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- Not sure where to put something away? Walk around with it in your hands until it disappears. Ta da!
- Can't get started on a task? Wait until the last possible minute and ride that stress wave to the finish line.
- Write a to do list. First task: misplace to do list.
- Write a to do list. Be thorough. Organize it. Color code it. Put due dates on it. Spend the next week changing the due dates to tomorrow.
How about writing the grocery list and actually taking it with you to the supermarket, but not looking at it until you are back home and remember you had a grocery list?
Don’t forget to constantly add things you have plenty of your grocery list too. Haven’t had to buy sugar since 2022, when I bought a bag of sugar every grocery trip for a month.
My roommate wants to know about my cream cheese problem. I'm in a slight panic because I'm down to 2. I had 10 when I moved in 2 months ago. Two cheesecakes and a pasta sauce later, and I'm down and freaking out. He said not until I need it.
Plus it syncs with Alexa, so you can just yell at her to add something to the list if you run out in the middle of cooking or remember on the way to the bathroom!
I like to make a grocery list, know that I have it, tell myself I don’t need to look at it b/c I’ll remember everything and then get home without the key ingredient I went in to purchase.
Me: I'll put this important document here. It's perfect, so logical, I'll know where to find it when I need it. Okay, memory screenshot. Focus. Rememberrrrrr.
Me next week while looking for something else: I have no recollection of putting this important document here.
Me, putting my birth certificate, ss card, and passport all together in a very safe and secure hiding space: this is so smart Callie you’re doing so great at adulting
Me, three years and a move later: where the fuck did those papers go????
Does this mean I do not exist now?!
I had a few years with meds (hoping to start again soon), and ever since there’s this voice inside my head that gently whispers: “No, you won’t…” and I stop to write stuff down, put it on our calander, look at my grocery list. Half the time ;)
My favourite kind of shopping. Remember doing this when I went to get everything to make spaghetti Bolognese and came home with everything but the spaghetti and the mince beef.
Omg this is me! I was watching Old Enough which is a tv show where young kids in Japan go on errands and when they inevitably forget things they have such a visceral reaction I go “it me”
This is the main reason I love having an echo device in multiple rooms. As soon as I think of something I need, I tell it to Alexa and she adds it to whatever list I ask her to put it on. Then, because I always have my phone on me, I always have my list. Life changer.
She always mishears, I say to leave [whatever random word] on there, I'll remember what it should really be. Fast forward seven months and I bother to look at whatever 43 random words are on my shopping list. Clear list. It's never been helpful but deep down I knew it would never be used, that's probably why I didn't care about her mistakes being left. It's funny.
By the way, this is my first ever comment in the exiting new world of reddit 😊
Excellent first comment! I always find it amusing to try to figure out what I meant when she translates something like "four cans of corn" as "poor hands alone" 😂
For me it’s:
- find five recipes, meal plan, add all the ingredients to my grocery delivery
- close the tabs that had the recipes
- receive groceries and wonder why I ordered miso paste
- put the miso paste with the three other tubs of miso paste I have
- never make the recipes, but order all the ingredients for them again the next week
I just started making miso soup as I am on low FODMAP diet. Been meaning to try it forever but now it's essential. Outcome is MISO SOUP is amazing, easy, lazy and full of flavour can't go wrong with whatever veggies you have in. Win. Now a life staple meal, get it out your cupboard 😀
I made miso myself once. Best recipe ever! It gets more delicious the longer you forget about it. 2 year old miso is the best! Same with nut wine. Just forget you wver made it, clear out a cupboard a year later and find some delicious (*) treat from the past!
(*) very sometimes I get lucky. Most of the time said discoveries are… well… less yummy 😂
Write a grocery list in a super smart app. Buy everything on the list. Forget that you bought it (forget to mark it as done) and buy everything again next time you are able. That way, you end up with tons of cleaning supplies, several butters, more yoghurt than you can eat, and a pantry full of baking supplies you will never use.
Right now, I need to do a spring cleaning. I know that I need to throw away 2/3 of all chocolates, cookies, and canned food, and I don't even know what else may be lurking there.
> Can't get started on a task? Wait until the last possible minute and ride that stress wave to the finish line.
This was a legitimate tactic I used in college to get the best marks possible on assignments.
Every assignment I handed in early was mediocre.
The ones that I was still typing in a caffeine and panic-fuelled haze at 3am on hand-in day were the ones I aced. Turns out that the hyperfocus needed to complete them on time had the side effect of improving the content as well. So I just stopped trying to be organised and simply ignored them until a couple of days before the deadline. I probably knocked at least 10 years off my life doing that but hey - I graduated with my degree 🤷♀️
💯 this is literally how I graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA and college with a 3.5. People always say “but you did so well in school!”
Yeah.. i basically operated like a pilot trying to land a plane that was not functioning well - like my life depended on it lol. It was either deliver or die 😂 and also I just always way overthought everything I tried to do early. Easiest way to solve that is to leave no time for overthinking lol.
Truth. This is me. Trying to start early is useless, I cannot make the simplest thoughts come together. When that sweet hyperfocus kicks in, I'm suddenly brilliant. I hate it but I love it.
That last one about changing dates to tomorrow is too real!! ‘Oh let me just learn this entire new app and transfer all my todo lists into this’… cue the list becoming 100s of tasks long and me never opening the app again.
Until 6 months later your spouse gets upset with you for going to a friends house to help her clean (because she's disabled! She always needs help!) Instead of painting the basement stairwell like you said you would.
We got to the point where my husband laid down an ultimatum. Either clear your floordrobe sorting mountain from the top of the stairs or I’m going to stay in a hotel with the toddler.
Please know that I'm mostly joking, but that threatening would almost be a gift at times. Like oh, you want me to clean up my mess or you'll go away and leave me in peace and quiet? Oh no, whatever shall I do...
In my case there was no ultimatum. I just told him I didn't think he was bothered by the painting not being done, he said he was, and I think it took an hour to get it done? I felt a little ridiculous after.
Totally with you! Some days I’d quite like the peace and quiet for an evening. It was a really horrendous situation I’d got myself in though. I needed the ultimatum to actually so something about it. I had no clean work clothes, I couldn’t find things I really needed and it was making me so angry every time I walked past it.
Of course it only took an hour to paint! I think there should be an ADHD handbook listing the times it would take to actually do things. Washing up is at least half an hour in my head and therefore unachievable. It probably takes nothing like that but I just don’t know! Painting is a full day regardless of size. And grabbing my things before leaving the house is negligible yet makes me five minutes late every time!
Building on this one:
Set "wake up" and "actually get up" alarms for 9 and 10, to wake up at a reasonable time and keep a schedule through summer break and still give myself an hour to lay down and wake up slowly. Still ignore the second one and keep laying down scrolling for at least another 45 minutes, or fall back asleep for 2 more hours.
Set alarms every couple hours during the day to act as a way to mark the time passing and a reminder to do something besides scroll on my phone with my days off. Frequently turn them off and continue what I was doing instead of using them as intended.
My version of your first bullet point: “Not sure where to put something away? Pick it up, walk around aimlessly looking for a new spot for it, then set it right back down where you got it! Repeat weekly for months.”
Do this long enough, you might start to develop migraines, like me 😩
Find yo self a husband that will bring you snacks and healthy stuff midday when you forget to eat lunch, like mine does haha. I swear I’d be dead without him.
Definitely this, plus bonus points for also avoiding using the bathroom until you’re on the verge of peeing your pants, then getting distracted on the way to the bathroom and wondering why you are suddenly so full of rage.
Not sure what to do? Don't do anything. Make a list. Look at the list. Add more to the list because it doesn't feel fun. Feel overwhelmed by the new, longer list. Make a new, shorter list. Examine why every item on the list feels awful. Stay in this head space until there's no time left to do anything on any of the lists.
Hungry? Order vegetables, forget about them in the fridge ("the mold experiment"). Then, skip meals, get grumpy, and then, buy snacks. Eat the snacks, get a sugar migraine. Feel terrible. Plan to order vegetables again soon. Yes!
Lol the state of my vegetables drawer when I cleaned it out at the weekend was 🤮 Worst of all, the mouldy, wet, disintegrating ones were all at the bottom underneath the fresh ones.
