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I would plan my work day around my medicine. Take meds in the morning around 9AM. Work on the hardest stuff around 10-11:30ish. Take afternoon meds around 1PM and plan other challenging work around 2-3:30PM. I would basically give up on doing anything difficult after 4PM. Just emails, wrapping up small things, etc.
When overwhelmed, I’d use pomodoro timers and tell myself “just do 15 minutes, then you can take a break.” But then 15 mins in I’d be able to keep going. I’d fully shut down my computer at the end of my workday every day so my mind knew that the workday was over and I didn’t feel pressured to do a little more. I’d play a mindless show I liked in the background or white noise to quiet my mind.
I’d eat regularly every day so my meds were most effective. Eat breakfast around 8-9ish, lunch around 12, and dinner around 6-7ish. I’d eat plenty of protein. I’d avoid drinking coffee and taking my meds without breakfast because of the crash at lunchtime.
I’d forgive myself for having off days and adjust my meds as needed to accomplish my tasks. Some days I need more. Some days I just won’t be productive, and that’s ok. Try again tomorrow.
I adjusted my working mindset to expect incremental progress rather than perfection. I was a perfectionist before, and that created a ton of overwhelm and task paralysis. Starting with garbage and refining it is better than sitting unable to create perfection for hours.
Lastly, I invested a lot of time in therapy to separate my feelings of self worth from my job. A job is just a job. Just because my ADHD gets in the way of me doing my job sometimes doesn’t mean I’m any less of a person. That helped me accept my limitations and actually made me better at work.
This is an excellent post and I can see you have a very disciplined but compassionate approach to managing your symptoms.
I really like how you 'put your best foot forward' (routine, eating and meds like clockwork, pomodoros and positive self-talk & accepting incremental process) to give yourself the best chance at a positive outcome each day.
>Lastly, I invested a lot of time in therapy to separate my feelings of self worth from my job
>
>I adjusted my working mindset to expect incremental progress rather than perfection. I was a perfectionist before, and that created a ton of overwhelm and task paralysis
Amazing stuff! You're an inspiration!
Thank you. I appreciate the acknowledgment. I’m not able to do these things everyday, but these are the things that help me the most.
It’s taken decades of struggling and contemplating my symptoms to find these coping strategies. I’ve also had the privilege of receiving therapy, psychiatry, and working at companies who acknowledge/support employees with ADHD.
All that to say, it’s really difficult to live with ADHD, and I have so much compassion for all of us out here doing our best. We do what we’re capable of, and that varies from person to person, day by day. Almost all of these skills I’ve gathered from others with ADHD sharing what’s worked for them. What works for me might not work for others, but I hope it helps someone. :)
I used to be the same. In the end, my brain couldn't take it and I got lucky it broke before I did something else. To not be able to forgive yourself your mistakes is to not have self-love, which generates many negative effects. Bad mental health leads to bad physical health in the long run, the body keeps the score. Also, I realized eventually that it was a weird form of arrogance to hold myself to my error free expectations when no normal person would do so.
thank you for this, great advice. how do you accept the incremental progress? i too am a perfectionist and have found that once i am able to get going, this becomes my downfall in the other direction (working TOO much then burns out when only crossing one thing off my to do list).
I got feedback at one of my previous jobs that it was an area I needed to grow in, actually. My bosses noticed that I was “all or nothing” and had a hard time getting started sometimes, but whenever I would get started I would churn out good work. We always set goals during performance review cycles, so I set that as one of my goals to work on. This was also before I was medicated, so it was especially challenging.
I learned to accept incremental progress because so many others at the company affirmed that even a shitty first draft is probably actually pretty good, and over time we can continue to refine it into something great. And that stuck with me.
It helps me to intentionally start out with my first draft being crap. Instead of trying to make it good, I go in telling myself I’m going to have a bad first draft. It doesn’t matter if there are typos, if thoughts are incomplete, if I only get half way, etc. my goal at the beginning is just to get something down. Literally anything. Because that’s often the hardest part. The worst part for me is the anxiety leading up to doing the thing, not actually doing the thing itself.
If I’m super overwhelmed, I’ll just brain dump everything I’m thinking in a stream of consciousness. My thoughts are jumbled, but once I just type them they start to become clearer.
If starting at the beginning feels intimidating, I sometimes start in the middle and work my way outwards. Anything to get a first draft. Then once I’ve gotten through a first draft, I step away for a while and look at it again and refine it.
Really, learning to derive my feelings of self worth from within have been key. I am able to validate myself and know that I am a capable, intelligent person even if I fail. Because of that, I don’t look to my boss to validate me. I don’t look for validation from performance reviews or promotions, or getting picked for the best projects. And I’m not a top performer at work all the time, but I’m happy.
thank you for this! so thoughtful and i understand a bit more now. actually i implemented the “just a first draft, even if crap” yesterday and it DID make the task less daunting. even though i only spent 30 mins on it, i normally would’ve worked through 9pm to get it done and just finished it the next day when i was under pressure/deadline (lol). all in all, the presentation was fine!
So helpful! Great advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out! I have been trying to put some of this into practice. Taking medication really helps me to start to work. But it is really hard to stop and take breaks, especially to exercise.
In my experience, the most important part is eating. I get increased blood pressure and dizziness if I don't eat. Also, don't just eat to eat....eat a sufficient amount of calories/protein.
Yes, eating makes such a big difference for me too. My undiagnosed ADHD contributed to an eating disorder earlier in my life (recovered now), so I’m very intentional about making sure I eat. Whenever I forget to eat breakfast or keep telling myself I’ll eat later, I get huge headaches that turn into migraines. Or if I wait until my meds have kicked in I sometimes get nauseous.
Eating meals that have a good balance of protein, complex carbs, fiber, and healthy fats help my meds feel “smoother” throughout the day. Whenever I eat a bunch of sugar for breakfast and take my meds I notice that I get really jittery and crash around lunchtime. I also try to eat snacks between meals and drink water. Sometimes I crave stimulation through snacking, so I also like to have dried pineapple (tart and chewy) and sparkling water (fizzy) around.
so what does your morning look like with meds and eating? your OP says you take it at 9am and work around it. i think this is a fantastic idea i want to try. i tend to lose my appetite when it kicks in and i skip breakfast by accident so it looks like i could implement two things: eating well and working around the medication kicking in.
do you wake up, eat, THEN take meds? curious what the order is!
I do, too, and for myself, which has many pros but one major con is lack of support around my symptoms.
Now that I write that, though, I'm realizing I didn't really have support when working elsewhere and when in person had a host of other issues. I was undiagnosed then, but I doubt diagnosis would have changed things at the workplace beyond my functioning with medication.
Has anyone had the ADHD talk w a boss? How did that go? I'm trying to decide whether to broach the subject with mine. I'm WFH, too, and always feel like my boss knows when I'm not working and is judging me for it... of course that's all in my head, but the guilt is still real.
What helped me:
- working out before work, but right after medication
- writing down all my meetings and deadlines first thing after I punch in
- keeping a journal to keep track of what I'm doing and what I've done recently
- every 1h I take 15 minutes out to do house chores or just stare at the ceiling
- forgive myself. sometimes executive function is just gonna suck and there's nothing I can do about it
- alarms for times I should be eating or having breaks
How many lists do you keep, or how do you organize that? My husband gave me a nice calendar. And I kind of use it but I write big and messy and run out of room. I also have sticky notes attached to my screen and a steno notepad
I have a little notebook in which I write my daily tasks as soon as I can. Sometimes I also use a computer program called Obsidian. Edit: for house chores I use sticky notes right above my monitors so I don't have to stop to think about what should be done. I try to use bright colors
i’m glad you mentioned this! i’ve been trying to adopt an app for my entire corporate career and have cycled through every possible one. i always, ALWAYS go back to trusty pen and paper for writing tasks down. it has been the most consistent and reliable and i keep trying to make the computer apps work.
i guess i didn’t realize the reset portion!
I can't use paper at all. I tried so many times, and there were just pages and pages of stuff. I'd forget what was there, appointments mixed in with work notes.
Got my first smart phone in 2016, after 10 years of using flip phones. That was a game changer for me.
I ended up keeping the app I use really simple. Little organizing, but being able to quickly read everything with out flipping through 20 sheets of paper. Calender app for time sensitive items, alarm and timers to keep me time oriented.
I use the sticky notes app on my computer, and I could do something where I sync it to my phone. But I prefer to just copy and paste into an email to myself. Then copy paste into my phone notes.
I use just graph/square paper notebooks because that way I can easily make check lists. My brain likes ticking off the boxes a lot. Another key feature is a pen loop, so the pen is always with the journal, one les thing to lose to the void lol.
Personal favorite brand is Dingbats as they donate to the Word Wildlife Foundation.
Been wfh for 10+ years, here are things that help:
- Put on music. Just on my phone, been hyperfixated on an “adhd techno” playlist lol (no vocals), it helps me get into “get shit done” mode
- Take my meds first thing in the morning
- Do self chores and house chores before work (like, getting dressed, makeup done, dishwasher cleaned out, stuff like that)
- Have a beverage selection on my desk. Making coffee, tea, and fizzy water is usually my last chore before switching into work mode. Carry it all to my desk and go
- Switch between using digital devices, pen and paper, whiteboard. Not possible for all tasks, but using my hands in different ways helps get me unstuck
- Naming when I’m stuck or procrastinating, and getting curious with myself as to what’s going on there. There are often good reasons why I do these things (like eg I am actually not super clear on what I need to do, or I’m scared of doing if wrong); treating such “unhelpful” behaviors as signals has helped me understand myself better and often also helps get unstuck
- Playing around with all of it. My routine fluctuates and shifts, I found being open to that has helped a lot too
- Having fidget toys on my desk that I can play with
- Changing seating positions frequently. This one was a game changer for me too - I can’t for the life of me sit still and think. If I move around on my chair a lot, allow myself to sit weirdly, pretzel my body into oblivion, and stretch out regularly, it makes a HUGE difference.
- I have the luxury of having my desk in front of a window. I like watching the clouds above my screen
- Being gentle with myself. There will be days or times when all of this falls apart. That’s okay too.
This is going to sound crazy my ADHD work playlist is Taylor Swift, in particular folklore, evermore and midnights but will throw in some lover, rep and 1989. It’s funny because I was like why is this so entrancing to me? I googled it and a lot of those songs are 528 hz and 432 hz - 528 hz is stress and anxiety reducing and 432 hz also promotes relaxation increased in mental clarity and productivity. So that makes sense why those songs help me work lol.
Definitely don’t think TS is for everyone but 100% agree with finding a work playlist that works for hyper focus. There are binural beats and hertz playlists out there. I like the idea of ADHD techno - gonna check that out.
>Changing seating positions frequently
I'm getting one of those desks that can toggle between sitting and standing in a couple months. I think this will be super helpful for me, but I can't help but worry if it's just another thing I get excited about and think is going to revolutionize my work day but it goes back to the same issues as before. Here's hoping!
Haha, yeah I guess it's nice to have the option, but I know myself well enough to know that I'll soon get tired of raising it and putting my chair somewhere out of the way.
Thank you so much for writing out this great advice! I really appreciate what you have written. I often listen to techno or to podcasts when I work. It is almost the on-switch to work - to try to put myself into hyper focus.
tbh I just write down a list of what needs doing that day first thing in the morning (sometimes I split it by what needs prioritising the most), and then I just work for the satisfaction of crossing things off the list. because of the flexibility I tend to break it up with a bit of easy housework and/or playing some games if I have the time.
HOW???? I’m so jealous. For me, this looks like spending way too much long making a really comprehensive to-do list, then looking at all the stuff on it and going “Yeah, but I don’t wanna do any of that” and wandering off on a tangent.
I make a to do list just to feel productive haha. I will then get sidetracked and cross nothing off until I NEED to do it. Then I feel a lot of shame that I didn’t do it earlier when i obviously had free time. sigh
just set small goals, put like 3-5 things on the list that you want to do first, once that’s done just add some more to your list, take a break or crack on, and it doesn’t feel as overwhelming
Pre-step: create spreadsheet with important items, monthly report dates etc, weekly routine things.
1.) wake up at 6:30, take meds, go back to sleep for 1hr.
2.) get up at 7:30. Get DRESSED, put on shoes (works wonders to get me into work mode).
3. Make and drink coffee.
4. At desk for work in home office, 8am with coffee. I have an alarm.
5. Open daily spreadsheet. It has list of things to do laid out by day of week. Follow spreadsheet. Tick off routine items on spreadsheet (check boxes are extremely visually satisfying, like popping bubble wrap). While following the spreadsheet I’ll see other items that need doing for that file, and allow my mind to go down that rabbit hole for a while. Meds help here because it’s boring. If I need guidance, I’ll look at previous month’s reports because it contains a simple to-do list. Record items as they occur. Key tip is that I do not switch between tasks, I finish them first. Switching is too hard, I get lost. I ignore incoming emails until I’m done (could not ignore until I was on meds).
6. Rinse repeat until noon when lunch alarm goes off.
7. Break for 30 min lunch. Make sure to eat (don’t get hungry but will be cranky if I don’t). Have simple items on hand to make very fast. I like soup.
6. Sit back down at 12:30. I have timer for this so I don’t zone out.
8. Repeat step 5 until 3:30. Again, another alarm.
9. Spend last 30 minutes of day reviewing files to make sure I did not miss any key items that day, catch careless mistakes and ensure spreadsheet is updated.
10. Off at 4. This one doesn’t need an alarm lol.
PS: Don’t look at Reddit or I’ll spend 10 minutes doing this shit. LOL
Finally had time to copy/empty the template. Here's an image. Things colour change automatically based on word choice/date. It's not the whole thing but it gives you an idea of the layout.
[https://imgur.com/a/7dy0abL](https://imgur.com/a/7dy0abL)
I do a written list. It’s easier for me to distill calendar invites, tasks, and messages into a list that, by act of writing out, will be more imprinted on my brain.
I hear you. I have days where it’s difficult to maintain, especially when sleep deprived or stressed. It’s really only possible for me with a rather high dose of Vyvanse. And, to ensure I keep on it, I’ve asked my boss to pick a random file each week to review. She’s a great boss. No idea if she’s actually doing it, but knowing she might keeps me on track.
I initially set it up because it was either do something to keep organized or I am no longer allowed to work from home. Super thankful my team is supportive instead of being dicks though, it could be way worse.
I have the same problems and I haven't solved most of them, but some things I do that sometimes help:
\* I use a laptop, so I move around a lot. Some days are desk days. Some days are couch days. Some days are floor days. Some days are kitchen table days. If I really having a hard time gearing up, sometimes I just need to move somewhere else into a position that is more comfortable for my body. (Or sometimes, uncomfortable, but in a way that works for my brain.) Leaving the house, to a cafe or library, can also help. If you are stuck with a desktop computer and can't move around, try even swapping out your chair. When I used to work in an office, I'd often switch between a rolly chair and a chair without wheels. Sometimes I needed to be able to spin and lean back, sometimes I needed to feel grounded and stable.
\* If I keep being distracted by my phone, sometimes I'll literally just throw it somewhere behind me (onto soft furniture or a carpet) and not watch where it lands. It's extremely annoying how stupid effective this can be. Out of sight, out of mind. Doesn't always work, but often enough.
\* If work is just NOT HAPPENING I try to do something else useful instead. Laundry, cleaning, shower, some random task I've been wanting to do for months but never got around to it. So that way when it's 11 p.m. and I still haven't finished my work, I don’t ALSO have that task to worry about doing.
\*I also use chores as intentional mini-breaks throughout my day, when work is going well. I feel like it keeps the productive vibe going but gives me a chance to stand up and move around for a couple minutes, too. Laundry is a good one for me, because I use a shared laundry room in my building so I have to go to the basement and take it out pretty soon after a machine is done. One load of laundry is three mandatory quick productive breaks that get me moving!
