Time management and organization have never been natural to me. When life became aMaMangeabel, a constant since my second son arrived, I looked at experts. Not once I thought about listening to my own rhythm and body. Productivity, I thought, was something to dominate, not something to understand.
Then I hit a wall.
I was tired of feeling like that, so I stopped fighting with my own nature. I stopped receiving productivity advice from people who do not have ADHD.
For years, I had my leg trying to contort myself in some that I was: structured, disciplined and organized. A person who could follow a system designed for a brain that did not work like mine. Why had I ever believed I could handle my time in the same way they did?
The change was subtle but changed everything. I am not left without liquidation, since progressing with a purpose. I know I will get caught again, but I also know this: I have finished pursuing solutions that were never mee to work for me.
Today I am sharing what does Work: How can I do things without exhausting myself in the process? Because we work against what we are, exhaustion is not a possibility. It is a guarantee.
Notes on productivity, rest and worth
A note about productivity.
I define that productivity does what I said, for others, in a way that makes sense for my life. I spent two years trying to cure the exhaustion “resting”, just to feel worse with each opening day. It turns out that rest is not just still. Some types of rest are active and learn to restore That Everything changed.
A rest note.
Different children or rest follow different children or productivity. Knowing what you need means knowing your limits. Try to function as some without ADHD only pushed me further from those signs. ADHD brains need different types of rest: emotional, mental, creative, physical, passive.
I don’t soak watching television. I recharge reading, cooking, giving long walks and practicing Pilates. For strangers, it may seem that I always go, but this movement of movement restores me. Sometimes, organizing a garbage drawer is self -care. Other times, it is a warning signal. When I’m mentally exhausted, television helps. When I am emotionally overcome, it makes me feel trapped. Learning the difference changed everything.
A note about the worth.
We are taught to measure our tremol for what we produce. Part of my middle -aged trip has rejected the legs, unravel my value from my production and focus on doing Instead of measurement. If you are in the heart of that, this publication may not be what you need today.
Your value is not your job. But doing -creation, moving, shaping something from nothing, is an expression of You. It is a life in life. It is the construction of trust. It is what can get you out of a spiral before he seizes. When I start honoring my internal impulse to create, productivity ceased to be something I pursued. It became the natural result of finding my flow. Impulse, not exhaustion. Creation, no extraction. And that changed everything.
When I start honoring my internal impulse to create, productivity ceased to be something I pursued. It became the natural result of finding my flow. Impulse, not exhaustion. Creation, no extraction. And that changed everything.
Live with limitations, both mental and physical
I am a working mother with hobbies, a social life and a deep appreciation for a good night of sleep and daily physical movement. I don’t want to give up any of that. So, I accept that I have no long and uninterrupted stretching for the deep focus work as it used to do it.
I also accept that sometimes I don’t know if I need rest ORPÍN impulse. The only way to know is to tune in my body, and that requires emotional regulation, which is also difficult to access when it is overestimulated.
My ability to access my most “productive” self is limited and not consistent. Knowing that I am not always going to make the right decision helps me find some grace instead of falling into a spiral of shame. I used to make my inability to do things something about me as a human being. We no longer do that. Some days I can give me what I need. Some days I am wrong. Life continues.
Achieving optimal productivity every day is little reluctant. When I do yoga, my body can feel completely different from one day to another. The brains are also like that. There are times when Work and life feel like a uphill battle. Change of tasks feels more difficult than it should be. And there are seasons in which efficiency is simply not on cards, acceptance that has a bone key to find a path.
Because I don’t have hours to focus, I had to hack my system. When doing that, I learned three essential principles that help me do things with a neurodiver brain: Simplicity, urgency and impulse.
This is how they shape my daily life.
3 principles that I follow to improve “productivity”
Principle 1: Simplicity
I maintain simple systems to capture ideas, document tasks and organize all of the above. The key is that the processes are easy to repeat and everything is easy to access, nothing is too complicated. This is essential.
I use the Application of notes and Application of reminders On my phone and Notion To save ideas and tasks. I also write things on paper because I am never a completely digital person. The brain processes writing by hand completely different from writing. In addition to the notion, applications on my phone are very simple and easy to use.