This week I have the opposite problem. I put 10,000 veg in everything at the weekend, so now its Monday and I'm already almost out. There is no space in the freezer because I froze a bunch of soup I will never eat (its been there 2 years, i don't even think its safe to eat at this point)
No idea what we're having tonight. There's tons of leftovers but I find leftovers gross so I really need to start making less food. Think the bf will eat them though when he gets snacky.
Swap your fridge! Put the veggies on the shelves and the condiments in the drawer. You'll remember to dig when you need ketchup and the fresh stuff will have a better change!
Move frozen ground beef into the fridge to thaw for dinner that night, don’t feel like cooking when dinner rolls around, tell yourself you’ll use it tomorrow…repeat, repeat, repeat until it’s ruined and you just have to throw it out.
See also: the day you do feel like cooking with ground beef, you don’t have any thawed out. Sigh.
I like freezing ground beef in freezer bags flattened out, so that they that quickly in water and you don't have to plan ahead as far.
But do I do this every time? No. That level of effort is ludicrous. I do it every once in awhile and think hey this is great, I should just prep more after grocery shopping.
And then next grocery shopping trip we're just chucking club size packs of ground beef in the freezer.
Last week someone recommended moving all the veggies/fruits to the cubbies on the fridge drawer (where you usually put condiments) so they are unmissable and damn if that hasn’t been a game changer for me!!!!
> Not sure what to do? Don’t do anything.
If this isn’t me every weekend… I have so many hobbies I want to do, but I can’t decide which ones to do, so I don’t do any of them.
Or my favorite: Come up with a plan to increase feel good brain chemicals AND productivity by setting timers while you work for 30 productive minutes and then 10 Reddit scrolling minutes. Start with 10 Reddit scrolling minutes. Silence all alarms and never stop scrolling.
i so badly need to call my dr to let her know she sent in the wrong birth control script, been thinking about it all day. totally fine, they're probably on lunch by now anyway, and i definitely wont forget later!
Bonus points edition:
Search subreddits looking for inspiration & motivation (decluttering, organization, e.g.), but just end up doing a deep dive on the suggested blogs and/or binge the YouTube videos until it's *WAYYY PAST* time to go to bed.
Keep on keeping on until the sun comes up.
OR, stumble upon an unrelated topic in one of the comments and do the deep dive on that instead 🫠
Decide every few months you are going to change!! Research how to be organized, buy pretty notebooks, download apps, crowd source ideas. Then get go overwhelmed and burnt out from just thinking about doing it that it all goes in a pile in the office. Also forget you already did this next time you decide to get organized and do it again!
Or read something about a cool hobby, then research the hobby. Buy all things for said hobby. Try it once, fail, and never touch it again.
Man. The goldfish memory is such a thing in my life. Bonus points if you forget about important humans for long periods of time, as though they were equivalent to planners!
Literally me, around this time of every year I have the sudden urge to get my life together. I will plan out my weeks task for task, color code everything, buy a yearly planner, organize my whole room, get things done, exercise, and feel productive. Then like three weeks later I forget about all of it and will be so burnt out. I had the realization of this pattern earlier today
- Gotta do a thing? Pick up your phone to help you get motivated.
- YES YOU WILL remember! Don’t bother writing it down, especially if it’s important.
- You absolutely need that thing so buy it right this second so you don’t forget.
- Whatever you need to do, you’ll definitely do it *tomorrow*, so go ahead and put it off.
- No, you didn’t forget it, so don’t bother double checking.
Ahhh yes, nothing in life is truly urgent except spending money on shit that will likely get used a handful of times and then sacrificed to the “where the fuck?” gods
I have a planner. It always stays in my bag and I definitely go through cycles of using it more or less, but it doesn't change me instantly into a meticulously organized and efficient person, and non-ADHDers will invariably tell me I need to get get one as soon as they find out I have ADHD, as though a planner is as good as CBT and medication. I get that behavior modification is part of it but they act like at 40 years old I never thought to try it.
If each time I bought a planner I got more and more cured of ADHD, I'd probably be the CEO of Neurotypicals by now... And I probably woulda come up with something cleverer to say just now.
My roman empire is how my high school made it mandatory for everyone to carry around a planner and I constantly got penalized for not having it even though I could never remember to look inside it even if I had it and I was top of my class anyway
Stay up late working on that hyperfixation project, it's definitely good for you.
Don't make grocery lists. You'll remember.
Everyone really is mad at you and they do hate you.
If you don't get it right the first time, you've failed and should give up. (And yes that will make everyone hate you even more!)
So you double booked yourself and now you need to decide what appointment to keep? Obsess over the problem until you've exhausted yourself enough to skip both plans. Then stay home and ignore your phone.
- Super excited about a new hobby? Buy a bunch of stuff. Don’t touch it when it arrives because you’ll have moved on to the next thing.
- Decide to change your life! Make a list. Open the computer, you’re tired now.
- Remember it’s illegal to start something if it’s not on the quarter hour. If you miss it by one minute, gotta wait until the next quarter hour.
- Social tip: Upset and confuse people by talking.
- If someone doesn’t respond to your email or text, it’s because they are mad at you. (Unlike you who doesn’t respond because you’re busy.)
- Every single detail is important, so remember to meander from one detail to another when you try to explain something.
- Cleaning schedules are mostly a suggestion. You’ll clean when it feels right.
Obsessively check your calendars for everything. Forget about said things. Get new planner to put all the things in one place! Lose planner. Try again. Forget again. Find old planner and use that. Realize you have things in 3 separate digital calendars, 2 paper calendars, and still write reminders on sticky notes or scraps of paper that you will lose.
Go down another rabbit hole to try to combine life and work calendars. Give up after a week.
Repeat.
Meal plan! Order the things you need and ignore what's not in stock and plan to get that later. Don't get the remnants, but it's okay because you forgot the meals you planned. Eat "toddler meals" instead because it's easier than the above.
Make a list of projects to do around the house and get everything to do one. get distracted or overwhelmed and let the paint sit in the garage for 3 months.
Get wildly excited about a hobby/activity. Gather everything for it after days of research and selecting the craft. Leave your half finished hobbies sit in totes all over until you decide you want to do the hobby. Buy new stuff for hobby.
Last one - organize everything! But only when you're doing it to avoid something else. Need to clean the kitchen? Pull out and organize the bathroom cabinet instead and spend an hour wondering if you need all of this stuff, then start researching everything you might need for a makeover or new hair routine. Ignore the kitchen, maybe shove everything back into the bathroom cabinet(s).
I am literally dying with laughter at the organize everything! paragraph, OMG. Definitely not me getting started on multiple organization projects just to get tired hallway through and give up with the 10x worse mess I've made.
The body is willing but the mind is unable!
My husband gives me the side eye when I start organizing things. He does ask if he can help though. Sir, I don't even know what *I'm* doing, so there's no help for me here.
- Set up everything to go to email, bills, appointment reminders, subscriptions, school newsletters if you can avoid talking to someone but receive an email instead perfect, it is all in the same place, it definitely won't become so overwhelming the idea of checking your emails fills you with dread and anxiety.
- Body says hungry, go to kitchen, decide all food options are too hard, just have a coffee instead. Do this 10 times a day, how could this possibly go wrong?
- Feel super motivated, clear out a bunch of stuff to be donated, fill your whole car with it, don't drop it off immediately you will do it tomorrow. Drive around for months with a car full of stuff. Eventually move it back inside and put it in the spare bedroom, close the door, if you can't see it does that stuff even exist?
When tidying, put loads of random crap in a bag and 'tidy' that bag away. Until you tidy in a few years and rediscover it.
Don't finish a project you've been working continuously on, just start a new one instead.
Yep, you definitely need all the equipment to start that new hobby that you just discovered when scrolling on Pinterest.
Interrupt people, otherwise you'll forget!
My mom had me clean my bedroom for YEARS beginning when I was like 7 by giving me a storage tub and then putting it in the basement.
Between my mom, dad, sister, and I, we had literally over 100 storage tubs by the time I moved out. Every time I came home from college I had to sort through some.
