Something to take comfort in is the fact that most others with adhd also have the problem with ENDLESS "to-do" lists that just never seem to get done. It's true! It's not just you!
I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts and "to-do" items as pertains to creating this blog. Now, while I'm certainly improving, I stumble again and again. Outside of God, there is no such thing as perfect, so expecting yourself to be perfect puts you in the position of fighting a battle you'll NEVER win.
Having an adhd brain can be complicated. For example, the past couple of days I've spent the majority of my time working on the theme and graphics. Of course, these things are more complicated than they appear. You see ... in my life, EVERYTHING is more complicated than appears ... Because my adhd brain doesn't process a clear understanding of time and space, I just naturally assume I can do ANYTHING! In a short amount of time to boot.
The adhd brain accesses information from many "files" at once (in an arbitrary fashion), so new ideas constantly clutter our thought process when we simply want finish what we're currently doing. For me, this seems to be the primary reason I have difficulty with follow-through. I'm writing this post right now to take a break on developing the STYLE of this blog. I have a list of tasks to complete, but each task leads me to another and another and another ...
Sound familiar?
It does indeed get OVERWHELMING! The 95% without adhd think they get overwhelmed? I'd love to let them step inside my brain for a day. I haven't been able to get the header quite like I'd like it, so I've been learning about php and how to use photoshop. That lead me to start working on a favicon (which I haven't quite figured out via photoshop), which lead me to organize my firefox bookmarks, which gave me a great idea for a new page for the blog, which lead me to start building that page, which lead me to try to use a different theme for that particular page ...
If you have adhd, you totally get what I'm saying.
Now ... if you've been reading my blog, you know I'm all about accepting yourself as who you are, including your adhd brain. I don't believe ANYONE should attempt to be someone other than themselves. Trying to be someone else only creates an internal battle from which you'll never escape. You may have many well-intentioned people in your life trying to help you change because they love you. That's great! But the only change in yourself you should make is to strip the idea of "becomming the person you always wanted to be!"
JUST BE YOURSELF! Wort's and all.
Look inward for growth, instead of outwards.
With that said, how do I get through my endless to-do list even though it grows faster than I work on it?
I keep a list of the tasks I want to accomplish via Task Manager. I schedule the amount of time it will take to complete a task very liberally. If I think it'll take an hour, I give it a day. If I think it'll take a day, I give it three days. When I have new ideas popping into my head, I add them to the list. When I don't meet my deadline, I give myself an extension. And when I get overwhelmed, I do something else. I simply walk away and leave it for later. Then, when I come back to work on the blog, I allow myself to change the priority of each task if I choose to do so.
I know, I know ... it sounds crazy! There's no structure! It simply can't work!
I've been getting MORE DONE in my life lately than ever before. It's been wonderful! I realize the above isn't a detailed "system", but I check off tasks as COMPLETE on a consistent basis. Let me sum it all up in another way.
You have adhd, so ... ROLL WITH IT! Instead of trying to change it, learn to use it!
For things that have definitive time-lines, you have to meet those time-lines, but for things in which you've created the time-line, cut yourself some slack. It relieves you of the pressure, and allows you to enjoy what you're doing. And the most interesting side-affect of enjoying what you're doing ... is that you "git' er done!"
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