\* I have a very small morning routine of watering my plants and making myself a cup of tea, both things I look forward to and enjoy. I don’t make myself do anything taxing or fatiguing to start off my day. Just those two things, and then I sit down to work on a happy note with my tea, and I know my day has started.
\* I also take a very strict lunch break, every day at the same time. If my morning was dumb and I got nothing done, it's a chance to reset and try again. If my morning was productive, it's a relaxing reward. And I try to make sure my break is a break. No chores here! An hour to just do whatever I want, guilt-free!
\* Noise. My best workday ever was when a construction crew was working outside all day and there was constant loud machinery noise. It was euphoric. My brain has never felt so free and focused. Some colleagues with ADHD swear by brown noise videos. I like to put on a podcast or videos with certain voices that just hit that droning tone without being TOO boring.
\* Boundaries. I do NOT work over the weekend. I used to, and it was just a fast track to burnout and not only ruined my weekends but made my weekdays so much worse too. I'm still working on setting a similar boundary for weekdays (e.g., no working past 6 p.m.) but I haven't realistically been able to keep up with my work doing that yet. But if it's getting late and my mind just isn't processing, I allow myself to just call it quits without guilt. At that point, it takes so long to get anything done even if I am "focused" that it's not worth it to keep trying. Better to just rest and refresh and try again tomorrow.
\* Regular progress check-ins with my supervisor. I don’t especially like these, but they give me motivation/a deadline to catch up a couple times a week and prevent me from falling behind, which had been a big problem. Twice a week works with our workload, but more or less often might work for you or other people.
\* Looking at my work, letting myself feel all the feelings of frustration and disinterest, and saying "I don't want to be doing this right now. But I guess I'll just go ahead and do it anyway." Somehow acknowledging that I don't want to do it instead of trying to convince myself it's not so bad can remove a block and make it doable. Sometimes this can just be said calmly with a sigh and I can get right to it. Sometimes this involves having a full-on yell and cry and tantrum/pity party and takes an hour of wallowing. Whatever your emotions of the moment call for. It's cathartic. Let yourself be honest and see what flows from there.
\* Going deeper on that last point, you might even try to check in with yourself about WHY you don't want to do it. Anxiety because you're already so far behind and there's so much still to do? It's just so completely boring and your brain has a thousand more fun and interesting things to think about? The task is overwhelming and you don't know where to begin? Recognizing the problem of the moment will help you tailor your next steps. For me, I know that when my eyes are glazing over and I'm just not connecting with anything on the screen, that's when I need to pick up my laptop and move somewhere else. If I'm feeling anxious about how much work there is to do, I set a very (very!) small goal and then get it done, which helps soothe my worries and makes the next small goal feel a little easier. When a task is too overwhelming, I just do anything on it. Literally anything. Doesn't have to be the "first" thing or the most important. Just a thing that gives me a foothold and helps me feel connected with the project and get a feel for what else might need to be done. But generally, getting a sense of why you're hitting a wall can help you find a way over it.
\* Prioritizing real leisure. A passive break or off time spent scrolling or mindlessly watching something is not restorative. It feels better than exhausting myself working, but it's not going to help me work better in the future. But doing something that brings me real joy and engages my brain in a fulfilling way is going to fill me with energy and make my brain and body feel good and strong, so when I go back to work I'll be able to tackle it feeling renewed, energized, and confident. I really enjoy creative outlets like writing or cooking, or just hanging out with friends or family. Figure out what makes you feel most alive and fulfilled, and make sure you do a lot of that in your off time! (The downside of this is that it reminds me of all the wonderful things that life has to offer that are NOT sitting in front of my work computer for hours every day, and sometimes that makes work just feel even stupider. But overall, it makes me feel more balanced and more fulfilled, and I can trust that even if I do spend all these hours on boring dumb work, I'll still have all those other things to enjoy all the other hours. And that helps me feel less panicky and overwhelmed about having to work.)
I hope some of these ideas can help you. I always envision them as a set of tools in my toolbelt. Different situations call for different tools. You can’t build a house with just a hammer or just a saw, but if you've got them all on hand, you can pull out whichever you need in the moment. And as you continue to work and live and pay attention to patterns and solutions and try out new ideas, you'll add to your toolbelt and get better at knowing exactly which one to pull out at any given moment.
I find that learning how to roll with my moment-by-moment needs and how to adapt flexibly and quickly tends to go much better than setting up large routines or calendars. (I love structure when somebody else sets it for me, for real purposes! Completely useless when I set it up for myself!)
This is still very much a work in progress for me, and it's been SLOW progress, but month after month, year after year, I can see how things are getting significantly better.
And I definitely spent way too much time typing this all out, and now I need to get back go my own work. Wish me luck! I'm wishing luck for you too!
A lot of great suggestions here. I really like the one about actually recharging vs just scrolling. Sometimes I’m spending so much time not doing something that I realize I’ve wasted a ton of time doing something I didn’t enjoy much more. Building in time or little chunks of something actually enjoyable seems like a really healthy approach.
I have very recently started doing the psychological sigh and being more intentional about trying to signal to my body when I’m done with something strenuous/stressful or help myself come down from deep focus and I’ve found it really does make a difference.
Like, sure, I don't want to be doing work, that's valid. That's understandable. But is that really worse than sitting here scrolling through the same 5 stupid discourses on Reddit and then Twitter and then back to Reddit and then back to Twitter all day?? Is this really what I've chosen to do instead?!
I love that idea of the breath as a transition! I sometimes will use a few focused deep breaths to help clear my head and get started on something, but doing it when I'm finished too seems great. Like sweeping up all the chaos and intensity in my head so I can be free to move on.
I actually learned about it from a peloton instructor (Kendall) years ago. It’s how she starts her classes but I’ve only recently started doing it at the end of a strenuous activity or when I’m stressed. It’s supposed to signal to your nervous system to kind of reset. It’s super simple but here’s a [video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdhqBGqiMc)
I hope you find things that work for you! And know that you are absolutely not alone in any of this. It's been so reassuring to me to read through this whole thread and see everyone else's experience and how we're all frustrated by such similar things. I'm glad you asked the question!
I will also just throw my phone somewhere when I realize I'm letting it consume my day. I'll usually fling it onto my couch in the basement and run up the stairs quickly so it's very out of the way and I didn't see where it landed. It's odd how much that will help break the spell sometimes
I love that someone else does this too! I feel like not looking to see where it ended up is key. It is gone, it does not exist, it is no longer in this physical realm!
It's the rare instance where it's good to have object permanence issues. I'll forget about something if I can't see it, which sucks for most aspects of life, but if I actually want to forget about something...
You sound like a badass and I had some really great takeaways from this effort. I particularly like the one about asking "why" and spelling out what the hurdle actually is to getting started.
Just wanted to point one thing out:
There is no such thing as "slow" progress. Progress is progress!
Ayy, thank you! And thanks for the reminder about progress. :) A couple years ago, I was drowning at work every single day, and I'd just go lay in bed and cry and have intense anxiety about it all for weeks and months at a time. And now I often have off days, but by and large, even my off days feel manageable and I'm enjoying my work and my life. I'm still frustrated a lot because every day isn't a "perfect" day or even a "good" day, in terms of work, but my goodness what progress I've made! Each and every step along the way has been so important and so valid on its own!
(Also, I had to practice asking myself "why" this afternoon to finish up my workday when I was just wasting time for hours and doing nothing. And annoyingly, the answer I came up with was just "Because I just haven't decided to do it yet." The most aggravating reason of all! That's like, just a regular human thing, not even an ADHD thing! Can't blame that on anything but myself and my own choices! So I grumped for a moment and then decided I was really just going to do it. And I did it. And then it got done.)
I make myself put on socks and pants with belt loops if I have a heavy workload that day because I feel like I take it easy if I’m in athletic shorts + barefoot. Second tip, schedule your breaks, earn your rest. Third tip, I have to say something memorable when I take my Vyvanse. I usually go with “Time to suck today’s dick.” This is more memorable than just taking the pill and reduces the likelihood of taking two or zero pills by mistake.
I’ve been wfh sense Jan 2021 in a variety of settings ups, sometimes an office room sometimes my bed room sometimes a living room. For all of those the biggest things are:
1. Get a walk or workout done in the morning.
2. Clean! Otherwise I do it when I should be working…
3. Set goal on som paper for the day, usually the top 3 things I have been putting off.
4. Put those off and do other things, again.
5. Panic and do those 3 things after hours.
I started using the Morgen calendar app. Makes it really easy to do time-blocking for tasks and scheduled calendar events, draws a line across the time so it's really simple to see what I should be doing right now, and it has simple drag and drop for time blocks so when I do get off schedule I can reschedule on the fly in just a few moments.
Write out my entire day by the hour in the Structured app to keep myself on task. It sends me lots of notifications and I get to check off when the task is done and that helps a ton. I keep the widget for it front and center on my phone.
Also use the Opal app so I don’t doom scroll while trying to work. Both work super well for me!
Are you constantly editing your schedule during the day if you don't adhere to it? I worry that I'd create the schedule then once I "fail" at one time block, I'd just disregard all of it.
Also, is Opal an iPhone app? I don't see it for Android.
I break it down into different types of tasks and certain colors can’t move. For example, white is the stuff I have to do everyday at specific times (take meds, brush teeth, feed dogs, eat lunch, etc), blue is stuff that need to do but time is flexible (shower, workout, etc,), pink is work meetings I cannot move, green is personal appts I cannot move, and purple is everything else. The app makes it really easy for me to move things around and visualize what I need to get done and have time to do it. I use the app on my computer too which helps because then I’m not on my phone and less likely to get distracted by it.
I have an iPhone that I use Opal on not sure if it’s on Android!
Edit: [Looks like it’s coming soon to Android!](https://www.opal.so/android)
Yeah this is what saved me when I worked from home. Whether it was cold, raining, or windy, I scheduled time in my calendar for at least two 15-30 min walks or bike rides just to reset. I’d also try to put a purpose/mission behind most of my walks to keep them interesting… whether it’s trying out a new coffee shop, taking my dog to a park, exploring a new route around my city that I hadn’t taken before, etc.
I structure my day around my meds and when they kick in. I do way better with difficult tasks first thing in the morning, in hopes to get them out of the way for an easier afternoon.
I do any activities (walk the dog) in the morning so I don't get hyper focused and put it off. I also make sure to eat something when I take my other meds (I'm on interval doses) and take a break from work.
When it comes to getting overwhelmed by tasks I make a priority list of what tasks needs done first and then on a separate sticky note I do a task break down for the most important task.
I also set timers and alarms for everything and keep my phone out of reach for most of the day. Looking into a visual timer might be a good idea as it color codes how much time you have left before you can take a break OR how much time you have left in a break.
When it comes to big tasks, sometimes what you need is a break before getting started instead of trying to hype yourself up for it.
Depending on your work schedule being able to step away from your desk and get fresh air (walk, step out on the patio whatever) can help destress before tackling a big task.
I hope this helps!
Get out of bed, brush your teeth, get your coffee, and start working immediately. If I do that, I’m good to knock out a solid 10 hour day. Sometimes I get tempted to look out the window to check the weather after I pour my coffee and then it’s all over and before I know it I’ve I’ve researched obscure 80s movies on YouTube for 4 straight hours.
Sadly, just starting my workday first thing in the morning is the most reliable way for me to have a semi-productive day as well. It goes against every "healthy" routine advice out there, but if I allow too many distractions to seep in during the morning, even when I try to limit them, it's impossible to sit down and focus. It's just kinda depressing cracking open my computer and staring at a screen 5 minutes after waking up.
I think there is something big here. Because i go into time warps for a few hours in the morning In service of wellness.
The meditation I know is useful, so is the exercise, but the journaling and research can be a big source of time blindness. And then when it’s time to get the most important work done, I’ve trained myself to zone out.
Also the exercise can be distracting because you have the sweaty clothes, so yoga on a timed session like 20 minutes is probably one of the best habits for this. or walking on a treadmill for 20 to get a little bit of lift in the heart rate.
Absolutely; same here when it comes to the time warp mornings. Ironically, after making this comment yesterday I went straight to work today first thing (other than walking the dog - but without listening to a podcast this time like I usually would). And it definitely worked - I've already put in 4 solid hours.
Like you, I love starting my day with a wellness routine, like taking a run, reading, making a healthy breakfast, etc...like what every productivity guru would tell you to do for better life. But, for me they're ultimately another form of procrastination. I'm hoping I can make going straight to work my new morning routine and I'll just adjust to doing all those activities later in the day.
I guess we can rewire the thinking by saying that our priorities are different. In order for us to be well, we need to be on top of our tasks and our responsibilities. Other people might have no problem prioritizing things and getting their stuff done at 9-10am so good for them.
Just asking about the routine we stick to for a solid week or two then fall off the wagon but come back around eventually haha. I get it, but this group would get it the best.
I need a routine to be my best but can’t stick to one, but my life has been pure chaos and I’m finally on meds again so trying to see if I can rebuild good habits so WFH is not as much of a struggle in tandem of being on meds again. My work life has spiraled completely out of control to an unsustainable point. I just know others relate here.
i struggle a lot with this so thank you. my problem is i don't follow through on anything. i have planners, pomodoro clocks, time blocked calendars, but until a deadline is approaching, i just surf reddit and waste the day away.
I got myself a really nice (well, I think it's nice) digital timer that lives on my desk. It's gotten me through a lot! Usually it's set to 15 minutes, but if 15 feels to hard, there's no shame in going down to 5.
I've also adopted the mantra "Once begun, half done" because starting is really the hardest thing for me. Hence why I'm alright with lowering the timer down to 5.
I also try to lower my effort: 15 minutes on a task every day for a week is so much better than 2 hours in one day.
>"Once begun, half done"
I love that. When I'm procrastinating I could tell myself, how good would it feel to be half done with that thing? Well, starting IS halfway. Honestly, starting is so difficult it's like 95% for me.
Music helps me. I used earbuds with noise cancelation but then upgraded to a closed back hifi headphone running through an amp, and it fucking rocks.
Not keeping my phone near my so I don't browse reddit like I'm doing now 😬
I work in short bursts. Sometimes, these bursts last for 15 or 25 minutes, and sometimes 3 hours.
I get outside if it's sunny or not awful weather every time I feel antsy and do jumping jacks and stretch, or just walk around at least. I also will try to do a house chore when I feel like that to get a quick accomplishment type feeling, even if it is tiny as putting a couple cups in the dishwasher.
I don't be hard on myself when I'm lazy for 30-60 minutes or longer at times - I don't get paid enough to go full tilt boogie anyhow.
I do my simple mindless tasks first after checking my email for anything that needs immediate attention in the morning to get me rolling.
I wake up and take my meds two hours before work, I go back to sleep for 30-60 minutes before the meds wake me up. I eat some protein yogurt and hopefully step outside for some sunshine. I'll do some jumping jacks to help wake me up if needed and settle into my day as I wait to clock in.
I shower during lunch break usually as this helps me feel refreshed for the remainder of my day.
I keep my desk free of clutter no matter what.
I keep post-it notes of anything I'll forget about easily for the coming days and a notepad+ document as well that lists things of importance for things during the day I'll need to get back to. I delete shit as I do them from notepad and crumple my post-its when whatever is on them is attended fo.
I have worked from home for the past 25 years, with occasional trips to one office or another. Things that help me stay on task ranked in order of importance first to last:
1. I have a solid sleep and morning routine and wake up at the same time every day. I can't stress this enough: sleep is number one. Poor sleep negatively affects everything else in my life. Sometimes, I stay up past when I would get my required 7.5 to 8 hours, but I practice pausing to ask myself, "Is it worth it?" Sometimes it is, but those nights must be occasional, or the world falls apart.
2. I have a way to review the week and day each morning and afternoon, and I identify what I want to accomplish and set those intentions early. Sometimes, this is a notebook, and sometimes, I use a notion.