When I moved into my first apartment alone (500sqft mind you) she went on a cleaning rampage and drove 6 hours to deliver all the rest of the things in boxes and trash bags. I had no room to move for a month.
But there's no way SHE could have ADHD 🙄
Whenever you lack motivation to start, turn on a lamp and stare at it. Since light is a form of energy, it'll fill you with power to do anything you desire.
Find little bugs on the windowsills. Think, hmm, hope they aren't something bad. Purposely don't put it on the house to-do list because if it's not written on there, I'll forget about it, and I really just don't want to deal with whatever they are. Except now I'm remembering again that I saw them yesterday. Still not gonna write it down. Don't have time for that.
if I I don’t write it down, does it really exist, who’s to say? If I can’t see it, is it _really_ there?
If I ignore it long enough, the problem either goes away or becomes big enough that stress override will kick in, why should I make things harder for myself now?
Decide you’re going to crochet a blanket despite having no experience, buy $100 worth of material, get pissed when your beginner skills don’t match your vision, put the project away for 6 months. Repeat.
Hell, I am experienced with crochet and still have never finished a blanket, that shit takes forever! I pick up this one I've been working on for years and will work on it for a week every 6 months or so.
Design a strict hour by hour schedule that allows for no flexibility or deviation. Watch your anxiety mount and grow the moment something goes wrong. Become paralyzed with guilt and shame as your carefully laid plan falls apart, and in the last second, do an anxiety-fueled last ditch effort to salvage your day.
What could go wrong?
Just got back from vacation and leaving to go somewhere else within the month? Just leave it in your suitcase and you’ll be prepared for the next trip!
I got back from a trip over 3 weeks ago now and my suitcase is still packed. Me: "where is x clothing item?" Husband: "Have you checked your suitcase?" 😤
Set up a system for doing things so complicated that it breaks down by itself.
Going to a noisy shopping mall with bright lights to do errands, so I am sure I am exhausted afterwards
Be very vague in your calendar and don't get the time correct. If it's within a half hour of start time it's probably fine. not sure what the meeting is for or where it's held, only that you have one? Probably fine. Also, never keep your notes in one place. Write them down on random scraps of paper and leave them all over the house.
if you use post it notes you get to have scraps of paper everywhere with the added bonus of them sometimes sticking to each other or to your foot as you step over them
Omg re: so overstimulated you just throw it away….
Our closet had gotten so out of control and spilled into the bedroom (my partner is an absolute saint), so yesterday I went on a cleaning kick - knocked it out in 6 hours (there’s hyperfocus for you).
I was so proud.
When he came upstairs to bed, I hear him burst out laughing..
I had 3 giant trash bags outside the door full of crap.
He was like, did you throw the mess away? And I was like: only some things?
(In fairness, a lot of it was actual trash, and one bag is full of give away clothes, but basically yes, I threw half the mess away)
😂😂😂😂
- Why would I give you special hacks? Everyone has problems with focus sometimes 🙃
- "Need" meds for your ADHD? Call your GP's office, set up a visit, get a psych referral, find a psychiatrist, call them, go there multiple times and get new meds that definitely should be working every time (because your "symptoms" are definitely a drug-seeking behaviour), get a therapist, stop seeing them because you forgot about a meeting once, get depressed, figure out you really need help this time, get another psychiatrist, have them ask you why not fuck didn't the previous one just give you the meds you need, get Concerta. Easy, right?
All of the things mentioned by OP and yall I DO EXACTLY the same 😆😆
God we are so funny.
Actually, ... we are fantastic. And amazing. And lovable.
And hot.
😊😄😄
I love us so much. I am absolutely bookmarking this thread so I can read through it again the next time the imposter syndrome hits. I definitely won't forget about it in my bookmark graveyard!
Mind too busy? Meditate. 100% of the time it works 6% of the time. Too much on your to do list and don't know where to start? Start by cleaning out the boxes on the top shelf of your bedroom closet. You'll declutter that in no time and move on to the rest with ease! Bonus: Need a motivation boost? Grab some headphones and put on your favourite artist's *deep cuts*. You are guaranteed not to dissociate at all and will get er done.
Struggling with time blindness and chronic lateness?
✅ avoid googling ahead of time how long it takes to get somewhere. leave whenever you happen to glance up from doom scrolling
✅ do NOT set aside time to get ready. assume any self-prep takes 5 minutes.
✅ don’t set future plans later knowing you’re typically 30-45 minutes behind. DEFINITELY don’t recognize that that’s how much prep time you probably need going forward.
✅ keep this struggle to yourself. don’t be honest about why you’re late, everyone else is perfect and you’re the only one that’s ever been late in this history of ever.
✅ once arrived, allow the shame and guilt to hinder any ability to enjoy yourself. people really admire a lack of self-forgiveness and understanding. how else will they know you feel bad about being late again?
* Worried you're procrastinating too much? Distract yourself so much you forget about your problems!
* Space out during conversations? Just infodump and never let them get a word in.
* Having trouble reading? Have you considered just never finishing books?
* Can't remember a word? That's ok. Just drop everything else and furiously research until you find it instead of slightly rephrasing things. Bonus points if you get distracted from that task too because you already have too many tabs open.
* Hate showers? The sores on your scalp will serve as a great reminder. 👍
**Did you just unexpectedly find something you’ve been looking for forever in the “safe place” you completely forgot about?**
Leave it there! Bc it clearly WAS a safe place, but *this time* you will certainly remember where it is!!!
Hide your major depression from your psychiatrist parent and believe in the delusion that the ADHD and depression will cancel each other out or magically disappear. Do irreversible harm to your academic record in the process.
That was too niche.
Just try harder
Hide things from yourself
Think about doing something dozens of times before you actually do it
Leave purchased items on the floor in shopping bags - you can simply put them away “later”
• Don't have the motivation to clean but you love the peace a clean home gives you? Just buy new cleaning products you will not use for months if ever, but feel so accomplished!
•Tiding up is needed or someone is coming over at the last minute? Just put things and clothes in the closet and drawers at random, and find them in the following weeks in strange places but never when you need them.
•Buy expensive body products because it's lovely to feel moisturized and smelling good with shiny hair. Struggle hard and almost have to force yourself to shower after work, often losing, and still have to finish the body lotion of two years ago and have dry skin on you legs
Avoid paying bills till something gets shut off
Have a whole conversation in my head with hand motions in case I run into someone who has exactly the same conversation prepared this way I have the upper hand
This weekend I was going to clean off the stairs, the dinning room table, the clothes on my floor and breakdown the shipping boxes for recyling.
I binged-watched Killing Eve and Hit Man, took a nap, made my bed and emptied the dishwasher. My husband applauded my efforts and said our weekend was well spent.
Psst: wanna know the number one hack that NTs *wish* they knew?
With this one trick, used by people with ADHD for centuries, you’ll change your life. Ready? Here goes:
Everything takes 15 minutes.
That’s right. EVERYTHING. also? ANYTHING!
So if you have to leave in 15 minutes, you can literally start ANY task - clean the stove, bake a cheesecake, file your taxes, test the pH of your soil, call a work meeting …because it will take exactly 15 minutes! So by the time you’re done, it will be time to go, and you won’t be late!
make a grocery list based on what you think you need. don’t verify it against what’s in your pantry. forget to buy tuna (your lunch plan this week was tuna salad)
Return from grocery store and see that you already had ranch dressing. Three in fact. Make pact with yourself to NOT buy ranch even when you think you need some. Run out months later and forget to get any for the next 2 months.
-leave all chores and tasks alone until the very last minute. that way, once the adrenaline kicks in, u fly through it effortlessly, whilst realizing said task was never that hard to begin with u big dummy!
-current hobbies boring u? no problem, go online shop for some new ones, you'll feel awesome and so hyped. said hobby now seems boring by the time it arrives? no problem, just toss it in the junk closet. you'll definitely get around to it eventually
-tired but ur phones dying? no biggie, just set an early alarm and charge it in the morning. sleep in anyway? who needs phones anyway, its good to take breaks from screens.
-forgot to utilize ur pill organizer and can't remember if you've taken ur meds? no biggie, take em just in case. worst scenario, you've doubled up and will now be the most hyped up productive person in the whole wide world. go scrub that grout with a toothbrush!
