My situation with ADHD has been quite unique. At around age 15, I fell in love with making schedules. It is commonly known that people with ADHD can focus on what they are interested in. One of those things for me was making schedules (which is quite unusual for people with ADHD). One of the main reasons of doing this was to prove to myself and a few others that I could get organized, be efficient, get a lot of things done. Although scheduling is not usually an ADHD thing, when it is mixed with someone who does have ADHD it can be interesting. I have made several different attempts at finding a system that works well for my life. I have tried well over a dozen of different methods using datebooks, PDAs and Pocket PC’s, Apple iCal, Google Calendar, TimeTune, etc. I have tried extremely detailed to every minute schedules to almost not having a schedule at all. Even as I write this, I am experimenting with another type of scheduling, one that will hopefully work well after balancing several different aspects. Here are just a few tried and failed scheduling attempts.
The extremely detailed schedule. Scheduling every single minute of the day turns ADHD into OCD (which I believe I have a touch of as well). This process becomes too cumbersome and takes too much time. It is easy to tire of this method because life gets in the way and changes are always happening during the day.
Having nearly no schedule at all. There were times when I really just scheduled out when I had obligations. The rest was up to whatever I thought was best. You can easily see this method can be ineffective and much less can get done than could be.
Recurring activities. Schedules with recurring activities tend to fail for me because I rarely follow the same schedule every day. If I wake up just 15 minutes later that meant fiddling around with several events to get them to adjust to the different day. It took more time than it was worth saving. Keep in mind how much less effective this can be when life becomes more involved (for example someone with kids). It is beneficial to still have recurring events set up like that like regular commitments like work or something you have committed to weekly like church or a volunteer group.
Too many different apps. Quite recently, I was using Google Calendar for main events, TimeTune for a really detailed approach, Nozbe for To Do’s, etc. I will still continue to use these apps, because that part does work for me, but tweaking the process a bit would be beneficial for most. I would love an app that can cover all of these functions, but right now that does not exist.
I have been around the world and back with scheduling strategies. However, now I am tweaking it a bit more. The common thread was feeling pressured to stick to a particular system. My new approach is more free and less structured. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 with a pen and it can write notes. For me it is easier to just jot down a time and an activity. This is less time intensive, less systematic, yet still effective. I see this as sustainable approach as it is not something that will be too difficult to keep up with. I can cross out activities if I don’t get to them, and easily change times. This will be my daily approach as for what I am doing in the day. I will follow up as to how I am doing here and hoping that I did find something that works well. What do you do for your scheduling to get the most done? Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks for reading!