from yours.
@@TotemsMcGee Yep, you did, and then you added “and talking to other ADHDers, not very effective”, which is a blanket statement that brought in other people and generally negates the benefits of those techniques. My comment is for other people with ADHD who might read your comment and think those techniques don’t work at all, or aren’t worth trying, when the techniques are being suggested by people with ADHD because they do work for them and a lot of us. If none of the techniques he recited in that extremely long list work, then the person might not actually be doing them, especially taking into account many people with ADHD love new ideas but struggle with ego (“yeah, I haven’t tried it but I know that won’t work for me”) and/or implementation (“I’ll try it at some unknown date in the future.”)
One of mine that's been helping that I sort of got from another video was that understanding building a habit with ADHD takes wayyyyy longer than other people. So once it does start getting easier, don't think "ah I've done it. I can mentally let go now because I have made this habit" it's a _trap_ and you have to keep pushing even when you hit that point lol
Something that had worked well for me: Use public transport to get to work. It has helped me "transition" my mind from "work mode" to "home mode", becomes an integrated form of exercise, has helped my morning routine (if I miss the bus, I'll be late!!) and gives me some downtime while my meds kick in. Not to mention, financial savings, reduced stress AND.... you can't get a speeding ticket in a bus as a passenger! ;)
Less a hack, more a perspective shift. My favourite tagline is "Death to the Should". Especially early in my diagnosis, I consciously tried to notice where "should" was popping up in my writing or mental talk. It gave me space to stop, examine *why* I should x, y, z thing, and eventually spot a bunch on ingrained ableist assumptions about the "correct" way to do things. Freeing myself from the Should has opened up a lot more space to do things in a way that works for my brain.
borrowing your tagline because my therapist told me to notice how often I think about 'how I should feel' or 'how I should be doing things' and it's been so eye-opening how I have been overparenting myself to somehow magically become neurotypical.
An addendum to the library card life hack, which I super love by the way! Our libraries in the US most all have online borrowing where you can get e-books or audio. I pretty much only borrow this way because if I forget to return what I borrowed they automatically get taken back- no late fees! I could have practically bought our entire library before this was an option with my late fees!
If your local library does not offer this or something else you are interested in but one farther away does, you can often just pay a low annual fee to join if you live outside their zone.
Adding a bunch of stuff in Libby really lands the same way as online shopping! You look for the thing, you find the thing, you add the thing - maybe you get it straight away, maybe you have to wait for 'delivery' but it's the hunt-and-discovery for me!
Dressing more presentable and less bed rot is real for sure. In the book "The War of Art" the author likens the creative process to courting a muse. Clean your space, dress nice, comb your hair... and creativity (and better living in general) is more likely to visit you. Sitting down to draw or paint (my main crafts) might be like sitting down for a date, in terms of prepping yourself and your space.
I just realised that one of the things I love about your videos is that you actually say the thing you're gonna talk about in the video, and then go on to elaborate/ explain! Instead of like sooooo many videos now beating around the bush/ filler talk for 15 min, then saying the thing and it's sort of lackluster in terms of messaging and getting information. Your way of doing it works so much better for me, thanks!
My Adhd hack - loving touch. Adhd brains have a tendency to misinterpret words and emotions. So we constantly feel that people are mad at us. A kind or loving touch gets through the brain noise. 🧠
This is so true. I'll sing a comedically modified line to a song or give my husband a lil shoulder squeeze to show I'm happy he's around. I have ADHD too and some days when one or both of our anxiety's bad we'll straight up say "I promise I'm not mad at you" to each other like 20 times. Seems silly but I find that when things stay super safe in that state, you can really pick apart your reactions to things and actually fix some stuff over time.
if you catch yourself in the void, i’ve found just washing my hands, brushing my teeth or something of the sort usually sorta yoinks me out of it + it’s just a good thing to do anyways lol
Same. If it's really bad I'll change my clothes. ALL my clothes, not just a shirt, change underwear too. Its like a total brain reboot like I tried my body into thinking it's a brand new day lol
i’m gonna try this! I usually do like a chore- vacuum or fold up all my clothes into little squares or wash dishes and sometimes it feels like a big task so i go deeper into the void but this seems like a perfect fix to that!
"An ounce of Action is worth a tonne of Theory" is one I love from Ralph Waldo Emerson. I struggle with perfectionism, and it freezes me. If I just throw some effort into different areas of my life and strive for Progression over Perfection, I get so much more done. Love the library card one, I own too many books, and I think audible might serve my senses better in the future.
Oh do I have plenty. 1) No drinks in the freezer. You'll forget and they'll freeze. 2) Set alarms every couple of hours if you're doing something that you'll know most likely really sucks you in. You've gotta move and eat! 3) I've got like 3kg of homemade muesli that I only need to add milk to. I'm a terrible eater when I'm zoned in and having something healthy always there helps. 4) If you can stand up at work, get a balance board. Helps with fidgeting and you get some balance gains! 5) I can't read and do nothing else. Mind wanders too much. BUT I can read if I stretch while I read. Free extra benefit! 6) I use read aloud features to get through boring work documents. With varying attention, but that's better than being stuck on page 2 for a day!
I don’t believe i’m going to abandon my new obsession of fountain pens and journaling! Not like balisong flipping, fpv droning, track racing, virtual reality, home improvement etc
the journalling is different because I can iterate on it and change it up over time. I've been able to keep it up for 5 years now, where most of my obsessions are like less than a year
My husband has figured out a way to curb my impulsive hobbies which ultimately lead to spending. He makes me do a task or something similar before I’m ‘allowed’ to jump in, head first, wallet open 😂 Basically, my latest obsession has been learning guitar but of course this meant I needed a shiny, new guitar. Before I could buy this, I had to borrow a guitar from someone, show that I could change a string, learn a chord and then learn a song. Bonus is I’m now really into the guitar before I buy the shiny new thing and more likely to stick with it. Extra bonus, doing the task becomes the obsession but it is related to the original goal.
I have a similar rule where I have to wait a certain amount of time before I'm allowed to spend money on it. Very similar outcome, slightly different rule.
@@mayanightstar same here....especially when I was younger and poorer....anything I thought I wanted, I'd sleep on it, and if after a week or so, I was still really wanting it, then I'd get it...if it was a fleeting interest, after a few days, that urge would be gone.
Should have known that one earlier. I thought of maybe starting do get a motorcycle drivers license because I might like it. I‘ve never been on a motorcycle in my life but I spent 930€ for gear in less than a week and got myself into driving school😂
I just did two of these at once! I used Chat GPT to help me make a slogan for going through my craft supplies, "Create it or donate it!" I have a million projects (often gifts for others) that have 90% of the supplies and Ive never started. This is my way to commit to finishing some and get rid of the rest.
I LOVE this idea! I am also a hoarder of craft supplies and good intentions. I have a painting I started when my friend was pregnant, and that child just turned 10 last month. it's... yes. "Create it or donate it!" is a GREAT great slogan! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve found myself being wayyyyy more productive with a cleaning/organizing task if I just keep my shoes on! I think it triggers my brain to say we’re not in relaxing mode yet, my guy, and then I just keep working until my brain says yes we’ve accomplished enough, the shoes can come off now. I used to have a 7-minute cleaning timer at like 10:30pm. It went off, I made things marginally better for not even 10 minutes, and sometimes I would keep cleaning after that because the low-stakes time commitment got the ball rolling. AND, I have an overarching rule that if the impulse I have gets me towards one of my goals, even if it’s not the thing I originally set out to do, if it’s not harming an immediate deadline, I let the impulse guide me. It’s much easier to do a slight redirect than a 180, so giving my impulsivity permission to do what it feels like rather than drum up the willpower to do something doesn’t drain those reserves of willpower and still gets the dopamine hit of accomplishing a task.
To pull the reins on impulse shopping (online), I will leave a bunch of stuff in the cart, adding items sporadically as I like or need, and days later compare what's in the cart. Then, deleting what's unneccessary or not truly wanted, I feel a lot better about my purchases.
Dude, library card + Libby app! The Libby app has saved me hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars, because audible used to be one of my biggest discretionary expenses. I love our public libraries.
My quirky ADHD hacks: 1) On organizing & piles of stuff: horizontal is hidden, vertical is visible. If it’s hanging on the wall, I’ll actually see it. My measuring cups hang on the wall in my kitchen with labels. 2) On laundry: I color code sorting & never change the temp. I just love color so that makes it more fun. I never buy stuff that can’t be batch-cleaned. I only buy the exact same hangers to reduce sensory overload. I wash loads in order of importance….whites, darks, muted colors, “reds” (bright, warm colors that may bleed), and sheets/towels. I roll towels like I’m at a spa. 3) I forget to eat, so I keep bright oranges on the counter. I love how they smell, they are fun to look at, involve peeling with my hands, and they taste amazing. Sensory happiness!!! 4) I get dressed up to clean the house in “my signature style”. I got my best colors done & my proportions measured, so I only buy clothes that are “my signature style”. It helps me SO MUCH to know everything goes together & it curbs my impulsiveness when shopping. 5) I cut my hair short so it wouldn’t run down my sensory battery. It’s so fast to style/clean/care for & doesn’t distract me when I’m trying to focus. 6) I cook casseroles in bulk for my family, so I only have to do dinner dishes every 3-4 days. I don’t follow a recipe and it’s different every time. I load them up on veggies that nobody knows are there. Such a game changer to make cooking challenging yet easy on my executive function. 7) I keep my favorite spice combos on sticky notes inside the pantry where I keep my spices, so I don’t have to go pull out my cookbooks. I rearranged my favorite recipes on a colorful document that was organized in a way that made sense for how my brain works. 8) I made a cheatsheet on instant pot rice because I can never remember the proportions. It’s branded with a logo I designed for my family which makes it all feel cohesive to me. 9) I get super overwhelmed cleaning the kitchen, so I always go in the same order: 1. Trash 2. Bring all dishes to the kitchen 3. Put away clean dishes 4. Do the easy dishes (don’t require scrubbing) 5. Soak. After experimenting for some time, after 20 minutes of soaking, most dishes are ready to be cleaned (I set a timer to wait). I always wear my pretty rubber gloves because I can’t handle the sensory load without them. I play either my “fun music” my “French cafe lounge music” or listen to a book on audio on my Alexa. Alexa devices are a necessity. I sometimes pretend I’m a surgeon while I’m doing it just to mix things up. Bottom line: I took stock of the challenges I have, took inventory of what makes me happy, and designed fun solutions that combine effective routines with variability & novelty while conserving my limited sensory input & executive functioning.
I reward myself with a distraction, Wash the dishes, then play a game. Research, then something light. I want to thank you. Some of your videos are what has inspired me to start. Just wanted you to know.
I do something like this. I feel myself wanting some mental junk food while there's also a chore that needs doing, I'll tell myself, "Earn it!" and do the task first and enjoy the "bad" thing after.
Yes! Get your blood checked! Same thing happened to me last year. My iron-score was so low, that my doctor made me do a seconde test, because she couldn't believe, that the results were correct. And after an iron-infusion I feel like I'm a completely different person that suddenly gets things done...
Yeah same. Well my iron wasn’t that low but just slightly low and I felt immense guilt for how slow I was moving all the time. And I would lay down every afternoon and not be able to get up from intense exhaustion.
I noticed that I had trouble working at home and even at a cafe. As soon as I started dressing up like I was going to the office, I was more productive, focused, and also felt better about myself. It’s a great ADHD hack
That tip on questioning your opinion on learning is great. I always hated studying and reading books, but now I'm starting a consultancy company and since I love what I do as a software consultant, I naturally found myself reading articles and listening to audiobooks of random programming topics because I find it all so interesting. Anyways, turns out that this is real learning and before that, I have never had a true understanding of how it felt to learn when you aren't being forced to learn. I thought I hated reading, but turns out I just hated reading stuff I was told to read.
I’ve shamelessly filtered my digital influence and your channel remains maintaining strong positions in the digital space that I truly value. No BS, short, sweet, actionable, and realistic. Thank you for your work, Campbell!
