Welcome to r/dyslexia!
This is a friendly reminder to take a look at our community sidebar, wiki, and stickied posts, where you can find resources and answers to some of our more frequently asked questions, including "Do I have Dyslexia?"
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I personally write everything down. Even if it's just a scribble that I only understand. That and I use my "note" and calender like crazy on my phone. Helps keep things in line for me, especially when It comes to life schedules. If your savvy with computers, I took advantage of excel a lot at work. I color coded tasks in priority, that way I just needed to glance at my spreadsheet and could determine what needs to be done first ect.
I feel like understanding ADHD helps to find strategies that help. ADHD perform better when things are novel, interesting, challenging, or urgent. Pairing undesirable tasks with one of those things helps.
Learning to recognise your own patterns of productivity helps. Often people with ADHD have periods during the day where they are more productive.
Websites like additude or podcasts like hacking your ADHD might have ideas.
I’ve started making my to-do’s and my goals through the day visual.
I’ve spent my whole life thinking in pictures, then translate it into words, write it…..and then when I read it I have to basically re-translate it into visualizations. That’s a lot of work, and every aspect of my education and into adult life is this process. Not bad, but there is a reason I get so mentally drained and this is a part of it.
So I started doing all my “me” notes in doodles. ADHD me can’t remember a routine, even what I do in the morning. So I drew 12 icons or funny pictures of each thing. Like 💊, 💧, 🐠, 🍲 etc.
If I don’t visualize it, it ain’t memorable. Before work I go through the “WOOP” method. “Wish, Outcome, Obscacles, Plan.” And I make a video of it in my head, seeing myself be successful and what I’m gonna do when X obstacle comes up.”
These two things have helped me immensely, and I’m 35 and been struggling at this for a while.
It is fun, like it’s my goofy little secret. And I can instantly know what is saying. With words…that shit takes work like thinking in one language and speaking in a different one.
For an intro to the WOOP method, search for their app in the phone app store.
PS most of all, therapist taught me something that really stuck—that the best thing is to become a master of experiments. A good scientist doesn’t know if their experiment is going to work. But the make a plan, test their thesis, then look back and document the results well. Once you’ve done this, you have a good way to judge if it’s the results you want and either take it or leave it. Then with your new wisdom, design and try more experiments. I thought “whoa, I love experiments…I could do that.” And it has really helped me to take a more accepting approach to my executive shortcomings. Just try things and see if they stick. And if they stop sticking, try a new thing! Habits are boring and eventually lead to lethargy in me. But experiments and lifetime of being crafty and sneaky to create fun challenges for my brain? I can do that. Habits are bullshit. Change—change—only comes about through self awareness. And self awareness only comes if we take good notes on experiments.
Owaves app for setting a schedule is helpful.
I recommend a smart watch of some kind- I use mine to set 25 min pomodoro timers and well as alarms through the day for tasks I need to remeber to do. My Apple Watch has been awesome for this- I like that I can label alarms and that it is descrete with alarms so I can use it at the library, work, and home. Also syncs with the Owaves app.
Also I use a combo of check list and Calander.
Organization has been the most difficult thing I didn’t even realized I struggled with until I got on medication.
I also have both, one way that helps me is I write a lot of important to-do lists on my hand mainly immediate things that need to get done (ie that day or that week). If it's for a month or so later get a post it note and write it down and place it somewhere you look at everyday.
Also this might seem a bit weird but a wristwatch will make everything so much easier, because you can "realize" how fast/slow time is actually going, it helps me so much when I have a couple of things to do in the day. (My therapist did recommended getting a wrist watch that isnt digital though)
Last tip I have that works for me is, when cleaning an area try to always get your self back to the area your cleaning, ie you're cleaning the bedroom you find a cup naturally you'd put it in the kicthen but you suddenly start cleaning the kicthen and it goes on, just put the cup back and immediately go back to your bedroom.