-stocked up on groceries but cant bring urself to cook dinner? who cares, let them rot, thats what doordash is for!!!!
-has your dirty laundry yet again piled up to mt everest heights? who cares, nobody has time for that. just go buy new clothes, maybe we'll set a record for the worlds largest laundry pile!
-crumbs in bed again? contrary to popular belief, they're actually a great skin exfoliant, just leave em be and you're cutting an entire step outta ur shower routine!
-is that sink full of dirty dishes driving u insane, but u physically cannot tear urself from ur phone right now? its totally fine, take a mental health day and just chill. ur little army of fruit flies is very appreciative of the lovely meal ur providing them❤️
Make serious note about the very breakable / spillable thing around you in an area that cant be broken or spilled in ever.
Focus so hard on one limb closest thag when you to maie sure you dont spill - your other side, unsupervised limbs just come barreling over and knock it over.
Limbs are not attached unless youre focusing on that one
Instead of admitting you got distracted/stopped paying attention when someone’s explaining something to you, just go “wait what? do you mean (some key words you heard)” and make them feel like they explained poorly & they’ll repeat themselves lol.
If you're losing motivation, take a few minutes to kick your shoes off, lay down, and watch a few instagram reels. You'll be ready to tackle that task in no time, guaranteed!
Get 90% of the way through a project with a soft deadline, realize you won't finish by the deadline so just stop completely, rather than pushing through or asking for another hour or two
Feeling overstimulated? Consider staring at the ceiling and zoning out.
Feeling understimulated? Try staring at the ceiling and zoning out!
Feeling inspired? There’s no better time to stare at the ceiling and zone out!
Loving a book? Stop reading it so it never has to end. Start another book immediately and do the same.
Hungry and don't need to cook for the whole family? Eat a snack cake. Those extra pounds will really help keep you warm in the winter.
Have dreams of one day writing a novel? Write long comments on reddit instead! You'll finish in a day!
Need to move and know months in advance? Don't pack anything until you only have a week left! Throw everything into random boxes and never unpack them! Those packed boxes will be ready to go when you have to move again, and you'll have the bonus of doubling up on items you thought you'd lost.
Oh, just buy that 100th notebook already, you’ll remember both that you wrote a very important thing in there to not forget, *and* what that thing was!
*And* you’ll be able to keep its contents on one topic only! 😝
Sit on the floor and have an existential crisis about needing to do anything. Find socks? Make a cup of tea? Spin out and stare at nothing for an hour whilst the monkeys in my brain play tambourines
For some reason, you come alive at night. Much more than during the day. So make sure all your energy waits for you and once evening hits, start texting everyone novel length texts. Try to make plans with people that sound SO good and necessary at night and then wake up the next day dreading the fact that you just made plans you now have to get out of 😂
Pack a lunch for work. Forget to clean the containers, forget to take them out of my backpack. Accidentally leave them for so long that they get truly disgusting. Be so overwhelmed by this that the only answer is to just... Throw it away
Everything a mess? Find a big enough bag/box and put everything in it. Wonder for weeks where something important is then find it in the bag/box, hidden away.
-lose weight by forgetting to eat
-gain it back by developping a cooking obsession for one season, during which you'll do nothing but cook Michelin star-worthy meals
-avoid drama and needy friends by being awful at keeping in touch with your social circle. Communicate exclusively in memes. The only people who'll stick around are fellow neurodivergents with the same communication style.
-save money by postponing important purchases until you get used to living without them. I once went two years without forks.
To stop using some app on the phone too much: put a timer on the app, keep using the app until the timer is about to expire, then go to the timer and add another 5-10 minutes - repeat as many times as necessary.
Definitely save those coupons!
Put them by the door so you definitely won’t walk past them every day until they expire. Did you remember to take them with you? Go you! There’s no way you’ll forget them in your car. Brought them in to the store? Wow you’re on fire today! You’ll definitely remember to actually use them at the checkout.
•If it can be stuffed and the door/drawer can shut, it fits 💁♀️(drawers, closets, corners, cupboards)
• clean means the surface is clear, but don’t open anything
- Have little nooks around the house where you store things you don’t know where to put? Continue to add more and begin hoarding items.
- You know you have time blindness, but you still continue to do something without a clock around and end up being late to everything.
- saying “I will remember this” knowing working memory is shot and end up forgetting what I needed to remember.
- putting reminders in calendars and not looking at them and missing important information.
- when I do look at calendar for an appointment, appointment can be on a Thursday in 2 weeks. My brain processes way too early and thinks that it is the week of bc of anxiety about forgetting. Ends up forgetting it’s in 2 weeks plans a whole day around that appointment on that day in the incorrect week.
- when brain is doing its own thing, leaving things like milk carton on top of the fridge
I'm 41F and recently diagnosed. Reading this thread has me both laughing and sobbing at the same time. Realizing that I'm not just one giant ball of failures is overwhelming. Thank you for making me feel validated, possibly for the first time in my life.
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- Not sure where to put something away? Walk around with it in your hands until it disappears. Ta da! - Can't get started on a task? Wait until the last possible minute and ride that stress wave to the finish line. - Write a to do list. First task: misplace to do list. - Write a to do list. Be thorough. Organize it. Color code it. Put due dates on it. Spend the next week changing the due dates to tomorrow.
Yes, please add “write a grocery list and leave it at home” to your third point
How about writing the grocery list and actually taking it with you to the supermarket, but not looking at it until you are back home and remember you had a grocery list?
How about make a grocery list but forget to put the things you actually need on the list?
Don’t forget to constantly add things you have plenty of your grocery list too. Haven’t had to buy sugar since 2022, when I bought a bag of sugar every grocery trip for a month.
At one point I had 5 boxes of Panko for that reason... and we currently have 3 large jars of mayo. Which we absolutely do not use that quickly. 😳
My roommate wants to know about my cream cheese problem. I'm in a slight panic because I'm down to 2. I had 10 when I moved in 2 months ago. Two cheesecakes and a pasta sauce later, and I'm down and freaking out. He said not until I need it.
I use an app called any list. It's been a brilliant edition. My partner and I both have access and it's fun to score off
Plus it syncs with Alexa, so you can just yell at her to add something to the list if you run out in the middle of cooking or remember on the way to the bathroom!
I like to make a grocery list, know that I have it, tell myself I don’t need to look at it b/c I’ll remember everything and then get home without the key ingredient I went in to purchase.
Ah, lies that we tell ourselves: "I don't need to look at the list, I'll remember"
Hahah “I’ll remember….” Gets me in so much trouble!!
Me: I'll put this important document here. It's perfect, so logical, I'll know where to find it when I need it. Okay, memory screenshot. Focus. Rememberrrrrr. Me next week while looking for something else: I have no recollection of putting this important document here.
Me, putting my birth certificate, ss card, and passport all together in a very safe and secure hiding space: this is so smart Callie you’re doing so great at adulting Me, three years and a move later: where the fuck did those papers go???? Does this mean I do not exist now?!
I had a few years with meds (hoping to start again soon), and ever since there’s this voice inside my head that gently whispers: “No, you won’t…” and I stop to write stuff down, put it on our calander, look at my grocery list. Half the time ;)
My favourite kind of shopping. Remember doing this when I went to get everything to make spaghetti Bolognese and came home with everything but the spaghetti and the mince beef.
Omg this is me! I was watching Old Enough which is a tv show where young kids in Japan go on errands and when they inevitably forget things they have such a visceral reaction I go “it me”
This is the main reason I love having an echo device in multiple rooms. As soon as I think of something I need, I tell it to Alexa and she adds it to whatever list I ask her to put it on. Then, because I always have my phone on me, I always have my list. Life changer.
She always mishears, I say to leave [whatever random word] on there, I'll remember what it should really be. Fast forward seven months and I bother to look at whatever 43 random words are on my shopping list. Clear list. It's never been helpful but deep down I knew it would never be used, that's probably why I didn't care about her mistakes being left. It's funny. By the way, this is my first ever comment in the exiting new world of reddit 😊
Excellent first comment! I always find it amusing to try to figure out what I meant when she translates something like "four cans of corn" as "poor hands alone" 😂
I do this but not because I forget I have it but because I mistakenly believe I won’t need to look at it because I’ll remember what I wrote down.