Love it, dude. I especially loved the: "question the way school made you feel" tip. So many things wrong with the way school teaches us stuff (and I say this as a teacher). A couple "hacks" of my own: 1. Find an ADHD role model (maybe it's Cam?). I've found ADHD is much easier to deal with when you realize it doesn't need to be crippling and there are people who not only survive, but thrive with ADHD. 2. Don't fight it. I used to try and force myself to stay focused for long periods of time, because this is how we're taught progress gets made. Unfortunately, when you have ADHD, that's just torture. Now, I make sure I have multiple things that I'm working on at any given time, and when my focus wanders, I switch to a different thing. The trick here is making sure you don't have TOO many things to work on at any give time. 3-4 is usually a good sweet spot for me. And these don't need to be massive projects. It could be something as simple as switching between grading papers and cleaning the house every 20-30 minutes.
It's not a personal one, but a very well-known one, but "A home for everything, and everything in its home." The moment I don't have a dedicated place to put something, it becomes the start of an ever-battled mess.
I found this one on accident: Buy bright colored underwear. When I'm running late and rushed to get dressed, it is so easy to find my green underwear in the basket of clean but never folded clothes.
Wandering the library has been a lifelong lifesaver for me, ever since I was a restless little kid. My hack suggestion is to keep a paper journal by the bed, a small book light, and a variety of pens. When your squirrely brain wakes you up, write or draw your thoughts. It's great fun the next morning to decipher wtf it is and you resist looking at the phone first thing. You may even catch some enthusiasm for a shiny new project.
USE A SCREEN READER! Most apps on computers have inbuilt screen readers that are really helpful for digesting those important emails, webpages, documents etc that are hard to read when you can’t focus. I literally use screen readers all the time for work so I can actually digest the information instead of struggling to focus on reading it
I don't have ADHD, but can relate as someone with autism. I'm learning to accept my obsessions as they come, and don't feel bad if I lose interest in something for a time. Often, my interests come in seasons (might be into anime one "season," and then on to "obscure mythology" the next). Seasons come around again, but I can't control when they come or how long they stay. Some of my interests, like writing, are constant, but I've learned to break my interests into "primary" interests (those I have all the time) and "secondary" interests (those that come and go) and juggle them accordingly. That's been my little hack for managing shifting obsessions.
To combat perfection paralysis and procrastination: Some of my hacks / mantras are: -- "Half assed beats no assed. All day, every day!👍" All the time, every time. -- "Something is ALWAYS better than nothing." "Just do it." "Decide to." -- "Can't do everything? Just do one thing." -- The Rule of 3 - just do the first smallest step. OR just do the first 3 smallest steps. And repeat them outloud to myself - and over and over again -- until done. Then do the next 3 smallest steps after that. And on. This hijacks the brain to focus on what you want it to focus on and it executes it. -- "Progress, not perfection." -- "Just try. ALL you have to do is try." -- " Just start. ALL you have to do is start." -- "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." -- Teddy Roosevelt. Thought switching: practice awareness of thoughts and when i have one that's disempowering ir that doesn't serve me or my goals, switch it to a thought and or belief that does. It's useful to even have a mental amd or written arsenal of antidote thoughts so you have them ready and don't have to think of one on the fly. And or write down your most common self sabotaging thoughts and beliefs and devise & write down the sntidote thoughts and beliefs to them. Another trick to use in the moment or overall, is to practice awareness of when you're thinking or believing unhelpful thoughts, think of the opposite thought or belief or something like that that still makes sense and technically COULD be possible and switch to that thought and belief and decide to believe, think, and act toward that more self empowering thought and belief which will actually get you what you want / achieve your goal/s.
8:06 From one non-doctor to another, ask a partner or bed buddy if they think you have sleep apnoea. It's an ADHD comorbidity and makes you tired, focus and screws your focus.
Library card for the win! And there are loads of audio books available through libraries. I listen to a book while hand stitching or prepping supper. The combo of moving my hands, while following a story is like chocolate for my ADHD brain.
My hack: I have two phones. One doesn't have a cellular plan, so it doesn't really leave the house with me. But it's the phone with all my social media and games on it. (It's just my previous phone. I kept it when I upgraded because it wasn't worth enough to trade in) The other phone, my work phone, does not have social media or games. And that's the one that comes into my office to work with me. That way I still have access to all my productivity apps and even my music. But no X or Facebook and no games. I tried just leaving my phone in another room or turning it off, but being fully disconnected felt even more distracting than having the phone on me. The pared down phone is still a work in progress. I'm still finding apps which didn't SEEM necessary when I got the new phone but now DO, like Kindle and audible. ( I need to be able to listen to audiobooks in my car.)
To go along with the blood test one, get a sleep test done if you're constantly tired, falling asleep, low energy, can't get out of bed... I spent *so much* of my late teens and early twenties beating myself up for my need of 10 - 14 hours of sleep. School and parents and friends all lead to a belief that it was a "me" problem, and that I should just work around it. Don't. Get a sleep study done. They'll also probably test your blood for cross over symptoms. Turns out, medication exists to turn 14 hours of sleep into 8 hours, and the extra 6 hours you get back can be *life changing*
I schedule utilitarian appointments (e.g., doctor appts, car servicing, etc.) as early in the day as possible--eliminates "waiting for event" paralysis that can totally wreck a day for me and I'm more likely to remember/be on time because I haven't had enough time to get buried in something more interesting.
My (not professionally diagnosed yet but I have a Dr note to get evaluated) ADHD hacks: 1 - Make as many decisions as you can when you feel like you have the energy. Weekly meal planning? all done at once so I don't stand around in the kitchen thinking about what to eat. projects to start? make a lil list the night before. I get really overwhelmed emotionally when I ask myself or get asked to make too many decisions, to the point where I curl up in a ball on the floor or couch and don't do anything for the remainder of the day. 2 - Thinking about starting a project is good, but doing the first step of the project will get you to do more than you thought. Just gonna do a rough sketch? suddenly 2 hours later you're halfway done with the project you would've otherwise put off for a week. And stop at a point where you know the next step so you don't worry about how you're going to get started again. Getting going is the hardest part. 3 - Have designated Phone-Free time. Hate to admit that I cut my nighttime routine down from 45 minutes to 10 because I decided to plug my phone in to charge in a different room before I started my shower. If I want to, I can take a book to the bathroom with me but no more phone. Hope these help someone else out there! I'm gonna go dig through the comments to find myself more tricks ^_^
So glad you mentioned getting bloods done, I have just done this due to starting a hospital job and my doc said I had no iron, unfortunately I took the long route of tablets and I’m going back in 3mths to check levels. I actually crash out, can’t make it to bed, brain fog, and it’s affected my job so I’m excited to feel energetic again in a few months! I’ve also been catching up on health issues, and now I’m less scared of the unknown 🤗🤗 love your videos ! You’re the type of person I think everyone needs and wants to be friends with! You have a great presence and light about you!
I have a to-do list method I call my Tarot To Do or maybe my To Do Deck (name is still a work in progress). Issues I have with a conventional to-do list: - I end up writing the same things over and over again. It feels like wasting paper. - looking at a whole list all at once is overwhelming. I don't know what to do first. - I inevitably start with the least urgent most fun thing to do and get stuck just doing that. So I printed out a pdf of Rider Waite tarot cards (because I like the way they look), and I wrote my tasks on them that are things I'll need to keep doing probably forever. Like washing dishes and brushing teeth and cleaning my car. Of a morning, I stack my deck in the order I want to do the things and then I cycle through, one card at a time and discard the things I've completed. I can see my deck going down and I'm not distracted by the next card. When I forget what task I'm doing, I can go look at my deck and the card I'm working on is right there. I usually combine this with the pomodoro method and have breaks in my day. I want to make this into an app but... I haven't yet. I've been getting tasks done this way for maybe about 3 years now? Honestly life changing.
The Brili app is very similar, and has been so helpful for me! It gives the flexibility to make your own routine, but you can switch around the order or duration of tasks.
the “dressing up to invite creativity” is honestly soooo real! i also found that my days are so much better when i put a bit more effort in feeling dressed up
When I’m struggling with overwhelming emotions, either due to ADHD or some other big event. I have the stoic mantra “with what I know, and what I have, I’ll do the best I can.”
GREAT video; thank you for finally putting out some ADHD tips that I haven't already seen a million times. My personal hack that has been a game changer is finding ways to make tasks reactive. I struggle hard with motivation to do non-dopamine rewarding tasks. But my brain will automatically kick into gear if it has something to react to. For example: no motivation to clean the kitchen floor. But say someone dropped the orange juice, and now there's juice all over the floor... my brain will automatically stop everything and clean the kitchen floor, because it has something urgent to react to. It's the same reason why my house is never cleaner than it is right before I'm having guests over. Find a way to make tasks reactive, and all of the sudden your brain cooperates with them a whole lot better. Also, highly second keeping up on doctor's visits and blood tests. I am also anemic, and finding that out and getting the appropriate treatment has been so crucial in allowing me to have energy and focus (and also stay alive).
I dont have an ADHD diagnosis, I do have an autism diagnosis, but I really relate to this video and even already use some of these techniques and they help so much with every day life. It's really helpful to learn about new skills, and also feel understood in how hard everyday tasks and life admin can be. Thank you Cam, such a great compassionate video!!
My hack - I have a song that triggers me into work mode. Sort of like in that movie Inception how they have a song that wakes them up. I’ve learned to associate the song with starting anything that I can have music on for.
Getting a watch has honestly changed my life. I am so much better at judging how long it takes to do things now, and it feels absurdly wonderful to check the time with a quick glance at my wrist instead of fumbling around for my phone, unlocking it, immediately getting distracted by 15 irrelevant notifications and forgetting what I unlocked it for in the first place, re-pocketing it without checking the time, going "wait ... goddammit," and fishing it back out of my pocket, getting distracted AGAIN, etc etc. Between my wristwatch and my mp3 player, nowadays I pretty much only use my phone as a GPS and a ... um ...call-making thingy. What do you call those, again?
I can second this. I started wearing a watch 2 years ago and yes not looking at my phone for the time is a time saver because I don't get sucked in and has given me a better perspective on amounts of time that tasks take. And repeated tasks for which I STILL couldn't estimate accurately, I started texting my best friend "starting ____ now" and then text "done" and did this a few times and then looked back at the time stamps and was like "ohhhh so it actually takes me about this much time to do this thing. Huh."
Oh my life has become so full of these things. One of the biggest ones is make anything I want to do, be doable within sixty seconds. If I want to take more pictures my camera is staying on my desk. If I want to make more music imma optimize my setup to plug in my laptop and be able to start cooking. Another one is accountability partners. This one’s a little more well known but it’s easy to talk yourself out of doing something. It’s a little harder to justify to your 10 best friends why you didn’t do the good or cool thing you said you were going to do. The fear of shame alone will force me into doing things I otherwise may not have stuck to. Another one is make sure everything has a spot. It’s too easy to just throw things on the desk and generate clutter when things don’t have a spot. If everything has a spot then you know exactly where that thing is supposed to go when you see it out of place and it’s easy to just put it away. When I get something new the first thing I figure out is where it’s spot is. Then it lives there. I’ve gotten so picky about this that if I have something that I need to move around between a few spots a lot, I’m buying multiple to keep in each spot.
OMG! Thank you for addressing the macro scale of planning with ADHD brain. I got so frustrated with the timer your way to success model, I would shut down at any "productivity" oriented advice. Alarms send me into a spiral. Thinking about the ebb and flow I have on a longer timescale is the first thing I haven't immediately been repelled by in a LONG while.
“If you are new to the practice of giving and receiving kindness, start small and be kind to yourself. You've come a long way to be here.”, I came up with this as one of my big challenges with a late diagnosis was self compassion. Also, "Thou shall not covet another's toolbox. There is challenge enough working with the one you have." because it's easy for me to look at others and think "Wow, I want to do/be that." Finally, using the chapter title in Arnold Blackneck's book "Be useful": "wenn schon, denn schon" applied to washing the dishes? priceless. Love ya, love your work. "We're all different. It gives us something to talk about."
great video and so much good, actionable advice! i'm going to put many of these into effect asap 1) this obviously hinges somewhat on having great and understanding roommates, but i sing just about everything i'm trying to get done so that it will stick in my head. ever since i was a kid, i've remembered things 10000% better if it's to a tune. 2) not the most obscure advice, but i color-code any written list that i make, because my brain will always throw out just a bunch of words, but if they're colorful in an associative way that makes sense to me, they stick in my visual memory. 3) i have a habit of "getting bored" when reading lists and my eyes will just skip to the end, so if i'm really struggling to finish a task list, i reorder it so it's bottom to top. my brain just always wants to start at the end for some reason, so sometimes this really hijacks it.
