One of the most popular productivity tips bandied about the internet, self-help books, and seminars is: Do the hardest thing you have to do right away in the morning. Doing that big gruesome thing is supposed to help you be more productive throughout the day. This is great advice……for neurotypicals. However, the ADHD brain does not work the same way as neurotypicals. The ADHD brain needs to do things in a way that supports their brain and does not fight against it. So, for those of you with ADHD brains I give you this productivity tip: DO THE FUN THING FIRST!

Whether you are managing ADHD or fighting some other battle, you can sometimes feel like you are climbing a mountain. Climbing a mountain is daunting and takes hard work, as does battling ADHD. If you are on a mountain, there are some things you should know.

I do not write comedy. I don’t ever sit down to write a funny story or a stand up comedy routine. However, I am funny. I did improv in college, and I have been known to make funny comments in conversation. Yet, I cannot write comedy. I have found that, when I try to be funny, the humor is ruined. I am more funny when I let myself be in the moment, when I’m not trying to think of something clever to say.

We ADHDers tend to have a history of messing up. When you have not yet learned how your brain works best, you mess up a lot. This can lead to a lack of confidence, even in areas where we are naturally gifted. Unfortunately, we become prone to experiencing a great deal of fear, anxiety, and nervousness. However, that does not mean we have to be slaves to this fear. Instead, we can escape its deadly grasp and take back control of our life. This is something I learned through my experience in the theater.

Confession time: I am a bit of a Trekkie. I have seen all of the Star Trek movies and every episode of every Star Trek TV show that has completed its run–The Original Series (TOS), The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space 9 (DS9), Voyager (VOY), and Enterprise (ENT). I have come to greatly admire the Star Trek universe and all of the races and characters Gene Roddenberry and all who have worked on the various Star Trek projects that have been created over the years.

Our culture places individual achievement on a high pedestal. Those one-man armies are revered for their accomplishments, but oftentimes, what you do not hear about is all of those who have helped those people get where they are. The phrase “no man is an island” is old but still very much true.

Those of us with ADHD defy the norm quite often. Our natural way of doing things works for us, but it is not the way everyone else does things. Because our natural abilities are so different, we get programmed at a young age to not do things the way that is easiest for us. We get pressured into doing things the way everyone else does. This is not good. It does not allow us to accomplish what we otherwise could because we are forced to things in the same manner as everyone else. We need to be free to live by our own owner’s manual.

There are plenty if times where those of us with ADHD do not win. ADHDers need wins, or life will get miserable. Not winning sucks.

SO….you’re probably wondering, “How does one start winning when ADHD makes life so hard?” Good question. Now, I normally give multiple pieces of advice or several steps of one piece of advice in my blogs, but to answer today’s question, I only need to say one thing…

The challenges ADHD causes are not because you are broken. They are the result of a world that is not wired for brains that are wired differently. ADHD is a different brain wiring; it is not a defective brain wiring. You have a good brain. You are not broken.

In the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is stuck reliving the same day over and over again. This movie is hilarious, and I highly recommend it. However, it might cause some uneasy comparisons for some of us with ADHD. Sometimes, we can get stuck in a negative cycle of the same patterns or behaviors that do not serve us.

Hello!

I write this while crouched like an owl on my chair, instead of sitting at my desk like a normal person. Why am I owling as I write this? Well, I am dealing with writer’s block, and I need to have a post ready to go by Monday at 10:45 AM. It is 11:45 AM on Friday currently, and I refuse to work on Sundays. So, as Daffy Duck says in Space Jam, “It’s gut check time.” Something needs to happen, and sometimes, if one wants something to happen, one must change what one is doing. Sometimes, changing things up can bring the focus needed to complete a project. Hence, owling…

One of my favorite movies is Good Will Hunting. It is a movie I first watched during a difficult time in my life, and it is one I return to in times of great trial or transition. I feel there are many life lessons that can be learned from this movie, and I especially feel that ADHDers can learn from this film. If you have not seen it, I recommend you watch it because it is a good movie and this blog post will make more sense if you have seen it.

Those of us with ADHD have terrible working memories. One of the problems this causes for me (and I’m sure many other ADHDers) is remembering people’s names. I am terrible at remembering names. This causes me guilt when people who know my name say hello to me and use my name. I can remember their face and how I know them, but I have no idea what their name is. This is an area where I want to improve, so I did what any millennial would do. I googled how to remember names. This is what I found.

If there is any trait all people with ADHD need to cultivate within themselves, it is perseverance. ADHD wreaks havoc in all areas of an ADHDer’s life. This causes many struggles in many areas. In short, more often than not, things will not go the way an ADHDer wants them to go. What is needed in those times of struggle is perseverance, the ability to keep moving forward despite setbacks.

Every year, millions of people stay up until midnight on the night of December 31 to ring in the new year. I have never understood this. I find this quite arbitrary. Prior to midnight, we write "2018" on our checks, and after midnight, we write "2019." If we are celebrating the changing of one element on our calendars, then why are we not doing this every month or every day? One could argue that we celebrate because we only change the year once every 365 days, but if we are simply celebrating the novelty of the changing of the date, it would make more sense to celebrate a new decade.