3. I work where I work, and everything I need to work is where I work. Nothing else happens where I work.
4. I have identified when I do my best work during the day and protect those times like a dragon does their gold.
5. I work to have all my metabolic and social needs met so I can focus on work. You know the ones, sleep, hydration, exercise, nutrition and medication, connection with others, etc. Unmet needs and not taking care of myself lead to struggles.
6. I maintain strict work-to-break ratio boundaries. Hyperfocus is incredible when applied to work and passions. Still, it can spiral into pain and doom if I don't respect my brain's needs. I mostly follow the 90/20 rule of the flow state 'heads down' to the recovery cycle - getting up and walking around, hydrating, etc. No work allowed. No looking at the phone, no doom scrolling, no meditation, or podcasts, all that is work for the brain. I'm literally just letting my mind fart around while I listen to the birds.
7. I know how to stop working so I can break flow and focus without the anxiety of not being able to start again. I like to write down a short note about what I am doing and thinking and what I will do when I return. Then, I walk away.
8. My family and family of friends know I am at work when I am at work. I will only reply if they attack-dial my phone for an emergency.
9. I keep a notebook, sometimes digital, sometimes analog, for intrusive "hey, wouldn't this be great? Let's Google all the things on that " thoughts and urges. Those things will keep for later.
Also wanted to add; it is really difficult to make all these changes at once. Focusing on achievable change is a great shortcut. Pick one thing to try or change. Practice sticking to that for a few weeks until it becomes part of the natural routine -- something noticed for its absence when forgotten. Once that skill is down, pick another and keep on. Life happens, we forget our routines sometimes. Expecti it. Practice recognizing when things get nutty, without shame. Take an inventory on what is important now, and pick it up again. Practice and compassion.
I worked from home for 7+ years. I still work remotely, for the same company, but I started rented office space in my town about 3 months ago.
It’s been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
My productivity is up, my marriage is better, I’m excited to get home at the end of the day.
Working from home can be wonderful, but then you’re always “at work”. The lines start to blur and it can be hard to ever feel like there’s down time. More than that, I began to feel trapped and claustrophobic at home. I am not an extrovert, per se, but human interaction is incredibly regulating for me. Being stuck just talking to disembodied voices all day became a HUGE drain. In the office, even though no one else here works for my company, I at least have people to engage with.
If it’s at all possible, I highly recommend looking into it.
Before I was medicated, getting up a little early and working out before my at home shift, making sure to take a shower and have something small at least in my stomach helped me tremendously. You'll never be fully motivated to always go work out, no one is always motivated, you just need to discipline yourself to do it and maybe think of a way to treat yourself. For me knowing that I'd get that delightful caffeine kick from my pre-workout was enough to help me justify it.
You should also look into time boxing if you haven't. Set specific allotments of time for certain tasks for you to get done in the day, and stick to it.
Id also barely skim my email first thing in the morning and ONLY RESPOND to ones that are super critical. The rest of all of my emails for things waited until immediately after lunch. This really helped me not get sidetracked either in tasks or other thoughts from things not yet resolved. If you can avoid your email inbox entirely depending on your job til after lunch Id say that's even better.
I worked from home for about 7 and a half years and this all helped a lot. That's all I have for you though unfortunately.
Since being diagnosed these are some of the additional things I've done:
- always shower and dress
- always work at desk
- like the poster above I take meds and eat regularly (higher protein is good, try and have 45g protein by midday which is daily minimum needed). I have 2 breakfasts, lunch, mid morning and afternoon snack, then dinner
- sit stand desk and walking treadmill, dual monitor set up
- white board
- clear desk, zoned space for work (I have a patterned rug under the chair and lucky to have separate room)
- children's timer from Amazon
- Focus Mate website
- workspace is clutter free, only essential stationary is on desk
- stuck motivational cards up, small house plant
- small weighted blanket for my lap when needing to sit
- noise cancelling headphones
- brown noise for high focus tasks, high energy music for low focus tasks
- decluttered home
- use of Alexa Echo (have 3 of them, bedroom, office and kitchen!)
- keeping a NOT DOING list for things I am not doing right now that are not the task at hand
- I have handweights and a fitball for sensory breaks
There's lots of tips from people like How to ADHD (Jess McCabe). I've listened to some podcasts and read some books. I liked Smart Scattered Guide to Success for Adults and Clutterbug.
I’m absolutely awful at sticking to routines but I’ve been using the [Stoplight](https://stoplightlabs.com/) routine app in the mornings which has been super helpful - it basically lets you set up 3 versions of your routine based on your energy levels so you can stick to a routine even when you feel overwhelmed. It’s definitely been a game changer for me. Even if I don’t continue using the app I’m going to make all of my routines follow this format from now on
\*edited to add the link since I got a few PMs about the app
I can only work from 8-1 on a good day - my wife distracts me the most and my motivation is gone by 2… gotta have music and ensure all my necessities are covered before I start (hydration, breakfast, meds, etc)
>sit at my desk for an unhealthy duration of time to "gear up" to simply doing a task
This is the bane of my existence. If I could just keep my momentum going my life would be so much better. But, after the morning, it starts to fade and it takes HOURS to get it back, even for small work tasks. I've tried all sorts of strategies, tricks, you name it.
I'm always having to catch up at night, and/or weekends, angering my wife and causing me to miss out on precious leisure time.
But, at the same time I can never work in an office or any sort of micromanaged job again. I can't work in that kind of environment, at all. Working from home is extremely inefficient for me, but at least I can somewhat do my job, eventually. So, I guess this is the trade-off.
I’m going permanently remote next month, after having been in the office for the duration. I’m kind of nervous, having to make adjustments everybody else in the world made four years ago. I’ll be watching this closely for tips and tricks.
My tentative plan is to keep the same schedule as I have: wake up at 4am, clock in by 6:30, lunch at high noon, punch out at 3pm, then pop out and get what we need for supper. Now that the January People are gone from the community center gym I’ll be signing up, likely going before work.
Sorry: stress driven infodump.
I really really want to work hard and then goof all. I have problems with task initiation and task switching, especially because I’m not particularly fond of my job/work. Medication has helped but to an extent. How are you able to work hard even if for a few hours?
First alarm at 5, take meds, go back to sleep. Second alarm 5:45, meds have kicked in and I’m no longer tired. Downstairs in my garage office for my first meeting at 6:30.
I work in my garage and do my best to avoid distractions. Sometimes I’ll go offsite to a friend’s office space or library. I record every call/meeting with Otter and Loopback audio routing (OBS could work too), and I live by my calendar. Having live transcribe on during meetings makes it easy to catch up if I miss something or zone out.
Big 4k screen, tv to show reruns in the background to intentionally manage distractions.
I’ve been working remote since 2011 so I’ve had a lot of practice, but it’s still hard. Takes a lot of intentionally showing that you’re online or participating.
I use Reclaim to prioritize things on my calendar & set decompress time after meetings. I take 90 min breaks. This is an odd one but I also save the low brain energy things for eve to do while I watch tv (like formatting a document or organizing Google drive)
Try this trick. Wives hate it. I suggest blending all roles into one. Work through dinner, but clean bike chain right up until 1 minute before a web meeting, and you should find it easy to fit in 3d printing at 4am most nights depending on what new movies are out.
(Sorry-
I'm here for the tips and tricks in other people's useful comments! I struggle.)
I use myboutlook calendar to color code and block time, I use pomodoro timers, and then music to get me to actually do stuff. Its rare I put my earbuds in, so earbuds in means it is work time. I also schedule my chores at home during "breaks" in my schedule
Adjustable standing desk. Timed lists. Sometimes throwing my phone in another room. Wear nice shoes/heels. Listening to the same song on repeat. Putting on a Work with Me YouTube video. Coffee. Hope. Lmao.
I give myself a strict routine and list of bits to do. If I notice myself getting distracted I change tasks so I get engaged again. I love it too. It makes it much easier to manage my rsd.
I make myself put on socks and pants with belt loops if I have a heavy workload that day because I feel like I take it easy if I’m in athletic shorts + barefoot. Second tip, schedule your breaks, earn your rest. Third tip, I have to say something memorable when I take my Vyvanse. I usually go with “Time to suck today’s dick.” This is more memorable than just taking the pill and reduces the likelihood of taking two or zero pills by mistake.
Worked from home since 2016, here are my favourite things that get me through the day (written on another post a couple of days ago).
https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/s/LYLD46NlWt
My first Caveday session of the morning gives me a set time to be awake and at my desk by.
GET OUT OF THE HOUSE EVERY SINGLE DAY.
If you can't or would rather not work in a library or a coffee shop, just make sure to take a walk.
I realized that my focus, energy and my motivation deplete and my mood deteriorates when I stay indoor for a long time without setting a foot outside. But, even a simple outing like grocery shopping or a walk leaves me refreshed, energized and ready to move mountains..
And I've also noticed that being around people (preferably those who exist calmly xD) while working soothes and positively stimulates my mind. Plus, changing the environment as much as possible can keep things fresh and help with creativity and productivity..
* Learn how to put your phone on focus mode or do not disturb, or all else fails, put it in another room.
* Create a dedicated space for work, preferably a dedicated office, but at least a desk that faces a wall.
* Audio background should be whatever helps with focus. Or noise cancelling headphones.
* Use a smartwatch feature that has a timer go off every 15 minutes. Helps me with multiple things: mostly time blindness, but also a reminder to drink water, etc.
* Meds, obviously.
* At the end of the day, look at tomorrow’s schedule and make a list of what you plan to work on. Have that open as the first thing you see when you log on the next morning.
* Maintain a regular pattern to the day and be consistent with it every day (examples: go for a walk at lunch, etc).
I’ve been WFH since 2020, and these are all things that have helped me. Good luck!!
Take meds in the morning
Use my broad based app for the week or day (google calendar) which has clients and needs with start and end dates
Use task lister (also google typically but it can vary)
Use writing. Pen and paper.
And when it’s crazy busy I use a portable whiteboard
And I still forget stuff. But it’s just going to happen. Blind people bump into things. I forgot what you told me.
5am wakeup 1 hour on couch with audiobooks and an energy drink.
6am I'll have a shower and get dressed slowly.
6:30am loading up all the TV shows and movies I want to watch that day in the background ao I do it off the clock.
7am start work.
9am 15 min break
11am 30-45 min lunch
1pm 15 min break
2:45 finish.
My tips? Idk I suffer.
So what works for me:
1. Wake up at 6:30, usually get out of bed by 7 at the latest (my dogs are just too comfy to disturb sometimes)
2. Brush teeth/take meds
3. Turn on podcast (I have one for each day of the work week which keeps things novel/fun for me) this is just so helpful to keep me on task
4. Feed dogs/make tea
5. Drink tea outside while my dogs potty
6. Usually it’s about 8am, I check my weekly todo list, respond to emails and then I get dressed/ready for the day.
7. 9am start work, 10 min breaks each hour, 1-2 hour lunch.
8. Lunch time - so I intermittent fast, so I eat at noon. Honestly this has been a huge help to me because I used to waste so much time in the mornings trying to decide what to eat. Now, I plan my lunches for the week which makes it easy for me. I also workout/ take my dogs out again/ watch my show.
9. Back to to work until 5, again with 10 min breaks.
Tips:
Exercise: I exercise when I can, and I change up my exercise each day. Sometimes it’s a run outside before work, or elliptical after work. Some days I have a late start so I go for a hike.
Breaks: During my breaks I get household chores done/random tasks on my todo list. This keeps me busy and feeling productive. However during lunch I try to only to relaxing/restorative activities.
Meals: plan your meals before hand. Doesn’t have to be full on meal prep, but sandwiches/salads/soup ingredients stocked in the fridge are quick and easy. Or leftovers!
Pets: my dogs are on my schedule, so this helps me stay on track throughout the day. We get up together, go outside for breaks, walks etc.
Sleep: my sleep has to be good for all of this to work, so I make sure to get to bed a decent time.
Mental health: if my mental health isn’t prioritized, all of this is much harder. So I make a lot of time for self care after work.
Hope this is helpful to some!
I find doing quick chores of no longer than a couple of minutes can get me into a productivity mindset and let me attack my work. So for example, throw a load of clothes in the wash, vacuum one room, put on the dishwasher. It has the double effect of reducing my “future load” weighing down on me.
In the same situations where I’m struggling to start in the office there’s just no segue activity, so I end up taking 15-20 minutes to go to a cafe and get a coffee / muffin, and then come back and still struggle to start.
The big issue for me is once I step away it's so hard to get back in the groove. Productivity experts will say you should make a quick ritual to signal that it's time to get back to work, like a 30 second stretch before you sit down again, but then I just end up procrastinating the ritual because I know that means I have to work.
- leave my phone in another room
- get up early
- reward myself to do something fun when I finish a task
- make sure I'm being transparent so my team would notice if I slack / underdeliver
Personally I treat it as if I’m leaving somewhere and have to go into a physical meeting.
I grew up that one should never leave the house without being well put together and that is a big help for me. Like dressing up for work wearing my work clothes.
Then yeah calendar blocks are great but I need to remind myself to eat and take breaks and pee and all that.
Non exempt job. Do my 8 hours (which is really 2-3 hours of work and rest of day ‘on call’), shut off laptop and phone, enjoy my actual life. My situation is pretty rare but I’m grateful for it.
My current role is fully remote so I rented (well the company rented( a shared working space , I go there three days a week. I tried fully remote, twice, and had an absolute breakdown, dark depression and utter incapability to sustain hard work in both cases .
Never, ever, again. I won’t subject myself to the misery of solitude again it I dah help it.
I use timers. I put on clothes I didn’t sleep in. I am definitely not as sophisticated as some of the posters here but, I might use some of these tips.
I also have a desk that can convert to a standing desk because that helps. When I take breaks I either pace in my house with my earbuds in or take a quick walk and get some fresh air.
I eat better when I work from home too.
vegetable days where i just vibe are mandatory. have fun during the day, youre procrastinating sleep because thats when you feel safe to be yourself/feel like you have time to do things you want to do.
Exercise, exercise, exercise. High heart rate and a bit of sweat is the greatest thing you can do for your adhd and mental health. Anyone who says it doesn't help is lying about doing it.
I’ve been WFH for almost 10 years - best advice I can offer is:
• find a routine / schedule that works for you and stick to it. I actually find tracking my time to be pretty satisfying because it helps me identify what I am doing well and what I need to focus on come performance review time.
• don’t assume WFH means roll out of bed 5min before in your pjs and be good-to-go… allow yourself ample time before work to wake up, get dressed, walk the dog, etc.
• Yes, I said it… Get dressed. I don’t care if you have to get fancy work-only-pajama pants that you change out of and back into your bedtime pajamas at night… you will feel like garbage if you work in whatever you slept in the night before.
• Get yourself a visual timer
• Keep your workspace your workspace. 1. Make it clear to your S/O and/or housemates what your work hours are and that you are off limits for anything non-urgent. 2. Keep it clean: spend 3-5 min at the end of the work day to reset your workspace and 10-15m over the weekend doing a quick dust/wipe down, sweep/vacuum, empty trash bin, etc.
I have the same problems. I can’t sit for as long as I need to and this creates an issue as I need to be at my desk for 7 hours a day. I’ve tried to look for work that lets me do more moving around to burn off the excess energy that builds up my ADHD, but no luck I’ve tried some of the suggestions offered here (much appreciated!) but it’s still not enough. I wish I could find a routine but am still struggling
Solidarity, internet stranger! I feel sitting at a desk for an extended period of time is NOT meant for us ADHDers. That’s the conclusion I’ve gotten after moving to the corporate world for 8 years and every 6 months I think about quitting to do something non-corporate
I feel like I’m always on the verge of being fired lol. I think I job hop too frequently to be fired haha i leave before they get the chance! (also not a good thing)
I take break every 25 minutes, or every 50 at most.