My absolute #1 thing is lists. I have a stack of sticky notes with boxes I can even check off. I write down things I need to remember and stick them to my monitors, and I can feel a sense of accomplishment every time I check something off a list. If they ever start to blend into the "background", I move them around. Having important things written down allows me to not stress about what I am forgetting. I don't need to remember. My sticky notes remember for me so I can relax.
Hey man, really glad to see you making more videos. I needed this alot more than I thought I did. One thing that's helped for me to control my finances with those intense bursts of random interests is study the absolute crap out of it until I can't take it anymore, before buying anything. It's kinda funny, but I needed a new hairbrush(current one broke) and didn't want to spend too much on something so simple. So I just spent the last 2 weeks, everyday after work, browsing reddit and amazon reviews to find the "perfect brush" 😂 happy to report I ordered it last night for a nice and reasonable price of $6. Onto the next obsession now!!! :)
hack list: 1. library card 2. rhyming rules 3. AI for admin tasks 4. meet meds halfway (i.e. steer your focus responsibly) 5. no bed-rot clothes 6. minimalist phone launcher 7. blood test 8. question the way school made you feel about learning 8½. couch or phone, never both 9. account for short bursts of obsession (←i wish this one was expanded upon; i know this happens to me but not how to harness it) i'm unmedicated and trying to get diagnosed for ADHD. this took me 4 rewatches and 2 accidental clicks away from the page to put together, and the first few attempts I missed out over half the hacks, and while watching I would quickly forget the previous hack. (e.g. while listening about rhyming rules, I had no idea what the first hack was any more, but now that I can see it on the list I can remember it much more comprehensively). so I've made this list for accessibility for people like me, but i'm probably the worst person to have made this list. if someone with access to medication or without ADHD could do the summary next time i can guarantee there will be a lot of quiet appreciation for it :) i understand that videos on youtube require enagagement and the conspiracy theorist in me says that this list wasn't part of the description, chapters, or pinned comment because of fears around impacting engagement, but without a list like this it's very hard to take anything away from the video after finishing it.
Also:alltime favorite channel and I really appreciate you dude! Also, this topic is kinda new and I love it! Pls talk about being an artist and maintaining workflow with adhd. It's something I have been struggling with: creative process vs. Forced focus kinda thing
Just moved to a small town and need to work harder now to make money, spent the morning on the couch watching UA-cam. Very grateful your video popped up, it’s encouraging and a reminder to take responsibility and act mindfully. Now onto creating a flyer to spread the word about my professional practice!
off the top of my head (there’s so much more) here’s some of my hackz: - pre-set your meds!!! i have prescribed medication as well as supplements, and the thought of unscrewing every lid every morning sucks so much that i’ll only take the actual medication and then wonder why i’m tired for not taking iron & b12 for three weeks. i get those weekly pill containers, and then i can also see if i’ve taken my meds for the day, instead of forgetting if i have or not. - have multiples!! tissue boxes, candle lighters, face cleansers (one in the shower, one at the sink) stops me avoiding a simple task just because i would have to get up and go get something. my brain loves everything that’s ✨Set & Forget✨, since it’s going to forget anyway, might as well prepare for that inevitability. basically just automate as much as possible.
Love your list, sounds like mine 🙂 I set meds once a month. Multiples, I also have scissors and pens in every room including my car. When laundry goes into a machine, "(insert name of phone assistant) set a timer for (length of machine cycle) minutes.
4:58 i didn't realize i do that dress up thing, but it's super helpful! I have Fridays off and usually have a plan to go be creative in a place where all the stuff in my house won't distract me, but then get stuck on the couch. Picking out fun clothes makes me want to go there more than hang out on the couch because I like to imagine I'm the main character in other people's lives 🤪
Blood tests for sure! I deal with a few chronic health issues, anemia if I'm not supplementing iron and hypothyroidism being a couple of them. If those things aren't being addressed, the ADHD symptoms get SO much worse and I have less reserves to deal with all of it. And then that negative voice in my head (that's supposed to be trying to protect me somehow?) gets a microphone with surround sound speakers and amps. Not that I hear it very well, I dissociate to a moderate degree when I'm that physically unwell. And really, when most things hurt and a person is extremely tired, who would want to be fully mentally present to experience it to a high degree? I don't think I really have any hacks that people haven't discussed at one point or another. Best thing I can think of is sending myself texts with random thoughts I've had and want to remember, notes to keep track of things, etc. No extra app required! Though I'm sure various apps for such things would include features like tagging, filtered searches, and other things I'm not thinking of. I mostly use this for more short term things, like yesterday: I needed to go to an ATM to withdraw a certain amount of money. I didn't fully trust I'd remember the amount so I texted it to myself (and I was right, I kinda remembered the number but seeing my text note made me confident in the amount I withdrew).
Actually got a library card a couple months ago and I concur. Further tip: borrow e-books because they automatically return themselves so you don’t have to remember! Also library is a place you can go chill when you are broke but just need to get out of the house.
Thank you for sharing your hacks!! I’ll try them deff. Here’s some of mine: - Trying to keep your stuff in the same place after use, your keys in the same pocket of your backpack for example - Keep my phone in do not disturb, but if someone calls me twice, it does ring. - Notifications off from SN, only check them when you want to get in. - post it notes al over the house, and or behind my phone… just write stuff down, it works - try to keep your email clean, delete trash so you are aware when you get a new mail. - use calendar notifications for friends and family birthdays.
I thought i was the only one who could only concentrate or listen better when i was fiddling with my hands, especially drawing. Instead of taking notes in lectures id doodle on paper....now i feel normal thanks
I am increasingly spending less time online, as someone lately diagnosed with AuDHD - but for you, Struthless, I'll never turn off the notifications. Thanks for sharing your journey at your own pace! X
I've been following your channel for a while now and I just wanted to drop in and say that you are an incredible teacher & storyteller. The way in which you provide such interesting content in such a creative and engaging format is truly inspiring, and especially satisfying for my brain. It is truly an art form and the quality of your videos are a testament to your hard work and skill. The way in which you allow your wide variety of skills to flourish through your youtube videos is really inspiring and important to have as an example for someone like me who sometimes questions whether I'll ever find a way to do something that I love while allowing myself to continue evolving and exploring, which is what my adhd brain seems to need and want. I especially like how you tend to relate the information to some kind of deeper message or wisdom about life - makes it all the more impactful! All of this is to say, thank you for sharing your work with the world and keep it up!!!
Thanks thanks and thanks, 5 minutes later and I’m listening to this video and moving about the kitchen and doing tiny jobs. Great video. Feels like my enthusiastic zone wants to go here and listen again.
Great timing!! I recently came up with a new rule for myself, specifically RSD related: don’t expect rejection. Its completely changed my outlook in a very short time
I think my therapist talked about how if I expect rejection and then if the person says anything remotely similar, I take it as a confirmation of whatever negative thought i was having about myself and that makes my reaction to it very extreme. So, yeah, try not to expect rejection.
Always a pleasure man! You never give the viewer the feeling of being less than the person on the screen. Those productivty gurus and people, even those who just try to help always seem like they are miles ahead. Your videos always give me the intention that you have struggles like all of us, find ways to work them out and then help your audience do the same. Thank you :)
I visited all 62 library branches in the brooklyn library system. I won a tote bag for it! I've always liked working/studying in a variety of locations throughout the week to sort of add a little novelty and excitement to my boring work routine. For me, I struggle a lot with morning inertia. and also non-discreet start times to activities. For example, I work remote with no set time to clock in. In my head, starting work at 9:05 feels the same as starting at 9, so i let the 5 mins go by, and then 9:15 feels about the same as 9:05, etc. So for me the only thing that works consistently is to go to a workout class earlier in the morning that I've booked in advance. If I wake up and realize I've booked an 8am yoga class, starting at 8:05 will feel worse than 8 because the front desk will turn me away for lateness, I'll lose the credit and pay a late cancel fee, etc. by 9, I'll have better body chemistry, a sense of accomplishment, am outside the house, dressed and caffeinated. my chance of getting into the groove at work is much higher and I have more of my day "available" to me. Its not necessarily a free hack, but some places are donation based. I've also done morning meditation classes as well. or free run clubs that meet up in the morning.
10:25 I dont have ADHD but I do have autism and I always find these ADHD things fascinating. Like, I get just as intensely obsessed, but those obsessions largely dont go away. So I have less of them but they remain. They dont STAY as intense, mind you, but they dont go away. They are just what I do now.
I take advantage of my many on-the-go projects to be able to procrastinate LOL Don't feel have the mental capacity for pattern drafting right now? There's fabric to be cut out! No? There's resin projects that needs to be poured! No? How about some repetitive sewing? No? Sand/buff projects while chilling with a movie! No? There's dishes! There's gardening to do! A wide variety of options from physical to chill, heavy mental/focus work to complete brain shut off and even, indoor/outdoor help keep me going, feeling accomplished and not 'forced' into doing any ONE thing :D
I wish I had the words to comment but instead I got an ADHD brain and no words are coming to me so i'll just start typing and hope for the best. With an intense chest-full-of-connectedness feeling brewing in me- I just want to say thank you so much for recording and publishing this video! I am so glad I stumbled across it. I love the way that you talk and think about things, I love that you skipped (but acknowledged) the "hacks" that people will usually talk about, right at the start of the video. I love your honesty, authenticity and openness. This video made me smile and I really enjoyed it, I generally spend a lot of time deep-diving and researching things, especially about ADHD, so naturally, I have heard a lot of "tips and tricks" countless times. But this video was different... and refreshing, I feel like I learned a couple things - and I felt some uplifting, from the compassion and understanding you've shown to yourself! Once again, thank you for your sharing and your kindness! Have a wonderful day
That last hack. . . Hell yes. Took me till 30 to figure it out. Now I have the hobby wheel. Basically I just accept that every few weeks \ month I switch gears. I quit beating myself up about it and just save \ backup \ save notes where we're I left off and run with it. When the wheel spins back around to the same obsession I use my notes to find where I left off and pick it back up =)
Something that has helped me with perfectionism is “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” When I first heard it I hated it. But I realized it got me out of that paralysis where you’re just sitting there thinking about everything you have to do in your head before actually doing it. So I applied it and realized brushing my teeth for 30 seconds was better that falling asleep on the couch waiting to have the motivation. And washing five dishes was better than doing none. But the funny thing is, because starting is half the battle, I actually ended up doing it to my usual hardcore OCD standard anyway, I just needed to start. So things worth doing are worth doing badly.
Aweseome! I haven't watched this yet but I'm going to explode with excitement. I can't today sadly because I'm too engrossed in an ADHD nightmare for a presentation I have to give tonight.
The way I literally just got a library card last month because I'm so sick of getting buyer's remorse after online shopping at 2am or coming home from weekend shopping. It was awesome getting to bring home new books, get that dopamine hit, without money out the bank. Checking the blood is so necessary because I didn't know I was suffering from severe sleep apnea, no wonder I was falling asleep at work and never felt rested no matter how long I slept. Been 1 month on a CPAP machine and the improvement to my quality of life has been astronomical. Thanks for the great video as always!
one of things i've figured out recently, as i've been traveling more, is to just have a second set of the toiletries/chargers/etc that live in my luggage. i get so lost when i get home and am too tired to reset all of things that i'm expecting to be somewhere for my routines. also smart bulbs
Hey dude, I find your videos so well made and beautiful. Thank you for making them. I am not diagnosed yet, but from my experiences in School in Life and in my studies (psychology) I am pretty certain, my brain is wired funny as well. During my bachelors studies I was introduced to the pomodorri technic, which is quite known, but still, maybe it helps someone to read about it in this comment. This is especially good because it gives the short term push and the momentum, but also relaxes you during the breaks, in which you can do something completely unrelated to your main task. For example, dancing, moving, eating a snack, going outside, ... Sometimes it helps me making a verbal list of the next 3 or 4 things I wanna do and sing them to myself. This helps not getting into a loop of picking up tasks and letting them fall again after being distracted by another incomplete task. I love reading the comments on your videos. ( Just saw the reverse pomodorri technic comment, this is nice!)
