The other day as I was making notes on a new self directed coaching program that I am launching soon, I realized how much the things that we struggle with are connected and how our brains are perfectly suited for that.
The graphic above is sort of related to the new program I’m getting ready to launch. Here is what the terms refer to:
Clutter – getting rid of clutter
Clean – putting a housekeeping schedule in place that you can actually do
Neat – organizing your stuff
Time – time management
Plan – using a planner effectively
Hot – getting the most out of your wardrobe and making getting ready quick and easy
Nature – using natural methods of treating your ADHD symptoms
I had to use such silly words because the graphic was so small.
I forgot to include the one about meals. Nutrition is so important when you have ADHD and I’m going to show you how to streamline the meal making process.
So anyway, how is it all connected and why do our brains make it easier to understand?
Take a look at the first 3 things listed up there: clutter, clean, and organized. Where do you begin?
You want a clean, well organized home free of clutter. Clutter makes it hard to clean and hard to find what you need. So decluttering is a good place to begin.
But think about it – you can’t just neglect your house until you get the clutter out. And once you start dealing with the clutter, you’ll find things that you want or need to keep, but they most likely don’t have a specific place to live in your house. And that’s about organizing.
So really, what you need to do is a combination of all three, sort of at the same time.
That might sound overwhelming to you, but the truth is that those of us with ADHD are pretty much always multi-tasking and doing a pretty good job of it too. Switching from one thing to another helps keep our attention and keep boredom at bay.
What’s harder for us – and what most of us try to do – is to do what other people tell us to do. The so called professionals. OK, some of them really are professionals, but may not have ADHD. They have minds that think in a logical and linear manner. They give us a list of things to do and the order in which to do them.
Our minds are not like that.
Our minds are like that circle up there, but more complicated and in 3D.
We can bounce from point to point to point, often connecting things that others do not see. A list of do this then that will quickly get boring and left behind. And our tasks undone.
Want to prove this to yourself?
Take this week’s to do list and turn it into a mind map. Follow that graphic up there. You are in the middle. The arms might be calls to make, appointments to keep, things to clean, cook, or deliver – whatever is on your calendar this week.
Now use this instead of a list and choose things based on how you feel. Keep in mind, though, that the ones you dread doing will get put off, so make a habit of doing those first thing each day to get them out of the way and off your radar.
Does this make sense to you? Does it feel more like how your brain works? I hope so.