This week the morning ADHD Success Club worked on how to have an ADHD friendly calendar. First, Maya, our guest blogger, writes about the shifts she’s beginning to notice in her organizing habits since joining the Success Club. Good work, Maya!!
Shifting Thoughts and Actions
Over the past week of the ADHD Success Club, I have been focusing on creating an ADHD friendly calendar. While I know this a critical piece of productivity, I have a newfound mental clarity as I begin to see how the pieces of the program naturally interlock. Each module connects to the next much like puzzle pieces fit together, and as more pieces interlock, the image is becoming clearer. Tonight this connectivity literally moved me to tears and with a smile on my face. I realized, “YES! I am on my way to becoming one of those 10,000 ADHD adults who Dana has helped and will help live successfully with ADHD.
Before I share my experiences with learning how to make calendars ADHD friendly, I need to update you on my progress building new organizing habits.
A few week’s ago, Dana told the ADHD Success Club members to notice our habits that encourage and discourage organization. Last week I noticed cabinets left opened and items randomly thrown down. This week I took action on what I noticed by curtailing bad habits. First, I noticed a mental shift as I started to drop my rings in my pocket, “Has this ever worked for you before?” I thought. Immediately, I walked down the hall and put the rings in my jewelry box. Also, I did this when I started to set my shoes down on the floor and plop down on the sofa. Again, I laughed and thought to myself, “Has this ever worked for you before?”
Recognizing these habits of disorganization, I envisioned an eventual pile of shoes on the floor as well as another search for my wedding ring. Incremental shifts in my mindset are creating clarity and helping me take concrete steps towards change. In these a-ha moments, the world is making sense and actually has a natural order. Is this the beginning of thinking and acting like an organized person?
My ADHD brain WANTS complexity but NEEDS simplicity. I can see how this is true when it comes to developing and sustaining systems. Common sense, when it comes to organization, has been uncommon for my uncommon ADHD mind, and I am beginning to see how to fix that. Looking for a utopian organization system that doesn’t exist is futile. Instead, I should be adapting a system to make it workable for me.
As things begin to click, I see how simplicity can lead to consistency and proficiency. By troubleshooting and making purposeful changes, I am adapting systems to suit my needs. Actions based on this mindset are transforming me in ways that will help me take over the wheel and push my ADHD out of the driver’s seat.
Want an ADHD Friendly Calendar? Don’t Throw Out the Whole System
In the past, I’ve been unable to sustain a calendar system frustratingly abandoning the app or system all together or trying the app of the week. Novelty did not lead to consistency; it led to disorganization. How many times have I thrown away a whole system because a piece of it didn’t work or because I saw something else I thought would work better or became frustrated by one piece of the system that seemed unworkable?
When I’m constantly seeking what is new and shiny and trying to find the perfect ADHD-friendly calendar app, GTD app, or system, nothing will ever be simple or consistent. Dana suggests avoiding abandoning a system too soon because I think it isn’t working. That’s an ADHD habit that doesn’t work for us! Adjust before throwing out the whole system.
During Tuesday’s ADHD Success Club Skills Call on ADHD friendly calendars, I got laser coaching. Dana walked me through this as we looked at why my current calendar wasn’t working. My calendar of clutter with repeating syncs and outdated calendars and multiple tasks made no sense, not at all ADHD friendly. As Dana and I discussed what wasn’t working, we came up with strategies to make my system workable. On Thursday’s action call, Dana returned to these questions as she worked with the ADHD Success Club members individually to troubleshoot problems members were having with their calendars.
I see the strategic advantage to this approach, and I see it beginning to play out in my world. What’s shiny and new has actually lost its novelty and become mundane. What seems shiny to me now is embracing how to “think and act like an organized person,” so I can put together the pieces of this puzzle and create my own masterpiece, an image of clarity and consistency. Also, an ADHD friendly calendar! You can also read Maya’s blogs about the ADHD Success Club at https://moveoveradhd.wordpress.com/.
Tired of struggling with ADHD? You’re in the right place. ADHD Success is loaded with free, practical tips to help you get organized, manage your time, and live more easily with Adult ADHD. Like what you read? Sign up for the newsletter now! No Spam. I promise!
0 Comments