The Best tactic of all: 1. Get the Essentials right first (sleep, eating, exercise, rest) 2. Find out who you are and what you truly want in life (your brain needs to support that) 3. Design your environment to making it all fun when doing anything (design your wallpaper on your phone for focus modes, design your room with big areas for certain things and design your Computer the same that everything makes sense) BONUS: find out when your energy peaks are (I use the RISE App in it's like a cheat code when you follow your energy phases throughout the day) Hope that help and much love to all you beautiful brains! ✨
I'm glad your channel is doing well, you're one of my favourite creators! You deserve it. I've found for myself that yoga has been very helpful. First, because my joints are just whack. And second, because if you know a few yoga poses/flows, you can do them wherever. Taking like 2 mins to do a yoga flow is super easy, and builds a bit of momentum for other stuff. Also brings me back to my body. I can't stand long exercise routines so if I sprinkle yoga flows while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil to whatever, I get some exercise in. And if I'm stuck on the sofa, a yoga flow can get me out of that blegh state.
Great video! Although one of my life hacks is “admit that you can’t use the library”. I borrow a book, maybe start reading it, forget about it, then pay more in fines than I would have for the ebook. My impulse control rule (imperfectly followed of course) is “Finished a book? You can buy a book!” By allowing myself to buy what I want to read at the moment I need something to read, it cuts down on buying at other times, and makes it more likely I’ll read the thing, because of the alignment of “need something to read” and “current interest/obsession/hyperfixation”.
- I hate doing the dishes and I don’t have a dishwasher. So instead, i invested in glassware instead of the usual plastic tupperwares. I no longer put off the dishes, i no longer get stressed thinking abt doing the dishes, bc now they are much easier. Greasy foods can go on there and be cleaned immediately. - labelling my opaque drawers helped me find and remember stuff. - i wrote a menu of things i could whip up quickly or readily eat on a whiteboard near me. Overall it reduced the mental load of “what should i eat?”. This came hand in hand with meal prep.
Hmm niche hacks… assume you’ll fail, well that’s more of the extreme version. But do your best to not make the goal to succeed. I find whenever I go on the adhd side quests it generally comes with a feeling of wanting to do something in order to succeed or to have a completed working thing at the end. I do my best now to make it so that my goals in these side quests aren’t success related. I just bought a 50 year old motorcycle to restore. I didn’t go into this wanting a running bike I went into this wanting to practice on a cheap crap bike that very well might not run but will give me a whole heck of a lot of knowledge by the end. Getting it to run now is just the icing on the fake
Go to dayoneapp.com/struthless and use the code struthless to get a limited-time offer of a two-month free trial with Day One Journal Premium :)
p.s.: hope ya liked the video! curious as to people's favourite adhd workaround ideas, and lmk if i should make a deep dive on any of them :)
cam xoxo
I already use Notion for video ideas, saving links, notes etc. - is dayone worth switching? If anyone's used both?
Would you be willing to deep dive on AI use for this kind of thing? I've been thinking recently about how useful an "AI secretary" will be in the future and I'd love to start doing that today. I know it can be a controversial topic, and I don't like generative AI myself, but the tech exists, I may as well get some use out of it.
Great episode. Thanks for a new approach to ADHD.
What launcher did you use?
I love day one
I love day one and I love Tiimo too
The Reverse Pomodoro for when you're struggling with a task. Attack it like a ninja for 5 minutes, then spend 25 mins in "recovery." Makes it so much less threatening, you can actually make progress.
Okay, now THIS is a kind of Pomodoro approach I think I could do!
actually an incredible idea
Yes I love this, I do this for house work!!!! I find that sometimes when I start I'm keen to keep going, but I make sure that I only go into it being fully accepting that I ONLY have to do 5 minutes. And that way, IF I continue, it's fully my choice 😄
I just realised that I do this automatically when I'm working on something difficult.
Am gonna try this!
One of my life mottos when I'm stuck in a perfectionist-procrastination loop is "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." Or, same rule different wording, "It's better to half-ass often than to whole-ass occasionally." So while "anything worth doing is worth doing well" has its place in my life, when I'm stuck, I remind myself that it's also worth doing poorly. Floss *one* tooth. Clean *a tiny part* of the mirror. Sometimes I keep going. Sometimes I don't. But my mirrors (and teeth) are a lot cleaner than when I thought I had to make the mirror spit-shine perfect, and floss my teeth so well I made dental hygienists jealous.
This is really helpful! Thank you!!
I love it ! I laughed so hard and thanks for the reminder 😂🎉
wow, thank you for that
THIS^^ !!
This has helped me so much in the past year or two. Cleaning my room has become so much easier when I can just focus on clearing off my desk one day, cleaning off a chair another day, cleaning my closet when I have a burst of energy. Then you realize at some point "Oh my god it's working!" and you're motivated to do more. I'm actually about half way through making a video game and writing a book thanks to this.
I love that! Come to think of it, I only use that dadcore "worth doing well" phrase at the eeeeend of tasks, but never at the beginning... damn! My starting mantra is closer to the sentiment "start like shit 💅✨️ "
My favorite meta-hack is this: with ADHD, no system or technique will help you forever. Our brains want novelty. I'm no longer stressed when GTD stops working for a bit, or I fall off of journaling, or pomodoros stop giving me focus. I just grab another trick from the bag and do that for a while instead.
100% agree with this! The key is to have a bunch of tools in your tool belt so that when one stops working, you switch to another. This is a great meta-hack.
i totally agree on this! paying attention to your behavior patterns and adjusting your “adhd tricks” works wonders.
Agreed 100%
Yeah this!
Yes, I deep dived into innovation theory for this exact reason! Building a knowledge bank and toolkit!
I picked up the phrase "'should' is a 'could' with guilt".
Saying things like "I could draw something" is a lot more likely to get me going (and feeling good about it!) than "I should draw something" ^-^
I cannot stress to you how much hearing that just improved my mood. Thank you so so much, I want to tattoo it on the inside of my eyelids
Oh yes! Be gone, foul guilt! How sweet it will feel transforming all my ugly should’s.
thank you from the bottom of my heart
This one made me really sad really quickly and literally one of the main reasons why I have wanted to end my life for so long now, and each day think about it...
The only thing that I made really a part of my life and do quite regularly and consistently is weight lifting/exercise. It's a great habit to have, but it's not something I can make money out of. I in general like going jogging, but the place I live in now is really not great at all for that. In general the area is meh and it's maybe just a mile (if that actually) away from a huge sewage treating facility. So if they are working full capacity and the wind is blowing the right way, running becomes just that much more fun... Also I live right in the path of airplane take-off/landing path, which to some people might not be a problem, but it's another drain on my sensory system.
@@misanthrophex 😥 Have you though about not leaving from home to run? I drive over to a local park to walk around on the paths. Being outside is so much better than a gym. I'm older, slower and tottery anyway but other folks run in my park. I COULD walk around my neighborhood but even though it adds an extra half hour of time the park is better and I feel more interested there. I also feel safer in the park.
I started walking after back surgery in my 20s. So I made a rule, on a day that met walking conditions, no blizzards, hurricanes or temps below 15F, I had put the shoes on and walk to where the apartment complex entry drive meets the road, about .20 miles. (I was a road walker then, young enough to survive a jump off into the ditch if things got scary.) If I made it that far and I still didn't want to go farther I could turn around and go home. I only turned around twice in about four years.
My niche ADHD life hacks:
1: get a clothing steamer so you can easily get wrinkles out of clothes when you inevitably forget to fold them but then have something important to go to.
2. Use deli containers for food and meal prep, they all have the same size lid despite being different sizes, they're stackable and they're cheap enough that if you forget to clean one out you can just throw it away.
3. Only worry about organizing the things you need for day to day life. If you try to organize everything you're going to fail. Organize the things you need for day to day and everything else can go into a junk drawer and you can worry about it later.
4. organize things visually. hang things on your walls with hooks, pegboard etc. I can't remember to put things back in drawers but storing stuff on my wall I can instantly see when something is not where it is supposed to be.
5. shop at yard sales. Yard sales are so cheap you can impulse buy stupid shit without breaking the bank or feeling ashamed, plus you never know what you're going to find so every shopping trip is like a treasure hunt.
Love these
I do most of these on the regular. Totally agree these work. I'll have to look into the clothing steamer though. My grandma is always worried about my clothes being wrinkled. Usually I just assume no one is going to care because I can't be bothered, but if there's a quick fix out there that'd be nice.
a really cool thing for #1 as well if you're like me and will just forget about the clothing steamer after buying it is to hang your outfits in the bathroom whilw you're taking a hot shower, it won't be as effective as a dedicated clothing steamer but it will diminish the most obvious wrinkles
Addendum to #1 - if you have a dryer, ten minutes in there will pop out your "man I shoulda folded this 2 months ago" lines
I’d replace the plastic with glass on second tip, as they get super nasty and are a waste, but definitley having the same size helps out neurotic brains haha.
Silicone moulds that are used for meal prep are also amazing. They have perfect sizes for 1-2 cups and are rectangle size to stack neatly
Mine:
1) If you really absolutely have to do something now, write it on a slap bracelet (from the 90s) in dry erase marker. You can't take it off until you're done. Super motivating to finish!
2) I have so many interests, so to keep myself from totally jumping ship all the time, I do "classes" (I happen to be in circus classes that use a six-week schedule, so I just follow that timing) and I get to pick 2-3 things to do that session. I try to pick 1 piece/type of media, 1 artistic hobby, and 1 movement hobby to keep it balanced.
3) I keep a 3-song playlist of my current "on repeat" songs (yes it's sometimes just the same song three times) and if I need to, say, fold laundry, I make myself a promise that I only have to do it until those three songs are over. It's shocking how little time it actually takes to fold the laundry vs. how much mental energy I put toward not doing it.
The slap bracelet!! What an amazing idea 😂
'mental energy i put toward not doing it' is SO REAL. thanks for wording this out for me hahaha
oooh, slap bracelet!! these are all great!!
slap bracelet is great. much more specific than an elastic or a hair tie.
Addition to no.3, I would spend ages making the playlist to accompany the task, but now I use spotify's AI feature (beta). Something like "make a 15 minute playlist of my most played songs from the last month" and spotify makes it for me, it stops me spiralling into a playlist mode
my most recent hack is telling myself "What if I do ____" instead of "I HAVE to do _____"
It takes away this sense of doom if I don't do the thing, and I engage the curious part of my brain instead. I also found it gives me a small boost of thrill like I just tricked my brain into thinking "OH! What WOULD happen if I did that??"
I like that! I conditioned myself to thinking "I want to do ___" instead of "I have to do ___", which already helps a lot ('coz really, I dont *have* to take out the trash, I *want* to take it out because I don't want my apartment to smell bad, it's a choice). I'll try out yout method as well, I feel like this could work for me!
Yes I do this! I ask "what happens when I...?" And it's awesome for creative block. What happens when I ..mess around with crayons, set a timer for 10 mins of drawing, try to draw this lion, try to improvise knitting? If I'm dissatisfied w the results, at least I know I've successfully answered my question and Found Out What Happens
oohhhh I love this!!! It makes me feel mischievous hehehehehe (which is exciting hahahah)
A narrow rolling cart is game changer.
I can have a water bottle, a snack, chargers and whatever hobby related stuff (crochet as of now) and just move it around with me from dining room to bed to couch to random middle of hallway. The cart is THE horizontal surface I will place things on which keeps the rest of the house clean-ish and I don't forget stuff in every room.
Also I do put on an aperon when cleaning, (all my supplies are in a basket I can carry) putting on "my little housemaid costume" keeps me on task as it's a constant reminder of what I was doing. - Plus no worries about my clothes getting icky.
And then you can put anything you find in one room that belongs in a different room in the pocket of the apron, instead of walking it into the other room and then abandoning the thing you were cleaning for whatever is now in front of you.
Oh this is brilliant
I like this idea a lot. :)
@@krgh8747 this is along the same lines as a tidy tote. Space in the middle to put things that belong in other rooms, keeping your favorite cleaning supplies in it as well. Focusing on one room at a time, not flitting from space to space.
this is so genius, my dresser is my go-to “surface i put everything down on” and oh my god that fucking dresser gets so messy so fast
Re: Get a library card. FULLY agreed! I've been using the library instead of just buying books when the impulse hits me, and it's so helpful for my bank account as well as getting me to actually read the book I am interested in instead of leaving it on a shelf for years and years.
Yes!!!! So true
One down side then you have to remember to return the books
Most libraries these days have so much more than books. If you explore the local library you might find they also have sewing machines and tools you can borrow, a garden seed bank, free access to Rosetta Stone to learn a language, a computer center with a proctor who can help you if you get stuck on something technical, social events like book signings or readings or poetry clubs, to name a few that I have found. Its worth exploring the possibilities.
