I'll walk you through how I plan and structure my life right now.

If you're like me and recently discovered that you have or may have ADHD as an adult, you know that structure, planning, and prioritizing are skills we need and are heavily deficient. Structure gives our brains a break from having to make quality decisions at all times, it helps us keep up with day-to-day life, and structure ultimately gives more power back to ADHDers.

Unfortunately, the consensus among folks that struggle with ADHD is that structure is challenging. The way our brains work, this may always be challenging. I've spent months looking up things, buying things, trying things, and not everything has worked. I like to make sure I stand by productivity hacks and that they're working perfectly for me before I share, but that's not always possible. This is a journey, not a destination. So, I've decided to document my experiments with myself as I learn how to keep up with my demanding ADHD brain.

Here's what's working for me this week:

1: Have a central location where you store your mission statement, your "why"s, and your goals

I cannot tell you how many goals I never accomplished because I didn't write them down and ended up forgetting about them. **facepalm** You need a place to store all that beautiful data that pops into your head.

I currently love and use Notion, but I've also used Evernote, Trello, Asana, Google Docs, and ClickUp. Sometimes, you have to try many different products to land on the one that works best for your brain. Don't get frustrated by this step. The developers of these products didn't personally speak to you when developing them, so it makes sense that some of them won't be for you. But having a place to reliably look when you have forgotten it is essential.

Not a digital person? Grab a binder and put the documents in there. Or journal. I tend to go digital because I forget things, which means I could forget a journal/folder/binder. But I know that going digital means more potential exposure to your data, so think about which way is practical and safe for you.

2: Use a To-Do app.

I thought I could do with a simple list in a journal, but I was wrong. I need a running to-do list for the millions of things I have to do each week/month/year. I also need to have it accessible at all times. If you haven't caught on by now, I don't rely on my memory to bail me out. You don't get a prize for doing that. There are so many tools that exist to help; why torture yourself?

I currently am using ToDoist, though it wasn't my first choice. I used Wunderlist for a long time, even when it was changed to Microsoft To-Do. I use ToDoist now because it integrates with the following tool I'll highlight. Other options: Return the Milk, WaterDo, Apple Reminder

More on WaterDo: I liked WaterDo and had started using it before ToDoist. It animates your tasks into bubbles. You can pop the task "bubble" when you're done, which is oddly satisfying.

If you don't want a digital version, many planners have spaces for to-do lists, or you can use a journal. Just make sure it's something you can always take with you because to-dos pop up at any time.

3: Put the tasks from the To-Do list on your calendar

So, I mainly had the above two for YEARS and still struggled to keep up with my ever-growing task list. The last two pieces of my ADHD-structuring puzzle were added this week in therapy. It's not novel, and you may have even heard it before like I have. Sometimes, you have to hear about something a few times before it sticks.

I naturally HATE structuring my day. I feel like it's suffocating, and it boxes me in. But without giving most of my minutes a purpose, I found that I wasted a lot of time. I wasted time on unimportant tasks, remembering what I was supposed to be working on that day, or just not accounting for the meetings that I had and how much time I had left to do anything else. My therapist told me to try giving my tasks a time slot on my calendar for 3 weeks. Game-changing.

I am only a few days in, and doing this has helped a lot with:

• giving myself compassion when I don't get things done

• knowing my capacity for spontaneous phone calls and texts

• knowing my capacity for new, exciting work that comes in

• knowing how much work I get done (which is a lot more than I give myself credit for)

• and so much more

So, choose your favorite calendar app (or a planner) and put those tasks on the calendar. I book some time with myself at the end of the day to plan the next day.

4: Use a Pomodoro-based app/timer

You've got your documentation location, to-do list, and calendar in hand. You're raring to go. You complete one day, and you're exhausted, never to try this again.

OR

You use an app that will remind you to take breaks after every 25 minutes of work, courtesy of the Pomodoro technique. I've heard about Pomodoro for YEARS, but it never worked for me long term. The default time of 25 minutes felt too short, but the 45-minute time frame was too daunting, and I would take forever to start. This week, I discussed this in therapy, and she said, "25 minutes may feel too short, but you need those breaks. So, try keeping to 25 minutes and see how you feel."

Y'all. I did. And it is very short. Sometimes, it feels like I'm just getting into the groove, and time is up. BUT! When I take my 5-minute break, it is easier for me to get back to work, I work longer sessions, and I feel it's a perfect amount of time to focus without agitating my ADHD.

I currently use the Centered App, recommended by Veni Kunche, founder of Diversify Tech. It has a very vocal and loud couch that will give you queues surrounding your sessions and work. It integrates with ToDoist (hence my switch) and your calendar (if you want it to). You don't even have to do all of that, though. You can manually enter what task you want to work on, how long it will take, and then start your flow session. And if you get the desktop version, there are other helpful queues Centered gives to stay on track. Definitely check it out.

If that's not your thing, there's Pomodone, Forest, Toggl Track, Wakeout (I love this one, it gives you exercises to do on your breaks, so it helps if you have a desk job), and Focus To-Do (which marries a To-Do and the Pomodoro timer).

If tech is not your thing, I got an actual timer for days where I don't want to use anything digital to minimize distractions.