ADHD "Management" in Action

This morning, I decided I was going to make breakfast. Specifically, I chose to make a large batch of breakfast crepes. If you're not familiar with making these, the important gist (or "salient point") of this story is that mixing ingredients for the batter is pretty quick and simple... and then you are "stuck there," flipping crepes, for about an hour.

Of course, when you have ADHD of any kind, your mind tends to be going a million miles an hour, while traveling all over creation. Even though my "form" of ADHD is the "inattentive" variant... I'm no exception. Flipping crepes for an hour feels like a "trap," yet I have little choice but to "stay there," if I actually want the food. The upside is that minding a skillet on the stove might require some concentration, but is otherwise a pretty mindless sort of thing.

The long and the short of it is that my hour turned into a creative writing exercise, using one of my "tools" that has become an effective part of my ADHD management skills.

In addition to having my pan and my plates and my spatula... I also grabbed a stack of small sheets of notepaper and a pen... and started cooking.

By the time the crepes were finished, I had also outlined-- in pen, on individual sheets of paper-- 11 different articles and blog posts, the last one of which was a sketchy note to myself to put this blog post here, as an illustration of how to "use" the condition to our advantage, rather than trying to "fight" it.

I know-- from many years of experience-- that I can't hope to focus on a mindless task for more than a few minutes. I have found that if I "expand" such a task by adding a very specific "secondary goal" to work on, I can actually become very productive. As such, I have trained myself to cash in on some of me best "thinking time" while being engaged in "non-thinking" tasks-- like mowing the lawn, certain kinds of cooking. I also know from experience that if I don't have such a "specified secondary task" my mind will roam in a totally unstructured fashion, and I will get nothing done. In the case of this morning's crepe cookery, I would probably have burned a few of them because I would have flitted off to some other, unrelated, task... and lost track of time. However, I knew that being able to write on bits of paper right next to my "primary objective" would allow me to stay on task. I also knew that "jotting an idea" would be short enough to keep me from burning food.

So not only did I come away with something yummy to eat, I came away a "quieter mind" because I'd actually "emptied" my head while I was cooking... at least temporarily. And so, I could enjoy a peaceful breakfast... without obsessively "trying to remember all those ideas I had while cooking." Which is pretty much how much of my life used to be, even just 10 years ago.

Understanding My Own Processes

A friend (who's also a counselor and therapist) recently asked me how I "deal with" ADHD, especially given that I am not using meds or "seeing anyone" about it.

It made me sit down and clarify my "process," and I concluded that I have really been "experimenting" with my life, for some time, now. There are essentially two parts to this "gig" for me... and I recognize that they are probably "peculiar" to someone whose issue is the "primarily inattentive" variant.

One, I have learned to become very mindful of the fine line between what is simply "being an HSP" and "my Myers-Briggs/personality preferences" and what is "a condition." We must know-- and acknowledge-- where we simply are "wired that way" and where we have a "condition" we can actually do something about. But you already know that part, I'm sure.

Two, the most helpful thing I have learned is to live through a process of allowing and working with the ADHD, rather than trying to "combat" or "fight" it. Again, a mindfulness practice is essential to me... that is, being aware of the moments when I start "drifting."

It might be something like "Uh-oh, I'm writing this article and I just had an idea for another article...." So instead of metaphorically "slapping myself" and saying "FOCUS!" I "allow" a one-minute sidetrack to sketch out a few quick notes of the new idea, and then I resume writing the "main thing" I was previously working on.

I manage to at least give the appearance of focusing pretty well by (A) being a ferocious note taker when my mind wanders and (B) having a dozen-odd manila folders by my desk, roughly organized by topic/concept... into which my "loose side notes" get filed immediately.

As I have written previously on these pages, the notes serve the purpose of "pulling the idea out of circulation" (inside my head) so-- in a sense-- I can go back to thinking about the main thing on my mind. In a sense taking notes means I can tell myself that I have "acted on" the sidetack, and committed it to a form of "permanent storage" so I don't have to have swirling thoughts about it in "active memory."

It's basically a technique of functionally "taking away" from the swirling cloud inside my head-- a constant (and quite active) process of simplify, simplify, simplify. Somehow, it is easier for me to deal with the physical mess of all the paper scraps, than the mental mess of trying to track too many ideas in my head. From a purely functional perspective, it also means that I get a lot more done.

Now... I'll bring back up that this process works for me; in general the notions of time, structure and organization flow pretty "naturally" for me. This may not work as well for different personality types.

I have also found that "breaking state" (like going to a different part of the house to do certain tasks) can be quite effective, too. If I can remove myself (physically) from my venues of "easiest distraction" withOUT also removing myself from my creative "power spots" (not always possible) that can really help.