Hit the Refresh Button

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Surely you know that as ADDers we have a short attention span.

But that’s not just confined to individual incidents like not wandering off during a conversation or while watching TV.

It’s also part of the bigger picture of our life.

You know how something works for you until it doesn’t anymore? Like for weeks you’ve been able to keep on top of the housework and then all of a sudden it falls apart?

That’s your short attention span at work.

We get bored easily. Some things, like housework and exercise (and stuff you have to do even if you don’t want to) can get boring fast. There’s not a lot there to stimulate and excite us to begin with.

Let’s say you just found a cool new site about organizing or keeping your house clean. You get excited. You go our and buy the stuff you need to get started. If there’s stuff to buy, we’re hooked right away. Just buy the right home organization book and magic will happen.

So you get started on the new system and things are going well and you’re thinking “This is it. This is the magic formula”.

Except it isn’t.

Cause in a few weeks or months, it will stop being new and exciting. It will be old and boring and repetitious. You’re not interested anymore so you start to slack off. And pretty soon you’re back at square one.

Is there a solution to this?

Sure there is. Hit the refresh button.

In other words, you need to be always on the lookout for new and improved. Don’t assume that you will find the perfect housekeeping system and love it forever. It’s not likely to happen.

What you can do is to work on making as much as you can into a habit. My kitchen stays clean and orderly most of the time because I am in the habit of taking care of it. It’s on autopilot.

What doesn’t stay so clean in my kitchen are the stove top and the floor. They’re not nasty or anything, but right now it would be embarrassing for you to see them. I hate cleaning the stove top and I hate and despise doing floors so those things get put off.

It’s the way we are.

Now what I need to do is to work on making cleaning the stove top a daily habit and then find a cool new mop or tool to clean the floors. Eventually the stove would be clean all the time and the floors would be cleaner than they are now.

See what I mean?

Hitting the refresh button is like finding a new and different way to do something so that it captures your interest again. And finding ways to make some things into habits.

What could use a refresh in your life?

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Lacy Estelle

Lacy Estelle is the writer of Lacyestelle.com and the Podcast host for An ADD Woman.

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4 Responses

  1. Brenda,
    I just had to leave a comment – I’ve been reading through your posts… and.. WOW. I see myself. I’ve suspected for quite some time that my husband has ADD. But this last weekend he was listening to an audiobook on ADD/ADHD and he said, “Hon, a lot of these characteristics sound like you.” I started listening, and I was blown away. I was a good student, and I don’t struggle with hyperactivity at all, but ATTENTION! Wow. I’ve felt for years this “how do they do it?” feeling toward other wives/moms/busy women – how do they know where they stored the winter hats/gloves? How do their children have matching clothes? How do they plan dinner before 6pm? How do they remember to buy birthday/christmas gifts before they’re on the way to the party? How do their homes look clean/organized/pretty when I also work “on my home” for an hour or more a day and still can’t achieve the same?
    I think I’m starting to understand a bit now. I took 5 online tests last night and scored high on all for ADD-inattentive. I understand that’s not a diagnosis, but I do feel like I’m finding some answers and understanding that I’ve never had about myself. I stumbled on your site in the midst of this web-browsing/researching and your posts have addressed several key areas, and given me some practical steps & encouragement already. Thanks so much. I’m a subscriber now and look forward to keeping up with what you write.

  2. Hi Annie and welcome! Glad you found me. It’s funny you say that about you and your husband. When we found out our son had ADHD, I just assumed it was my husband. Then I took our daughter to get diagnosed for a learning disability and found out that both of us had ADHD too! What a shock! Like you, I was always a good student but wondered how other women got so much more done than I did. And how in the world did they hold down a job and keep a clean house and raise a family?

    I hope that through this blog I can address those issues that we all share and help women learn to manage their lives more effectively.