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Last week I set a goal to target one bad ADHD habit (forgetting to eat) and set so many timers against it that the odds of success would be in my favor. Let's see how I did.
Is it really true that it is better to be late than to never arrive? In my experience with ADHD and tardiness, I'd have to disagree. I say it's better to never arrive and claim some horrible calamity had befallen you than to arrive late. They're more likely to forgive you.
It never ceases to amaze me how such a simple thing as a timer or alarm can snatch me away from the very jaws of feeling like a failure in ADHD. It also amazes me how often I forget to use that simple device and end up as Failure's lunch.
One hallmark symptom of ADHD is restless fidgeting. Ever feel as if each limb is crackling with busy energy, almost as if you might explode unless you MOVE THAT VERY SECOND? Here are five four things I do to release that energy constructively.
Forget that a symptom of adult ADHD is 'inaccurate self-observation.' I'm not buying it. Truly, nobody likes me. It's not that they tell me so, but I just know, you know? I realize that over 900 people follow me on Twitter, a few thousand people read my two blogs every month, and I have friends who travel 60 minutes every Saturday just to spend time with me, but none of that matters. Because I KNOW . . . I have heard that people with ADHD have inaccurate self-observation, but my observation here is based on hard perceptions. Not facts, no, but a perceived slight is every bit as good as a fact, isn’t it? Maybe not (Adult ADD, ADHD Symptoms and Their Impact).
If you have ADHD, then you are probably well aware of your mind's ability to hyperfocus on absolute wastes of time. You may even specialize in it, wasting time with such flare that your unemployed friends marvel at you. Video games are my weakness. I usually avoid them, but occasionally I get sucked in and have to turn to drastic measures to pull myself out.
Email can become confusing and overwhelming for the adult with ADHD. So many distractions and noise—a veritable Pandora's Box. Today I discuss my system to get on top of the inbox.
Everyone gets buried in email, especially the disorganized, but is there a way to get back on top without abandoning email entirely?
There was a time when my wife didn't send me out to the store. I couldn't be trusted not to get lost for two hours in the magazine section. All those glossy covers with their reams and reams of scintillating prose… Some of them didn't even have bathing suit beauties. Ah, the blissful halcyon days of the early 90s before I discovered the Internet. But surely there was a way to shop without getting lost.
The worst thing about ADHD epiphanies is that they are wonderful in the moment, but do we remember to follow through with them? I mean, it's all well and good to decide "Hey! People like me better when I don't knock them over," but have you stopped doing it? I can come up with 17 startlingly innovative ADHD epiphanies a week, but do I do anything about them?