Your ADHD Hacks!

[Gambino1726]

I’m trying to put together a list of ‘hacks’ that will help teens at a school who have been diagnosed with ADHD or autism.

We’ve all heard about the drawbacks to having ADHD and Autism; how we struggle at school, work, socially and/or our personal lives, but what I am interested to learn from this post are your ADHD & Autism hacks!

What do you do that allows you master your day to day schedule, tasks, social and personal lives?
When you have crippling adhd that stops you from achieving the things you want to achieve, what tactics, strategies and skills do you implement to overcome this?

Tell me how you manage the symptoms so that we can implement them in our lives.

Thanks 💛

Each night organise your bag for the next day. Put in everything you need, is it PE, do you have food tech etc. Put all clothing ready so you are not stressed looking for things. I attach my keys inside my bag so they don’t get lost.

With hindsight, body doubling would’ve helped me so much - doing homework at a communal table for a set time instead of trying to do it under my own steam.

Also it would’ve helped not to labour under the idea that I could spend hours studying for exams (I didn’t really understand what that entailed). Would’ve been so much better if the game had been to cram in as much as possible working against the clock and then stop and not feel guilty about not doing more. Can’t imagine the result would have been any worse in terms of marks, and I would have felt so much better about myself.

I think coaching really helps because it’s pretty individual, it’s partly about stacking good habits with things the ADHDer is intrinsically motivated by, and also a lot of other things.
There’s not one app or hack that solves a pretty pervasive executive function delay, because consistency is key here and what you could do one day is overwhelming another.

That said like PP it helps to label stuff and double up on stuff, have x7 of the same outfit you’ll be wearing to eliminate extra faff

The thing with ADHD hacks is that you often have to change them regularly. Also, I find that sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t!

I have always struggled with time blindness - I’ve started using a timer on my phone when getting ready in the morning. I time my shower otherwise I’d stay in there til the end of the century. You can also use a playlist of music as a timer. This would have been amazing for me at school - I used to always get detentions for being late.

For girls: have a little kit in your bag so you can finish getting ready during your travel to school. I have a little moisturiser, tinted moisturiser, mascara, and a lipstick or tinted lip balm. It means I spend less time faffing before I leave the house.

I've used the pomodoro technique. That's where you set a timer for 25 mins, then a short timed break and repeat. Initially I did it as a mature student then expanded it to general life and house chores.

However, I found that for days where I am lazy/unfocused/low energy I can reverse it, I do 25 mins of chilling/reading/scrolling then then I blast 10 mins housework. You can get a fair bit done racing against the clock! Unload and load dishwasher, Stick a load in the washing machine, etc

Small chunks add up on a day when you feel overwhelmed. You have given yourself permission to stop, knowing that you will get back to chores later, which stops the feeling of guilt and self loathing. n

I've used the pomodoro technique. That's where you set a timer for 25 mins, then a short timed break and repeat. Initially I did it as a mature student then expanded it to general life and house chores.

However, I found that for days where I am lazy/unfocused/low energy I can reverse it, I do 25 mins of chilling/reading/scrolling then when I blast 10 mins housework. You can get a fair bit done racing against the clock! Unload and load dishwasher, Stick a load in the washing machine, etc

Small chunks add up on a day when you feel overwhelmed. You have given yourself permission to stop, knowing that you will get back to chores later, which stops the feeling of guilt and self loathing. n

GoblinTools https://goblin.tools - it can help you break tasks down when they feel overwhelming to start. I wish it had existed when I was a teen.

Something I've recently found stops me losing hours in the day is to create a timetable the night before of how I plan my day to go, making sure I schedule in time for cuppa breaks and meals, hobbies and chores.

Body doubling for homework (my son works while I cook the tea), listen to video game and film soundtracks to get to the sweet spot of hyperfocus, little bump of caffeine in the am (not too much), audio books/comfort tv shows on for boring tasks and timing myself doing stuff like taking a shower/tidying bedroom which can be gamified.

All the boring stuff like sleeping well, eating well, moving your body, going outside, seeing friends etc etc. utterly boring and essential.

I have "systems" like I Immediately brush my teeth after my morning wee and I have open rails for my clothes/about 12 open fronted stacking boxes instead of drawers, I put or keep my shoes on when stuff needs doing and I "ladder" up from a freezed state - if I get stuck on the sofa I continue to watch whatever trashy program on my phone but I do the washing up.

I also try not to shame myself. It takes 10 seconds of courage to start/open something which is better than two days avoiding.

This might legit be one of the best things anyone has ever shown me. I can spend hours trying to break down tasks into manageable steps and it takes up so much head space it's insane. Thank you so much for this

Didn’t know this website. Thank you!