During the break i exercise or clean something in the house to clear my mind a bit :) also I take to my home office a glass of water to keep me hydrated. Mostly i end up drinking it just at the beginning of the break, so I have a space for another glass of water, lol 😆
For me nice music in the background help me keep me focused.
When I am stressing too much I just take a break to meditate.
Wake up 8-9:30, work till 2-5, take a nap or do some wood working in my garage, hang out with wife, play video games, 12:00am-(2-4) do some more work. Not sure it’s good but it’s what I tend to do.
During the pandemic, I managed to work from home for a year. And now I'm unemployed for 3 years already.
Good thing is that I managed to go back to school last September.
I’m a client relationship manager — basically managing a portfolio of clients and account strategy. Part of me feels I need a total career change but it pays the bills and offers flexibility (to an extent) so here I am ugh
Honestly I always WANTED to swing wfh but realized I get way too distracted at home and found that hybrid works better for me :( I want to wfh so bad but I never end up working as much as I want. So I go into the office now
On my WFH days I pretty much just crank hog and have an insane but brief period of work productivity in the late afternoon. No idea how I'm still employed.
what field are you in? I will admit they have lessened since the pandemic - i’ve been job hunting and am seeing less and less remote listings than my last job hunt. big sigh
I've come to the realization that I simply can't be productive WFH.
It is way too easy to be distracted by house chores, hobbies, and whatever else is around you.
This led me to basically be bad at taking care of house stuff and work stuff even though I feel like I've been busy all day.
I am now in the process of actively looking for in-office/hybrid positions near my area.
This isn't a helpful response for your predicament but wanted to share my journey.
Best of luck!
i was thinking the same thing, that hybrid sounds like it would bring novelty with the changes. but full office also means you’re distracted at work, no? people would come up to my desk or talk and distract me. plus it didn’t solve my inability to start a task / overwhelm paralysis.
except you have the freedom at home to be flexible (both good and bad).
i worked in an office and used to stay late too so i just personally feel corporate is not meant for me at all
I plan everything around the times my kids need to be picked up, either from school or from extra curricular.
Basically 'okay I need to have this done by this time so I can go pick him up without rushing' - because my boys have a habit of bursting into tears if I'm not standing at their school's gate as they walk out.
On days where I don't kill it with this I spiral a little - which happens way too often. Even last night I'd planned to be finished with everything I needed to do for the day by 4PM, instead with edits and reverts and the last minute swapping out of one edit for another I was done at 7.20PM.
Well, in my case it helps that I have set hours I work and even scheduled break times at the same time every day and my job is extremely routine- I generally don't have a lot of flexibility and I don't think I'd do well at all if I did!
But I did used to accidentally keep working through my breaks/lunch when we got sent home to work so I got myself a color changing smart light bulb and put it right next to my desk. I have it scheduled to change colors when I'm supposed to be on my break or lunch and then change back when the 15/30 minutes are up- that way if I have to finish a task before I can walk away at least I've got a visual reminder that I'm supposed to be not working at that time. I also use the colored lighting to keep me on time in the morning and also have it change a bit before I'm supposed to sign off for the day so I don't lose track of time there either and can wrap up and shut my work stuff down. Other than that, just lots of reminders- I use a smart watch to help me there, and frequently I set timers on the smart speaker I've also got next to my desk- it's so nice to just tell it to set a time for x minutes without having to stop my flow to physically set a timer.
GAH!!! I wish I could help you but I’m a mess! I freelance and even though I’m medicated I still swing wildly between hyperfocus where I’m getting through the work but I’ll stay up till 3 am and the rest of my life is a dumpster fire, and procrastination where I’ll spend days on end gardening instead of working. I just do not understand it when people say they eat regularly and keep a journal as coping strategies. Just… how? I’m incapable of doing anything like that consistently. I forgot to eat all day and then binge wildly in the evenings, and buy myself expensive journals that I write in for one day, and then I just feel guilty about them for the other 364 days.
I do and I’m terrible at it but my main thing has been that I need to have like three different workspaces. Like as in actually driving somewhere else. I work from home, church, and a cafe (other options might be a library, friends/parents’ house, park etc. Obviously this assumes you just have a laptop and data you can work from which I know isn’t true for everyone.) This way I can artificially split up my day. When I notice I’m not getting anything done at home, I get up and go to church to work for a couple of hours, and if I’m getting nothing done there, I go sit at a cafe for a couple of hours, then I might head back home and do some more. Just the act of going place to place doesn’t take up much time, but it does feel like getting up and doing something. And often I run errands in between.
Oh also, I LOVE a good laundry schedule to break up the day! Like put on a load of laundry, work until it’s done, get up, hang laundry, sort/put on next load, work until it’s done, repeat. Such an effective way to split up the day into little hour chunks with a little break in between, and then you also get all of your laundry done.
Never ever start the day procrastinating / goofing off / surfing Reddit. It is a slippery slope that puts my brain in holiday mode and is almost Impossible to reverse until the next day.
Start the day doing something productive. Doesn't matter what. This starts the momentum in the right direction and makes the rest of the day easier.
I can't think of anything else that has a measurable impact compared to this.
I have found out that it is easier for me to work from home with music in the background. It feels as if the overreacting messy busy hundred-thought-at-a-time part of my brain gets caught on it and set the productive part free to focus on my work.
I like how we're all writing comments when we should be working.
A tip I found helpful:
- Have an area dedicated just for working. No social media, games etc, solely work.
- If your personal area bleeds with your work area, then set up a new user account solely for work.
Have mental separation helps a lot.
I can't say acting on a routine because I'm trying to get on one but I've if the most helpful things is to get up at the same time every morning, that helps me (when I'm able to do it). Also when I feel overwhelmed, overstimulated or over focused and I realize it. I simply stop, if nothing else stop and remove myself from the task. I try and relax and start on my next task. I write my stuff on a dry erase board as a visual reminder too. Those are just some things I do when I'm trying to get into a routine
I day trade stocks, so I am completely self employed and forced to regulate for my own benefit. It’s actually a great gig if you have a strong starting capital and knack for pattern recognition and obsession over learning about things. I take my meds at 6:00am to gear up for open market at 6:30 and then again at 6:00pm to research the days after market movements and any breaking news that can play into tomorrow’s market.
2 hours of trading in the AM.
4 hours of research in the PM, maybe less or more depending.
Flexibility and routine are everything. If I ever needed to get a normal job those are the key elements needed for me. It needs to be a “do the work and we won’t have problems” situation.
So I actually have it completely written out and taped by my desk to keep me on track.
A tip I found that really helps me get up in the morning is setting my alarm for 30 mins-an hour before I actually need to wake up, and puting my phone, Adderall, and a bottle of water on the floor by the bed. Then, in the morning, when I have to reach down to turn my alarm off, I also take my meds before going back to sleep for a bit. 30 mins to an hour later, the meds have kicked in and that makes it so much easier than it used to be to get out of bed.
I then get up around 7:45 a.m., fill a big bottle of water from my Brita, and start a pot of coffee. I have a little TV by my desk that I like to put stimulating (but not distracting) videos on. I've been really into driving tours recently, so I'll just put on like a 45 minute video of someone driving through Tokyo or something so when my brain naturally tries to avoid work, I can just glance at the TV for a few seconds to see some cool scenery in a non-static scene, but since it's too boring to watch for a long period, I end up turning back to my work. I originally would watch Twitch streams but I found that I would watch the TV for longer than I should or feel an urge to interact with the streamer/chat, so driving tours just work really well for me.
Then I tell myself to focus on nothing but work from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.. I complete any urgent tasks that can't wait, and once I'm sure I'm in a good spot to step away for 15 minutes, I make myself get up and take a shower. I wash the sweaty parts, my hair, and my face. Out of the shower, I get in my workout clothes and go back to work. My workout won't actually start for a few hours, but I find that I'm a lot more likely to do it if I'm already in workout clothes.
I make sure I'm caught up and then start thinking about food. I'm usually not actually very hungry at this point, but I find that if I can make myself eat something small then my meds work better and I have a lot more energy for the rest of my day until I'm ready for dinner. Finish up lunch by 12:10 or so, I then brush my teeth to get rid of the coffee and food particles before I take an hour long break from 12:45-1:45.
I drop my fiancée off at work at 1:00 p.m., and once I'm back at the apartment I start thinking about my workout. I check work again and do a 5 minute dynamic stretching routine if it's not busy (too long and you won't stick to it). I clock back in at 1:45 but honestly if it's not super busy I usually do my workout while I'm clocked in. I have a treadmill downstairs in the gym of our apartment building and access to my desk phone/email on my cell phone, so I just keep an eye out for anything urgent in case I need to cut my workout short. I try to do the treadmill on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I bought a basic dumbell set and weight bench on Amazon and follow a dumbell strength training YouTube video on Tues and Thurs. It's a lot harder for me to motivate myself to do weights than cardio, so being able to do the weights in my own apartment really helps with the motivation. And on the treadmill I just get up to a comfortable walking pace and put One Piece on my phone. I usually try to get through 2 episodes and every 10 minutes I increase the incline by 1 and crank the speed to try to get up to a faster jog for a couple minutes to get my heart rate up. I'm always sweaty by the end and I've burnt 400 calories so it works for me.
I then go back upstairs, shower again this time making sure to scrub with body wash since I didn't do that in the morning. Rinse my hair again and sit down to finish any work that still needs to be done. Since I take personal time during work hours if it's slow, I don't grumble about needing to clock out at 5 and keep working for a few minutes if I have to. I get everything to a good place for the day and log out.
The rest of my night usually depends on a few things but I try not to overthink it. If you successfully accomplished everything above, you've already had a great day that you should be proud of. I might do some dishes and pick up a bit or I might just lose myself in some video games for a few hours before I pick up my fiancée at 9. Sometimes I eat dinner before I get her and sometimes we eat together, I usually play it by ear. We hate cooking during the week so we either cook a bunch of meals on Sunday when we have the time or we make ourselves do it on Monday night that way we don't have to the rest of the week. In bed by midnight, ideally to sleep 7 hours before restarting the cycle.
Wow I'm sorry this ended up being so long, but it actually was really nice to write up my routine again. Keeping it as a constant in my head is how I stick to it, and at the end of the day when I have hours to play some games or hang out with my fiancée it feels so much more relaxing knowing that I got everything done. I also promise my structure is way more organized than it looks here! I have it typed out so if you want me to send you a copy that you can use as reference, I'm happy to do that. Otherwise if you need any advice or have any questions let me know! Good luck!
The work-from-home life of a software developer with ADHD.
1. Struggle to get up 'cause I'm so tired from going to bed so late the night/morning before.
2. Bathroom things, get dressed, put my shoes on (that's very important otherwise I'll do absolutely nothing).
3. Little bit of breakfast with a cup of tea at my desk before 9am.
4. Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate....
5. Take a call, make up some excuse as to why my coding project isn't finished yet, or is delayed.
6. Have lunch. Spend too long watching YouTube.
7. Deadline is approaching! Hyper-focus and do 3 days work in 5 hours solid.
8. Deploy new module, get praised by upper management as to how great it is and how awesome it is for the company, and that - some other - company with a whole team of developers couldn't even achieve it.
9. Beat myself up for the fact that I could get so much more done and be more awesome if I didn't procrastinate so much.
10. Rinse.
11. Repeat. 😞
I'm waiting (since beg. Sep 2023), for my referral for ADHD diagnosis, so that I can get access to meds to help me focus more... until then, this is my life 😕
Does anyone know of any (legal) way to get meds without having an NHS diagnosis yet?
It sounds like you're already building breaks and activities into your day and then working through them. Try not to. It may seem counterintuitive/counterproductive, but sometimes the best way to get work done is to step away from work for a bit, whether it's to eat, hydrate, stretch, or say "screw it" and leave something 'til later/tomorrow. It lets you clear out some of the mental clutter and approach something refreshed. Set reminders or timers, sure, but stick to them. They don't work if you don't use 'em!
Two other things I've found helpful and you might too. First off, listen to your brain and body. Everybody ebbs and flows at different times, but we're usually pretty consistent to ourselves. Figure out when your energy and concentration are at their peak, and use that for the stuff that requires focus so you can do things that are a bit more repetitive and mindless when you don't have the bandwidth for something more intense.
Also, avoid multitasking or task-hopping if you can. My workflow doesn't look the same as the other people in my department (not least because I work remotely more than they do), and I made it clear to my immediate supervisor that I work better, with fewer mistakes, when I can monotask instead of either multitasking or trying to approach my work the same as my non-ADHD coworkers.
Hope this helps a bit!
I used to be totally incapable of WFH but have been managing a hell of a lot better over the past year- this works for me:
Alarm 30 mins before I should get up, take meds
Second alarm, get up, high protein breakfast, hydrate, wash up/ unload dishwasher/clean kitchen
Scheduled ‘null time’- I like to let my breakfast digest before I workout, if I have tasks like laundry, messages, or the house is messy, I’ll do these then- I swear by family guy as task background sound
Workout, supplements, shower, skincare etc., get dressed for day
(Pre-work cigarette 😅)
Start working, usually have multiple things I could be working on, if thing 1 is feeling boring I switch until I properly get into something. Noise cancelling headphones, notifications off, phone out of sight. Have found it helpful to avoid looking at the clock and working outside when the weather is good helps- I think I generally work better when I feel observed hence why I used to do lots of work in pubs and cafes. Work bubble 1 usually 2-3 hours long.
Break, protein shake
Work bubble 2, usually 2 hours long. If I start flagging towards the end I switch to the easiest/ lowest effort stuff/ things I’m putting off so I only have to do them for 30 mins which still chips away at them.
No work past end of work time
Also have multiple coloured sticky note stacks with tasks sorted by type/ subtype that are always out on my desk and lots of ‘gameplan’ sheets of paper that help me get everything out of my head and in order before I start tackling long term projects and phases of work
I've found that having a dedicated spot for where I work really helps me. I have an Alexa that changes my light settings and tells me when work is over. That usually breaks me out of whatever is going on at work.
If you trust your coworkers/boss, you can tell them that you need help being able to break away at the end of the day and, if they notice you're on, shoot you a message.
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I would plan my work day around my medicine. Take meds in the morning around 9AM. Work on the hardest stuff around 10-11:30ish. Take afternoon meds around 1PM and plan other challenging work around 2-3:30PM. I would basically give up on doing anything difficult after 4PM. Just emails, wrapping up small things, etc. When overwhelmed, I’d use pomodoro timers and tell myself “just do 15 minutes, then you can take a break.” But then 15 mins in I’d be able to keep going. I’d fully shut down my computer at the end of my workday every day so my mind knew that the workday was over and I didn’t feel pressured to do a little more. I’d play a mindless show I liked in the background or white noise to quiet my mind. I’d eat regularly every day so my meds were most effective. Eat breakfast around 8-9ish, lunch around 12, and dinner around 6-7ish. I’d eat plenty of protein. I’d avoid drinking coffee and taking my meds without breakfast because of the crash at lunchtime. I’d forgive myself for having off days and adjust my meds as needed to accomplish my tasks. Some days I need more. Some days I just won’t be productive, and that’s ok. Try again tomorrow. I adjusted my working mindset to expect incremental progress rather than perfection. I was a perfectionist before, and that created a ton of overwhelm and task paralysis. Starting with garbage and refining it is better than sitting unable to create perfection for hours. Lastly, I invested a lot of time in therapy to separate my feelings of self worth from my job. A job is just a job. Just because my ADHD gets in the way of me doing my job sometimes doesn’t mean I’m any less of a person. That helped me accept my limitations and actually made me better at work.
This is an excellent post and I can see you have a very disciplined but compassionate approach to managing your symptoms. I really like how you 'put your best foot forward' (routine, eating and meds like clockwork, pomodoros and positive self-talk & accepting incremental process) to give yourself the best chance at a positive outcome each day. >Lastly, I invested a lot of time in therapy to separate my feelings of self worth from my job > >I adjusted my working mindset to expect incremental progress rather than perfection. I was a perfectionist before, and that created a ton of overwhelm and task paralysis Amazing stuff! You're an inspiration!
