Tag Archives: AD/HD

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Practical ADHD Strategies – Time Management @ Home

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Do you struggle with time management at home?  Are you rushing to get out of the house at the last minute?  Listen in to my Blog Talk Radio show as I share practical tips to help adults with ADHD manage their time at home.  The show is 15 minutes – a small investment of time to manage the rest of it better!

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Listen to internet radio with Laura Rolands on Blog Talk Radio

ADHD causes challenges with time management and Laura has some great strategies that you can start implementing as soon as the show ends.

Need some additional assistance with your Time Management?  Consider joining me and ADD Classes for the Adult ADD Time Management Intensive in January 2011.

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8 Resources for Setting Goals When You Have ADHD

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Effective goal setting is important for everyone.  If you have ADHD / ADD, it is even more critical.  Being clear on where you are headed can help you focus more and improve your effectiveness.  Without this focus, you may have a bigger challenge in achieving your goals.

Below, I have pulled together some of my favorite goal setting articles here at My Attention Coach to provide you a one-stop “shopping” experience.  Let me know your thoughts!

Goal Setting 101

Clear goals that use the SMART acronym do more to move you towards success than any number of New Years resolutions.  This article shares some quick tips to ensure that your goals are SMART.

 

Set Specific SMART Goals — overcome attention challenges

As you probably already know, the S in SMART goals stands for Specific.  Even though we know that it means, it can still be difficult to make sure a goal is specific.   Read this article for tips.
 

Measure for SMARTer Goals — overcome your attention challenges

The next element of SMART goals is M – Measurable.  When goals are measurable, we objectively know when we achieve our goals.  Without something to measure, you will never know when you reach your goal, or worse yet, when you do not reach it.
 

Achievable, Ambitious, ADHD or Attention – what does the A mean in SMART Goals?

The A in SMART goals can really stand for a few different concepts.  I think they all have validity and usefulness for my attention and ADHD coaching clients.  This article explains.  
 

Be Realistic for SMART goals that get Results

The R in SMART stands for Realistic, and it is so important to be realistic when you are setting your goals. This article will help you to be more realistic!

Timely Goals are SMARTer

To achieve more with your goals, you need to make them timely or timelined.  This means setting deadlines.  When you have ADHD, it is important to set timely goals with deadlines to help you keep focus on the goals.

Review Goals to Get Focused

ADHD can cause trouble staying focused on your goals.  Especially annual goals that are set early in the year.  This article will help you review your goals to help you stay (or get!)  focused.

Prioritizing ADHD Goals

All of your goals are important to you and prioritizing them allows you to focus your valuable time and energy.  When you have ADHD, prioritizing your goals can be extremely difficult, yet it is an important skill to develop.

Let me know your thoughts and any questions below.

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How can you increase productivity at home with ADHD?

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Productivity at home?

Productivity is usually something we think about related to work, but it can be a challenge at home too.  Especially when you include ADHD in the mix.  From paying bills to doing dishes to getting ready for the day, it can all get overwhelming if you have ADHD.  You can learn more by listening to my discussion with Virtual AD/HD Conference Founder and Director Jennifer Koretsky.

Listen here:  Virtual AD/HD Conference Podcast Series

Strategies are Critical

Developing strategies that work for you can help you to increase your productivity at home if you have ADHD.  Join me on October 6, 2011 at 3:45pm as I teach a session at the 2011 Virtual AD/HD Conference to help you identify and develop those strategies.  Check out the conference schedule to learn more about the conference and individual sessions.  This conference is highly valuable and I hope you can join us!

What strategies do you use to increase your productivity at home?

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Procrastination Strategies for ADHD

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In May, I led a teleseminar at ADD Classes titled Procrastination and ADD/ADHD: Strategies for the Real World.  I shared some great strategies to help you overcome your procrastination challenges.  In this article, I summarize the strategies that I shared during the teleseminar.  You can purchase the teleseminar directly from ADD Classes.

