Once i was in an executive position i hired people who are not afraid to oppose me, and who have abilities (like planning of sorts)that i lack.

Loud, energizing music will calm you by feeding a steady stream of dopamine.

Sadly this is also why I can fall asleep at a party after a coffee.

Look at your life. Sit there and think about the things that bother you. Now, think about just how many of those things that you actually have the power to change. Do those things, and don’t worry about the others. Life goes on.

It’s much easier said than done, I know, but I’ve found just not worrying about big things helps me focus on what matters to my life. Lexapro helps.

My kids do “the board”, write a checklist for the morning on a whiteboard.

I use the heck out of the phone calendar, and set alarms in both home system and work computer to make me stop and focus.

A “we have food for” list on the refrigerator.

To some extent, just aligning my schedule to fit my better hours, which are in the afternoon. I don’t go to work so early, because I’m kind of useless before lunch anyway.

I do what I call “productive procrastination”.
I allow myself to procrastinate by doing something else instead that’s also necessary to do.
Of course, “necessary” is a slippery term.
But what definitely doesn’t fall under it is doom-scrolling, day-drinking and wikipedia rabbit holes.

This actually lets me be pretty productive throughout the day, as long as I have tasks I can push back endlessly.
Like, I haven’t brought my finances and investments in proper order in over 10 years.
Which probably cost me a 5-digit amount in lost profit over that time frame.
But I’m fortunate enough to not feel it and accept things like this as my ADHD tax.
It would take a couple hours, but would involve decisions and it never becomes urgent.

Keeping a scrub daddy and shower cleaner in the shower. The only time I remember it’s dirty is while I’m in there. Similarly, I keep a toothbrush in the shower and one on the sink. Same with floss. As well as a garbage can reachable from the shower so empty bottles don’t sit in there for WEEKS.

Oh! I have see through glass jars in the bathroom for things like reusable face cloths, q tips etc. That’s not the hack (but clear makes it easy to see), the hack is that the big one is full of cleaning rags so I don’t have to go find something to clean with.

I have a job working with teams to improve processes. I think a lot about waste and efficiencies, what end users will actually do or adopt, making things easier / faster, etc. Now I think about these things all the time in daily life, apply them to my ADHD, and iterate endlessly:

• If I put a thing I need to do a thing I hate behind another thing, I’m guaranteed not to dig it out. Tetris the things so the limiting thing is easy to grab. I.e., watering can, vacuum
• If I need a thing for multiple tasks or multiple locations and keeping misplacing the thing or not wanting to go get the thing, get more things and put them in all the places. I.e., gloves, sponges, tools
• Figure out what I need to do the thing I don’t want to do as efficiently as possible. I.e., Good sponges and scrubbers for dishes, vacuum that is easier to pull out/put away

Also, radical acceptance of the things that are limiters.

• High sensory levels and distaste for dampness- gloves for dishes, gloves for gardening, gloves for cleaning
• Not going to put all my clothes away consistently ever, design a dresser situation that supports clothes piling without blocking access to drawers

Being accountable to someone. Also my least favorite ADHD lifehack.

Noise canceling headphones and white/background noise or music. Rather than true “white noise” I prefer deeper stuff like cosmic or other low wavelength noise.

If you’re trying to do thing A but your brain can’t stop thinking about thing B, take out a notebook and write down all your current thoughts on thing B. Trust yourself that when you get back to it, you will be right where you left off. Then do thing A.

For example, trying to work on a paper but you can’t stop thinking about the season finale of your favorite show you just watched.

Doesn’t always work but helps a lot.

I mainly struggle with the executive dysfunction part. I found that preparing anything at all helps, even just opening the document I need to write on another screen will mean that whenever my attention next detaches from whatever else I’m doing, I will automatically latch onto what I’m supposed to do as the next thing.

This is the only way I managed to make progress on my bachelor’s thesis.

Amphetamines

• Alarms and timers for everything.

• Custom sounds for phone to be 10dB higher than normal, to ensure I hear them and don’t just block it out as noise.

• Putting things that need taking care of later somewhere visible, like my laundry directly in front of my bedroom door so I have to do something with it just to open the door.

• Having autism, too, so the ADHD problems just naturally balance out.

If you feel like you’re struggling to accomplish a task, take a moment to think about your stimulation level. Are you understimulated or overstimulated? Sometimes just acknowledging it is enough, everyone has their own techniques.

For example, if I’m trying to work and I’m understimulated, I might throw on some metal music or something like that. If I’m overstimulated, probably means I should sit in a dark room for 5 or 10 minutes until I feel better before trying to do anything.

Everything goes in the calendar. Especially regular but infrequent things like birthdays. I set reminders a few days to a week before so I have time to adjust plans / buy presents or whatever.

If I’m having trouble motivating myself to do something, I commit to doing a bare minimum amount. For example going to the gym if I’m feeling unmotivated I might commit to just doing one exercise. Dishes maybe I’ll just wash one plate / pan. Once I’ve used that to get over the initial hurdle I’ll usually be able to ride the wave and complete everything.