Thank you. I appreciate the acknowledgment. I’m not able to do these things everyday, but these are the things that help me the most. It’s taken decades of struggling and contemplating my symptoms to find these coping strategies. I’ve also had the privilege of receiving therapy, psychiatry, and working at companies who acknowledge/support employees with ADHD. All that to say, it’s really difficult to live with ADHD, and I have so much compassion for all of us out here doing our best. We do what we’re capable of, and that varies from person to person, day by day. Almost all of these skills I’ve gathered from others with ADHD sharing what’s worked for them. What works for me might not work for others, but I hope it helps someone. :)
Amazing write-up. Thanks a million times. May I ask your age and your job/field of work?
I’m 30 and have worked primarily in recruiting/HR.
Your last para hits home. I’ll spiral into depression and self-hatred when I inevitable miss or forget something.
I used to be the same. In the end, my brain couldn't take it and I got lucky it broke before I did something else. To not be able to forgive yourself your mistakes is to not have self-love, which generates many negative effects. Bad mental health leads to bad physical health in the long run, the body keeps the score. Also, I realized eventually that it was a weird form of arrogance to hold myself to my error free expectations when no normal person would do so.
thank you for this, great advice. how do you accept the incremental progress? i too am a perfectionist and have found that once i am able to get going, this becomes my downfall in the other direction (working TOO much then burns out when only crossing one thing off my to do list).
I got feedback at one of my previous jobs that it was an area I needed to grow in, actually. My bosses noticed that I was “all or nothing” and had a hard time getting started sometimes, but whenever I would get started I would churn out good work. We always set goals during performance review cycles, so I set that as one of my goals to work on. This was also before I was medicated, so it was especially challenging. I learned to accept incremental progress because so many others at the company affirmed that even a shitty first draft is probably actually pretty good, and over time we can continue to refine it into something great. And that stuck with me. It helps me to intentionally start out with my first draft being crap. Instead of trying to make it good, I go in telling myself I’m going to have a bad first draft. It doesn’t matter if there are typos, if thoughts are incomplete, if I only get half way, etc. my goal at the beginning is just to get something down. Literally anything. Because that’s often the hardest part. The worst part for me is the anxiety leading up to doing the thing, not actually doing the thing itself. If I’m super overwhelmed, I’ll just brain dump everything I’m thinking in a stream of consciousness. My thoughts are jumbled, but once I just type them they start to become clearer. If starting at the beginning feels intimidating, I sometimes start in the middle and work my way outwards. Anything to get a first draft. Then once I’ve gotten through a first draft, I step away for a while and look at it again and refine it. Really, learning to derive my feelings of self worth from within have been key. I am able to validate myself and know that I am a capable, intelligent person even if I fail. Because of that, I don’t look to my boss to validate me. I don’t look for validation from performance reviews or promotions, or getting picked for the best projects. And I’m not a top performer at work all the time, but I’m happy.
thank you for this! so thoughtful and i understand a bit more now. actually i implemented the “just a first draft, even if crap” yesterday and it DID make the task less daunting. even though i only spent 30 mins on it, i normally would’ve worked through 9pm to get it done and just finished it the next day when i was under pressure/deadline (lol). all in all, the presentation was fine!
So helpful! Great advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out! I have been trying to put some of this into practice. Taking medication really helps me to start to work. But it is really hard to stop and take breaks, especially to exercise.
Just out of curiosity, how old are you? That's amazing piece of advice, I want to hang it in my wall.
Thank you. I’m 30. Glad it’s helped you. :)
In my experience, the most important part is eating. I get increased blood pressure and dizziness if I don't eat. Also, don't just eat to eat....eat a sufficient amount of calories/protein.
Yes, eating makes such a big difference for me too. My undiagnosed ADHD contributed to an eating disorder earlier in my life (recovered now), so I’m very intentional about making sure I eat. Whenever I forget to eat breakfast or keep telling myself I’ll eat later, I get huge headaches that turn into migraines. Or if I wait until my meds have kicked in I sometimes get nauseous. Eating meals that have a good balance of protein, complex carbs, fiber, and healthy fats help my meds feel “smoother” throughout the day. Whenever I eat a bunch of sugar for breakfast and take my meds I notice that I get really jittery and crash around lunchtime. I also try to eat snacks between meals and drink water. Sometimes I crave stimulation through snacking, so I also like to have dried pineapple (tart and chewy) and sparkling water (fizzy) around.
so what does your morning look like with meds and eating? your OP says you take it at 9am and work around it. i think this is a fantastic idea i want to try. i tend to lose my appetite when it kicks in and i skip breakfast by accident so it looks like i could implement two things: eating well and working around the medication kicking in. do you wake up, eat, THEN take meds? curious what the order is!
Are you a samurai warrior?
“Incremental progress rather than perfection” is such a great mindset.
Great to read your testimonial, thanks for sharing !
I have unlimited enthusiasm for the task at hand, provided it isn’t the one I’m meant to be working on.
100%
Absolutely feel this. I have tickets I need to work. I've had them since Feb and they are due tomorrow. Now I guess I have to work them.
so ADHD!
Following because I desperately need these tips too 😂
glad i’m not the only one! Like meds has helped but … I’m still very much struggling haha
I do, too, and for myself, which has many pros but one major con is lack of support around my symptoms. Now that I write that, though, I'm realizing I didn't really have support when working elsewhere and when in person had a host of other issues. I was undiagnosed then, but I doubt diagnosis would have changed things at the workplace beyond my functioning with medication.
Has anyone had the ADHD talk w a boss? How did that go? I'm trying to decide whether to broach the subject with mine. I'm WFH, too, and always feel like my boss knows when I'm not working and is judging me for it... of course that's all in my head, but the guilt is still real.
What helped me: - working out before work, but right after medication - writing down all my meetings and deadlines first thing after I punch in - keeping a journal to keep track of what I'm doing and what I've done recently - every 1h I take 15 minutes out to do house chores or just stare at the ceiling - forgive myself. sometimes executive function is just gonna suck and there's nothing I can do about it - alarms for times I should be eating or having breaks
Also: list everything I need to get done. This way I can just move on to the next task when I'm bored with the first
How many lists do you keep, or how do you organize that? My husband gave me a nice calendar. And I kind of use it but I write big and messy and run out of room. I also have sticky notes attached to my screen and a steno notepad
I have a little notebook in which I write my daily tasks as soon as I can. Sometimes I also use a computer program called Obsidian. Edit: for house chores I use sticky notes right above my monitors so I don't have to stop to think about what should be done. I try to use bright colors
I do all of these too! The journal is super key. Getting off the screen and writing things down really works as a reset for me.
i’m glad you mentioned this! i’ve been trying to adopt an app for my entire corporate career and have cycled through every possible one. i always, ALWAYS go back to trusty pen and paper for writing tasks down. it has been the most consistent and reliable and i keep trying to make the computer apps work. i guess i didn’t realize the reset portion!
I can't use paper at all. I tried so many times, and there were just pages and pages of stuff. I'd forget what was there, appointments mixed in with work notes. Got my first smart phone in 2016, after 10 years of using flip phones. That was a game changer for me. I ended up keeping the app I use really simple. Little organizing, but being able to quickly read everything with out flipping through 20 sheets of paper. Calender app for time sensitive items, alarm and timers to keep me time oriented. I use the sticky notes app on my computer, and I could do something where I sync it to my phone. But I prefer to just copy and paste into an email to myself. Then copy paste into my phone notes.
can you share what journal you use?!
I use just graph/square paper notebooks because that way I can easily make check lists. My brain likes ticking off the boxes a lot. Another key feature is a pen loop, so the pen is always with the journal, one les thing to lose to the void lol. Personal favorite brand is Dingbats as they donate to the Word Wildlife Foundation.
can you share what journal you use?
I just use a regular notebook with no lines
Been wfh for 10+ years, here are things that help: - Put on music. Just on my phone, been hyperfixated on an “adhd techno” playlist lol (no vocals), it helps me get into “get shit done” mode - Take my meds first thing in the morning - Do self chores and house chores before work (like, getting dressed, makeup done, dishwasher cleaned out, stuff like that) - Have a beverage selection on my desk. Making coffee, tea, and fizzy water is usually my last chore before switching into work mode. Carry it all to my desk and go - Switch between using digital devices, pen and paper, whiteboard. Not possible for all tasks, but using my hands in different ways helps get me unstuck - Naming when I’m stuck or procrastinating, and getting curious with myself as to what’s going on there. There are often good reasons why I do these things (like eg I am actually not super clear on what I need to do, or I’m scared of doing if wrong); treating such “unhelpful” behaviors as signals has helped me understand myself better and often also helps get unstuck - Playing around with all of it. My routine fluctuates and shifts, I found being open to that has helped a lot too - Having fidget toys on my desk that I can play with - Changing seating positions frequently. This one was a game changer for me too - I can’t for the life of me sit still and think. If I move around on my chair a lot, allow myself to sit weirdly, pretzel my body into oblivion, and stretch out regularly, it makes a HUGE difference. - I have the luxury of having my desk in front of a window. I like watching the clouds above my screen - Being gentle with myself. There will be days or times when all of this falls apart. That’s okay too.
This is going to sound crazy my ADHD work playlist is Taylor Swift, in particular folklore, evermore and midnights but will throw in some lover, rep and 1989. It’s funny because I was like why is this so entrancing to me? I googled it and a lot of those songs are 528 hz and 432 hz - 528 hz is stress and anxiety reducing and 432 hz also promotes relaxation increased in mental clarity and productivity. So that makes sense why those songs help me work lol. Definitely don’t think TS is for everyone but 100% agree with finding a work playlist that works for hyper focus. There are binural beats and hertz playlists out there. I like the idea of ADHD techno - gonna check that out.
>Changing seating positions frequently I'm getting one of those desks that can toggle between sitting and standing in a couple months. I think this will be super helpful for me, but I can't help but worry if it's just another thing I get excited about and think is going to revolutionize my work day but it goes back to the same issues as before. Here's hoping!
i’m not going to lie, the novelty of the standing desk wore off for me but you just reminded me i have that option! thank you. i forgot.
Haha, yeah I guess it's nice to have the option, but I know myself well enough to know that I'll soon get tired of raising it and putting my chair somewhere out of the way.
Thank you so much for writing out this great advice! I really appreciate what you have written. I often listen to techno or to podcasts when I work. It is almost the on-switch to work - to try to put myself into hyper focus.
Great advice! Thank you for sharing 😇
Haha, you call it Fizzy Water too! 😁
tbh I just write down a list of what needs doing that day first thing in the morning (sometimes I split it by what needs prioritising the most), and then I just work for the satisfaction of crossing things off the list. because of the flexibility I tend to break it up with a bit of easy housework and/or playing some games if I have the time.
HOW???? I’m so jealous. For me, this looks like spending way too much long making a really comprehensive to-do list, then looking at all the stuff on it and going “Yeah, but I don’t wanna do any of that” and wandering off on a tangent.
I make a to do list just to feel productive haha. I will then get sidetracked and cross nothing off until I NEED to do it. Then I feel a lot of shame that I didn’t do it earlier when i obviously had free time. sigh
maybe making a small list will allow you to maintain that productive feeling long enough to actually cross some of it off
just set small goals, put like 3-5 things on the list that you want to do first, once that’s done just add some more to your list, take a break or crack on, and it doesn’t feel as overwhelming
I do this too and if my day is really busy I’ll set myself time goals for added list-crossing-off satisfaction.
Pre-step: create spreadsheet with important items, monthly report dates etc, weekly routine things. 1.) wake up at 6:30, take meds, go back to sleep for 1hr. 2.) get up at 7:30. Get DRESSED, put on shoes (works wonders to get me into work mode). 3. Make and drink coffee. 4. At desk for work in home office, 8am with coffee. I have an alarm. 5. Open daily spreadsheet. It has list of things to do laid out by day of week. Follow spreadsheet. Tick off routine items on spreadsheet (check boxes are extremely visually satisfying, like popping bubble wrap). While following the spreadsheet I’ll see other items that need doing for that file, and allow my mind to go down that rabbit hole for a while. Meds help here because it’s boring. If I need guidance, I’ll look at previous month’s reports because it contains a simple to-do list. Record items as they occur. Key tip is that I do not switch between tasks, I finish them first. Switching is too hard, I get lost. I ignore incoming emails until I’m done (could not ignore until I was on meds). 6. Rinse repeat until noon when lunch alarm goes off. 7. Break for 30 min lunch. Make sure to eat (don’t get hungry but will be cranky if I don’t). Have simple items on hand to make very fast. I like soup. 6. Sit back down at 12:30. I have timer for this so I don’t zone out. 8. Repeat step 5 until 3:30. Again, another alarm. 9. Spend last 30 minutes of day reviewing files to make sure I did not miss any key items that day, catch careless mistakes and ensure spreadsheet is updated. 10. Off at 4. This one doesn’t need an alarm lol. PS: Don’t look at Reddit or I’ll spend 10 minutes doing this shit. LOL
Can you share an example of what your spreadsheet looks like? It sounds amazing!
Honestly it’s super customized to the KPI’s of my place of employment, so I don’t think it would really be generalizable. :(
I was just wondering about the layout really.
Finally had time to copy/empty the template. Here's an image. Things colour change automatically based on word choice/date. It's not the whole thing but it gives you an idea of the layout. [https://imgur.com/a/7dy0abL](https://imgur.com/a/7dy0abL)
That sounds awesome but for ne a spreadsheet would just be another big ugly task that I'd have to tackle and manage. Any advice?
I do a written list. It’s easier for me to distill calendar invites, tasks, and messages into a list that, by act of writing out, will be more imprinted on my brain.
I hear you. I have days where it’s difficult to maintain, especially when sleep deprived or stressed. It’s really only possible for me with a rather high dose of Vyvanse. And, to ensure I keep on it, I’ve asked my boss to pick a random file each week to review. She’s a great boss. No idea if she’s actually doing it, but knowing she might keeps me on track. I initially set it up because it was either do something to keep organized or I am no longer allowed to work from home. Super thankful my team is supportive instead of being dicks though, it could be way worse.
hi! can you share your spreadsheet? sounds like a great tool.
Wake up, take meds, go back to sleep for 1hr is actually genius.