I use the desire system for digital files (and physical objects in my home), something I learned for the first time from KC Davis, author of How to keep the house while drowning. I use digital cubes to organize files on my computer in these categories: lists of pending tasks, writing, commercial projects, content creation, our home, learning, finance, mental health, kitchen, travel, physical health and customers.
Principle 2: Urgency
Those of us who are deeply familiar with procrastination know that it is an unpleasant habit that “works” that we do things, we feel the pressure of time. However, I discovered that when we postpone and hurry to do everything quickly, I feel that my job is missing because I don’t have time to practice work and get all my ideas. To break the procrastination cycle, I need to create my own urgency. This principle comes into play through the timer I use (more on this below).
Principle 3: Moment
With any action, I have known that the most difficult part is to start, so creating impulse is so crucial. Because transitions are very difficult for people with ADHD, the principle of impulse keeps us underway.
To create my daily impulse, implement a morning routine that is reduced to the basics and prioritizes the most challenging first. I get up, I prepare coffee and I feel to work immediately. This creates a natural influx of dopamine that can take me during the day. I used to meditate and stretch before going to work, and now I do it after finishing something that focuses a lot. I feel incredible and ready to address anything when I use an impulse like this.
4 productivity tools that I swear
For the same reasons why I am a fan of wearing pencil and paper, I like physical tools that are not on my phone. Here are the four that I always have on my desk.
1. Stay in the track planner: This planner helps me plan the details of each week.
2. Timer: This is to practice Pomodoro technique and to simulate and create urgency and limitations. I have three of them.
3. The brick: The brick blocks select applications on my phone for an amount of time established. Having a physical tool to limit my digital access is very important to me. The brick wins for its simplicity.
4. Apple headphones: To enclose and disconnect. White noise, sound bowls, edm, rap. No matter what, as long as I can’t hear what happens around me.
I also resort to some selected resources and people to obtain advice on productivity:
My work routine
On Sunday night or Monday morning, the brain left everything in me Stay in the track planner– Tasks, ideas and notes that I have collected during the week in my applications of notes and reminders. Then, I use the Eisenhower matrix To order the urgent, what you can expect, what can be delegated and what is only noise. I hate planning, but I have learned that advancing in this step makes everything else easier.
When it’s time to work, I take my brick and minute Wherever I go, be it my office, the dining table or a cafeteria. I put me headphonesChoose a task and set a timer: 25 minutes For small tasks such as emails and subtitles, 45 minutes For a deeper job such as writing and design. The timer prevents me from falling into perfectionism (which is only the procrastination disguised).
I also firm Physical and digital limits. My phone remains out of reach, my text messages are silent, and if my office divisor is awake, my family knows that I need uninterrupted time. It is not perfect, children still enter, but it helps everyone to be more aware about what urgent Real media.
At the end of the day, I wonder: Do I need to push it or call it a night? If I want to finish my outstanding tasks list, it will show that “I worked hard enough,” I go to bed. If finishing one last task will help tomorrow’s impulse, I give myself 30 more minutes. There are no rigid rules, just tune in.
I used to make my inability to do things something about me as a human being. We no longer do that. Some days I can give me what I need. Some days I am wrong. Life continues.
The power of discomfort
I no longer get sitting because I know how difficult simple things can be. I used to wait for the perfect conditions to write, now I scored things in the middle of a grocery store. I follow the ease when it occurs.
But discomfort is always there.
When big projects feel too desired (hello, writing a book), I think of Phil Stutz’s Pearl rope Concept: Progress is just adding a small action at the same time. Some pearls are not great, but the point is to continue adding them. Starting is 80% of the battle, and resistance never disappears completely.
Upon point of time, I have come to appreciate the pain of doing difficult things. He has stripped my ego of productivity and shows me the meditative power of simply condemn. The pain of creation comes from caring for so much that we are afraid, and that is beautiful.
We do not need bosses back to culture, but maybe we turn too far in the other direction. I know I did. Now, I think of self -care as self -esteem: How can I make decisions today that honor what matters most to me?
There will always be parts of the process we hate, but the more we do them, the better we will be to move forward. And in doing so, we bring what matters deeply to life.
Kate is the founder of White & Delight. He is currently learning to play tennis and is forever Try the limits of your creative muscle. Follow her on Instagram on @witanddeelight_.
