Transcription
I have a very chaotic ADHD brain, four children. I work full-time and generally have quite a lot on my plate. And yet, I still manage to get things done. How do you manage this, Re? I get asked quite a lot. And the answer is I have ways to trick my ADHD brain into being productive even when it does not want to. So, if you feel like you just cannot be productive and get things done, this is the video for you. And if you're wondering, maybe I have ADHD, but I'm not sure, I've got something for you. Go to mummyfor.com/100 ADHD and grab my 100 signs of ADHD printable.
Now, this is not a medical diagnosis document, but it is something that will empower you to decide, oh, okay, maybe I have enough signs and symptoms to warrant speaking to my health care professional and to give you the information about your symptoms. Because honestly, I think when you go down this whole route of realizing you may have ADHD, there's probably quite a lot of things you do you don't realize are ADHD related and you may feel mention them to your doctor. So, if you think you may have ADHD, grab this printable. It's a really good place to start.
One of the first ways I trick my brain into being productive with ADHD is to actually outsource my brain. Basically, if it is not written down or recorded somewhere, and I'm relying on my brain to store it, that's kind of a recipe for disaster, things being forgotten, and feeling like a disorganized mess. There are a few ways I outsource my brain. One of them being digital calendars synced with my family so that everyone knows where everyone's supposed to be and when. Lots of things on those calendars are recurring, things like dance classes, swimming, all that kind of stuff, so we just don't have to think about it.
I have alarms going off at various times the day to remind me to do things like turn off my computer and go and get my children. It's not that I would forget that I have children or I need to fetch them. It's just the time blindness or time obliviousness of ADHD would mean I'm stuck in one or two modes otherwise. I'm stuck in clock watching so I don't forget to go and get my children or hyperfocused and forgetting the time and going to fetch them. So having alarms means that that is taken off my mental load and looking at the time is outsourced to my alarms.
Most of my brain is outsourced to my planner. And if like me, you have ADHD, you've probably bought a million planners and never found one that quite works. Well, that's why I designed my own. I have a planner store. And in there, my organized life planner is the perfect planner, if I do say so myself, for someone with an ADHD brain like mine. If you've seen my weekend reset videos or my plan with me videos, you'll know exactly how this works. I will link those videos below so you can check them out.
Each weekend, I use my planner to plan out exactly what needs to be done for the week ahead, track habits I actually want to do. Alongside the 30-minute slots for time blocking, which we'll talk about a bit more in a minute, and to-do list, there's the brain dump section, which could also be known as the ADHD side quest section. This is the place where I jot down all those things that I'm like, "Hey, I need to do this," you know, but I'm doing something else and I need to not stop the thing I'm doing right now. I need to keep doing the thing I'm doing. I need to just jot down the idea I've had, the thing I think I need to do and then do that later. But by jotting it down, it is outsourcing my brain. I also have an ongoing brain dump note inside of my phone to capture those ideas when I'm not near my planner.
By the way, if you are new around here, hello. I think I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rihanna Morgan. Everyone calls me R. I am a busy ADHD-brained mom of four. I want to say tiny humans. Not all of them are tiny. Two of them are actually taller than me now, but four humans that were once tiny and now are not. So I've spent so much of my life trying to hack mom life. Turns out I was just trying to hack ADHD life. I also have four children with autism. So that brings its own additional challenges. But if you want to know exactly how I manage all of that and maximize our lives to make them as easy as possible, I would love it if you would introduce yourself down in the comments so that we can all get to know each other. Tell me a bit about your family. Let me know if you have ADHD, if you're actually diagnosed or if maybe like me, you were just in that stage of starting to realize that this might be a thing.
Another way I outsource my brain is with reminders. These are recurring reminders for things I need to do all the time, such as take vitamins, medication, hay fever tablets. If I don't take hay fever tablets, I am a little bit of a mess. So, setting a reminder to do that every day during the summer months really helps me actually do it. Another way I actually remember to take supplements and things is by setting myself up to take care of future me. I have all my little supplements in a basket. I put those out the night before and then when I come down in the morning, I'm like, "Hey, I should probably take those. That will really help me." And this comes down to making things easy and obvious. If I've got to go looking for my supplements in a cupboard, I am unlikely to remember to take them. I'm unlikely to take that action to go and take them. However, if they're right there, I'm going to do it.
