Examples:
- Kid’s electronic toy that we loved is broken. Instead of throwing it away, I put it in a box because “surely, I’ll find the time to fix it”
- After moving, valuables are “temporarily” in plastic bags, because I’ll buy & assemble a showcase soon enough.
None of these things ever happen. I make the planning as if I did not an attention disorder. Although I had it all my life.
Now that I’m in treatment, I would have thought that my brain works in a way I’d need to get used to. But no, it just works in the way I always assumed when I made a plan.
It’s just so strange that the planning seems to assume an intact prefrontal cortex, rather than adjusting to how it actually works.
In my experience, ADHD meds make it easier to stay in task rather than getting distracted, but they don’t make it any easier for me to actually start tasks!
Absolutely same! Executive dysfunction is my biggest problem: starting things, making decisions and taking initiatives.
I always write myself a list of things to do in a day that’s so long I’d never get all of them done in a year. Yet the next time I make my to do list it’s just as long.
I’m trying to switch to making a “brain dump” list and then pick 3 things from there as my “to do.” It’s really hard to stick to my limit of 3. And if I get one done to I find I want to add a new thing so items 3 again, but that defeats the purpose of the limit.
I have 2 whiteboards at my house: 1 for groceries, 1 for tasks. You might find, like I do, that writing the things you want to do in a visible place helps you actually do them. It’s not fool-proof, but it keeps me from completely forgetting about their existence.
Yes, essential. I like to do it in an electronic mindmap, so in order to have it always visible, I needed to attach an extra screen where it’s always visible.
“Mental effort” to get on the task that needs to be done is a different matter. I still needed to push through the pain to star. That got much better with treatment.
Like the whiteboard though; not as easy to shift things around and make changes, but advantages might outweigh that.