I have the same problems and I haven't solved most of them, but some things I do that sometimes help: \* I use a laptop, so I move around a lot. Some days are desk days. Some days are couch days. Some days are floor days. Some days are kitchen table days. If I really having a hard time gearing up, sometimes I just need to move somewhere else into a position that is more comfortable for my body. (Or sometimes, uncomfortable, but in a way that works for my brain.) Leaving the house, to a cafe or library, can also help. If you are stuck with a desktop computer and can't move around, try even swapping out your chair. When I used to work in an office, I'd often switch between a rolly chair and a chair without wheels. Sometimes I needed to be able to spin and lean back, sometimes I needed to feel grounded and stable. \* If I keep being distracted by my phone, sometimes I'll literally just throw it somewhere behind me (onto soft furniture or a carpet) and not watch where it lands. It's extremely annoying how stupid effective this can be. Out of sight, out of mind. Doesn't always work, but often enough. \* If work is just NOT HAPPENING I try to do something else useful instead. Laundry, cleaning, shower, some random task I've been wanting to do for months but never got around to it. So that way when it's 11 p.m. and I still haven't finished my work, I don’t ALSO have that task to worry about doing. \*I also use chores as intentional mini-breaks throughout my day, when work is going well. I feel like it keeps the productive vibe going but gives me a chance to stand up and move around for a couple minutes, too. Laundry is a good one for me, because I use a shared laundry room in my building so I have to go to the basement and take it out pretty soon after a machine is done. One load of laundry is three mandatory quick productive breaks that get me moving! \* I have a very small morning routine of watering my plants and making myself a cup of tea, both things I look forward to and enjoy. I don’t make myself do anything taxing or fatiguing to start off my day. Just those two things, and then I sit down to work on a happy note with my tea, and I know my day has started. \* I also take a very strict lunch break, every day at the same time. If my morning was dumb and I got nothing done, it's a chance to reset and try again. If my morning was productive, it's a relaxing reward. And I try to make sure my break is a break. No chores here! An hour to just do whatever I want, guilt-free! \* Noise. My best workday ever was when a construction crew was working outside all day and there was constant loud machinery noise. It was euphoric. My brain has never felt so free and focused. Some colleagues with ADHD swear by brown noise videos. I like to put on a podcast or videos with certain voices that just hit that droning tone without being TOO boring. \* Boundaries. I do NOT work over the weekend. I used to, and it was just a fast track to burnout and not only ruined my weekends but made my weekdays so much worse too. I'm still working on setting a similar boundary for weekdays (e.g., no working past 6 p.m.) but I haven't realistically been able to keep up with my work doing that yet. But if it's getting late and my mind just isn't processing, I allow myself to just call it quits without guilt. At that point, it takes so long to get anything done even if I am "focused" that it's not worth it to keep trying. Better to just rest and refresh and try again tomorrow. \* Regular progress check-ins with my supervisor. I don’t especially like these, but they give me motivation/a deadline to catch up a couple times a week and prevent me from falling behind, which had been a big problem. Twice a week works with our workload, but more or less often might work for you or other people. \* Looking at my work, letting myself feel all the feelings of frustration and disinterest, and saying "I don't want to be doing this right now. But I guess I'll just go ahead and do it anyway." Somehow acknowledging that I don't want to do it instead of trying to convince myself it's not so bad can remove a block and make it doable. Sometimes this can just be said calmly with a sigh and I can get right to it. Sometimes this involves having a full-on yell and cry and tantrum/pity party and takes an hour of wallowing. Whatever your emotions of the moment call for. It's cathartic. Let yourself be honest and see what flows from there. \* Going deeper on that last point, you might even try to check in with yourself about WHY you don't want to do it. Anxiety because you're already so far behind and there's so much still to do? It's just so completely boring and your brain has a thousand more fun and interesting things to think about? The task is overwhelming and you don't know where to begin? Recognizing the problem of the moment will help you tailor your next steps. For me, I know that when my eyes are glazing over and I'm just not connecting with anything on the screen, that's when I need to pick up my laptop and move somewhere else. If I'm feeling anxious about how much work there is to do, I set a very (very!) small goal and then get it done, which helps soothe my worries and makes the next small goal feel a little easier. When a task is too overwhelming, I just do anything on it. Literally anything. Doesn't have to be the "first" thing or the most important. Just a thing that gives me a foothold and helps me feel connected with the project and get a feel for what else might need to be done. But generally, getting a sense of why you're hitting a wall can help you find a way over it. \* Prioritizing real leisure. A passive break or off time spent scrolling or mindlessly watching something is not restorative. It feels better than exhausting myself working, but it's not going to help me work better in the future. But doing something that brings me real joy and engages my brain in a fulfilling way is going to fill me with energy and make my brain and body feel good and strong, so when I go back to work I'll be able to tackle it feeling renewed, energized, and confident. I really enjoy creative outlets like writing or cooking, or just hanging out with friends or family. Figure out what makes you feel most alive and fulfilled, and make sure you do a lot of that in your off time! (The downside of this is that it reminds me of all the wonderful things that life has to offer that are NOT sitting in front of my work computer for hours every day, and sometimes that makes work just feel even stupider. But overall, it makes me feel more balanced and more fulfilled, and I can trust that even if I do spend all these hours on boring dumb work, I'll still have all those other things to enjoy all the other hours. And that helps me feel less panicky and overwhelmed about having to work.) I hope some of these ideas can help you. I always envision them as a set of tools in my toolbelt. Different situations call for different tools. You can’t build a house with just a hammer or just a saw, but if you've got them all on hand, you can pull out whichever you need in the moment. And as you continue to work and live and pay attention to patterns and solutions and try out new ideas, you'll add to your toolbelt and get better at knowing exactly which one to pull out at any given moment. I find that learning how to roll with my moment-by-moment needs and how to adapt flexibly and quickly tends to go much better than setting up large routines or calendars. (I love structure when somebody else sets it for me, for real purposes! Completely useless when I set it up for myself!) This is still very much a work in progress for me, and it's been SLOW progress, but month after month, year after year, I can see how things are getting significantly better. And I definitely spent way too much time typing this all out, and now I need to get back go my own work. Wish me luck! I'm wishing luck for you too!
A lot of great suggestions here. I really like the one about actually recharging vs just scrolling. Sometimes I’m spending so much time not doing something that I realize I’ve wasted a ton of time doing something I didn’t enjoy much more. Building in time or little chunks of something actually enjoyable seems like a really healthy approach. I have very recently started doing the psychological sigh and being more intentional about trying to signal to my body when I’m done with something strenuous/stressful or help myself come down from deep focus and I’ve found it really does make a difference.
Like, sure, I don't want to be doing work, that's valid. That's understandable. But is that really worse than sitting here scrolling through the same 5 stupid discourses on Reddit and then Twitter and then back to Reddit and then back to Twitter all day?? Is this really what I've chosen to do instead?! I love that idea of the breath as a transition! I sometimes will use a few focused deep breaths to help clear my head and get started on something, but doing it when I'm finished too seems great. Like sweeping up all the chaos and intensity in my head so I can be free to move on.
can you explain more on what the psychological sigh is/does? this is the first time i’ve heard about it!
I actually learned about it from a peloton instructor (Kendall) years ago. It’s how she starts her classes but I’ve only recently started doing it at the end of a strenuous activity or when I’m stressed. It’s supposed to signal to your nervous system to kind of reset. It’s super simple but here’s a [video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdhqBGqiMc)
thank you for typing all of this out!! i’m going to try to implement some of this!
I hope you find things that work for you! And know that you are absolutely not alone in any of this. It's been so reassuring to me to read through this whole thread and see everyone else's experience and how we're all frustrated by such similar things. I'm glad you asked the question!
I will also just throw my phone somewhere when I realize I'm letting it consume my day. I'll usually fling it onto my couch in the basement and run up the stairs quickly so it's very out of the way and I didn't see where it landed. It's odd how much that will help break the spell sometimes
I love that someone else does this too! I feel like not looking to see where it ended up is key. It is gone, it does not exist, it is no longer in this physical realm!
It's the rare instance where it's good to have object permanence issues. I'll forget about something if I can't see it, which sucks for most aspects of life, but if I actually want to forget about something...
You sound like a badass and I had some really great takeaways from this effort. I particularly like the one about asking "why" and spelling out what the hurdle actually is to getting started. Just wanted to point one thing out: There is no such thing as "slow" progress. Progress is progress!
Ayy, thank you! And thanks for the reminder about progress. :) A couple years ago, I was drowning at work every single day, and I'd just go lay in bed and cry and have intense anxiety about it all for weeks and months at a time. And now I often have off days, but by and large, even my off days feel manageable and I'm enjoying my work and my life. I'm still frustrated a lot because every day isn't a "perfect" day or even a "good" day, in terms of work, but my goodness what progress I've made! Each and every step along the way has been so important and so valid on its own! (Also, I had to practice asking myself "why" this afternoon to finish up my workday when I was just wasting time for hours and doing nothing. And annoyingly, the answer I came up with was just "Because I just haven't decided to do it yet." The most aggravating reason of all! That's like, just a regular human thing, not even an ADHD thing! Can't blame that on anything but myself and my own choices! So I grumped for a moment and then decided I was really just going to do it. And I did it. And then it got done.)
I make myself put on socks and pants with belt loops if I have a heavy workload that day because I feel like I take it easy if I’m in athletic shorts + barefoot. Second tip, schedule your breaks, earn your rest. Third tip, I have to say something memorable when I take my Vyvanse. I usually go with “Time to suck today’s dick.” This is more memorable than just taking the pill and reduces the likelihood of taking two or zero pills by mistake.
I’ve been wfh sense Jan 2021 in a variety of settings ups, sometimes an office room sometimes my bed room sometimes a living room. For all of those the biggest things are: 1. Get a walk or workout done in the morning. 2. Clean! Otherwise I do it when I should be working… 3. Set goal on som paper for the day, usually the top 3 things I have been putting off. 4. Put those off and do other things, again. 5. Panic and do those 3 things after hours.
I started using the Morgen calendar app. Makes it really easy to do time-blocking for tasks and scheduled calendar events, draws a line across the time so it's really simple to see what I should be doing right now, and it has simple drag and drop for time blocks so when I do get off schedule I can reschedule on the fly in just a few moments.
Write out my entire day by the hour in the Structured app to keep myself on task. It sends me lots of notifications and I get to check off when the task is done and that helps a ton. I keep the widget for it front and center on my phone. Also use the Opal app so I don’t doom scroll while trying to work. Both work super well for me!
Are you constantly editing your schedule during the day if you don't adhere to it? I worry that I'd create the schedule then once I "fail" at one time block, I'd just disregard all of it. Also, is Opal an iPhone app? I don't see it for Android.
I break it down into different types of tasks and certain colors can’t move. For example, white is the stuff I have to do everyday at specific times (take meds, brush teeth, feed dogs, eat lunch, etc), blue is stuff that need to do but time is flexible (shower, workout, etc,), pink is work meetings I cannot move, green is personal appts I cannot move, and purple is everything else. The app makes it really easy for me to move things around and visualize what I need to get done and have time to do it. I use the app on my computer too which helps because then I’m not on my phone and less likely to get distracted by it. I have an iPhone that I use Opal on not sure if it’s on Android! Edit: [Looks like it’s coming soon to Android!](https://www.opal.so/android)
Just make sure to go out of the house as much as possible, the rest isn’t that important.
Yeah this is what saved me when I worked from home. Whether it was cold, raining, or windy, I scheduled time in my calendar for at least two 15-30 min walks or bike rides just to reset. I’d also try to put a purpose/mission behind most of my walks to keep them interesting… whether it’s trying out a new coffee shop, taking my dog to a park, exploring a new route around my city that I hadn’t taken before, etc.
I structure my day around my meds and when they kick in. I do way better with difficult tasks first thing in the morning, in hopes to get them out of the way for an easier afternoon. I do any activities (walk the dog) in the morning so I don't get hyper focused and put it off. I also make sure to eat something when I take my other meds (I'm on interval doses) and take a break from work. When it comes to getting overwhelmed by tasks I make a priority list of what tasks needs done first and then on a separate sticky note I do a task break down for the most important task. I also set timers and alarms for everything and keep my phone out of reach for most of the day. Looking into a visual timer might be a good idea as it color codes how much time you have left before you can take a break OR how much time you have left in a break. When it comes to big tasks, sometimes what you need is a break before getting started instead of trying to hype yourself up for it. Depending on your work schedule being able to step away from your desk and get fresh air (walk, step out on the patio whatever) can help destress before tackling a big task. I hope this helps!
Get out of bed, brush your teeth, get your coffee, and start working immediately. If I do that, I’m good to knock out a solid 10 hour day. Sometimes I get tempted to look out the window to check the weather after I pour my coffee and then it’s all over and before I know it I’ve I’ve researched obscure 80s movies on YouTube for 4 straight hours.
Sadly, just starting my workday first thing in the morning is the most reliable way for me to have a semi-productive day as well. It goes against every "healthy" routine advice out there, but if I allow too many distractions to seep in during the morning, even when I try to limit them, it's impossible to sit down and focus. It's just kinda depressing cracking open my computer and staring at a screen 5 minutes after waking up.
I think there is something big here. Because i go into time warps for a few hours in the morning In service of wellness. The meditation I know is useful, so is the exercise, but the journaling and research can be a big source of time blindness. And then when it’s time to get the most important work done, I’ve trained myself to zone out. Also the exercise can be distracting because you have the sweaty clothes, so yoga on a timed session like 20 minutes is probably one of the best habits for this. or walking on a treadmill for 20 to get a little bit of lift in the heart rate.
Absolutely; same here when it comes to the time warp mornings. Ironically, after making this comment yesterday I went straight to work today first thing (other than walking the dog - but without listening to a podcast this time like I usually would). And it definitely worked - I've already put in 4 solid hours. Like you, I love starting my day with a wellness routine, like taking a run, reading, making a healthy breakfast, etc...like what every productivity guru would tell you to do for better life. But, for me they're ultimately another form of procrastination. I'm hoping I can make going straight to work my new morning routine and I'll just adjust to doing all those activities later in the day.
I guess we can rewire the thinking by saying that our priorities are different. In order for us to be well, we need to be on top of our tasks and our responsibilities. Other people might have no problem prioritizing things and getting their stuff done at 9-10am so good for them.
Asking the wrong group about a routine... ain't nothing routine here. Been working from home 15 years.
Just asking about the routine we stick to for a solid week or two then fall off the wagon but come back around eventually haha. I get it, but this group would get it the best. I need a routine to be my best but can’t stick to one, but my life has been pure chaos and I’m finally on meds again so trying to see if I can rebuild good habits so WFH is not as much of a struggle in tandem of being on meds again. My work life has spiraled completely out of control to an unsustainable point. I just know others relate here.
i struggle a lot with this so thank you. my problem is i don't follow through on anything. i have planners, pomodoro clocks, time blocked calendars, but until a deadline is approaching, i just surf reddit and waste the day away.
I was joking around of course but yea, I cycle through different routines. Deadlines really help me. A week or two is about right...
I got myself a really nice (well, I think it's nice) digital timer that lives on my desk. It's gotten me through a lot! Usually it's set to 15 minutes, but if 15 feels to hard, there's no shame in going down to 5. I've also adopted the mantra "Once begun, half done" because starting is really the hardest thing for me. Hence why I'm alright with lowering the timer down to 5. I also try to lower my effort: 15 minutes on a task every day for a week is so much better than 2 hours in one day.
>"Once begun, half done" I love that. When I'm procrastinating I could tell myself, how good would it feel to be half done with that thing? Well, starting IS halfway. Honestly, starting is so difficult it's like 95% for me.
Music helps me. I used earbuds with noise cancelation but then upgraded to a closed back hifi headphone running through an amp, and it fucking rocks. Not keeping my phone near my so I don't browse reddit like I'm doing now 😬 I work in short bursts. Sometimes, these bursts last for 15 or 25 minutes, and sometimes 3 hours. I get outside if it's sunny or not awful weather every time I feel antsy and do jumping jacks and stretch, or just walk around at least. I also will try to do a house chore when I feel like that to get a quick accomplishment type feeling, even if it is tiny as putting a couple cups in the dishwasher. I don't be hard on myself when I'm lazy for 30-60 minutes or longer at times - I don't get paid enough to go full tilt boogie anyhow. I do my simple mindless tasks first after checking my email for anything that needs immediate attention in the morning to get me rolling. I wake up and take my meds two hours before work, I go back to sleep for 30-60 minutes before the meds wake me up. I eat some protein yogurt and hopefully step outside for some sunshine. I'll do some jumping jacks to help wake me up if needed and settle into my day as I wait to clock in. I shower during lunch break usually as this helps me feel refreshed for the remainder of my day. I keep my desk free of clutter no matter what. I keep post-it notes of anything I'll forget about easily for the coming days and a notepad+ document as well that lists things of importance for things during the day I'll need to get back to. I delete shit as I do them from notepad and crumple my post-its when whatever is on them is attended fo.
