5 Steps in Making a To Do List Work

Yes! I have a To Do list. I made the form myself and fill it in at each day's end, ready to go for the next day.

The ADHD mind plays amazing, but deceptive tricks. I fill in the spaces from 1-10 and believe great things will happen. Projects will fly off my desk, signed, sealed, and delivered.

Reality kicks in. The purpose of the To Do list is to increase productivity by prioritizing tasks, completing each one, and moving to the next. Its purpose is not to master the art of making a list.

When I discovered changing the date on my list was all that was necessary, I realized something was wrong. Something that creating a new form wasn't going to fix.

Avoiding tasks is usually fear-based. Many of us, admittedly or not, are perfectionists. We put off tasks fearing the end product will be less than perfect. Or, perhaps we don't feel qualified to complete the task. The logic, usually unconscious, is how can we fail at something we don't attempt? If I never finish my novel who can say it wouldn't be a best seller? Procrastination haunts most of us with ADHD, and can be damaging. (If you are a notorious procrastinator, I suggest you click the link.)

These 5 steps will revitalize your To Do list, increase your productivity, and make you look procrastination in the eye.

1. Prioritize tasks into 3 categories: (a) Critical (b) ASAP (c) Needs to be done
   
2. Move the task that you dread most, or least desire, into the number one spot. Do this for each category
3. Move the task you most look forward to doing into the second position. Do this for each category
4. Order remaining tasks in each category alternating from Most dreaded to Most desired
5. Begin with the Critical category and progress through B and C completing each task in turn

The ADHD accomplice, Focus, will try to mess with you. Counteract it by having the second task, and third if necessary, from your list layed out and ready to go. When you lose focus with task one, simply transfer to task two and work on it. Move back to task one and repeat the process.

By the way, make sure you keep returning to task one. Afterall, you don't want procrastination to win.

Attend!

Attend to the moment . . . to the task at hand . . . mindful, heed, observe. Attentive, as in focus on One thing. Wow! Alot to demand from someone with ADHD.

If your ADHD is anything like mine, you have a minimum of four or five things going on in your head at the same time. Each requires attention, or so we think, and we do a darn good job of keeping up. At least until the four or five screens in our head increases to a dozen. That's when someone finds our keys in the refrigerator space that the carton of milk used to occupy.

Attending to what is before us, being mindful of what we are doing is not only possible--it's a necessity. ADHD is a focus problem. I recommend mindfullness as the perfect antidote for inattention.

Don't freak out in ADHD fashion. You can accomplish attending and manage your focus problem by taking little steps to get used to the idea of mindfullness, and progress to keeping full attention on one task at a time. Note: keeping full attention on one task at a time is in italics because it's frightening without the following clarification:

This does not mean that you must focus on the task until it is completed. You
focus on the task at hand until you decide to move to a different task. This
requires that your full attention remain on the task at hand until you decide to
stop the task.

Start the focus exercise while eating a snack. Keep your attention on the eating process. Focus on what you are eating, the color and shape, smell, taste, and texture. How the food feels as you chew and swallow.

When your focus wanders and your mind jumps to a new screen, tap the center of your forehead and bring back the focus to the food you are eating. Repeat this process throughout your snack. Eventually, you will be able to focus throughout an entire meal.

Soon, you can transfer this management exercise to other tasks. Granted, mindful eating is a healthy practice . . . but, eating all day long, maybe not.

The ADHD mind needs to take time out

The ADHD mind runs a continual marathon throughout the day. No wonder that focus is the chief problem for ADHD or that it is known as the focus disorder. Visual images flash in our heads continuously demanding attention. Not just one screen, but multiple screens. It is no small feat keeping up with all of them, but we give it our best shot, and do it surprisingly well.

Granted, it is difficult to do this, and listen to others at the same time. Others as in teachers, parents, supervisors, spouses, friends, anyone, or anything.

When you say to us in total disbelief, "How can you not remember me asking you to pick Georgie up from daycare? You looked right at me, close enough I could smell the coffee on your breath!" We really do not remember.

But, there is hope for us.

We can learn to quiet the mind. We can give our mind short breaks throughout the day. We can learn to slow the mind down and to clear multiple screens allowing focus on one. One as in the person speaking to us.

Techniques such as meditation, visualization, and guided imagery assist in quieting the mind, slowing it down. Eventually it may come to rest, lost in the stillness of the universe.