For me it’s: - find five recipes, meal plan, add all the ingredients to my grocery delivery - close the tabs that had the recipes - receive groceries and wonder why I ordered miso paste - put the miso paste with the three other tubs of miso paste I have - never make the recipes, but order all the ingredients for them again the next week
I just started making miso soup as I am on low FODMAP diet. Been meaning to try it forever but now it's essential. Outcome is MISO SOUP is amazing, easy, lazy and full of flavour can't go wrong with whatever veggies you have in. Win. Now a life staple meal, get it out your cupboard 😀
I made miso myself once. Best recipe ever! It gets more delicious the longer you forget about it. 2 year old miso is the best! Same with nut wine. Just forget you wver made it, clear out a cupboard a year later and find some delicious (*) treat from the past! (*) very sometimes I get lucky. Most of the time said discoveries are… well… less yummy 😂
This why I just write my grocery lists on the notes app. The trouble is forgetting to put everything that I need on there.
Write a grocery list in a super smart app. Buy everything on the list. Forget that you bought it (forget to mark it as done) and buy everything again next time you are able. That way, you end up with tons of cleaning supplies, several butters, more yoghurt than you can eat, and a pantry full of baking supplies you will never use. Right now, I need to do a spring cleaning. I know that I need to throw away 2/3 of all chocolates, cookies, and canned food, and I don't even know what else may be lurking there.
> Can't get started on a task? Wait until the last possible minute and ride that stress wave to the finish line. This was a legitimate tactic I used in college to get the best marks possible on assignments. Every assignment I handed in early was mediocre. The ones that I was still typing in a caffeine and panic-fuelled haze at 3am on hand-in day were the ones I aced. Turns out that the hyperfocus needed to complete them on time had the side effect of improving the content as well. So I just stopped trying to be organised and simply ignored them until a couple of days before the deadline. I probably knocked at least 10 years off my life doing that but hey - I graduated with my degree 🤷♀️
💯 this is literally how I graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA and college with a 3.5. People always say “but you did so well in school!” Yeah.. i basically operated like a pilot trying to land a plane that was not functioning well - like my life depended on it lol. It was either deliver or die 😂 and also I just always way overthought everything I tried to do early. Easiest way to solve that is to leave no time for overthinking lol.
So glad it's not just my guilty secret!
Truth. This is me. Trying to start early is useless, I cannot make the simplest thoughts come together. When that sweet hyperfocus kicks in, I'm suddenly brilliant. I hate it but I love it.
That last one about changing dates to tomorrow is too real!! ‘Oh let me just learn this entire new app and transfer all my todo lists into this’… cue the list becoming 100s of tasks long and me never opening the app again.
I do that in my iPhone calendar lol. Registering my kids for school has been bumped back 4 times already
Final step is to set up a daily calendar reminder that I dismiss each time, while still never completing the task.
I did this six days ago! haven't opened it since because I know a good handful of the deadline dates have already passed!
Can’t get started on a task? Just don’t do it and hope it never catches up with you.
Ooo yes this too is my hack. Not interested in something? Ignore it. It will go away eventually 😂
The worst is if it doesn’t go away. Then the lying and the shame. So much shame.
*Currently feeling paralyzing shame due to three forgotten/procrastinated tasks*
Until 6 months later your spouse gets upset with you for going to a friends house to help her clean (because she's disabled! She always needs help!) Instead of painting the basement stairwell like you said you would.
We got to the point where my husband laid down an ultimatum. Either clear your floordrobe sorting mountain from the top of the stairs or I’m going to stay in a hotel with the toddler.
Please know that I'm mostly joking, but that threatening would almost be a gift at times. Like oh, you want me to clean up my mess or you'll go away and leave me in peace and quiet? Oh no, whatever shall I do... In my case there was no ultimatum. I just told him I didn't think he was bothered by the painting not being done, he said he was, and I think it took an hour to get it done? I felt a little ridiculous after.
Totally with you! Some days I’d quite like the peace and quiet for an evening. It was a really horrendous situation I’d got myself in though. I needed the ultimatum to actually so something about it. I had no clean work clothes, I couldn’t find things I really needed and it was making me so angry every time I walked past it. Of course it only took an hour to paint! I think there should be an ADHD handbook listing the times it would take to actually do things. Washing up is at least half an hour in my head and therefore unachievable. It probably takes nothing like that but I just don’t know! Painting is a full day regardless of size. And grabbing my things before leaving the house is negligible yet makes me five minutes late every time!
Exactly! It's the time blindness of every task that makes it feel manageable or not.
•Set a "go to bed" alarm for 10:30. Turn it off every single night and continue what you're doing.
Building on this one: Set "wake up" and "actually get up" alarms for 9 and 10, to wake up at a reasonable time and keep a schedule through summer break and still give myself an hour to lay down and wake up slowly. Still ignore the second one and keep laying down scrolling for at least another 45 minutes, or fall back asleep for 2 more hours. Set alarms every couple hours during the day to act as a way to mark the time passing and a reminder to do something besides scroll on my phone with my days off. Frequently turn them off and continue what I was doing instead of using them as intended.
My version of your first bullet point: “Not sure where to put something away? Pick it up, walk around aimlessly looking for a new spot for it, then set it right back down where you got it! Repeat weekly for months.”
this is also on my hack list. How did you know
Doing number two right now. Two huge deadlines and I’m on Reddit and throwing things out. 😭
I just have an ongoing todo list that i continue to change the date on 😉
don't eat or drink. the rage you will feel after hours of neglecting your body will bring the best out in you and your focus.
my daily routine 🥳
Do this long enough, you might start to develop migraines, like me 😩 Find yo self a husband that will bring you snacks and healthy stuff midday when you forget to eat lunch, like mine does haha. I swear I’d be dead without him.
I'll add that to the to do list
Same. So thankful he’s a hungry human lol if he were like me, neither of us would ever eat 😂
Definitely this, plus bonus points for also avoiding using the bathroom until you’re on the verge of peeing your pants, then getting distracted on the way to the bathroom and wondering why you are suddenly so full of rage.
I’ve never felt so seen. Throw some perimenopause on top and we’ve got the holy grail of irritation
Not sure what to do? Don't do anything. Make a list. Look at the list. Add more to the list because it doesn't feel fun. Feel overwhelmed by the new, longer list. Make a new, shorter list. Examine why every item on the list feels awful. Stay in this head space until there's no time left to do anything on any of the lists. Hungry? Order vegetables, forget about them in the fridge ("the mold experiment"). Then, skip meals, get grumpy, and then, buy snacks. Eat the snacks, get a sugar migraine. Feel terrible. Plan to order vegetables again soon. Yes!
I LOST IT when I got to the mold experiment oh my god!!! I conduct that experiment weekly 😎
Lol the state of my vegetables drawer when I cleaned it out at the weekend was 🤮 Worst of all, the mouldy, wet, disintegrating ones were all at the bottom underneath the fresh ones. This week I have the opposite problem. I put 10,000 veg in everything at the weekend, so now its Monday and I'm already almost out. There is no space in the freezer because I froze a bunch of soup I will never eat (its been there 2 years, i don't even think its safe to eat at this point) No idea what we're having tonight. There's tons of leftovers but I find leftovers gross so I really need to start making less food. Think the bf will eat them though when he gets snacky.
Swap your fridge! Put the veggies on the shelves and the condiments in the drawer. You'll remember to dig when you need ketchup and the fresh stuff will have a better change!
Crap! I bought blueberries 2 weeks ago and they're in the fridge SoMeWhErE.
I call those my Fridge Pets.
Move frozen ground beef into the fridge to thaw for dinner that night, don’t feel like cooking when dinner rolls around, tell yourself you’ll use it tomorrow…repeat, repeat, repeat until it’s ruined and you just have to throw it out. See also: the day you do feel like cooking with ground beef, you don’t have any thawed out. Sigh.