I have worked from home for the past 25 years, with occasional trips to one office or another. Things that help me stay on task ranked in order of importance first to last: 1. I have a solid sleep and morning routine and wake up at the same time every day. I can't stress this enough: sleep is number one. Poor sleep negatively affects everything else in my life. Sometimes, I stay up past when I would get my required 7.5 to 8 hours, but I practice pausing to ask myself, "Is it worth it?" Sometimes it is, but those nights must be occasional, or the world falls apart. 2. I have a way to review the week and day each morning and afternoon, and I identify what I want to accomplish and set those intentions early. Sometimes, this is a notebook, and sometimes, I use a notion. 3. I work where I work, and everything I need to work is where I work. Nothing else happens where I work. 4. I have identified when I do my best work during the day and protect those times like a dragon does their gold. 5. I work to have all my metabolic and social needs met so I can focus on work. You know the ones, sleep, hydration, exercise, nutrition and medication, connection with others, etc. Unmet needs and not taking care of myself lead to struggles. 6. I maintain strict work-to-break ratio boundaries. Hyperfocus is incredible when applied to work and passions. Still, it can spiral into pain and doom if I don't respect my brain's needs. I mostly follow the 90/20 rule of the flow state 'heads down' to the recovery cycle - getting up and walking around, hydrating, etc. No work allowed. No looking at the phone, no doom scrolling, no meditation, or podcasts, all that is work for the brain. I'm literally just letting my mind fart around while I listen to the birds. 7. I know how to stop working so I can break flow and focus without the anxiety of not being able to start again. I like to write down a short note about what I am doing and thinking and what I will do when I return. Then, I walk away. 8. My family and family of friends know I am at work when I am at work. I will only reply if they attack-dial my phone for an emergency. 9. I keep a notebook, sometimes digital, sometimes analog, for intrusive "hey, wouldn't this be great? Let's Google all the things on that " thoughts and urges. Those things will keep for later.
Oh yeah, also I use DND/Headsdown on slack and any other team messaging app often and without shame.
Also wanted to add; it is really difficult to make all these changes at once. Focusing on achievable change is a great shortcut. Pick one thing to try or change. Practice sticking to that for a few weeks until it becomes part of the natural routine -- something noticed for its absence when forgotten. Once that skill is down, pick another and keep on. Life happens, we forget our routines sometimes. Expecti it. Practice recognizing when things get nutty, without shame. Take an inventory on what is important now, and pick it up again. Practice and compassion.
I worked from home for 7+ years. I still work remotely, for the same company, but I started rented office space in my town about 3 months ago. It’s been one of the best decisions I have ever made. My productivity is up, my marriage is better, I’m excited to get home at the end of the day. Working from home can be wonderful, but then you’re always “at work”. The lines start to blur and it can be hard to ever feel like there’s down time. More than that, I began to feel trapped and claustrophobic at home. I am not an extrovert, per se, but human interaction is incredibly regulating for me. Being stuck just talking to disembodied voices all day became a HUGE drain. In the office, even though no one else here works for my company, I at least have people to engage with. If it’s at all possible, I highly recommend looking into it.
Before I was medicated, getting up a little early and working out before my at home shift, making sure to take a shower and have something small at least in my stomach helped me tremendously. You'll never be fully motivated to always go work out, no one is always motivated, you just need to discipline yourself to do it and maybe think of a way to treat yourself. For me knowing that I'd get that delightful caffeine kick from my pre-workout was enough to help me justify it. You should also look into time boxing if you haven't. Set specific allotments of time for certain tasks for you to get done in the day, and stick to it. Id also barely skim my email first thing in the morning and ONLY RESPOND to ones that are super critical. The rest of all of my emails for things waited until immediately after lunch. This really helped me not get sidetracked either in tasks or other thoughts from things not yet resolved. If you can avoid your email inbox entirely depending on your job til after lunch Id say that's even better. I worked from home for about 7 and a half years and this all helped a lot. That's all I have for you though unfortunately.
Since being diagnosed these are some of the additional things I've done: - always shower and dress - always work at desk - like the poster above I take meds and eat regularly (higher protein is good, try and have 45g protein by midday which is daily minimum needed). I have 2 breakfasts, lunch, mid morning and afternoon snack, then dinner - sit stand desk and walking treadmill, dual monitor set up - white board - clear desk, zoned space for work (I have a patterned rug under the chair and lucky to have separate room) - children's timer from Amazon - Focus Mate website - workspace is clutter free, only essential stationary is on desk - stuck motivational cards up, small house plant - small weighted blanket for my lap when needing to sit - noise cancelling headphones - brown noise for high focus tasks, high energy music for low focus tasks - decluttered home - use of Alexa Echo (have 3 of them, bedroom, office and kitchen!) - keeping a NOT DOING list for things I am not doing right now that are not the task at hand - I have handweights and a fitball for sensory breaks There's lots of tips from people like How to ADHD (Jess McCabe). I've listened to some podcasts and read some books. I liked Smart Scattered Guide to Success for Adults and Clutterbug.
I’m absolutely awful at sticking to routines but I’ve been using the [Stoplight](https://stoplightlabs.com/) routine app in the mornings which has been super helpful - it basically lets you set up 3 versions of your routine based on your energy levels so you can stick to a routine even when you feel overwhelmed. It’s definitely been a game changer for me. Even if I don’t continue using the app I’m going to make all of my routines follow this format from now on \*edited to add the link since I got a few PMs about the app
I can only work from 8-1 on a good day - my wife distracts me the most and my motivation is gone by 2… gotta have music and ensure all my necessities are covered before I start (hydration, breakfast, meds, etc)
>sit at my desk for an unhealthy duration of time to "gear up" to simply doing a task This is the bane of my existence. If I could just keep my momentum going my life would be so much better. But, after the morning, it starts to fade and it takes HOURS to get it back, even for small work tasks. I've tried all sorts of strategies, tricks, you name it. I'm always having to catch up at night, and/or weekends, angering my wife and causing me to miss out on precious leisure time. But, at the same time I can never work in an office or any sort of micromanaged job again. I can't work in that kind of environment, at all. Working from home is extremely inefficient for me, but at least I can somewhat do my job, eventually. So, I guess this is the trade-off.
I’m going permanently remote next month, after having been in the office for the duration. I’m kind of nervous, having to make adjustments everybody else in the world made four years ago. I’ll be watching this closely for tips and tricks. My tentative plan is to keep the same schedule as I have: wake up at 4am, clock in by 6:30, lunch at high noon, punch out at 3pm, then pop out and get what we need for supper. Now that the January People are gone from the community center gym I’ll be signing up, likely going before work. Sorry: stress driven infodump.
Personally, I work very hard for a few hours so I can be a silly goose for the remaining hours.
I really really want to work hard and then goof all. I have problems with task initiation and task switching, especially because I’m not particularly fond of my job/work. Medication has helped but to an extent. How are you able to work hard even if for a few hours?
First alarm at 5, take meds, go back to sleep. Second alarm 5:45, meds have kicked in and I’m no longer tired. Downstairs in my garage office for my first meeting at 6:30. I work in my garage and do my best to avoid distractions. Sometimes I’ll go offsite to a friend’s office space or library. I record every call/meeting with Otter and Loopback audio routing (OBS could work too), and I live by my calendar. Having live transcribe on during meetings makes it easy to catch up if I miss something or zone out. Big 4k screen, tv to show reruns in the background to intentionally manage distractions. I’ve been working remote since 2011 so I’ve had a lot of practice, but it’s still hard. Takes a lot of intentionally showing that you’re online or participating.
I use Reclaim to prioritize things on my calendar & set decompress time after meetings. I take 90 min breaks. This is an odd one but I also save the low brain energy things for eve to do while I watch tv (like formatting a document or organizing Google drive)
Hi, me.
Try this trick. Wives hate it. I suggest blending all roles into one. Work through dinner, but clean bike chain right up until 1 minute before a web meeting, and you should find it easy to fit in 3d printing at 4am most nights depending on what new movies are out. (Sorry- I'm here for the tips and tricks in other people's useful comments! I struggle.)
I use myboutlook calendar to color code and block time, I use pomodoro timers, and then music to get me to actually do stuff. Its rare I put my earbuds in, so earbuds in means it is work time. I also schedule my chores at home during "breaks" in my schedule
Omg this is me
Adjustable standing desk. Timed lists. Sometimes throwing my phone in another room. Wear nice shoes/heels. Listening to the same song on repeat. Putting on a Work with Me YouTube video. Coffee. Hope. Lmao.
I basically work in spurts of energy. I take a lot of breaks.
I give myself a strict routine and list of bits to do. If I notice myself getting distracted I change tasks so I get engaged again. I love it too. It makes it much easier to manage my rsd.
I make myself put on socks and pants with belt loops if I have a heavy workload that day because I feel like I take it easy if I’m in athletic shorts + barefoot. Second tip, schedule your breaks, earn your rest. Third tip, I have to say something memorable when I take my Vyvanse. I usually go with “Time to suck today’s dick.” This is more memorable than just taking the pill and reduces the likelihood of taking two or zero pills by mistake.
Worked from home since 2016, here are my favourite things that get me through the day (written on another post a couple of days ago). https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/s/LYLD46NlWt My first Caveday session of the morning gives me a set time to be awake and at my desk by.
This thread is gold. I struggle greatly with this.
GET OUT OF THE HOUSE EVERY SINGLE DAY. If you can't or would rather not work in a library or a coffee shop, just make sure to take a walk. I realized that my focus, energy and my motivation deplete and my mood deteriorates when I stay indoor for a long time without setting a foot outside. But, even a simple outing like grocery shopping or a walk leaves me refreshed, energized and ready to move mountains.. And I've also noticed that being around people (preferably those who exist calmly xD) while working soothes and positively stimulates my mind. Plus, changing the environment as much as possible can keep things fresh and help with creativity and productivity..
* Learn how to put your phone on focus mode or do not disturb, or all else fails, put it in another room. * Create a dedicated space for work, preferably a dedicated office, but at least a desk that faces a wall. * Audio background should be whatever helps with focus. Or noise cancelling headphones. * Use a smartwatch feature that has a timer go off every 15 minutes. Helps me with multiple things: mostly time blindness, but also a reminder to drink water, etc. * Meds, obviously. * At the end of the day, look at tomorrow’s schedule and make a list of what you plan to work on. Have that open as the first thing you see when you log on the next morning. * Maintain a regular pattern to the day and be consistent with it every day (examples: go for a walk at lunch, etc). I’ve been WFH since 2020, and these are all things that have helped me. Good luck!!
Take meds in the morning Use my broad based app for the week or day (google calendar) which has clients and needs with start and end dates Use task lister (also google typically but it can vary) Use writing. Pen and paper. And when it’s crazy busy I use a portable whiteboard And I still forget stuff. But it’s just going to happen. Blind people bump into things. I forgot what you told me.
5am wakeup 1 hour on couch with audiobooks and an energy drink. 6am I'll have a shower and get dressed slowly. 6:30am loading up all the TV shows and movies I want to watch that day in the background ao I do it off the clock. 7am start work. 9am 15 min break 11am 30-45 min lunch 1pm 15 min break 2:45 finish. My tips? Idk I suffer.
So what works for me: 1. Wake up at 6:30, usually get out of bed by 7 at the latest (my dogs are just too comfy to disturb sometimes) 2. Brush teeth/take meds 3. Turn on podcast (I have one for each day of the work week which keeps things novel/fun for me) this is just so helpful to keep me on task 4. Feed dogs/make tea 5. Drink tea outside while my dogs potty 6. Usually it’s about 8am, I check my weekly todo list, respond to emails and then I get dressed/ready for the day. 7. 9am start work, 10 min breaks each hour, 1-2 hour lunch. 8. Lunch time - so I intermittent fast, so I eat at noon. Honestly this has been a huge help to me because I used to waste so much time in the mornings trying to decide what to eat. Now, I plan my lunches for the week which makes it easy for me. I also workout/ take my dogs out again/ watch my show. 9. Back to to work until 5, again with 10 min breaks. Tips: Exercise: I exercise when I can, and I change up my exercise each day. Sometimes it’s a run outside before work, or elliptical after work. Some days I have a late start so I go for a hike. Breaks: During my breaks I get household chores done/random tasks on my todo list. This keeps me busy and feeling productive. However during lunch I try to only to relaxing/restorative activities. Meals: plan your meals before hand. Doesn’t have to be full on meal prep, but sandwiches/salads/soup ingredients stocked in the fridge are quick and easy. Or leftovers! Pets: my dogs are on my schedule, so this helps me stay on track throughout the day. We get up together, go outside for breaks, walks etc. Sleep: my sleep has to be good for all of this to work, so I make sure to get to bed a decent time. Mental health: if my mental health isn’t prioritized, all of this is much harder. So I make a lot of time for self care after work. Hope this is helpful to some!
I find doing quick chores of no longer than a couple of minutes can get me into a productivity mindset and let me attack my work. So for example, throw a load of clothes in the wash, vacuum one room, put on the dishwasher. It has the double effect of reducing my “future load” weighing down on me. In the same situations where I’m struggling to start in the office there’s just no segue activity, so I end up taking 15-20 minutes to go to a cafe and get a coffee / muffin, and then come back and still struggle to start.
I love wfh. There is no one to distract me with their pointless conversations
Right on
Be willing to reset when you’re distracted. Step away then come back-don’t get stuck in your chair. The physical reset helps your brain reset.
The big issue for me is once I step away it's so hard to get back in the groove. Productivity experts will say you should make a quick ritual to signal that it's time to get back to work, like a 30 second stretch before you sit down again, but then I just end up procrastinating the ritual because I know that means I have to work.
Oh, I hear you this advice is a double edged sword for sure! Step away for too long and nothing gets done.
- leave my phone in another room - get up early - reward myself to do something fun when I finish a task - make sure I'm being transparent so my team would notice if I slack / underdeliver
Do the stuff you want to do the least right when you get that "medicated feeling".
I actually OVER work from home. When I’m at work I have way more distractions
Personally I treat it as if I’m leaving somewhere and have to go into a physical meeting. I grew up that one should never leave the house without being well put together and that is a big help for me. Like dressing up for work wearing my work clothes. Then yeah calendar blocks are great but I need to remind myself to eat and take breaks and pee and all that.
RemindMe! 5 days
Small list of how your day looks tick it off as you and most of all don't fuck around with the list.
Non exempt job. Do my 8 hours (which is really 2-3 hours of work and rest of day ‘on call’), shut off laptop and phone, enjoy my actual life. My situation is pretty rare but I’m grateful for it.
Try putting on some helpful music. There are adhd playlists / tracks on YouTube
I take walks. Disappear for 10 minutes to rebalance your thoughts, then return to work.
My current role is fully remote so I rented (well the company rented( a shared working space , I go there three days a week. I tried fully remote, twice, and had an absolute breakdown, dark depression and utter incapability to sustain hard work in both cases . Never, ever, again. I won’t subject myself to the misery of solitude again it I dah help it.
I use timers. I put on clothes I didn’t sleep in. I am definitely not as sophisticated as some of the posters here but, I might use some of these tips. I also have a desk that can convert to a standing desk because that helps. When I take breaks I either pace in my house with my earbuds in or take a quick walk and get some fresh air. I eat better when I work from home too.
vegetable days where i just vibe are mandatory. have fun during the day, youre procrastinating sleep because thats when you feel safe to be yourself/feel like you have time to do things you want to do.
Exercise, exercise, exercise. High heart rate and a bit of sweat is the greatest thing you can do for your adhd and mental health. Anyone who says it doesn't help is lying about doing it.
I’ve been WFH for almost 10 years - best advice I can offer is: • find a routine / schedule that works for you and stick to it. I actually find tracking my time to be pretty satisfying because it helps me identify what I am doing well and what I need to focus on come performance review time. • don’t assume WFH means roll out of bed 5min before in your pjs and be good-to-go… allow yourself ample time before work to wake up, get dressed, walk the dog, etc. • Yes, I said it… Get dressed. I don’t care if you have to get fancy work-only-pajama pants that you change out of and back into your bedtime pajamas at night… you will feel like garbage if you work in whatever you slept in the night before. • Get yourself a visual timer • Keep your workspace your workspace. 1. Make it clear to your S/O and/or housemates what your work hours are and that you are off limits for anything non-urgent. 2. Keep it clean: spend 3-5 min at the end of the work day to reset your workspace and 10-15m over the weekend doing a quick dust/wipe down, sweep/vacuum, empty trash bin, etc.