Equally, if I leave everything out, and this is my husband's method of productivity, which is, you know, not ideal. It does not work for me. But if you leave everything out in a line of sight, if my vitamins just lived on my desk, it would be too cluttered in here and I'd never get anything done. Because one of the other things I find with ADHD is if I have a cluttered space, I have a cluttered mind. It's not that I don't have enough attention. It's not necessarily attention deficit disorder. It's like I have too much attention that I'm trying to pay attention to too many things at once. So, if I can minimize clutter in my environment, I minimize clutter in my brain. Hence, I have the basket of supplements that goes in and out and just leave it out when I'm supposed to take it.
Which brings me on to another way I hack my ADHD brain, and that's setting myself up for success. Again, other ways I can make things easy and obvious, put in cleaning cloths in the bathroom. So, when I feel like, hey, this bathroom's kind of dirty, I can actually grab the stuff. It is right there. I can clean it when inspiration hits. Not thinking, oh gosh, I need to go and find the stuff. and then going to look for the stuff in another room and ultimately getting distracted and never actually going back to clean the bathroom. Things like leaving my workout gear where I actually want to work out. So, I have a yoga mat hidden behind the sofa in the living room because that's where I would do yoga or Pilates. I have dumbbells hidden in one of the boxes in the living room because that's where I need to use them. Otherwise, I'd be thinking, I need to exercise. I need to go and find things. I'd get distracted and never get things done. I managed to get so many steps in on my walking pad at my desk because it is so easy. My indoor trainers for my walking pad live in my office. My walking pad is just under the sofa behind me. So, all I got to do is pull it out, plug it in, and I am ready to go. If that was in another room, I would never get to use it.
Another thing that I do, and that is habit stacking. So, this is stacking something that you know you should do or you'd like to be doing alongside something either that you do already as part of your routine that you have to do or something that you like to do or want to do. So, for example, I need to do my work anyway and then I want to add in exercise and getting in my steps. So, if I pair my walking pad with the working, which I'm scheduled to do anyway, that happens. If I'd want to, and I mean, I don't want to, but you know, if I would like to have decluttered a certain room, it's not something I want to do, but it's something I would like to have done. I'd like it to already be done. Then a good way to do this is to pair that activity with something that I do want to do. So, maybe I want to listen to a certain podcast, watch certain YouTube videos, speak to a friend on the phone. So, what I do is I get my headphones. I'm loving these little headphones, by the way. They're like AirPod dupes, but they come in all pretty colors. Obviously, I chose pink. Other colors are available, but these are literally a tenth of the price and they work so well. I will link them below. But by sticking one of these AirPod dupes in my ears, I can listen to an audiobook. The time can go fast. Maybe I can watch a Netflix show that I'm wanting to watch. I can stick my iPad in the corner. I can just kind of see it in the corner of my eye and listen. Currently enjoying the DCC, is it called American Sweethearts about the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders on Netflix. Check out that show if you've not seen it. It's loads of fun. But that's the kind of thing that it's sort of mindless-ish TV. You don't actually have to be sitting and watching it so much, which again, is why certain YouTube videos like this one or podcasts are so great because you can do other things while you're listening along. And if you couple, right, I get to watch my show while I'm doing the thing I don't want to do, such as decluttering or even cooking dinner, it just makes it more fun and more likely that you're actually going to do it.
Another thing that I do, which goes alongside the decluttering and things, is backing myself into a corner and making myself do things. And this is definitely a way to hack my ADHD brain into being productive. And it's a bit destructive. And sometimes I really regret my life choices when I do this. But if you take, for example, I mean, sorry, apologies if you're listening on the podcast and you can't actually see, but if you're watching on YouTube, you can see, but behind me, I've got a massive unit. This needs decluttering. If I was to just take one box out of there and start going through it, I can pretty much guarantee you I'm going to feel quite overwhelmed quite soon and I'm probably just going to put the box back in and I'll look around my office. Nothing will look that bad. I will just go and do something else. However, if I've pulled it all out and tipped it all over my living room, it's like that book that you read to your children. We're going on a bear hunt. You can't go over it. You can't go under it. Oh no, we have to go through it. The only way out is to sort all that stuff. There's no way I'm just going to tip loads of junk back into those boxes. And there's no way I'm just going to sit amongst that mess because like we said, I have to have a clear space in order to have a clear mind. So I'm not going to be able to sit and relax in my living room with this stuff everywhere. I've got to get that sorted. If I ever want to relax in my living room again. So by tipping things out and doing that destructive decluttering, it really backs my ADHD brain into a corner. It's kind of slightly abusive to future me, but then the version of me that's finished it is always glad that I did it.