Gives you access to BorrowBox and Libby which are both great for Audiobooks with the latter being able to sync with your eReader if that's your preferred way to read.
I got a library card, and the first book I checked out using it was "Taking Charge of Adult ADHD" by Russell A Barkley, PhD. I haven't finished it in the first 3 weeks that I had it and I renewed it which is peak ADHD but I'm working on myself.
A job worth doing is worth doing well - this has been a major freeze point for me. If I can’t do it well I won’t do it at all.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” Has been an extremely liberating counter perspective
"half an ass is better than no ass" I say, which is great cause it makes me laugh at the mental images as I get started or let go of my perfectionism.
i had the same thought - the perfectionist in me will never be done if it needs to be done well, and sometimes it won’t even be started lol
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly and with a bad attitude!
@@soulsworn13 "half an ass is better than no ass"
You got a good laugh out of me. Well done
Once I learned that I can do things without it having to be perfect it was much easier to get started 😊 before then there were soooooooo many things that just never got done because I never even started 😢
I put off doing things unless I think I can do the whole massive thing in one go and do it well, but I had a shift in perspective recently when my mother came to visit. She's an avid gardener, and I had moved into a new place about 4 months prior to her visit. I had grand ideas about the garden I wanted to create, but in that time I hadn't done anything because the state of the garden was nightmareish and I thought I would have to devote an entire weekend to clearing out the weeds, making the soil nice and workeable, actually planting things, etc... When my mother arrived, she wanted to get cracking on part of it, and my natural response was 'we don't have the time to do the whole thing though'. She basically said 'so what?' And I realised I didn't have an answer. Planting half a garden would be better than never planting a garden. So we did what we could whilst she was visiting, and the following weekend I finished the job because I had momentum. The whole experience really made me rethink the many, many things I put off under the guise of needing to find the perfect moment where I would have enough time and energy to do the entire thing perfectly in one go. And now when I fall into the familiar trap of 'everything or nothing', I remind myself that 'something is better than nothing'.
Half a garden is better than no garden.
This is an amazing mind shift - I too am a new gardener and in my head it was going to be the most amazing garden but the physical reality of prep and then overwhelm has meant I do very little.
Thank you for sharing your story! It will be of great help!
I've realized something like that myself fairly recently. I spent months trying to perfect a website sequence with a whole invisible workflow for each step in the process in hopes of maximizing sales. It turned out ok but really drained my batteries, took way too much time, left me feeling mentally overwhelmed and fragmented a fairly simple process into hundreds of different micro-concerns that took away my focus from the main objectives.
I don't expect you to understand the ins and outs of that process but the point is that I tried building something way too complicated for my skill level (at the time) and almost destroyed my drive to continue in that line of work.
What I realized after that was to just start small with the necessities, keep things simple, and refine it later after looking at it and seeing what's missing or what areas need improvement. Even after losing money on this project, I felt a tremendous weight lift after realizing this.
To make it even more simple, I'll remember your story and adopt your saying "Half a garden is better than no garden".
Thanks for sharing!
@TriUnityCircle Awh that's so sweet 🥰 glad my story resonated and that you've had a similar realisation!
i love that you patted yourself on the back with your "congrats on finishing a video" this is as much for you as it is for us
This might not be an obscure hack, but I love 'follow the dopamine'.
The concept of not having to struggle through the hard/guilt stuff before being 'allowed' to do something you actually want to do is having a major impact on my life, and it turns out that yes, once I'm going, the hard tasks become way more doable and I get both done!
I'm autistic, but most of my friends have ADHD, so bonus:
Tell your ADHD friends that you love them, that you appreciate them, remind them of fun things you did together or suggest/bring something they enjoy! They will forget, and reminding them of the good mental 'out of mind' stuff is one of the most powerful boosts I found.
That bonus tip is SO POWERFUL
@@KekeeBlack trueeeee
Countdown timers! I’m a freelance artist and do basically all my work on my iPad, so I’ve got a little widget set to tell me how many days left til each deadline. Because of the way ADHD messes with a sense of time I find it a lot easier to see a constant reminder that I have X number of days left, rather than just seeing a deadline on my calendar at some point in the future, especially if it’s several weeks away when you first get it.
Also, buy things in bright colours. I WILL put my headphones down somewhere stupid, but it’s a lot easier to notice em when they’re turquoise rather than black or white.
I have countdown timers on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. They’re always reminding me and always keeping me aware of time so I can manage my time better.
I call it “time awarenagement”.
If I forget to set my countdown timers, my day is a trainwreck.
If a countdown timer isn't an option: multiple entries! When I used a paper planner, major assignments would have a two entries in advance of the actual deadline.
i'm also an artist on an ipad but it's my only apple device - how do you set those up if u don't mind me askin?
@@alexgarcia-ug9zk I use an app called Countdown Widget & Counter, set up the counter and then add a widget to the Home Screen =)
This was such a brain blast for me I literally immediately downloaded a countdown timer widget
Instead of asking "Why can't I..?" asking "What is preventing me from..?" also adding or removing a layer. Often my concentration is hurt more by being a bit too cold or hot and it isn't until it becomes unbearable and I change my clothes that I realize how much it was adding to the struggle. Finally, I put tons of extra things in my phone/calendar, people's ages, siblings names, the full details of events including when need to leave, where and when everything is happening, maybe even what I am going to wear, even notes to my future self: "A lot of old traumas come up this time of year, be gentle with yourself", "The holidays are going to take more time than you remember" etc. The seconds of focus that takes at the time reaps huge rewards later when I do it.
"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" is a go-to at work; if I try to speedrun an assembly it's usually shaky with room for error, but if I take time to actually process what I'm building it goes much faster with fewer (or no) mistakes
I love that phrase. I use it when my blood sugar is dropping to prevent accidents before I can eat!
"You are gonna look at reddit. Better." Broke me, it's very true. Pills don't have skills is the mantra here
same. My biggest mistake is when I don't feel like doing work but take pills thinking they'll make me realise work is important. Instead I called my friends and family better than anyone has ever called their friends and family
"pills don't have skills" is a hella quote!!
Pills don't have skills is a bar
I spent years chasing the dragon of mental clarity from the first time I took meds not realising that they were working the whole time, I just wasn't directing them.
I've always heard Pills don't build skills but I think I like that better, Eldrek!
I appreciate the acknowledgement that things like "Gamify your tasks" "Get a planner" "set alarms" etc. are suggested everywhere... And from my personal experience and talking to other ADHDers, not very effective.
Nope. Not whatsoever.
I read this as "glamify" your tasks, and just discovered a new tagline for a hack I've been subconsciously using - make your tasks more glamouruos! Need to write a report that you're not excited about? Dress up, tidy your space, light a candle, put your best playlist on, prepare your favourite snacks, etc... basically make every other aspect of yourself and your environment while doing the task as glamourous/enjoyable as possible. "Glamify your tasks" is going into my tagline toolkit!
He didn’t say they don’t work, he said we all know about them which also isn’t true. Gamify your life and set alarms work great. If they don’t work, people aren’t doing them, especially using Google calendar for a planner and setting alarms. I never forget anything because I put it in my Google calendar as soon as I know I have something to do. Like I tell people - If it’s not in my calendar, it forms exist. And I set 3 alarms for every appt, which stresses me out by the last alarm and I actually leave the house.
@@serenityjewel great! Glad those things work for you. You'll notice I wrote "From my personal experience" in my post, thus indicating that the post was about my experiences, which are different from yours.
@@TotemsMcGee Yep, you did, and then you added “and talking to other ADHDers, not very effective”, which is a blanket statement that brought in other people and generally negates the benefits of those techniques. My comment is for other people with ADHD who might read your comment and think those techniques don’t work at all, or aren’t worth trying, when the techniques are being suggested by people with ADHD because they do work for them and a lot of us. If none of the techniques he recited in that extremely long list work, then the person might not actually be doing them, especially taking into account many people with ADHD love new ideas but struggle with ego (“yeah, I haven’t tried it but I know that won’t work for me”) and/or implementation (“I’ll try it at some unknown date in the future.”)
One of mine that's been helping that I sort of got from another video was that understanding building a habit with ADHD takes wayyyyy longer than other people. So once it does start getting easier, don't think "ah I've done it. I can mentally let go now because I have made this habit" it's a _trap_ and you have to keep pushing even when you hit that point lol
Something that had worked well for me:
Use public transport to get to work.
It has helped me "transition" my mind from "work mode" to "home mode", becomes an integrated form of exercise, has helped my morning routine (if I miss the bus, I'll be late!!) and gives me some downtime while my meds kick in. Not to mention, financial savings, reduced stress AND.... you can't get a speeding ticket in a bus as a passenger! ;)
I second this! The bus is the reason I'm hardly ever late to work
Less a hack, more a perspective shift. My favourite tagline is "Death to the Should". Especially early in my diagnosis, I consciously tried to notice where "should" was popping up in my writing or mental talk. It gave me space to stop, examine *why* I should x, y, z thing, and eventually spot a bunch on ingrained ableist assumptions about the "correct" way to do things. Freeing myself from the Should has opened up a lot more space to do things in a way that works for my brain.
borrowing your tagline because my therapist told me to notice how often I think about 'how I should feel' or 'how I should be doing things' and it's been so eye-opening how I have been overparenting myself to somehow magically become neurotypical.
An addendum to the library card life hack, which I super love by the way! Our libraries in the US most all have online borrowing where you can get e-books or audio. I pretty much only borrow this way because if I forget to return what I borrowed they automatically get taken back- no late fees! I could have practically bought our entire library before this was an option with my late fees!
If your local library does not offer this or something else you are interested in but one farther away does, you can often just pay a low annual fee to join if you live outside their zone.
Adding a bunch of stuff in Libby really lands the same way as online shopping! You look for the thing, you find the thing, you add the thing - maybe you get it straight away, maybe you have to wait for 'delivery' but it's the hunt-and-discovery for me!
Our local library system has the most used e-library in the USA 🎉
Bro's been popping off !! Definitely top 5 best content creators this century.
definitely!!! this is the first video I saw from this account and it made me subscribe already
Dressing more presentable and less bed rot is real for sure. In the book "The War of Art" the author likens the creative process to courting a muse. Clean your space, dress nice, comb your hair... and creativity (and better living in general) is more likely to visit you. Sitting down to draw or paint (my main crafts) might be like sitting down for a date, in terms of prepping yourself and your space.
love (and hate lol) that book. It's so good but it hurts, too.
That's a fantastic book
I do this for writing tasks. Put on some earrings, my “work” sweater, comb my hair-and then I go on that “date” with my task! 🤓
I just realised that one of the things I love about your videos is that you actually say the thing you're gonna talk about in the video, and then go on to elaborate/ explain! Instead of like sooooo many videos now beating around the bush/ filler talk for 15 min, then saying the thing and it's sort of lackluster in terms of messaging and getting information. Your way of doing it works so much better for me, thanks!
My Adhd hack - loving touch. Adhd brains have a tendency to misinterpret words and emotions. So we constantly feel that people are mad at us. A kind or loving touch gets through the brain noise. 🧠
What a very good insight. Thanks!
damn, I find this so hard to remember. thanks for the memo
This is so true. I'll sing a comedically modified line to a song or give my husband a lil shoulder squeeze to show I'm happy he's around. I have ADHD too and some days when one or both of our anxiety's bad we'll straight up say "I promise I'm not mad at you" to each other like 20 times. Seems silly but I find that when things stay super safe in that state, you can really pick apart your reactions to things and actually fix some stuff over time.
if you catch yourself in the void, i’ve found just washing my hands, brushing my teeth or something of the sort usually sorta yoinks me out of it + it’s just a good thing to do anyways lol
oh interesting. I gotta try that one.
Same. If it's really bad I'll change my clothes. ALL my clothes, not just a shirt, change underwear too. Its like a total brain reboot like I tried my body into thinking it's a brand new day lol
i’m gonna try this! I usually do like a chore- vacuum or fold up all my clothes into little squares or wash dishes and sometimes it feels like a big task so i go deeper into the void but this seems like a perfect fix to that!
"An ounce of Action is worth a tonne of Theory" is one I love from Ralph Waldo Emerson. I struggle with perfectionism, and it freezes me. If I just throw some effort into different areas of my life and strive for Progression over Perfection, I get so much more done. Love the library card one, I own too many books, and I think audible might serve my senses better in the future.