Strategies For Work

  • Volunteer for projects that interest you.  For example, I LOVE talking about strategies to help with procrastination.  Even if you don’t control all of your work assignments, volunteering for something interesting may help with other areas of your work as well
  • Practice Prioritizing.  ADHD can make it difficult to prioritize.  It can be really overwhelming to look at a laundry list of work to be done, especially if you have not prioritized.  This then leads to procrastination.  To move past procrastination, you can work on building the skill of prioritization.  See my related article, Prioritizing and Procrastination with ADHD, for more details.
  • Plan every day so you know what you need to do.  Sometimes procrastination looks like forgetting to do something.
  • Break big projects into smaller chunks to help each step of the project seem more manageable.  For example, if you have to develop a new process at work, it can be pretty easy to procrastinate because it is literally a HUGE process and assignment.  If you can identify smaller chunks and try to focus on one chunk at a time, it can be easier to get started.
  • Work on your hardest project or task first thing in the morning.  I had a client who procrastinated about making any type of phone call because she just does not enjoy making phone calls.  To counteract her tendency to procrastinate, she made a commitment to herself that she would make one difficult phone call every morning by 9:30am.  Once she made that phone call in the morning, she felt more confident that she could tackle all of her challenges that day!
  • Start with just 10 minutes.  Set a timer and just get started on the project.  If you find yourself saying you don’t have time to get started, just work on something for 10 minutes.  When the timer goes off, make a conscious decision – STOP because you are just working on it for 10 minutes or KEEP GOING because it really isn’t so bad after all!

Strategies to Use At Home

  • Develop routines or write out a checklist to help you through the mundane tasks you just hate doing every day and/or that you procrastinate about.
  • Make a game of things and play race the clock, either with family members, roommates or yourself.  If you have kids, it can be tremendously helpful in getting them moving as well.  I think it is the adrenaline that helps here.
  • Play your favorite music.  Tasks can be more fun and the music can be distracting in a good way.  Experiment with different kinds of music to see what helps you be the most productive.

Strategies for Your Personal Life

  • Do your personal activities interest you?  You are less likely to procrastinate when you are excited about doing an activity.  This can be especially true when it comes to exercise.  If you find yourself procrastinating on your personal activities, consider how you can get more interested in them and/or what activities you can add in to get more excited.
  • Keep a procrastination log  and consider what gets in the way.  If you keep a log or journal about your procrastination, you are likely to see themes regarding what is getting in the way of your procrastination.
  • Give yourself a reward for STARTING a project.   I recently started running again.  Running is not something I enjoy, but it is helpful for when I play soccer and just getting me in shape.  I bought myself a new piece of running clothing when I first started running again.  I was barely making it a quarter of a mile, and I already earned a reward!
  • Delegate where you can – who can you hire to plant your flowers, can the kids take out the garbage, can a friend edit your resume?

Which of these strategies can you implement today?  Don’t wait!

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Prioritizing and Procrastination with ADHD

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Recently, as I was preparing for my procrastination discussion with Tara McGuillicudy on ADHD Support Talk Radio I asked my Twitter followers for input.  The first theme that arose was prioritization which tends to be difficult for someone with ADHD.  When someone has trouble prioritizing, it can lead to procrastination simply because you don’t know where to start.

Skill Building

While prioritizing can be difficult for someone with ADHD, it is a skill that can absolutely be developed.  Stop reading for a moment while you get a piece of paper and a pen.  Don’t wait until later (don’t procrastinate!)

Make three columns on your paper and label the columns, “Task”, “Must?” and “When?”  In the task column write down everything you can think of that is currently on your To Do list.  Don’t worry about the other two columns for now.  I recommend just writing out the list to avoid getting stuck on the actual priorities at this point.

Do you dislike the idea of writing a list?  If you prefer another method, try using sticky notes and putting them up on a wall.  The movement can be helpful and you can move your tasks around as needed.

Prioritize

After your list is done, go back and answer the question, “Is this something I must do?” and answer yes or no.  Next, for the items that must be done answer the question, “When must this be complete?”  After you have done this, look at your must dos that are due in the next few days.  These are most likely your top priority and need to be tackled first.

Rewrite

Now, write down your top priorities in your planner on the day that you plan to complete the task.  What?!?  No planner?  Be sure to get my guide to choosing the right planner before starting your shopping.

Now that you have your prioritized list, we have broken down one barrier to procrastination!  Congratulations!

Teleseminar

To learn more about overcoming procrastination with ADHD, join me on May 31, 2011 for a free teleclass titled “Procrastination and ADD / ADHD: Strategies for the Real World“.  I will help you identify how procrastination affects you and learn how to develop strategies and an action plan to overcome procrastination in your life.

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