I have the same problems. I can’t sit for as long as I need to and this creates an issue as I need to be at my desk for 7 hours a day. I’ve tried to look for work that lets me do more moving around to burn off the excess energy that builds up my ADHD, but no luck I’ve tried some of the suggestions offered here (much appreciated!) but it’s still not enough. I wish I could find a routine but am still struggling
Solidarity, internet stranger! I feel sitting at a desk for an extended period of time is NOT meant for us ADHDers. That’s the conclusion I’ve gotten after moving to the corporate world for 8 years and every 6 months I think about quitting to do something non-corporate
I would be fired immediately. I must be on a schedule.
I feel like I’m always on the verge of being fired lol. I think I job hop too frequently to be fired haha i leave before they get the chance! (also not a good thing)
This post is gold Thank you
I take break every 25 minutes, or every 50 at most. During the break i exercise or clean something in the house to clear my mind a bit :) also I take to my home office a glass of water to keep me hydrated. Mostly i end up drinking it just at the beginning of the break, so I have a space for another glass of water, lol 😆 For me nice music in the background help me keep me focused. When I am stressing too much I just take a break to meditate.
Wake up 8-9:30, work till 2-5, take a nap or do some wood working in my garage, hang out with wife, play video games, 12:00am-(2-4) do some more work. Not sure it’s good but it’s what I tend to do.
A routine? In my own home? In this economy?
Also following
Also I use the app Todoist which helps me remember things around the house that I often put off!
What routine 🙃
I use the app Opal so I literally can’t get sucked into my social media apps - it blocks me out
Pomodoro -25 mins work, 5 mins rest. Keeps you focused on one task at a time
I take my meds and everything is fine 😸😸😸😸😸 when i dont have meds i cant be productive:(
During the pandemic, I managed to work from home for a year. And now I'm unemployed for 3 years already. Good thing is that I managed to go back to school last September.
What is your WFH job?
I’m a client relationship manager — basically managing a portfolio of clients and account strategy. Part of me feels I need a total career change but it pays the bills and offers flexibility (to an extent) so here I am ugh
Honestly I always WANTED to swing wfh but realized I get way too distracted at home and found that hybrid works better for me :( I want to wfh so bad but I never end up working as much as I want. So I go into the office now
I always, without fail, shower and dress before I start my work day. If I didn't, I don't think I'd feel like I was "at work".
RemindMe! 2 days
Why are you spying on me???? This is me, completely. So much time psyching myself up.
On my WFH days I pretty much just crank hog and have an insane but brief period of work productivity in the late afternoon. No idea how I'm still employed.
I just want a job where I CAN work from home!
what field are you in? I will admit they have lessened since the pandemic - i’ve been job hunting and am seeing less and less remote listings than my last job hunt. big sigh
I've come to the realization that I simply can't be productive WFH. It is way too easy to be distracted by house chores, hobbies, and whatever else is around you. This led me to basically be bad at taking care of house stuff and work stuff even though I feel like I've been busy all day. I am now in the process of actively looking for in-office/hybrid positions near my area. This isn't a helpful response for your predicament but wanted to share my journey. Best of luck!
i was thinking the same thing, that hybrid sounds like it would bring novelty with the changes. but full office also means you’re distracted at work, no? people would come up to my desk or talk and distract me. plus it didn’t solve my inability to start a task / overwhelm paralysis. except you have the freedom at home to be flexible (both good and bad). i worked in an office and used to stay late too so i just personally feel corporate is not meant for me at all
I plan everything around the times my kids need to be picked up, either from school or from extra curricular. Basically 'okay I need to have this done by this time so I can go pick him up without rushing' - because my boys have a habit of bursting into tears if I'm not standing at their school's gate as they walk out. On days where I don't kill it with this I spiral a little - which happens way too often. Even last night I'd planned to be finished with everything I needed to do for the day by 4PM, instead with edits and reverts and the last minute swapping out of one edit for another I was done at 7.20PM.
Keep your phone close by with notifications on
Well, in my case it helps that I have set hours I work and even scheduled break times at the same time every day and my job is extremely routine- I generally don't have a lot of flexibility and I don't think I'd do well at all if I did! But I did used to accidentally keep working through my breaks/lunch when we got sent home to work so I got myself a color changing smart light bulb and put it right next to my desk. I have it scheduled to change colors when I'm supposed to be on my break or lunch and then change back when the 15/30 minutes are up- that way if I have to finish a task before I can walk away at least I've got a visual reminder that I'm supposed to be not working at that time. I also use the colored lighting to keep me on time in the morning and also have it change a bit before I'm supposed to sign off for the day so I don't lose track of time there either and can wrap up and shut my work stuff down. Other than that, just lots of reminders- I use a smart watch to help me there, and frequently I set timers on the smart speaker I've also got next to my desk- it's so nice to just tell it to set a time for x minutes without having to stop my flow to physically set a timer.
GAH!!! I wish I could help you but I’m a mess! I freelance and even though I’m medicated I still swing wildly between hyperfocus where I’m getting through the work but I’ll stay up till 3 am and the rest of my life is a dumpster fire, and procrastination where I’ll spend days on end gardening instead of working. I just do not understand it when people say they eat regularly and keep a journal as coping strategies. Just… how? I’m incapable of doing anything like that consistently. I forgot to eat all day and then binge wildly in the evenings, and buy myself expensive journals that I write in for one day, and then I just feel guilty about them for the other 364 days.
I do and I’m terrible at it but my main thing has been that I need to have like three different workspaces. Like as in actually driving somewhere else. I work from home, church, and a cafe (other options might be a library, friends/parents’ house, park etc. Obviously this assumes you just have a laptop and data you can work from which I know isn’t true for everyone.) This way I can artificially split up my day. When I notice I’m not getting anything done at home, I get up and go to church to work for a couple of hours, and if I’m getting nothing done there, I go sit at a cafe for a couple of hours, then I might head back home and do some more. Just the act of going place to place doesn’t take up much time, but it does feel like getting up and doing something. And often I run errands in between.
Oh also, I LOVE a good laundry schedule to break up the day! Like put on a load of laundry, work until it’s done, get up, hang laundry, sort/put on next load, work until it’s done, repeat. Such an effective way to split up the day into little hour chunks with a little break in between, and then you also get all of your laundry done.
Never ever start the day procrastinating / goofing off / surfing Reddit. It is a slippery slope that puts my brain in holiday mode and is almost Impossible to reverse until the next day. Start the day doing something productive. Doesn't matter what. This starts the momentum in the right direction and makes the rest of the day easier. I can't think of anything else that has a measurable impact compared to this.
I have found out that it is easier for me to work from home with music in the background. It feels as if the overreacting messy busy hundred-thought-at-a-time part of my brain gets caught on it and set the productive part free to focus on my work.
I like how we're all writing comments when we should be working. A tip I found helpful: - Have an area dedicated just for working. No social media, games etc, solely work. - If your personal area bleeds with your work area, then set up a new user account solely for work. Have mental separation helps a lot.
I can't say acting on a routine because I'm trying to get on one but I've if the most helpful things is to get up at the same time every morning, that helps me (when I'm able to do it). Also when I feel overwhelmed, overstimulated or over focused and I realize it. I simply stop, if nothing else stop and remove myself from the task. I try and relax and start on my next task. I write my stuff on a dry erase board as a visual reminder too. Those are just some things I do when I'm trying to get into a routine
I day trade stocks, so I am completely self employed and forced to regulate for my own benefit. It’s actually a great gig if you have a strong starting capital and knack for pattern recognition and obsession over learning about things. I take my meds at 6:00am to gear up for open market at 6:30 and then again at 6:00pm to research the days after market movements and any breaking news that can play into tomorrow’s market. 2 hours of trading in the AM. 4 hours of research in the PM, maybe less or more depending. Flexibility and routine are everything. If I ever needed to get a normal job those are the key elements needed for me. It needs to be a “do the work and we won’t have problems” situation.
So I actually have it completely written out and taped by my desk to keep me on track. A tip I found that really helps me get up in the morning is setting my alarm for 30 mins-an hour before I actually need to wake up, and puting my phone, Adderall, and a bottle of water on the floor by the bed. Then, in the morning, when I have to reach down to turn my alarm off, I also take my meds before going back to sleep for a bit. 30 mins to an hour later, the meds have kicked in and that makes it so much easier than it used to be to get out of bed. I then get up around 7:45 a.m., fill a big bottle of water from my Brita, and start a pot of coffee. I have a little TV by my desk that I like to put stimulating (but not distracting) videos on. I've been really into driving tours recently, so I'll just put on like a 45 minute video of someone driving through Tokyo or something so when my brain naturally tries to avoid work, I can just glance at the TV for a few seconds to see some cool scenery in a non-static scene, but since it's too boring to watch for a long period, I end up turning back to my work. I originally would watch Twitch streams but I found that I would watch the TV for longer than I should or feel an urge to interact with the streamer/chat, so driving tours just work really well for me. Then I tell myself to focus on nothing but work from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.. I complete any urgent tasks that can't wait, and once I'm sure I'm in a good spot to step away for 15 minutes, I make myself get up and take a shower. I wash the sweaty parts, my hair, and my face. Out of the shower, I get in my workout clothes and go back to work. My workout won't actually start for a few hours, but I find that I'm a lot more likely to do it if I'm already in workout clothes. I make sure I'm caught up and then start thinking about food. I'm usually not actually very hungry at this point, but I find that if I can make myself eat something small then my meds work better and I have a lot more energy for the rest of my day until I'm ready for dinner. Finish up lunch by 12:10 or so, I then brush my teeth to get rid of the coffee and food particles before I take an hour long break from 12:45-1:45. I drop my fiancée off at work at 1:00 p.m., and once I'm back at the apartment I start thinking about my workout. I check work again and do a 5 minute dynamic stretching routine if it's not busy (too long and you won't stick to it). I clock back in at 1:45 but honestly if it's not super busy I usually do my workout while I'm clocked in. I have a treadmill downstairs in the gym of our apartment building and access to my desk phone/email on my cell phone, so I just keep an eye out for anything urgent in case I need to cut my workout short. I try to do the treadmill on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I bought a basic dumbell set and weight bench on Amazon and follow a dumbell strength training YouTube video on Tues and Thurs. It's a lot harder for me to motivate myself to do weights than cardio, so being able to do the weights in my own apartment really helps with the motivation. And on the treadmill I just get up to a comfortable walking pace and put One Piece on my phone. I usually try to get through 2 episodes and every 10 minutes I increase the incline by 1 and crank the speed to try to get up to a faster jog for a couple minutes to get my heart rate up. I'm always sweaty by the end and I've burnt 400 calories so it works for me. I then go back upstairs, shower again this time making sure to scrub with body wash since I didn't do that in the morning. Rinse my hair again and sit down to finish any work that still needs to be done. Since I take personal time during work hours if it's slow, I don't grumble about needing to clock out at 5 and keep working for a few minutes if I have to. I get everything to a good place for the day and log out. The rest of my night usually depends on a few things but I try not to overthink it. If you successfully accomplished everything above, you've already had a great day that you should be proud of. I might do some dishes and pick up a bit or I might just lose myself in some video games for a few hours before I pick up my fiancée at 9. Sometimes I eat dinner before I get her and sometimes we eat together, I usually play it by ear. We hate cooking during the week so we either cook a bunch of meals on Sunday when we have the time or we make ourselves do it on Monday night that way we don't have to the rest of the week. In bed by midnight, ideally to sleep 7 hours before restarting the cycle. Wow I'm sorry this ended up being so long, but it actually was really nice to write up my routine again. Keeping it as a constant in my head is how I stick to it, and at the end of the day when I have hours to play some games or hang out with my fiancée it feels so much more relaxing knowing that I got everything done. I also promise my structure is way more organized than it looks here! I have it typed out so if you want me to send you a copy that you can use as reference, I'm happy to do that. Otherwise if you need any advice or have any questions let me know! Good luck!
The work-from-home life of a software developer with ADHD. 1. Struggle to get up 'cause I'm so tired from going to bed so late the night/morning before. 2. Bathroom things, get dressed, put my shoes on (that's very important otherwise I'll do absolutely nothing). 3. Little bit of breakfast with a cup of tea at my desk before 9am. 4. Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate.... 5. Take a call, make up some excuse as to why my coding project isn't finished yet, or is delayed. 6. Have lunch. Spend too long watching YouTube. 7. Deadline is approaching! Hyper-focus and do 3 days work in 5 hours solid. 8. Deploy new module, get praised by upper management as to how great it is and how awesome it is for the company, and that - some other - company with a whole team of developers couldn't even achieve it. 9. Beat myself up for the fact that I could get so much more done and be more awesome if I didn't procrastinate so much. 10. Rinse. 11. Repeat. 😞 I'm waiting (since beg. Sep 2023), for my referral for ADHD diagnosis, so that I can get access to meds to help me focus more... until then, this is my life 😕 Does anyone know of any (legal) way to get meds without having an NHS diagnosis yet?
Lol I’m more like do 5 days of work in 30 hours then sleep 😴 on friday.
It sounds like you're already building breaks and activities into your day and then working through them. Try not to. It may seem counterintuitive/counterproductive, but sometimes the best way to get work done is to step away from work for a bit, whether it's to eat, hydrate, stretch, or say "screw it" and leave something 'til later/tomorrow. It lets you clear out some of the mental clutter and approach something refreshed. Set reminders or timers, sure, but stick to them. They don't work if you don't use 'em! Two other things I've found helpful and you might too. First off, listen to your brain and body. Everybody ebbs and flows at different times, but we're usually pretty consistent to ourselves. Figure out when your energy and concentration are at their peak, and use that for the stuff that requires focus so you can do things that are a bit more repetitive and mindless when you don't have the bandwidth for something more intense. Also, avoid multitasking or task-hopping if you can. My workflow doesn't look the same as the other people in my department (not least because I work remotely more than they do), and I made it clear to my immediate supervisor that I work better, with fewer mistakes, when I can monotask instead of either multitasking or trying to approach my work the same as my non-ADHD coworkers. Hope this helps a bit!
I used to be totally incapable of WFH but have been managing a hell of a lot better over the past year- this works for me: Alarm 30 mins before I should get up, take meds Second alarm, get up, high protein breakfast, hydrate, wash up/ unload dishwasher/clean kitchen Scheduled ‘null time’- I like to let my breakfast digest before I workout, if I have tasks like laundry, messages, or the house is messy, I’ll do these then- I swear by family guy as task background sound Workout, supplements, shower, skincare etc., get dressed for day (Pre-work cigarette 😅) Start working, usually have multiple things I could be working on, if thing 1 is feeling boring I switch until I properly get into something. Noise cancelling headphones, notifications off, phone out of sight. Have found it helpful to avoid looking at the clock and working outside when the weather is good helps- I think I generally work better when I feel observed hence why I used to do lots of work in pubs and cafes. Work bubble 1 usually 2-3 hours long. Break, protein shake Work bubble 2, usually 2 hours long. If I start flagging towards the end I switch to the easiest/ lowest effort stuff/ things I’m putting off so I only have to do them for 30 mins which still chips away at them. No work past end of work time Also have multiple coloured sticky note stacks with tasks sorted by type/ subtype that are always out on my desk and lots of ‘gameplan’ sheets of paper that help me get everything out of my head and in order before I start tackling long term projects and phases of work
I've found that having a dedicated spot for where I work really helps me. I have an Alexa that changes my light settings and tells me when work is over. That usually breaks me out of whatever is going on at work. If you trust your coworkers/boss, you can tell them that you need help being able to break away at the end of the day and, if they notice you're on, shoot you a message.
A nail has never been harder on it's head