Oh do I have plenty.
1) No drinks in the freezer. You'll forget and they'll freeze.
2) Set alarms every couple of hours if you're doing something that you'll know most likely really sucks you in. You've gotta move and eat!
3) I've got like 3kg of homemade muesli that I only need to add milk to. I'm a terrible eater when I'm zoned in and having something healthy always there helps.
4) If you can stand up at work, get a balance board. Helps with fidgeting and you get some balance gains!
5) I can't read and do nothing else. Mind wanders too much. BUT I can read if I stretch while I read. Free extra benefit!
6) I use read aloud features to get through boring work documents. With varying attention, but that's better than being stuck on page 2 for a day!
You put the drinks in the freezer and set an alarm immediately 👍
@@cassielee1114 me too. 20 Mins!
@@Ninanufu Yes!
"being stuck on page 2 for a day" hit me so hard! Thank you for making feel like I'm not alone here! 😅
not me with an exploded bottle of wine in the freezer as I type.....
I don’t believe i’m going to abandon my new obsession of fountain pens and journaling! Not like balisong flipping, fpv droning, track racing, virtual reality, home improvement etc
the journalling is different because I can iterate on it and change it up over time. I've been able to keep it up for 5 years now, where most of my obsessions are like less than a year
@@tinam269A YEAR?!
Dude: you're practically a hobby marathoner. 😂
I've been journaling for years now but only recently found out about HOW AMAZING FOUNTAIN PENS ARE
@partsofearth fountain pens really enhance the journaling too!
I have way too many fountain pens now 🫣
My husband has figured out a way to curb my impulsive hobbies which ultimately lead to spending. He makes me do a task or something similar before I’m ‘allowed’ to jump in, head first, wallet open 😂 Basically, my latest obsession has been learning guitar but of course this meant I needed a shiny, new guitar. Before I could buy this, I had to borrow a guitar from someone, show that I could change a string, learn a chord and then learn a song. Bonus is I’m now really into the guitar before I buy the shiny new thing and more likely to stick with it. Extra bonus, doing the task becomes the obsession but it is related to the original goal.
I have a similar rule where I have to wait a certain amount of time before I'm allowed to spend money on it. Very similar outcome, slightly different rule.
@@mayanightstar same here....especially when I was younger and poorer....anything I thought I wanted, I'd sleep on it, and if after a week or so, I was still really wanting it, then I'd get it...if it was a fleeting interest, after a few days, that urge would be gone.
Should have known that one earlier. I thought of maybe starting do get a motorcycle drivers license because I might like it. I‘ve never been on a motorcycle in my life but I spent 930€ for gear in less than a week and got myself into driving school😂
I just did two of these at once! I used Chat GPT to help me make a slogan for going through my craft supplies, "Create it or donate it!"
I have a million projects (often gifts for others) that have 90% of the supplies and Ive never started. This is my way to commit to finishing some and get rid of the rest.
I LOVE this idea! I am also a hoarder of craft supplies and good intentions. I have a painting I started when my friend was pregnant, and that child just turned 10 last month. it's... yes. "Create it or donate it!" is a GREAT great slogan! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve found myself being wayyyyy more productive with a cleaning/organizing task if I just keep my shoes on! I think it triggers my brain to say we’re not in relaxing mode yet, my guy, and then I just keep working until my brain says yes we’ve accomplished enough, the shoes can come off now.
I used to have a 7-minute cleaning timer at like 10:30pm. It went off, I made things marginally better for not even 10 minutes, and sometimes I would keep cleaning after that because the low-stakes time commitment got the ball rolling.
AND, I have an overarching rule that if the impulse I have gets me towards one of my goals, even if it’s not the thing I originally set out to do, if it’s not harming an immediate deadline, I let the impulse guide me. It’s much easier to do a slight redirect than a 180, so giving my impulsivity permission to do what it feels like rather than drum up the willpower to do something doesn’t drain those reserves of willpower and still gets the dopamine hit of accomplishing a task.
To pull the reins on impulse shopping (online), I will leave a bunch of stuff in the cart, adding items sporadically as I like or need, and days later compare what's in the cart. Then, deleting what's unneccessary or not truly wanted, I feel a lot better about my purchases.
On Amazon, I go a step further and immediately “save for later.” Prevents me from clicking purchase.
Dude, library card + Libby app! The Libby app has saved me hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars, because audible used to be one of my biggest discretionary expenses. I love our public libraries.
People really are sleeping on Libby! Even if they don't have all the books and audio book you'll want, they have enough that you'll save so much!
Riiight? I wouldn't have gotten through 3 books in the span of two weeks. Dune, brave new world, and latest is The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I want Libby merch
@@H4tchers I'd buy it too
My quirky ADHD hacks:
1) On organizing & piles of stuff: horizontal is hidden, vertical is visible. If it’s hanging on the wall, I’ll actually see it. My measuring cups hang on the wall in my kitchen with labels.
2) On laundry: I color code sorting & never change the temp. I just love color so that makes it more fun. I never buy stuff that can’t be batch-cleaned. I only buy the exact same hangers to reduce sensory overload. I wash loads in order of importance….whites, darks, muted colors, “reds” (bright, warm colors that may bleed), and sheets/towels. I roll towels like I’m at a spa.
3) I forget to eat, so I keep bright oranges on the counter. I love how they smell, they are fun to look at, involve peeling with my hands, and they taste amazing. Sensory happiness!!!
4) I get dressed up to clean the house in “my signature style”. I got my best colors done & my proportions measured, so I only buy clothes that are “my signature style”. It helps me SO MUCH to know everything goes together & it curbs my impulsiveness when shopping.
5) I cut my hair short so it wouldn’t run down my sensory battery. It’s so fast to style/clean/care for & doesn’t distract me when I’m trying to focus.
6) I cook casseroles in bulk for my family, so I only have to do dinner dishes every 3-4 days. I don’t follow a recipe and it’s different every time. I load them up on veggies that nobody knows are there. Such a game changer to make cooking challenging yet easy on my executive function.
7) I keep my favorite spice combos on sticky notes inside the pantry where I keep my spices, so I don’t have to go pull out my cookbooks. I rearranged my favorite recipes on a colorful document that was organized in a way that made sense for how my brain works.
8) I made a cheatsheet on instant pot rice because I can never remember the proportions. It’s branded with a logo I designed for my family which makes it all feel cohesive to me.
9) I get super overwhelmed cleaning the kitchen, so I always go in the same order: 1. Trash 2. Bring all dishes to the kitchen 3. Put away clean dishes 4. Do the easy dishes (don’t require scrubbing) 5. Soak. After experimenting for some time, after 20 minutes of soaking, most dishes are ready to be cleaned (I set a timer to wait). I always wear my pretty rubber gloves because I can’t handle the sensory load without them. I play either my “fun music” my “French cafe lounge music” or listen to a book on audio on my Alexa. Alexa devices are a necessity. I sometimes pretend I’m a surgeon while I’m doing it just to mix things up.
Bottom line: I took stock of the challenges I have, took inventory of what makes me happy, and designed fun solutions that combine effective routines with variability & novelty while conserving my limited sensory input & executive functioning.
I reward myself with a distraction, Wash the dishes, then play a game. Research, then something light.
I want to thank you. Some of your videos are what has inspired me to start. Just wanted you to know.
I do something like this. I feel myself wanting some mental junk food while there's also a chore that needs doing, I'll tell myself, "Earn it!" and do the task first and enjoy the "bad" thing after.
Yes! Get your blood checked! Same thing happened to me last year. My iron-score was so low, that my doctor made me do a seconde test, because she couldn't believe, that the results were correct. And after an iron-infusion I feel like I'm a completely different person that suddenly gets things done...
Yeah same. Well my iron wasn’t that low but just slightly low and I felt immense guilt for how slow I was moving all the time. And I would lay down every afternoon and not be able to get up from intense exhaustion.
me too. and b12... and im hypothyroid. lol.
Also Vitamin D! For people like me in dark countries (or who don’t go outside much) very important
Jokes on me. I live in the sunniest state and still have low vitamin d that requires supplementation.
Also, find out WHY you have deficiencies. Turns out mine was caused by celiac.
I noticed that I had trouble working at home and even at a cafe. As soon as I started dressing up like I was going to the office, I was more productive, focused, and also felt better about myself.
It’s a great ADHD hack
That tip on questioning your opinion on learning is great. I always hated studying and reading books, but now I'm starting a consultancy company and since I love what I do as a software consultant, I naturally found myself reading articles and listening to audiobooks of random programming topics because I find it all so interesting. Anyways, turns out that this is real learning and before that, I have never had a true understanding of how it felt to learn when you aren't being forced to learn. I thought I hated reading, but turns out I just hated reading stuff I was told to read.
I’ve shamelessly filtered my digital influence and your channel remains maintaining strong positions in the digital space that I truly value. No BS, short, sweet, actionable, and realistic. Thank you for your work, Campbell!
Love it, dude. I especially loved the: "question the way school made you feel" tip. So many things wrong with the way school teaches us stuff (and I say this as a teacher). A couple "hacks" of my own:
1. Find an ADHD role model (maybe it's Cam?). I've found ADHD is much easier to deal with when you realize it doesn't need to be crippling and there are people who not only survive, but thrive with ADHD.
2. Don't fight it. I used to try and force myself to stay focused for long periods of time, because this is how we're taught progress gets made. Unfortunately, when you have ADHD, that's just torture. Now, I make sure I have multiple things that I'm working on at any given time, and when my focus wanders, I switch to a different thing. The trick here is making sure you don't have TOO many things to work on at any give time. 3-4 is usually a good sweet spot for me. And these don't need to be massive projects. It could be something as simple as switching between grading papers and cleaning the house every 20-30 minutes.
It's not a personal one, but a very well-known one, but "A home for everything, and everything in its home." The moment I don't have a dedicated place to put something, it becomes the start of an ever-battled mess.
I found this one on accident: Buy bright colored underwear.
When I'm running late and rushed to get dressed, it is so easy to find my green underwear in the basket of clean but never folded clothes.
Also, bright underwear is fun! Makes me smile every time.
Omg girl, same 🤧🤧🤧 basket of clean but never folded clothes
This is genius. Thank you!
Wandering the library has been a lifelong lifesaver for me, ever since I was a restless little kid. My hack suggestion is to keep a paper journal by the bed, a small book light, and a variety of pens. When your squirrely brain wakes you up, write or draw your thoughts. It's great fun the next morning to decipher wtf it is and you resist looking at the phone first thing. You may even catch some enthusiasm for a shiny new project.
USE A SCREEN READER! Most apps on computers have inbuilt screen readers that are really helpful for digesting those important emails, webpages, documents etc that are hard to read when you can’t focus. I literally use screen readers all the time for work so I can actually digest the information instead of struggling to focus on reading it
Could you recomend one please? 🙃
Woah
I don't have ADHD, but can relate as someone with autism. I'm learning to accept my obsessions as they come, and don't feel bad if I lose interest in something for a time. Often, my interests come in seasons (might be into anime one "season," and then on to "obscure mythology" the next). Seasons come around again, but I can't control when they come or how long they stay. Some of my interests, like writing, are constant, but I've learned to break my interests into "primary" interests (those I have all the time) and "secondary" interests (those that come and go) and juggle them accordingly. That's been my little hack for managing shifting obsessions.
To combat perfection paralysis and procrastination: Some of my hacks / mantras are:
-- "Half assed beats no assed. All day, every day!👍" All the time, every time.
-- "Something is ALWAYS better than nothing."
"Just do it."
"Decide to."
-- "Can't do everything? Just do one thing."
-- The Rule of 3 - just do the first smallest step. OR just do the first 3 smallest steps. And repeat them outloud to myself - and over and over again -- until done. Then do the next 3 smallest steps after that. And on. This hijacks the brain to focus on what you want it to focus on and it executes it.
-- "Progress, not perfection."
-- "Just try. ALL you have to do is try."
-- " Just start. ALL you have to do is start."
-- "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." -- Teddy Roosevelt.
Thought switching: practice awareness of thoughts and when i have one that's disempowering ir that doesn't serve me or my goals, switch it to a thought and or belief that does. It's useful to even have a mental amd or written arsenal of antidote thoughts so you have them ready and don't have to think of one on the fly. And or write down your most common self sabotaging thoughts and beliefs and devise & write down the sntidote thoughts and beliefs to them.
