Isaac Newton had some pretty cool ideas. He was an English mathematician and scientist. You may know of him because he discovered gravity.

He also had some laws of motion that were pretty important. There’s a commercial using one of those laws as their tag line – “A body in motion tends to stay in motion.”

And of course, a body not in motion tends to, well, you know. Just veg.

I mention this because for the last 30 minutes or so I have been sitting here at my desk with my laptop open. Once in a while I click on something. Mostly I lean back in my chair and close my eyes and basically do nothing. It’s 9:02 pm and I’m tired but it’s way too early to go to bed.

I have a big list of things I “should” be doing, but I’m not. I’m basically vegging here at the computer. Not even taking the energy to play on Pinterest or Facebook.

Do you ever do that?

I think all ADDers do.

Why do we do that???

It’s so frustrating and yet we seem to be unable to change.

We’re not motivated. Or interested. We don’t know where to begin. We have too much to do and what do we do first?

The experts tell us we need to set priorities and goals. Figure out what’s important to us, what’s urgent and needs doing now.

Does that help you at all?

Me neither.

Here’s what I think.

Start with you. How are you feeling? Are you taking care of yourself? How’s your energy level? What do you need right now?

How can you expect to get stuff done if you’re tired, depressed, stressed out, or sick?

You can’t. You shouldn’t.

But you do have stuff to do. I get it. It has to get done and it’s probably up to you to take care of it.

You don’t have time to stop everything and take a week at the spa.

So what can you do?

Well a little bit of everything. Even that crazy expert advice stuff.

Figure out what absolutely has to be taken care of now and start on that. Can you get someone to help you? Or delegate it? If so, go for it.

Get used to the fact that this is going to be baby steps. Dump that great big pile of stuff on your mind onto a dump list and concentrate on that one thing.

Next, you’re going to do something to take better care of you every day. Take a nap. Or a walk. Call a friend and just enjoy the conversation. Pick one meal a day that will be a healthy, nourishing one.

Start looking for shortcuts. Right now, even though it kills me to do it, I am relying more on paper plates and cups and simpler meals. Like soup and a sandwich. Or leftovers. Or find what you can and eat it. I even (gasp) buy prepared foods now and then. Bob Evans has the best mashed potatoes ever and for now, I’m just not going to look at all those extra things that are in them.

I can hear your excuses now. I can’t cut back. I have so much to do. When am I going to find the time to take care of myself?

Listen to me.

Taking care of yourself should be your first, most important priority. If something happens to you, then what? How ever will your family and workplace survive without you?

You know what? They will. They may not like it but they will.

So here are your 3 to dos for each and every day:

1. Do something that takes care of you.
2. Figure out your biggest, most important priority and work on that.
3. Simplify your life.

P.S. – There’s a new coaching program coming soon that can help you with stuff like this. It’s called A New Woman. Watch for it.