Stop Spinning Your Wheels! Create Realistic Expectations to Help Manage Your ADHD

Do you ever feel like you don’t do “enough”?

Maybe it feels like you need to prove yourself by creating more work and trying to do it all.

If you have ever felt this way, you are not alone. This is something many of us face—sometimes on a daily basis. It is especially common for people with ADHD.

I’m here to tell you, this is a limiting belief, and it’s one that can actually hold you back from achieving more.

Does this sound familiar?

You plan on conquering your to-do list at the start of your day—always with the best intentions—only to find yourself overwhelmed and underachieving by the end of the day. It feels like a never-ending cycle of trying to do more and more each day, but never reaching your intended finish line.

It can be so easy to fall into the trap of thinking we need to do more, or be more, to be successful.

Unfortunately, trying harder and harder is like putting your foot on the gas with the brakes on. You are spinning your wheels faster and faster, but you aren’t getting anywhere. And just like those tires, this can often lead to things like burnout, or even feelings of inadequacy.

Are your intentions realistic?

Before you begin creating a too-long to-do list, it’s best to figure out how your personal brand of ADHD affects you each day. Everybody’s ADHD affects them differently, so it’s important to learn how you work best. Then, you can plan your day and your to-do around what works best for when you are at your best.

Are you a morning person who is always ready to greet the day, but after lunch you’re ready for a nap? It’s probably not a great idea to schedule a mentally exhausting task in the early afternoon. Instead, make those your first-thing-in-the-morning tasks and you may find you have a lot more energy to get them checked off your list.

Maybe you aren’t a morning person and you tend to move slowly in the morning, as it takes you a while to wake up—especially before that morning tea or coffee. I would recommend not scheduling meetings or appointments first thing in the morning, or the people you talk to may not find you too pleasant, and you may not be ready to engage in a lengthy discussion.

Assess and Adjust

The act of learning how you work best is not an overnight project. This is something that takes time and plenty of rounds of trial and error to learn what works best for you.

Take time at the end of the day and assess how the day went. What went well? What could have gone better? Then, take that new information and use it to adjust how you will plan for tomorrow.

Eventually, you will learn the system that works best for you and your brand of ADHD, and you might realize—you don’t have to try so hard.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Nikki

Are you looking for more ways to plan and live each day without feeling overwhelmed or frustrated? Check out these other resources for more help and support:

Unapologetically ADHD: A Step-by-Step Framework for Everyday Planning on Your Terms by Nikki Kinzer & Pete Wright
available in hard back, ebook, and audio book

Guided Planning Sessions Monthly Membership Program
Enrollment offered three times a year. If it’s not open, be sure to add your name to the wait list!