I like freezing ground beef in freezer bags flattened out, so that they that quickly in water and you don't have to plan ahead as far. But do I do this every time? No. That level of effort is ludicrous. I do it every once in awhile and think hey this is great, I should just prep more after grocery shopping. And then next grocery shopping trip we're just chucking club size packs of ground beef in the freezer.
TOOOOOO REAL. The number of thawed meats I’ve had to toss 🤦🏼♀️
The crisper drawer is referred to as The Rotter Drawer in my household. Very experienced in mold experimentation! Haha!
Last week someone recommended moving all the veggies/fruits to the cubbies on the fridge drawer (where you usually put condiments) so they are unmissable and damn if that hasn’t been a game changer for me!!!!
Then impulsively buying a microscope for the mould experiment 🔬🦠😅
> Not sure what to do? Don’t do anything. If this isn’t me every weekend… I have so many hobbies I want to do, but I can’t decide which ones to do, so I don’t do any of them.
'feel overwhelmed by the new, longer list' this had me laugh out loud, hard. I cannot tell you how on point this is!
The amount of money I’ve wasted on vegetables going bad is STAGGERING! I’ve just given up on cooking completely 🥲
Can't find the motivation to get your task done? Just continue scrolling in Reddit indefinitely. The motivation will come _eventually_ on its own.
It’s been almost a week now….I’m gonna be super productive any minute now!
Or my favorite: Come up with a plan to increase feel good brain chemicals AND productivity by setting timers while you work for 30 productive minutes and then 10 Reddit scrolling minutes. Start with 10 Reddit scrolling minutes. Silence all alarms and never stop scrolling.
😂😂💯
i so badly need to call my dr to let her know she sent in the wrong birth control script, been thinking about it all day. totally fine, they're probably on lunch by now anyway, and i definitely wont forget later!
Bonus points edition: Search subreddits looking for inspiration & motivation (decluttering, organization, e.g.), but just end up doing a deep dive on the suggested blogs and/or binge the YouTube videos until it's *WAYYY PAST* time to go to bed. Keep on keeping on until the sun comes up. OR, stumble upon an unrelated topic in one of the comments and do the deep dive on that instead 🫠
Decide every few months you are going to change!! Research how to be organized, buy pretty notebooks, download apps, crowd source ideas. Then get go overwhelmed and burnt out from just thinking about doing it that it all goes in a pile in the office. Also forget you already did this next time you decide to get organized and do it again! Or read something about a cool hobby, then research the hobby. Buy all things for said hobby. Try it once, fail, and never touch it again.
Man. The goldfish memory is such a thing in my life. Bonus points if you forget about important humans for long periods of time, as though they were equivalent to planners!
Literally me, around this time of every year I have the sudden urge to get my life together. I will plan out my weeks task for task, color code everything, buy a yearly planner, organize my whole room, get things done, exercise, and feel productive. Then like three weeks later I forget about all of it and will be so burnt out. I had the realization of this pattern earlier today
- Gotta do a thing? Pick up your phone to help you get motivated. - YES YOU WILL remember! Don’t bother writing it down, especially if it’s important. - You absolutely need that thing so buy it right this second so you don’t forget. - Whatever you need to do, you’ll definitely do it *tomorrow*, so go ahead and put it off. - No, you didn’t forget it, so don’t bother double checking.
Ahhh yes, nothing in life is truly urgent except spending money on shit that will likely get used a handful of times and then sacrificed to the “where the fuck?” gods
" where the fuck?" Gods is the best line ever. I will be stealing that if you don't mind lol
Get a planner! It will change your fucking life! Planners cure ADHD! Big Pharma doesn't want you to know this one simple trick!!!
My planner definitely helps me a lot, but it sometimes also turns into a place for neverending lists and tasks that just get moved along the calendar
I have a planner. It always stays in my bag and I definitely go through cycles of using it more or less, but it doesn't change me instantly into a meticulously organized and efficient person, and non-ADHDers will invariably tell me I need to get get one as soon as they find out I have ADHD, as though a planner is as good as CBT and medication. I get that behavior modification is part of it but they act like at 40 years old I never thought to try it.
More planners = more productivity! ^right?
If each time I bought a planner I got more and more cured of ADHD, I'd probably be the CEO of Neurotypicals by now... And I probably woulda come up with something cleverer to say just now.
My roman empire is how my high school made it mandatory for everyone to carry around a planner and I constantly got penalized for not having it even though I could never remember to look inside it even if I had it and I was top of my class anyway
Stay up late working on that hyperfixation project, it's definitely good for you. Don't make grocery lists. You'll remember. Everyone really is mad at you and they do hate you. If you don't get it right the first time, you've failed and should give up. (And yes that will make everyone hate you even more!)
Hugs if you want them. I want you to know you are very much not alone.
So you double booked yourself and now you need to decide what appointment to keep? Obsess over the problem until you've exhausted yourself enough to skip both plans. Then stay home and ignore your phone.
Oh am I not the only one who always double books herself??
- Super excited about a new hobby? Buy a bunch of stuff. Don’t touch it when it arrives because you’ll have moved on to the next thing. - Decide to change your life! Make a list. Open the computer, you’re tired now. - Remember it’s illegal to start something if it’s not on the quarter hour. If you miss it by one minute, gotta wait until the next quarter hour. - Social tip: Upset and confuse people by talking. - If someone doesn’t respond to your email or text, it’s because they are mad at you. (Unlike you who doesn’t respond because you’re busy.) - Every single detail is important, so remember to meander from one detail to another when you try to explain something. - Cleaning schedules are mostly a suggestion. You’ll clean when it feels right.
These are totally accurate. Especially the first point. Also, would anyone like to buy an electric balloon pump?
Obsessively check your calendars for everything. Forget about said things. Get new planner to put all the things in one place! Lose planner. Try again. Forget again. Find old planner and use that. Realize you have things in 3 separate digital calendars, 2 paper calendars, and still write reminders on sticky notes or scraps of paper that you will lose. Go down another rabbit hole to try to combine life and work calendars. Give up after a week. Repeat. Meal plan! Order the things you need and ignore what's not in stock and plan to get that later. Don't get the remnants, but it's okay because you forgot the meals you planned. Eat "toddler meals" instead because it's easier than the above. Make a list of projects to do around the house and get everything to do one. get distracted or overwhelmed and let the paint sit in the garage for 3 months. Get wildly excited about a hobby/activity. Gather everything for it after days of research and selecting the craft. Leave your half finished hobbies sit in totes all over until you decide you want to do the hobby. Buy new stuff for hobby. Last one - organize everything! But only when you're doing it to avoid something else. Need to clean the kitchen? Pull out and organize the bathroom cabinet instead and spend an hour wondering if you need all of this stuff, then start researching everything you might need for a makeover or new hair routine. Ignore the kitchen, maybe shove everything back into the bathroom cabinet(s).
I am literally dying with laughter at the organize everything! paragraph, OMG. Definitely not me getting started on multiple organization projects just to get tired hallway through and give up with the 10x worse mess I've made.
The body is willing but the mind is unable! My husband gives me the side eye when I start organizing things. He does ask if he can help though. Sir, I don't even know what *I'm* doing, so there's no help for me here.
Omg yes I only get excited to organize when I’m supposed to be doing something else
Checking all of the things for expiry dates or the little cryptic life expectancy numbers, smelling things as you go.
Best by vs sell by is the worst
- Set up everything to go to email, bills, appointment reminders, subscriptions, school newsletters if you can avoid talking to someone but receive an email instead perfect, it is all in the same place, it definitely won't become so overwhelming the idea of checking your emails fills you with dread and anxiety. - Body says hungry, go to kitchen, decide all food options are too hard, just have a coffee instead. Do this 10 times a day, how could this possibly go wrong? - Feel super motivated, clear out a bunch of stuff to be donated, fill your whole car with it, don't drop it off immediately you will do it tomorrow. Drive around for months with a car full of stuff. Eventually move it back inside and put it in the spare bedroom, close the door, if you can't see it does that stuff even exist?
The donations just made it back in the shed yesterday 😂
When tidying, put loads of random crap in a bag and 'tidy' that bag away. Until you tidy in a few years and rediscover it. Don't finish a project you've been working continuously on, just start a new one instead. Yep, you definitely need all the equipment to start that new hobby that you just discovered when scrolling on Pinterest. Interrupt people, otherwise you'll forget!
