I constantly hear from my coaching clients about the frustration, overwhelm, shame, self-criticism, and anxiety they experience daily.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I’ve been there!

About 6 years ago I began learning how my ADHD plays a role in my day-to-day performance.

This changed everything for me.

1. I began viewing productivity strategies through a new lens

2. I accepted how I operate differently instead of shaming myself

3. I learned about how my ADHD brain works to modify my behavior

4. I embraced flexibility in everything I do to focus on results

These changes have been helping me tremendously.

I am also now seeing massive results in my clients every single week!! **(link at bottom to schedule your free call)

4 Ways I Embrace My ADHD

(and stop fighting against it)

#1) Batching & Bouncing

I was frustrated with traditional time blocking so I started to develop my approach.

• First: I create a batch of similar tasks that are all in the same part of my brain. For example:

  • home chores

  • content creation

  • finance, admin, tasks

  • client-related activities

• Second: I find the best time for me to block off a big chunk where this group of tasks or projects will live.

• Third: I approach time with ease and flexibility. There is no rigidity within this timeframe. So if I set 2 hours, there is no right and wrong as long as I work on those things in that 2 hours.

How this approach leans into my ADHD traits:

• The need for independence and flexibility in exactly how to complete a task. The window of time feels like I’m still in control to choose in the moment.

• Limited choices are available. This helps our decision fatigue tendency which can create overwhelm and procrastination.

• The need for structure. We have enough structure to feel “contained” so our mind doesn’t run too wild.

• The benefit of deadlines. With this approach there are manufactured deadlines with the eventual end of the “session” coming at some point.

#2) Leverage My Intrinsic Motivation

I have struggled beyond words throughout my lifetime to do anything that I truly and fully did not WANT TO DO.

Throughout the past 6 years I have gradually and consistently been working to align my life and my responsibilities with things I have “intrinsic motivation” for.

There is significant research to support the link between intrinsic motivation for people with ADHD and our ability to follow through on the completion of tasks.

Ask yourself:

• whats in this for me?

• Why do I care about this?

• what will this allow me to do next?

• how will I be better off from completing this?

We often get stuck focusing on the task itself and lose sight of the intrinsic motivation required to complete it.

#3) Plan and a Place

Our anxiety creeps up constantly when our brain is trying to keep all the million things we need to do organized.

Get them out of your head!

I have been using with my clients the phrase “everything should have a plan and a place”.

• Step one: Do a brain dump of everything on your mind that needs to get done this week

• Step two: Organized everything into 4 main categories

• Step three: Create a “plan and a place” for each item in each category. This could be anything like:

  • Batch it Fri with similar items

  • Delay it to next week

  • Schedule it for Wed night

  • Include it on my weekend list of optional activities

#4) Visual, Tactile, Physical

I have embraced my need for physical activity and engagement with the physical world.

I have tried all the digital tools and tricks you can imagine.

Some of the things that work best for me include:

1. Whiteboards everywhere. having visuals throughout my home is SO helpful

   1. in the kitchen with notes for the home

   2. by my sons room with notes for him, reminders, drawings, etc

   3. in my office

2. I use a pen and paper CONSTANTLY. It’s not for everyone but I find the combination of tactile and analog works well for me. It helps me:

   1. organized my thoughts

   2. avoid slipping into another program on a digital device

   3. do drawing, charts, graphics, timelines, etc on the fly

   4. have something in my hand I can look at to reflect on

3. I move around as often as needed. Ive been designing my life in a way that works for ME. I work from a home office and I can constantly be getting up between meetings and walking around. I also split my time working at the coworking space at my gym. For example I can:

   1. work a 2-3 hour deep work block’

   2. get up and exercise for 30 min

   3. do another 90 min sprint

   4. go pick up my son from school and spend time with him for 2 hours

   5. come back to another focused 2 hours

   6. etc etc

These elements are just a few but the theme is I am MOVING, HOLDING, FEELING, EXPERIENCING, the world.

I am not sitting passively in front of a screen all day.

I’ve done that and I can tell you for me, it SUCKS.

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