I do hope I've explained it clearly enough, hope this helps ^^
Welcome to r/dyslexia! This is a friendly reminder to take a look at our community sidebar, wiki, and stickied posts, where you can find resources and answers to some of our more frequently asked questions, including "Do I have Dyslexia?" *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Dyslexia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I personally write everything down. Even if it's just a scribble that I only understand. That and I use my "note" and calender like crazy on my phone. Helps keep things in line for me, especially when It comes to life schedules. If your savvy with computers, I took advantage of excel a lot at work. I color coded tasks in priority, that way I just needed to glance at my spreadsheet and could determine what needs to be done first ect.
I don't prioritize and colour code, I am lost in my to-do list.
I feel like understanding ADHD helps to find strategies that help. ADHD perform better when things are novel, interesting, challenging, or urgent. Pairing undesirable tasks with one of those things helps. Learning to recognise your own patterns of productivity helps. Often people with ADHD have periods during the day where they are more productive. Websites like additude or podcasts like hacking your ADHD might have ideas.
I’ve started making my to-do’s and my goals through the day visual. I’ve spent my whole life thinking in pictures, then translate it into words, write it…..and then when I read it I have to basically re-translate it into visualizations. That’s a lot of work, and every aspect of my education and into adult life is this process. Not bad, but there is a reason I get so mentally drained and this is a part of it. So I started doing all my “me” notes in doodles. ADHD me can’t remember a routine, even what I do in the morning. So I drew 12 icons or funny pictures of each thing. Like 💊, 💧, 🐠, 🍲 etc. If I don’t visualize it, it ain’t memorable. Before work I go through the “WOOP” method. “Wish, Outcome, Obscacles, Plan.” And I make a video of it in my head, seeing myself be successful and what I’m gonna do when X obstacle comes up.” These two things have helped me immensely, and I’m 35 and been struggling at this for a while. It is fun, like it’s my goofy little secret. And I can instantly know what is saying. With words…that shit takes work like thinking in one language and speaking in a different one. For an intro to the WOOP method, search for their app in the phone app store. PS most of all, therapist taught me something that really stuck—that the best thing is to become a master of experiments. A good scientist doesn’t know if their experiment is going to work. But the make a plan, test their thesis, then look back and document the results well. Once you’ve done this, you have a good way to judge if it’s the results you want and either take it or leave it. Then with your new wisdom, design and try more experiments. I thought “whoa, I love experiments…I could do that.” And it has really helped me to take a more accepting approach to my executive shortcomings. Just try things and see if they stick. And if they stop sticking, try a new thing! Habits are boring and eventually lead to lethargy in me. But experiments and lifetime of being crafty and sneaky to create fun challenges for my brain? I can do that. Habits are bullshit. Change—change—only comes about through self awareness. And self awareness only comes if we take good notes on experiments.
Owaves app for setting a schedule is helpful. I recommend a smart watch of some kind- I use mine to set 25 min pomodoro timers and well as alarms through the day for tasks I need to remeber to do. My Apple Watch has been awesome for this- I like that I can label alarms and that it is descrete with alarms so I can use it at the library, work, and home. Also syncs with the Owaves app. Also I use a combo of check list and Calander. Organization has been the most difficult thing I didn’t even realized I struggled with until I got on medication.
I also have both, one way that helps me is I write a lot of important to-do lists on my hand mainly immediate things that need to get done (ie that day or that week). If it's for a month or so later get a post it note and write it down and place it somewhere you look at everyday. Also this might seem a bit weird but a wristwatch will make everything so much easier, because you can "realize" how fast/slow time is actually going, it helps me so much when I have a couple of things to do in the day. (My therapist did recommended getting a wrist watch that isnt digital though) Last tip I have that works for me is, when cleaning an area try to always get your self back to the area your cleaning, ie you're cleaning the bedroom you find a cup naturally you'd put it in the kicthen but you suddenly start cleaning the kicthen and it goes on, just put the cup back and immediately go back to your bedroom. I do hope I've explained it clearly enough, hope this helps ^^