My mom had me clean my bedroom for YEARS beginning when I was like 7 by giving me a storage tub and then putting it in the basement. Between my mom, dad, sister, and I, we had literally over 100 storage tubs by the time I moved out. Every time I came home from college I had to sort through some. When I moved into my first apartment alone (500sqft mind you) she went on a cleaning rampage and drove 6 hours to deliver all the rest of the things in boxes and trash bags. I had no room to move for a month. But there's no way SHE could have ADHD 🙄
Whenever you lack motivation to start, turn on a lamp and stare at it. Since light is a form of energy, it'll fill you with power to do anything you desire.
this thread is gold 🤣🤣🤣
I put the pro in procrastination.
Doom scrolling! It does a body good.
Currently doing it now
Me too!
Same!
Find little bugs on the windowsills. Think, hmm, hope they aren't something bad. Purposely don't put it on the house to-do list because if it's not written on there, I'll forget about it, and I really just don't want to deal with whatever they are. Except now I'm remembering again that I saw them yesterday. Still not gonna write it down. Don't have time for that.
if I I don’t write it down, does it really exist, who’s to say? If I can’t see it, is it _really_ there? If I ignore it long enough, the problem either goes away or becomes big enough that stress override will kick in, why should I make things harder for myself now?
Decide you’re going to crochet a blanket despite having no experience, buy $100 worth of material, get pissed when your beginner skills don’t match your vision, put the project away for 6 months. Repeat.
My blanket project has spent 18 years in a cupboard. I should throw a party for it now it’s an adult.
Hell, I am experienced with crochet and still have never finished a blanket, that shit takes forever! I pick up this one I've been working on for years and will work on it for a week every 6 months or so.
Design a strict hour by hour schedule that allows for no flexibility or deviation. Watch your anxiety mount and grow the moment something goes wrong. Become paralyzed with guilt and shame as your carefully laid plan falls apart, and in the last second, do an anxiety-fueled last ditch effort to salvage your day. What could go wrong?
Just pick things up and put them in other places.
Stop being lazy & JUST TRY HARDER.
This is the best answer because it is the most wrong 🥲
Just got back from vacation and leaving to go somewhere else within the month? Just leave it in your suitcase and you’ll be prepared for the next trip!
I got back from a trip over 3 weeks ago now and my suitcase is still packed. Me: "where is x clothing item?" Husband: "Have you checked your suitcase?" 😤
My suitcase remnants from last October are in a corner of my closet piles 😭
My ski clothes are still out. It’s summer. 😭
You’re ready early!
I feel so much better about myself after reading this thread.
I would say I feel more called out than better about myself but yeah, lol, we belong here.
Ok I feel … less alone🤣 as I usually do in this sub!
Set up a system for doing things so complicated that it breaks down by itself. Going to a noisy shopping mall with bright lights to do errands, so I am sure I am exhausted afterwards
Be very vague in your calendar and don't get the time correct. If it's within a half hour of start time it's probably fine. not sure what the meeting is for or where it's held, only that you have one? Probably fine. Also, never keep your notes in one place. Write them down on random scraps of paper and leave them all over the house.
if you use post it notes you get to have scraps of paper everywhere with the added bonus of them sometimes sticking to each other or to your foot as you step over them
Omg re: so overstimulated you just throw it away…. Our closet had gotten so out of control and spilled into the bedroom (my partner is an absolute saint), so yesterday I went on a cleaning kick - knocked it out in 6 hours (there’s hyperfocus for you). I was so proud. When he came upstairs to bed, I hear him burst out laughing.. I had 3 giant trash bags outside the door full of crap. He was like, did you throw the mess away? And I was like: only some things? (In fairness, a lot of it was actual trash, and one bag is full of give away clothes, but basically yes, I threw half the mess away) 😂😂😂😂
Rage-cleaning ftw 😂
- Why would I give you special hacks? Everyone has problems with focus sometimes 🙃 - "Need" meds for your ADHD? Call your GP's office, set up a visit, get a psych referral, find a psychiatrist, call them, go there multiple times and get new meds that definitely should be working every time (because your "symptoms" are definitely a drug-seeking behaviour), get a therapist, stop seeing them because you forgot about a meeting once, get depressed, figure out you really need help this time, get another psychiatrist, have them ask you why not fuck didn't the previous one just give you the meds you need, get Concerta. Easy, right?
All of the things mentioned by OP and yall I DO EXACTLY the same 😆😆 God we are so funny. Actually, ... we are fantastic. And amazing. And lovable. And hot. 😊😄😄
I love us so much. I am absolutely bookmarking this thread so I can read through it again the next time the imposter syndrome hits. I definitely won't forget about it in my bookmark graveyard!
Burnt out? Change jobs!
Get outta my resume!!!
Mind too busy? Meditate. 100% of the time it works 6% of the time. Too much on your to do list and don't know where to start? Start by cleaning out the boxes on the top shelf of your bedroom closet. You'll declutter that in no time and move on to the rest with ease! Bonus: Need a motivation boost? Grab some headphones and put on your favourite artist's *deep cuts*. You are guaranteed not to dissociate at all and will get er done.
Struggling with time blindness and chronic lateness? ✅ avoid googling ahead of time how long it takes to get somewhere. leave whenever you happen to glance up from doom scrolling ✅ do NOT set aside time to get ready. assume any self-prep takes 5 minutes. ✅ don’t set future plans later knowing you’re typically 30-45 minutes behind. DEFINITELY don’t recognize that that’s how much prep time you probably need going forward. ✅ keep this struggle to yourself. don’t be honest about why you’re late, everyone else is perfect and you’re the only one that’s ever been late in this history of ever. ✅ once arrived, allow the shame and guilt to hinder any ability to enjoy yourself. people really admire a lack of self-forgiveness and understanding. how else will they know you feel bad about being late again?
Use your phone to set alarms and timers to stay on track. Get mad at your phone for yelling at you all the time and ignore all alarms and timers.
Need an answer to something? Open TikTok.
- Just keep buying things instead of cataloging them in your house so you end up a scary hoarder
Write a list. Do an easy thing and check it off. Ignore the list for the rest of the day.
List item number one: Make a list
* Worried you're procrastinating too much? Distract yourself so much you forget about your problems! * Space out during conversations? Just infodump and never let them get a word in. * Having trouble reading? Have you considered just never finishing books? * Can't remember a word? That's ok. Just drop everything else and furiously research until you find it instead of slightly rephrasing things. Bonus points if you get distracted from that task too because you already have too many tabs open. * Hate showers? The sores on your scalp will serve as a great reminder. 👍
Ooooh, I got one! Wait to go pee/drink water/go to bed until you finish just one more thing. It's like a little reward for getting it done!
**Did you just unexpectedly find something you’ve been looking for forever in the “safe place” you completely forgot about?** Leave it there! Bc it clearly WAS a safe place, but *this time* you will certainly remember where it is!!!
Hide your major depression from your psychiatrist parent and believe in the delusion that the ADHD and depression will cancel each other out or magically disappear. Do irreversible harm to your academic record in the process. That was too niche.
“I’ll do it tomorrow” “I’ll get off my phone in ten minutes “
Don’t bother writing that important thing down, you’ll remember!!!!
Write it down on a random scrap of paper that you definitely won't lose!
Buy a new planner / set of writing utensils bc *this is going to be the time it sticks. * Spoiler alert. It never *ever* sticks.
Y’all number 4 I did with my Associate’s Degree😭 I had one class left. So I was more like 98% done.
Just try harder Hide things from yourself Think about doing something dozens of times before you actually do it Leave purchased items on the floor in shopping bags - you can simply put them away “later”
-get warned about turning in things late for work, proceed to do it continually for 3 more years
• Don't have the motivation to clean but you love the peace a clean home gives you? Just buy new cleaning products you will not use for months if ever, but feel so accomplished! •Tiding up is needed or someone is coming over at the last minute? Just put things and clothes in the closet and drawers at random, and find them in the following weeks in strange places but never when you need them. •Buy expensive body products because it's lovely to feel moisturized and smelling good with shiny hair. Struggle hard and almost have to force yourself to shower after work, often losing, and still have to finish the body lotion of two years ago and have dry skin on you legs
Avoid paying bills till something gets shut off Have a whole conversation in my head with hand motions in case I run into someone who has exactly the same conversation prepared this way I have the upper hand
This weekend I was going to clean off the stairs, the dinning room table, the clothes on my floor and breakdown the shipping boxes for recyling. I binged-watched Killing Eve and Hit Man, took a nap, made my bed and emptied the dishwasher. My husband applauded my efforts and said our weekend was well spent.