Another thing I do is create fake deadlines. So, this can look like the Pomodoro method where you put on a timer and think, "Right, I really want to finish this task by the end of the timer and kind of gify things." Set fake deadlines that way because I say ADHD girlies respond well to deadlines and having that urgency to complete something. So for me in my job, obviously I don't actually work for anyone. I have had to figure out my own schedules of what I've got to get done when. So a great way for me is accountability to actually get things done. And that might look like having set upload times so people expect videos by telling people inside of my organized life club, for example, when the workshops are going to be, when the new printables are going to be available for them.
If you don't know, by the way, the Organized Life Club is the perfect place if, like me, you are a busy, overwhelmed mom, maybe with ADHD, maybe you've got kids on the spectrum and you've got that little bit more on your plate than perhaps some other moms that you know, and you just want that little bit of help getting organized. That's the place where we do workshops to work through different elements of routine to make things easier. There is so much support in there. There are printables to help you with every area of your life. And again, these printables are things that I really, really rely on with my ADHD brain, checklists and things to go through. When I'm constantly feeling like I've forgotten something and I can go through the checklist and be like, "No, it's okay. These are the steps." When I'm feeling overwhelmed, I don't know where to start, I work through the checklist. And then I know that I've got structure to follow when I'm feeling a bit foggy. And then when I'm like, "Have I forgotten something?" No, it's okay because I've gone through the list and therefore we know we've done it all. You can get started inside of the Organized Life Club completely for free. And in fact, there is a forever free tier and you can join that at mummyoffor.com/join. Or for just £10 a month, you can join the full Organized Life Club. You get early access to videos, exclusive content, as well as the workshops and the workbooks to work through, helping you out organize every area of your life. And again, in there, when it comes to accountability, we have a monthly planning party where we go through reflecting on the previous month. We look ahead to the next month and we set our goals and we hold each other accountable. So, I would love to have you in there. The accountability really helps me and I know it will really help you too, especially if you need deadlines for things and we can set those deadlines together to help your ADHD brain actually get things done.
Another thing you can do is create actual deadlines. And again, this kind of comes back to the forcing yourself into a corner a little bit. And that might look like, right, okay, I want to declutter this room and it's something you've been putting off. and then you just need to take an action that's going to make you do it by that time. Maybe you have guests coming to stay in your guest room and you know it needs to be decluttered by that point. Maybe you order a new sofa for a room and at the moment it needs emptying and decorating before the sofa can arrive and you know it's coming in four weeks and you just got to get it done. So create fake deadlines, have accountability, real deadlines, all of this works if your brain works like mine.
Another thing I use are maybe things that might be considered placebos. I don't know. I'll let you decide. and also productivity anchors. So, for example, I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke. I would associate Diet Coke with being productive. I'm trying to drink less of that because I keep being told how bad for me it is. It's not that I never drink it. I just don't drink the quantity I used to. I'm now currently into these which are called Tenzing drinks. They taste delicious. And when I drink them, I think, ah, I feel productive now. And I've associated that with it. Is it the caffeine? Maybe. But I've associated drinking that with being productive. and it's a bit of a positive productivity trigger for me.
Speaking of drinking and making things easy, I always have a massive old drink with me whenever I'm at home. And then I manage to drink loads. So, we make it attractive. It's in a cup I like. It's pink. I love pink. It is easy because it's there. I can fill it up and it's on my desk. I can drink it easily. Another way I make it attractive, don't tell the kids because they mostly just drink water, but I put some peach squash in this. The Robinson's peach and raspberry squash is so delicious and it makes me want to drink it, which is always good. Hydration for the win.
Another slight placebo thing that I do is I use my go shoes. What are go shoes, Ray? Well, basically these are just indoor trainers. These are Sketchers. They're super comfy. I use them for walking indoors on my walking pad. They haven't been outside, so there's no dirt on them. And that's really good because when I am cleaning, obviously you don't want to clean with outdoor shoes because you're just going to bring muck all over the house. But also, I tell my brain that these are my go faster shoes. And when I put them on, I feel more energized. And that tricks my brain. Does it matter how it works or why it works or just that it does?