Another trick to use in the moment or overall, is to practice awareness of when you're thinking or believing unhelpful thoughts, think of the opposite thought or belief or something like that that still makes sense and technically COULD be possible and switch to that thought and belief and decide to believe, think, and act toward that more self empowering thought and belief which will actually get you what you want / achieve your goal/s.
8:06 From one non-doctor to another, ask a partner or bed buddy if they think you have sleep apnoea. It's an ADHD comorbidity and makes you tired, focus and screws your focus.
This! I got a CPAP machine and I sleep better.
Library card for the win! And there are loads of audio books available through libraries. I listen to a book while hand stitching or prepping supper. The combo of moving my hands, while following a story is like chocolate for my ADHD brain.
My hack: I have two phones. One doesn't have a cellular plan, so it doesn't really leave the house with me. But it's the phone with all my social media and games on it. (It's just my previous phone. I kept it when I upgraded because it wasn't worth enough to trade in)
The other phone, my work phone, does not have social media or games. And that's the one that comes into my office to work with me. That way I still have access to all my productivity apps and even my music. But no X or Facebook and no games.
I tried just leaving my phone in another room or turning it off, but being fully disconnected felt even more distracting than having the phone on me. The pared down phone is still a work in progress. I'm still finding apps which didn't SEEM necessary when I got the new phone but now DO, like Kindle and audible. ( I need to be able to listen to audiobooks in my car.)
To go along with the blood test one, get a sleep test done if you're constantly tired, falling asleep, low energy, can't get out of bed... I spent *so much* of my late teens and early twenties beating myself up for my need of 10 - 14 hours of sleep. School and parents and friends all lead to a belief that it was a "me" problem, and that I should just work around it. Don't. Get a sleep study done. They'll also probably test your blood for cross over symptoms. Turns out, medication exists to turn 14 hours of sleep into 8 hours, and the extra 6 hours you get back can be *life changing*
that's interesting, I only recently started sleeping 10 hours when getting new medicine. out of curiousity, what did they write it as?
I schedule utilitarian appointments (e.g., doctor appts, car servicing, etc.) as early in the day as possible--eliminates "waiting for event" paralysis that can totally wreck a day for me and I'm more likely to remember/be on time because I haven't had enough time to get buried in something more interesting.
My (not professionally diagnosed yet but I have a Dr note to get evaluated) ADHD hacks:
1 - Make as many decisions as you can when you feel like you have the energy. Weekly meal planning? all done at once so I don't stand around in the kitchen thinking about what to eat. projects to start? make a lil list the night before. I get really overwhelmed emotionally when I ask myself or get asked to make too many decisions, to the point where I curl up in a ball on the floor or couch and don't do anything for the remainder of the day.
2 - Thinking about starting a project is good, but doing the first step of the project will get you to do more than you thought. Just gonna do a rough sketch? suddenly 2 hours later you're halfway done with the project you would've otherwise put off for a week. And stop at a point where you know the next step so you don't worry about how you're going to get started again. Getting going is the hardest part.
3 - Have designated Phone-Free time. Hate to admit that I cut my nighttime routine down from 45 minutes to 10 because I decided to plug my phone in to charge in a different room before I started my shower. If I want to, I can take a book to the bathroom with me but no more phone.
Hope these help someone else out there! I'm gonna go dig through the comments to find myself more tricks ^_^
So glad you mentioned getting bloods done, I have just done this due to starting a hospital job and my doc said I had no iron, unfortunately I took the long route of tablets and I’m going back in 3mths to check levels. I actually crash out, can’t make it to bed, brain fog, and it’s affected my job so I’m excited to feel energetic again in a few months! I’ve also been catching up on health issues, and now I’m less scared of the unknown 🤗🤗 love your videos ! You’re the type of person I think everyone needs and wants to be friends with! You have a great presence and light about you!
I have a to-do list method I call my Tarot To Do or maybe my To Do Deck (name is still a work in progress).
Issues I have with a conventional to-do list:
- I end up writing the same things over and over again. It feels like wasting paper.
- looking at a whole list all at once is overwhelming. I don't know what to do first.
- I inevitably start with the least urgent most fun thing to do and get stuck just doing that.
So I printed out a pdf of Rider Waite tarot cards (because I like the way they look), and I wrote my tasks on them that are things I'll need to keep doing probably forever. Like washing dishes and brushing teeth and cleaning my car.
Of a morning, I stack my deck in the order I want to do the things and then I cycle through, one card at a time and discard the things I've completed. I can see my deck going down and I'm not distracted by the next card. When I forget what task I'm doing, I can go look at my deck and the card I'm working on is right there. I usually combine this with the pomodoro method and have breaks in my day.
I want to make this into an app but... I haven't yet. I've been getting tasks done this way for maybe about 3 years now? Honestly life changing.
The Brili app is very similar, and has been so helpful for me! It gives the flexibility to make your own routine, but you can switch around the order or duration of tasks.
i love this!!! thank you!!! cant wait to do this!!!!!!
I love this! Thank you! I always get overwhelmed by my to do lists, and this is so simple and just genius
the “dressing up to invite creativity” is honestly soooo real! i also found that my days are so much better when i put a bit more effort in feeling dressed up
When I’m struggling with overwhelming emotions, either due to ADHD or some other big event. I have the stoic mantra “with what I know, and what I have, I’ll do the best I can.”
GREAT video; thank you for finally putting out some ADHD tips that I haven't already seen a million times. My personal hack that has been a game changer is finding ways to make tasks reactive. I struggle hard with motivation to do non-dopamine rewarding tasks. But my brain will automatically kick into gear if it has something to react to. For example: no motivation to clean the kitchen floor. But say someone dropped the orange juice, and now there's juice all over the floor... my brain will automatically stop everything and clean the kitchen floor, because it has something urgent to react to. It's the same reason why my house is never cleaner than it is right before I'm having guests over. Find a way to make tasks reactive, and all of the sudden your brain cooperates with them a whole lot better. Also, highly second keeping up on doctor's visits and blood tests. I am also anemic, and finding that out and getting the appropriate treatment has been so crucial in allowing me to have energy and focus (and also stay alive).
I dont have an ADHD diagnosis, I do have an autism diagnosis, but I really relate to this video and even already use some of these techniques and they help so much with every day life. It's really helpful to learn about new skills, and also feel understood in how hard everyday tasks and life admin can be. Thank you Cam, such a great compassionate video!!
My hack - I have a song that triggers me into work mode. Sort of like in that movie Inception how they have a song that wakes them up. I’ve learned to associate the song with starting anything that I can have music on for.
Getting a watch has honestly changed my life. I am so much better at judging how long it takes to do things now, and it feels absurdly wonderful to check the time with a quick glance at my wrist instead of fumbling around for my phone, unlocking it, immediately getting distracted by 15 irrelevant notifications and forgetting what I unlocked it for in the first place, re-pocketing it without checking the time, going "wait ... goddammit," and fishing it back out of my pocket, getting distracted AGAIN, etc etc.
Between my wristwatch and my mp3 player, nowadays I pretty much only use my phone as a GPS and a ... um ...call-making thingy. What do you call those, again?
I can second this. I started wearing a watch 2 years ago and yes not looking at my phone for the time is a time saver because I don't get sucked in and has given me a better perspective on amounts of time that tasks take. And repeated tasks for which I STILL couldn't estimate accurately, I started texting my best friend "starting ____ now" and then text "done" and did this a few times and then looked back at the time stamps and was like "ohhhh so it actually takes me about this much time to do this thing. Huh."
Oh my life has become so full of these things. One of the biggest ones is make anything I want to do, be doable within sixty seconds. If I want to take more pictures my camera is staying on my desk. If I want to make more music imma optimize my setup to plug in my laptop and be able to start cooking.
Another one is accountability partners. This one’s a little more well known but it’s easy to talk yourself out of doing something. It’s a little harder to justify to your 10 best friends why you didn’t do the good or cool thing you said you were going to do. The fear of shame alone will force me into doing things I otherwise may not have stuck to.
Another one is make sure everything has a spot. It’s too easy to just throw things on the desk and generate clutter when things don’t have a spot. If everything has a spot then you know exactly where that thing is supposed to go when you see it out of place and it’s easy to just put it away. When I get something new the first thing I figure out is where it’s spot is. Then it lives there. I’ve gotten so picky about this that if I have something that I need to move around between a few spots a lot, I’m buying multiple to keep in each spot.
OMG! Thank you for addressing the macro scale of planning with ADHD brain. I got so frustrated with the timer your way to success model, I would shut down at any "productivity" oriented advice. Alarms send me into a spiral.
Thinking about the ebb and flow I have on a longer timescale is the first thing I haven't immediately been repelled by in a LONG while.
“If you are new to the practice of giving and receiving kindness, start small and be kind to yourself. You've come a long way to be here.”, I came up with this as one of my big challenges with a late diagnosis was self compassion. Also, "Thou shall not covet another's toolbox. There is challenge enough working with the one you have." because it's easy for me to look at others and think "Wow, I want to do/be that."
Finally, using the chapter title in Arnold Blackneck's book "Be useful": "wenn schon, denn schon" applied to washing the dishes? priceless. Love ya, love your work.
"We're all different. It gives us something to talk about."
great video and so much good, actionable advice! i'm going to put many of these into effect asap
1) this obviously hinges somewhat on having great and understanding roommates, but i sing just about everything i'm trying to get done so that it will stick in my head. ever since i was a kid, i've remembered things 10000% better if it's to a tune.
2) not the most obscure advice, but i color-code any written list that i make, because my brain will always throw out just a bunch of words, but if they're colorful in an associative way that makes sense to me, they stick in my visual memory.
3) i have a habit of "getting bored" when reading lists and my eyes will just skip to the end, so if i'm really struggling to finish a task list, i reorder it so it's bottom to top. my brain just always wants to start at the end for some reason, so sometimes this really hijacks it.
My absolute #1 thing is lists. I have a stack of sticky notes with boxes I can even check off. I write down things I need to remember and stick them to my monitors, and I can feel a sense of accomplishment every time I check something off a list. If they ever start to blend into the "background", I move them around.
Having important things written down allows me to not stress about what I am forgetting. I don't need to remember. My sticky notes remember for me so I can relax.
Hey man, really glad to see you making more videos. I needed this alot more than I thought I did. One thing that's helped for me to control my finances with those intense bursts of random interests is study the absolute crap out of it until I can't take it anymore, before buying anything. It's kinda funny, but I needed a new hairbrush(current one broke) and didn't want to spend too much on something so simple. So I just spent the last 2 weeks, everyday after work, browsing reddit and amazon reviews to find the "perfect brush" 😂 happy to report I ordered it last night for a nice and reasonable price of $6. Onto the next obsession now!!! :)
hack list:
1. library card
2. rhyming rules
3. AI for admin tasks
4. meet meds halfway (i.e. steer your focus responsibly)
5. no bed-rot clothes
6. minimalist phone launcher
7. blood test
8. question the way school made you feel about learning
8½. couch or phone, never both
9. account for short bursts of obsession (←i wish this one was expanded upon; i know this happens to me but not how to harness it)
i'm unmedicated and trying to get diagnosed for ADHD. this took me 4 rewatches and 2 accidental clicks away from the page to put together, and the first few attempts I missed out over half the hacks, and while watching I would quickly forget the previous hack. (e.g. while listening about rhyming rules, I had no idea what the first hack was any more, but now that I can see it on the list I can remember it much more comprehensively). so I've made this list for accessibility for people like me, but i'm probably the worst person to have made this list. if someone with access to medication or without ADHD could do the summary next time i can guarantee there will be a lot of quiet appreciation for it :)
i understand that videos on youtube require enagagement and the conspiracy theorist in me says that this list wasn't part of the description, chapters, or pinned comment because of fears around impacting engagement, but without a list like this it's very hard to take anything away from the video after finishing it.
Also:alltime favorite channel and I really appreciate you dude! Also, this topic is kinda new and I love it! Pls talk about being an artist and maintaining workflow with adhd. It's something I have been struggling with: creative process vs. Forced focus kinda thing
Just moved to a small town and need to work harder now to make money, spent the morning on the couch watching UA-cam. Very grateful your video popped up, it’s encouraging and a reminder to take responsibility and act mindfully. Now onto creating a flyer to spread the word about my professional practice!
off the top of my head (there’s so much more) here’s some of my hackz:
- pre-set your meds!!! i have prescribed medication as well as supplements, and the thought of unscrewing every lid every morning sucks so much that i’ll only take the actual medication and then wonder why i’m tired for not taking iron & b12 for three weeks. i get those weekly pill containers, and then i can also see if i’ve taken my meds for the day, instead of forgetting if i have or not.
