Get Organized!
Time Management
Strategies
Become more productive, get better organized,
and stop running late with these
time-management strategies to help ADD adults.
by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D.
Toni can feel the knot in her neck as she
sits in traffic. She is running late for work
(again), and she's heading to a project
meeting, for which she is unprepared. Lately,
she's been losing patience with the kids more
easily, and she seems to have no time to just
enjoy being with them. Feeling rushed, like
Toni? Here are time-management strategies
that adults with attention deficit disorder
(ADD ADHD) can use to slow down and get
better organized.
Cure yourself of
"one-more-thing-itis." One reason ADD
adults feel rushed is that they habitually
try to cram in "one more thing," the
additional task that so often derails plans.
One-more-thing-itis is a form of
distractibility-the phone rings, you answer
it, you notice that the table needs to be
cleared, or a plant needs to be watered, and,
once again, you run late.
Strategy: Think through the steps you'll take
before you leave the house. Gather belongings
and double-check directions, if needed, the
night before. Avoid getting sidetracked as
you head to the door by reminding yourself,
out loud and repeatedly, "I'm leaving now,
I'm going to the car."
Plan ahead to arrive early. Aim to
arrive 15 minutes before your appointment
time. If the prospect of facing empty time if
you do arrive early horrifies you, keep a
magazine, book, or stack of bills that need
to be paid in a bag near the door, and grab
it on the way out.
Calculate your departure time by adding 10
minutes to each half hour of travel time.
With the extra time, you'll feel much less
rushed should you run into traffic or another
unforeseen delay.
Strategy: Set two alarms (a clock, a cell
phone, or a computer), one that will go off
five minutes before departure time and a
second that will sound when it's time to
leave. When the first alarm goes off, stop
what you are doing. Try to be out the door
before the second alarm goes off.
Build routine tasks into your weekly
schedule. When do you feel most stressed-in
the morning, before work and school, or
before dinner, when the kids need picking up
and dinner needs preparing?
Instead of filling the gas tank or stopping
to grab the ingredients for dinner on the
fly, map out-and stick to-a weekly schedule
that accounts for each of these tasks. Lock
in times for doing necessary weekly chores,
such as grocery shopping and laundry, to
prevent running out of milk or clean clothes.
Strategy: Shift to-do items into less
stressful times. For example, if mornings are
more rushed, fill the gas tank on the way
home.
Don't say "yes" out of habit-or guilt.
Many of us over-commit out of a desire to
please our family, friends, or co-workers.
Strategy: Get in the habit of saying, "I'd
like to, but let me check my schedule,"
instead of giving an automatic "yes." In the
end, you'll please others more by being able
to get things done on time, rather than
always being late and rushed.
Set realistic goals. Can you really
make a stew and pick up the kids in half an
hour? Deliver yourself from trying to be
supermom.
Strategy: It's OK to plan a quick-fix meal
(or to have take-out!) on busier nights.
Don't feel you have to cram in three errands
when you have time for only two.
Enlist the help of a time tutor. Ask a
friend or family member, someone who has
witnessed how you spend your time, to help
you identify the patterns that create time
crunches in your life. Strategy: Do only what
you can, and delegate or delete what you
can't. You'll be happier (and more
productive) when you are not living in a
constant rush.
Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., is director of the
Chesapeake ADHD Center of Maryland, in Silver
Spring, and psychologist who specializes in
treating women and girls with AD/HD.
This article was reprinted with the
permission of ADDitude Magazine. Click here
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