One way that I really find helps to trick my ADHD brain to being more productive is just to limit distractions. So, this can look like turning off all notifications on my phone during my working hours. The only people that can get through to me are people that might need to get me in an emergency. So, my children, my children's school. Other than that, all notifications are turned off. So, if you text me, email me, message me during work hours, please do not be offended. I literally just haven't seen it because the notifications are not on. I also have all social media notifications off at all times. If every time I had a social media notification or an email for that matter, my phone was pinging, it would ping so much I'd never get anything done. It would not be conducive to productivity. So, for that reason, all around the clock, all of my social media notifications are turned off. And if I want to see what's going on on social media, which obviously I have to do for my job, then I actually need to go into that app. But there's no reason that app needs to contact me outside of the time that I have set aside to actually go into those social media apps.
We've talked a little bit about physical space. But I do really find that if my space is clear, my mind is clear, and if there is just stuff around that, I can't think straight. There is a cluttered desk. I'm thinking about the clutter, not about the work I should be doing. If I've got a cluttered living room, I'm thinking about that clutter rather than relaxing. So, the clearer I can keep my spaces, then the clearer my mind feels. Now, is every area of my home perfectly tidy and clutter-free? No, absolutely not. But there are certain areas where I choose to work or rest that I try and keep as clutter-free as possible because it makes life so much easier.
Another way I trick my ADHD brain into being productive is just making things pretty and attractive. We've talked a little bit about the fact I like having my water bottle on my desk because it's pretty. Taking that one step further, obviously the cover of my planner is pretty. If you are looking for a copy of the organized life planner, by the way, and you're not into pink, there are more covers coming, so keep an eye out for that. Um, but one thing I really love doing is just color coding with highlighters. This helps me when I'm time blocking to easily see at a glance what time I have. It does make it pretty and aesthetically pleasing. I love that they are erasable because I don't feel so committed then if something runs over, if something happens like you go to film this exact video and you film it all the way through and then your camera does some funny glitch and doesn't save the file and you have to record the whole thing again. You can just rub that out in your planner and, you know, write in film the video for the second time, which is what I'm doing right now. And you haven't mucked your planner. So then you don't have a cluttered planner and you still got a clear mind. So erasable highlighters for the win. They really make me actually want to use my planner more. If my office is a lovely space to be in, then I actually want to come in here and work. If while I'm doing cleaning, I can listen to great music or speak to a friend, it's something I'm going to want to do. And then of course I do give myself kind of mini rewards and not quite a sticker chart but tell myself that if I get this done then I can have whatever reward and do you know what it kind of works.
I automate as much as possible and it really helps my ADHD brains. Automating bill payment is a super easy way to take something else off my mental load. So that just can look like paying things by direct debit rather than manually paying. and pretty much anything else that can be put on automation rather than having to be done manually is something I'm going to be doing.
Another way I trick myself into being productive is by eating that frog. And fear not, no frogs are harmed in the making of this productivity method. Eating the frog is simply if you were to have to eat a frog, you're better off doing it as early in the day as possible. And if you had to eat two, you're better off eating the biggest, nastiest, slimiest one first and just getting that tricky stuff over and done with early in the day. So, whatever your frog is looking like, is that a work task? Is that organizing something? What have you been putting off? The earlier in the day you can get that done, then later in the day when your motivation is dwindling and draining, much like your iPhone battery through the day, you'll be so glad you got that thing done. For lots of people, me included, this looks like exercise. If I don't exercise first thing in the morning, it is unlikely I'm going to have the motivation to do it later in the day. So, that's definitely one of my frogs. I like to get eaten in the morning.
Another thing I do is when I'm really not feeling motivated to do things is just to start small. So maybe I haven't got the motivation to tackle this entire unit behind me. That would be a situation where I'm better off doing one small thing than doing nothing. But often when you get started, then momentum builds and it's so much easier to keep going. So maybe by telling myself I'm just going to do one thing and then being really proud of myself when I've done that one thing is just all I need often to keep going and actually do the whole thing.
And honestly, one of the things that's really helped me trick my ADHD brain into being more productive is just to understand that I have ADHD. I think I spent so much of my life trying to hack mom life and and wondering why I wasn't able to do things so easily and why I felt so disorganized and beating myself up. And having that understanding of my own brain has really helped. But honestly, it's made such a difference for me just to be able to understand my brain. I am kinder to myself.
If you want to learn more about my ADHD journey and my diagnosis at age 40, click on the video on screen now. Join me inside of my organized life club for all of the help and support that I wish someone had given me so I wouldn't have to figure it all out the hard way. Or click on this other video which I know you'll enjoy. And I'll see you guys soon. Bye.