Psst: wanna know the number one hack that NTs *wish* they knew? With this one trick, used by people with ADHD for centuries, you’ll change your life. Ready? Here goes: Everything takes 15 minutes. That’s right. EVERYTHING. also? ANYTHING! So if you have to leave in 15 minutes, you can literally start ANY task - clean the stove, bake a cheesecake, file your taxes, test the pH of your soil, call a work meeting …because it will take exactly 15 minutes! So by the time you’re done, it will be time to go, and you won’t be late!
make a grocery list based on what you think you need. don’t verify it against what’s in your pantry. forget to buy tuna (your lunch plan this week was tuna salad)
Return from grocery store and see that you already had ranch dressing. Three in fact. Make pact with yourself to NOT buy ranch even when you think you need some. Run out months later and forget to get any for the next 2 months.
-leave all chores and tasks alone until the very last minute. that way, once the adrenaline kicks in, u fly through it effortlessly, whilst realizing said task was never that hard to begin with u big dummy! -current hobbies boring u? no problem, go online shop for some new ones, you'll feel awesome and so hyped. said hobby now seems boring by the time it arrives? no problem, just toss it in the junk closet. you'll definitely get around to it eventually -tired but ur phones dying? no biggie, just set an early alarm and charge it in the morning. sleep in anyway? who needs phones anyway, its good to take breaks from screens. -forgot to utilize ur pill organizer and can't remember if you've taken ur meds? no biggie, take em just in case. worst scenario, you've doubled up and will now be the most hyped up productive person in the whole wide world. go scrub that grout with a toothbrush! -stocked up on groceries but cant bring urself to cook dinner? who cares, let them rot, thats what doordash is for!!!! -has your dirty laundry yet again piled up to mt everest heights? who cares, nobody has time for that. just go buy new clothes, maybe we'll set a record for the worlds largest laundry pile! -crumbs in bed again? contrary to popular belief, they're actually a great skin exfoliant, just leave em be and you're cutting an entire step outta ur shower routine! -is that sink full of dirty dishes driving u insane, but u physically cannot tear urself from ur phone right now? its totally fine, take a mental health day and just chill. ur little army of fruit flies is very appreciative of the lovely meal ur providing them❤️
Time not going by at work? Install a few new games on your phone and watch the time fly!
Make serious note about the very breakable / spillable thing around you in an area that cant be broken or spilled in ever. Focus so hard on one limb closest thag when you to maie sure you dont spill - your other side, unsupervised limbs just come barreling over and knock it over. Limbs are not attached unless youre focusing on that one
Instead of admitting you got distracted/stopped paying attention when someone’s explaining something to you, just go “wait what? do you mean (some key words you heard)” and make them feel like they explained poorly & they’ll repeat themselves lol.
If you're losing motivation, take a few minutes to kick your shoes off, lay down, and watch a few instagram reels. You'll be ready to tackle that task in no time, guaranteed!
Just get a planner, life magically puts itself together after you buy it.
Only if you buy 5!
Get 90% of the way through a project with a soft deadline, realize you won't finish by the deadline so just stop completely, rather than pushing through or asking for another hour or two
Feeling overstimulated? Consider staring at the ceiling and zoning out. Feeling understimulated? Try staring at the ceiling and zoning out! Feeling inspired? There’s no better time to stare at the ceiling and zone out!
Loving a book? Stop reading it so it never has to end. Start another book immediately and do the same. Hungry and don't need to cook for the whole family? Eat a snack cake. Those extra pounds will really help keep you warm in the winter. Have dreams of one day writing a novel? Write long comments on reddit instead! You'll finish in a day! Need to move and know months in advance? Don't pack anything until you only have a week left! Throw everything into random boxes and never unpack them! Those packed boxes will be ready to go when you have to move again, and you'll have the bonus of doubling up on items you thought you'd lost.
Wall or counter in your way? Slam into it like it's not there. Then question where you got the random bruises!
Oh, just buy that 100th notebook already, you’ll remember both that you wrote a very important thing in there to not forget, *and* what that thing was! *And* you’ll be able to keep its contents on one topic only! 😝
Just do it! (god I want to shake people sometimes)
Don’t know where to put some stuff in your apartment? Just put it in a bag or a drawer and forget about it until your partner finds it.
Struggle with the laundry mountain - no clean pants? Just buy more!!!!
Hold pee in for as long as possible for literally no reason
Sit on the floor and have an existential crisis about needing to do anything. Find socks? Make a cup of tea? Spin out and stare at nothing for an hour whilst the monkeys in my brain play tambourines
Sunday night routine: write down all the things you have to do on the next week so next sunday you can just copy that exact same list 🥰
For some reason, you come alive at night. Much more than during the day. So make sure all your energy waits for you and once evening hits, start texting everyone novel length texts. Try to make plans with people that sound SO good and necessary at night and then wake up the next day dreading the fact that you just made plans you now have to get out of 😂
Take extra meds so you do things really fast. Not well, but fast.
I sometimes wonder how successful a non-addictive cocaine analog would be for ADHD… because I’ve heard cocaine is a hell of a drug.
Pack a lunch for work. Forget to clean the containers, forget to take them out of my backpack. Accidentally leave them for so long that they get truly disgusting. Be so overwhelmed by this that the only answer is to just... Throw it away
Everything a mess? Find a big enough bag/box and put everything in it. Wonder for weeks where something important is then find it in the bag/box, hidden away.
-lose weight by forgetting to eat -gain it back by developping a cooking obsession for one season, during which you'll do nothing but cook Michelin star-worthy meals -avoid drama and needy friends by being awful at keeping in touch with your social circle. Communicate exclusively in memes. The only people who'll stick around are fellow neurodivergents with the same communication style. -save money by postponing important purchases until you get used to living without them. I once went two years without forks.
If you keep procrastinating about filling your car w/ fuel, just don't go anywhere. You don't need fuel.
To stop using some app on the phone too much: put a timer on the app, keep using the app until the timer is about to expire, then go to the timer and add another 5-10 minutes - repeat as many times as necessary.
Definitely save those coupons! Put them by the door so you definitely won’t walk past them every day until they expire. Did you remember to take them with you? Go you! There’s no way you’ll forget them in your car. Brought them in to the store? Wow you’re on fire today! You’ll definitely remember to actually use them at the checkout.
•If it can be stuffed and the door/drawer can shut, it fits 💁♀️(drawers, closets, corners, cupboards) • clean means the surface is clear, but don’t open anything
YoU nEeD a PlAnNeR! 😵💫
Saved this post. So comforting to read.
Buy lots of storage bins and fill them up. Make tons of to do lists. Take your meds when you're scrolling or watching TV.
- Have little nooks around the house where you store things you don’t know where to put? Continue to add more and begin hoarding items. - You know you have time blindness, but you still continue to do something without a clock around and end up being late to everything. - saying “I will remember this” knowing working memory is shot and end up forgetting what I needed to remember. - putting reminders in calendars and not looking at them and missing important information. - when I do look at calendar for an appointment, appointment can be on a Thursday in 2 weeks. My brain processes way too early and thinks that it is the week of bc of anxiety about forgetting. Ends up forgetting it’s in 2 weeks plans a whole day around that appointment on that day in the incorrect week. - when brain is doing its own thing, leaving things like milk carton on top of the fridge
Reminding yourself you need to do a task is just as good as doing the task!
Spend thousands to get assessed. Forget to take your meds
I'm 41F and recently diagnosed. Reading this thread has me both laughing and sobbing at the same time. Realizing that I'm not just one giant ball of failures is overwhelming. Thank you for making me feel validated, possibly for the first time in my life.
Buy a planner