- have multiples!! tissue boxes, candle lighters, face cleansers (one in the shower, one at the sink) stops me avoiding a simple task just because i would have to get up and go get something.
my brain loves everything that’s ✨Set & Forget✨, since it’s going to forget anyway, might as well prepare for that inevitability. basically just automate as much as possible.
Love your list, sounds like mine 🙂 I set meds once a month. Multiples, I also have scissors and pens in every room including my car. When laundry goes into a machine, "(insert name of phone assistant) set a timer for (length of machine cycle) minutes.
4:58 i didn't realize i do that dress up thing, but it's super helpful! I have Fridays off and usually have a plan to go be creative in a place where all the stuff in my house won't distract me, but then get stuck on the couch. Picking out fun clothes makes me want to go there more than hang out on the couch because I like to imagine I'm the main character in other people's lives 🤪
Blood tests for sure! I deal with a few chronic health issues, anemia if I'm not supplementing iron and hypothyroidism being a couple of them. If those things aren't being addressed, the ADHD symptoms get SO much worse and I have less reserves to deal with all of it. And then that negative voice in my head (that's supposed to be trying to protect me somehow?) gets a microphone with surround sound speakers and amps. Not that I hear it very well, I dissociate to a moderate degree when I'm that physically unwell. And really, when most things hurt and a person is extremely tired, who would want to be fully mentally present to experience it to a high degree?
I don't think I really have any hacks that people haven't discussed at one point or another. Best thing I can think of is sending myself texts with random thoughts I've had and want to remember, notes to keep track of things, etc. No extra app required! Though I'm sure various apps for such things would include features like tagging, filtered searches, and other things I'm not thinking of. I mostly use this for more short term things, like yesterday: I needed to go to an ATM to withdraw a certain amount of money. I didn't fully trust I'd remember the amount so I texted it to myself (and I was right, I kinda remembered the number but seeing my text note made me confident in the amount I withdrew).
Actually got a library card a couple months ago and I concur. Further tip: borrow e-books because they automatically return themselves so you don’t have to remember!
Also library is a place you can go chill when you are broke but just need to get out of the house.
Thank you for sharing your hacks!! I’ll try them deff. Here’s some of mine:
- Trying to keep your stuff in the same place after use, your keys in the same pocket of your backpack for example
- Keep my phone in do not disturb, but if someone calls me twice, it does ring.
- Notifications off from SN, only check them when you want to get in.
- post it notes al over the house, and or behind my phone… just write stuff down, it works
- try to keep your email clean, delete trash so you are aware when you get a new mail.
- use calendar notifications for friends and family birthdays.
I thought i was the only one who could only concentrate or listen better when i was fiddling with my hands, especially drawing. Instead of taking notes in lectures id doodle on paper....now i feel normal thanks
I am increasingly spending less time online, as someone lately diagnosed with AuDHD - but for you, Struthless, I'll never turn off the notifications. Thanks for sharing your journey at your own pace! X
maaan I love this comment section!! There are more useful tipps and tricks listed here under one single video than all together on the internet
I've been following your channel for a while now and I just wanted to drop in and say that you are an incredible teacher & storyteller. The way in which you provide such interesting content in such a creative and engaging format is truly inspiring, and especially satisfying for my brain. It is truly an art form and the quality of your videos are a testament to your hard work and skill. The way in which you allow your wide variety of skills to flourish through your youtube videos is really inspiring and important to have as an example for someone like me who sometimes questions whether I'll ever find a way to do something that I love while allowing myself to continue evolving and exploring, which is what my adhd brain seems to need and want. I especially like how you tend to relate the information to some kind of deeper message or wisdom about life - makes it all the more impactful! All of this is to say, thank you for sharing your work with the world and keep it up!!!
Rigorous notebook systems have helped me, and to be okay with gaps in the daily planner if I had more doing (or more chilling) than planning.
Thanks thanks and thanks, 5 minutes later and I’m listening to this video and moving about the kitchen and doing tiny jobs. Great video. Feels like my enthusiastic zone wants to go here and listen again.
Great timing!! I recently came up with a new rule for myself, specifically RSD related: don’t expect rejection. Its completely changed my outlook in a very short time
I think my therapist talked about how if I expect rejection and then if the person says anything remotely similar, I take it as a confirmation of whatever negative thought i was having about myself and that makes my reaction to it very extreme. So, yeah, try not to expect rejection.
Always a pleasure man! You never give the viewer the feeling of being less than the person on the screen. Those productivty gurus and people, even those who just try to help always seem like they are miles ahead. Your videos always give me the intention that you have struggles like all of us, find ways to work them out and then help your audience do the same. Thank you :)
I visited all 62 library branches in the brooklyn library system. I won a tote bag for it! I've always liked working/studying in a variety of locations throughout the week to sort of add a little novelty and excitement to my boring work routine.
For me, I struggle a lot with morning inertia. and also non-discreet start times to activities. For example, I work remote with no set time to clock in. In my head, starting work at 9:05 feels the same as starting at 9, so i let the 5 mins go by, and then 9:15 feels about the same as 9:05, etc. So for me the only thing that works consistently is to go to a workout class earlier in the morning that I've booked in advance. If I wake up and realize I've booked an 8am yoga class, starting at 8:05 will feel worse than 8 because the front desk will turn me away for lateness, I'll lose the credit and pay a late cancel fee, etc. by 9, I'll have better body chemistry, a sense of accomplishment, am outside the house, dressed and caffeinated. my chance of getting into the groove at work is much higher and I have more of my day "available" to me. Its not necessarily a free hack, but some places are donation based. I've also done morning meditation classes as well. or free run clubs that meet up in the morning.
10:25 I dont have ADHD but I do have autism and I always find these ADHD things fascinating. Like, I get just as intensely obsessed, but those obsessions largely dont go away. So I have less of them but they remain. They dont STAY as intense, mind you, but they dont go away. They are just what I do now.
I take advantage of my many on-the-go projects to be able to procrastinate LOL Don't feel have the mental capacity for pattern drafting right now? There's fabric to be cut out! No? There's resin projects that needs to be poured! No? How about some repetitive sewing? No? Sand/buff projects while chilling with a movie! No? There's dishes! There's gardening to do! A wide variety of options from physical to chill, heavy mental/focus work to complete brain shut off and even, indoor/outdoor help keep me going, feeling accomplished and not 'forced' into doing any ONE thing :D
I wish I had the words to comment but instead I got an ADHD brain and no words are coming to me so i'll just start typing and hope for the best. With an intense chest-full-of-connectedness feeling brewing in me- I just want to say thank you so much for recording and publishing this video! I am so glad I stumbled across it.
I love the way that you talk and think about things, I love that you skipped (but acknowledged) the "hacks" that people will usually talk about, right at the start of the video. I love your honesty, authenticity and openness.
This video made me smile and I really enjoyed it, I generally spend a lot of time deep-diving and researching things, especially about ADHD, so naturally, I have heard a lot of "tips and tricks" countless times. But this video was different... and refreshing, I feel like I learned a couple things - and I felt some uplifting, from the compassion and understanding you've shown to yourself! Once again, thank you for your sharing and your kindness!
Have a wonderful day
That last hack. . . Hell yes. Took me till 30 to figure it out. Now I have the hobby wheel. Basically I just accept that every few weeks \ month I switch gears. I quit beating myself up about it and just save \ backup \ save notes where we're I left off and run with it. When the wheel spins back around to the same obsession I use my notes to find where I left off and pick it back up =)
Something that has helped me with perfectionism is “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” When I first heard it I hated it.
But I realized it got me out of that paralysis where you’re just sitting there thinking about everything you have to do in your head before actually doing it. So I applied it and realized brushing my teeth for 30 seconds was better that falling asleep on the couch waiting to have the motivation. And washing five dishes was better than doing none. But the funny thing is, because starting is half the battle, I actually ended up doing it to my usual hardcore OCD standard anyway, I just needed to start.
So things worth doing are worth doing badly.
Aweseome! I haven't watched this yet but I'm going to explode with excitement. I can't today sadly because I'm too engrossed in an ADHD nightmare for a presentation I have to give tonight.
The way I literally just got a library card last month because I'm so sick of getting buyer's remorse after online shopping at 2am or coming home from weekend shopping. It was awesome getting to bring home new books, get that dopamine hit, without money out the bank.
Checking the blood is so necessary because I didn't know I was suffering from severe sleep apnea, no wonder I was falling asleep at work and never felt rested no matter how long I slept. Been 1 month on a CPAP machine and the improvement to my quality of life has been astronomical.
Thanks for the great video as always!
one of things i've figured out recently, as i've been traveling more, is to just have a second set of the toiletries/chargers/etc that live in my luggage. i get so lost when i get home and am too tired to reset all of things that i'm expecting to be somewhere for my routines.
also smart bulbs
Hey dude, I find your videos so well made and beautiful. Thank you for making them. I am not diagnosed yet, but from my experiences in School in Life and in my studies (psychology) I am pretty certain, my brain is wired funny as well. During my bachelors studies I was introduced to the pomodorri technic, which is quite known, but still, maybe it helps someone to read about it in this comment. This is especially good because it gives the short term push and the momentum, but also relaxes you during the breaks, in which you can do something completely unrelated to your main task. For example, dancing, moving, eating a snack, going outside, ...
Sometimes it helps me making a verbal list of the next 3 or 4 things I wanna do and sing them to myself. This helps not getting into a loop of picking up tasks and letting them fall again after being distracted by another incomplete task.
I love reading the comments on your videos. ( Just saw the reverse pomodorri technic comment, this is nice!)
The Best tactic of all:
1. Get the Essentials right first (sleep, eating, exercise, rest)
2. Find out who you are and what you truly want in life (your brain needs to support that)
3. Design your environment to making it all fun when doing anything (design your wallpaper on your phone for focus modes, design your room with big areas for certain things and design your Computer the same that everything makes sense)
BONUS: find out when your energy peaks are (I use the RISE App in it's like a cheat code when you follow your energy phases throughout the day)
Hope that help and much love to all you beautiful brains! ✨
I'm glad your channel is doing well, you're one of my favourite creators! You deserve it.
I've found for myself that yoga has been very helpful. First, because my joints are just whack. And second, because if you know a few yoga poses/flows, you can do them wherever. Taking like 2 mins to do a yoga flow is super easy, and builds a bit of momentum for other stuff. Also brings me back to my body. I can't stand long exercise routines so if I sprinkle yoga flows while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil to whatever, I get some exercise in. And if I'm stuck on the sofa, a yoga flow can get me out of that blegh state.
Great video! Although one of my life hacks is “admit that you can’t use the library”. I borrow a book, maybe start reading it, forget about it, then pay more in fines than I would have for the ebook. My impulse control rule (imperfectly followed of course) is “Finished a book? You can buy a book!” By allowing myself to buy what I want to read at the moment I need something to read, it cuts down on buying at other times, and makes it more likely I’ll read the thing, because of the alignment of “need something to read” and “current interest/obsession/hyperfixation”.
- I hate doing the dishes and I don’t have a dishwasher. So instead, i invested in glassware instead of the usual plastic tupperwares. I no longer put off the dishes, i no longer get stressed thinking abt doing the dishes, bc now they are much easier. Greasy foods can go on there and be cleaned immediately.
- labelling my opaque drawers helped me find and remember stuff.
- i wrote a menu of things i could whip up quickly or readily eat on a whiteboard near me. Overall it reduced the mental load of “what should i eat?”. This came hand in hand with meal prep.
Hmm niche hacks… assume you’ll fail, well that’s more of the extreme version. But do your best to not make the goal to succeed. I find whenever I go on the adhd side quests it generally comes with a feeling of wanting to do something in order to succeed or to have a completed working thing at the end. I do my best now to make it so that my goals in these side quests aren’t success related. I just bought a 50 year old motorcycle to restore. I didn’t go into this wanting a running bike I went into this wanting to practice on a cheap crap bike that very well might not run but will give me a whole heck of a lot of knowledge by the end. Getting it to run now is just the icing on the fake