Plan, Plan, Plan for Public Speaking with Adult ADHD

I've been very honest with you all since I started blogging with HealthyPlace. I think I've earned the right to say something I know to be true that I don't believe in, don't you? Here it is: You can never plan too much. Plan, plan, plan for everything when you have Adult ADHD.

On Friday, I got my white coat during my pinning ceremony for my Doctor of Physical Therapy program. What does that mean? I've finished the basic science portion of my degree and will now begin the clinical portion. Also, it means in 2 more years, I'll be a doctor!

During the pinning, I had to do a 1 minute presentation on a slide I had made to signify the importance of my pinning ceremony. I had written out my mini-speech and I thought it was pretty good. I used board games to talk about how my past year went. The speech was great in my head and it was pretty darn good written in my journal and then I got up to the podium.

It wasn't horrible, but I forgot a lot of things I had wanted to say. Many of my classmates brought index cards and perhaps I should have, too. I thought my planning out my words in my journal was going to be enough, but I have to say it again: You can never plan too much.

We with Adult ADHD don't always plan enough and we often say things that seem like they come out of left field -- sometimes even like they're from out in the parking lot past left field. Reflecting on my ceremony, it would have been great to have my jokes written down and I would have been able to say everything I had wanted to. Instead, I'm left with a little feeling like I could have done it better. I hate that feeling and I am certain if my planning skills were better, I wouldn't have this feeling now.

Have you all ever thought you were prepared and then realize during the situation that you forgot a big step? Like making an index card? Maybe 9/10 times you don't need the index card and 9/10 times you'll be successful. That makes the index card seem superfluous, but if you did it all 10 times, you'd be 10/10 times successful. It almost seems worth it. What do you think?