In life, you have many things you need to focus on. Family, friends, fun. Work, wealth, and health. It’s all important, and there is only so much time in the day to get it all done.

When you have ADHD, you can easily get caught up in the shiny or loudest items and not get the important things done. It’s inevitable.

So how do you know where to put your energy first? How to spend your 24 hours each day so you are productive and successful?

The answer: You create an ADHD Priority Guide. 

An ADHD Priority Guide is a tool I created to help you clarify your priorities. It’s kind of like the triage system emergency rooms use to prioritize the first person who will get medical attention. 

You decide what is most crucial to your existence. What or who is the most important to you. What will have the worst consequence is you don’t focus on it first. What is needed for YOU to survive.

This priorities list will help you think ahead about what’s most important to you.

Here is an example of an ADHD Priority Guide for one of my private coaching clients:

• Exercise
• Diet
• Clients
• Sales
• Work projects
• Everything else

You may find it interesting that this successful business owner put exercise and diet above his business. You’d think that if you ran a business, you’d consider the business a top priority, right? And that you’d want to focus your energy on the pieces that made it a success. 

Not if you have ADHD.

When you have ADHD, it is essential that you focus on ADHD self-care first to keep your brain functioning. It’s kind of like putting your oxygen mask on first. You want to make sure you’re in the best place physically to do what needs to be done. And you can’t do that if your ADHD brain is not executive functioning at the top level.

This is where a lot of people with ADHD struggle. They don’t understand that taking care of their brain should be top priority.

That being said, here is my Working Hours ADHD Priorities Guide. I have a different list of priorities for my personal time. One that’s filled with family, home, and fun, but this is how I plan my time during work hours so I am clear about where to focus during the work day:

• Family Emergencies. Family first is one of my guiding beliefs. So, if someone I love has an emergency that can’t wait until after work, then everything else gets set aside. Notice the keywords here: after work and emergency. I don’t set work aside for things that can wait.
• My Brain Care. If I’m going to work, then my brain has to work. That means eating lunch, taking a few breaks, and drinking water are high priorities for my work day. Everyone with ADHD has to make brain care a high priority. Oxygen mask. Trust me on this one.
• My ADHD Coaching Clients. Emails and texts from my clients get a prompt response. Other work projects get pushed aside in order for me to attend to what my clients need. 
• My Support Team. Questions from the experts who run the technical parts of my business. Otherwise, I become a bottleneck and slow everyone down.
• Spreading the Word about ADHD. This includes writing ADHD Success. Though this is important to me, notice that it’s lower on my Priorities List. Those rare weeks you don’t get an issue of ADHD Success? That’s because higher priorities took over. That doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.
• Administrative Tasks. Paying the bills, planning, etc. Not my favorite tasks, but if I don’t plan to do them they don’t get done.

That’s a sample of my priorities. Yours will be different.

If you have ADHD, knowing your priorities is important. Decision making gets easier. So will staying focused on the tasks that will help you reach your goals.

So if you find yourself flailing, bouncing from task to task, or not accomplishing your goals, give this a try. Create your own ADHD Priority Guide and use it to triage incoming tasks.

The bottom line? If you have ADHD, knowing your priorities is important. The first and foremost being keeping your ADHD brain switched on! You’ll find it easier to make decisions and stay focused on the essential tasks that will help you reach your goals.

Keep learning:

• How to Keep Your ADHD Brain Switch On: A Summary
• Building Your ADHD Priority List

Join the thousands of others who are learning how to live successfully with ADHD!

FREE Weekly ADHD Success Newsletter about Living Easier with ADHD

I hate spam too. Your info will NEVER be shared, sold, or trade. Period.