Home
Creators
Search Recent Missing Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

What are your favourite resources for your ADHD? (Patreon)

Published:
2022-04-04 17:36:23
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Hello Brains & Hearts! 

We all have different things that have helped us with our ADHD over the years -- certain planner types, calendars, charts, stickers, fidgets, habits, and more! 

So I wanted to know... what resources do you recommend based off of what has helped you and your ADHD? 

Resources can be nearly anything! Books. Podcasts. Items that have helped you. Subscription services that have helped you. Websites. Anything -- everything! Not sure if it fits? Share it anyway! Too much information is better than not enough! And who knows maybe someone else would find it useful! Btw this is not for the book, but is for an equally big project! 😉- Harley Community Manager

Comments

Ashton

I use Notion for my journal-brain. It holds everything for both work & personal stuff. I have a database setup for tasks and categorize them based on what "area" of life it's for. It took a bit to setup and continuously improve, notion is a double-edged sword that way, but it was really worth it. It got me to a point where I could walk away from work and actually disengage my brain from work because I could trust that I had the information stored somewhere else. Also, a fitbit! The fitbit inspire watch has an option to setup little alarms. All it does is vibrate on my wrist and show the time but it's been such a nice way to keep myself on time. I setup 3-4 reminders, each one at the major transition points of the day (getting to work, lunch, dinner, evening), and over time it's just helped me be more aware of where I'm at in the day and make better decisions about what to do. Another bonus to the fitbit is tracking the steps I take, I don't care about it to much for health reasons but for goal setting "I'm going to walk 5,000 steps" gave me an attainable goal to reach which gave me that sweet sweet dopamine when I reached it. Also made it easier to actually go for a walk because it like a little game just for me.

Sarah Judd

* Therapy putty has been a game-changer. Most fidgets don't change how they work quite enough to work well for me, therapy putty can do so many different things. * Treadmill desk - I recognize this is too expensive and unwieldy for most, but it very much helps me focus. If you can't do a treadmill perhaps a balance-board of a sort (I haven't tried this yet)? Or just having multiple places where you *can* work so you can move around during the day. * Google calendar - I immediately put all commitments directly in Google calendar. I also have a Slack plug-in with Google calendar, so Slack notifies me a minute before anything I need to do for work. If the calendar invite has a link in it, Slack will let me click on that link directly. My Google calendar for both personal and work also syncs on my phone, so I can see it from anywhere. * Relatedly, making sure Slack only sends a notification for discussions I need to respond to immediately. * Google Keep keeps my to-do list, because I can get it from my web browser anywhere and it's fairly lightweight and that's all I really want. Any time I think about a thing I might want to remember: "this is the book I want to read next" "These are the tasks I need to get done this morning" "These are the ongoing projects I'm working on" "This is my menu of things that will give me dopamine" (recommended in the How To ADHD channel and so helpful!) * Find My Phone (I use the Android version but iPhone has a similar idea). Rather than wasting my time looking for my phone first, I just immediately call it from Find My Phone which will ring it at it's highest volume even if it's on silent. Sometimes it turns out it's right next to me, but I've still found this to be the much faster way to find it. * Tile for finding keys, though the battery ran out faster than I hoped. * Back ups - I have a key ring that basically always lives in a basket by the door to my apartment for when I can't find my usual keys and I'm running late. When I do have to use them, I try to make doubly sure that when I return I put them in the same spot. This extends to having several *different* spots for things (which I think I first saw on ADHD). My usual keys for instance are in my pocket, in the same box those spare keys are in, on a hook in my room, or a table in the other room I sometimes come inside to. That way regardless of what room I'm in there's a nearby place that I can put the keys that I will be able to find it. I also try to have chargers in every room I might have my computer in, and possibly one also in my backpack. * Recurring deliveries * How To ADHD suggested a "roadblocks that happen" checklist, and that has helped a lot. As has thinking about "clutter in motion" vs. "clutter in stasis" understanding which is which and buying storage solutions for the latter. Especially storage solutions that stick to walls, given I have a small space. * Paperless bills! Anywhere I can get them! I'm so much more organized online than offline. * I agree with the person who suggested "Things that don't work" is super helpful. And certainly, there are things that work really well for some people that don't work for me at all (pomodoro for instance, or anything that involves a non-digital to-do list), but even knowing "This is a thing that might work for you that doesn't work for me" is helpful, and reassuring when some other things don't work for me. * voice activation also helps. Saying "set alarm for" means I don't have to go to a new tab or room and possibly get distracted on the way there. Again, that isn't cheap, though >< * recurring delivery, though this is dangerous because you then need to remember to turn the recurring delivery off when you don't want it anymore. * Anything that controls the temperature to be one that is more comfortable for me. Jordan Harrod mentioned this in one of her ADHD videos (she needs warmth, I need cool) * Sort of the obvious ones of meds and also How To ADHD (the videos, but also the Discord server) * I have an chrome-extension-alarm that reminds me to drink water every 45 minutes. Water helps a lot and I will forget. But... an alarm that pops up every 45 minutes is an alarm that I'll start to ignore. It might be helpful if there was a different sound each time or an image occasionally or something?

How to ADHD

Ohhhh, using Slack as a way to consolidate notifications is so smart! I do that for work but I've not thought about doing that for my personal life... I might have to rethink that. 😉 Thank you so much for sharing!! - Harley Community Manager

Kira Lesser

-Bullet journal - I follow the index, future log, month log pretty much to a T (except I added categories for my monthly tasks! Plus I have boxes for recurring weekly and recurring monthly) -Weekly schedule for chores, and changing it up from time to time -An app called “Seconds” that is meant for interval training, but I use it to tell me what to do next for showering or other things where I tend to zone out or forget what I did / what to do next -Cozi for shopping and to do lists that I share with my husband — it’s really helpful to have those things on the go, and to be able to add stuff whenever I think of it. -Pomodoro timers - to be intentional while it’s on and let my mind run wild on breaks (so not like the typical, focus and then take bathroom breaks) -Pill boxes + stickers (e.g. I have a brain sticker on my pill box with my stimulants) -Subscription services for anything I can! I look for ones where I can adjust the timing to be specifically what I need so I never have to think about it -Hiring house cleaners… -Spreadsheets - but this may be a me thing … I customize them for whatever I need. E.g. for work tasks I have a spreadsheet with daily, weekly, and long-term tabs. Under weekly I have boxes for recurring tasks and one-off tasks under each day (the recurring are in a template which I copy each week to set up the new week). This works well for me for anything complicated, because I get to put creativity into how I design it, and set up automation for the things I hate doing.

Rosemary Jones

I hope I'm not too late because I have a budgeting resource that has saved my life. It's called calendar budget (calendarbudget.com) and it's INCREDIBLE. It lays out your income and expenses as a calendar. So you can enter repeat expenses (medical bills, credit card payments, student loan bills, car insurance, car payment, etc.) And they can be set for the same day each month or bi-weekly or weekly or whatever you need. And incomes as well, so you can automatically set your paycheck amount and if you need to update entries you can do so. You can also enter one time payments, or repeat expenses that don't have a regular interval (for me that's gas). It shows you how much you'll have every day based on your entered incomes and expenses. So this helps me plan ahead on when I can pay bills, or when I can make unscheduled purchases and I can know that I won't overdraft my account. You can have several accounts going at once. And I think you can link to your bank accounts but I don't do that because manually entering things helps me to keep track better. You get a 30 day free trial which is amazing. After that it's like $5 a month I think? It's less than $10 I believe. But it has changed my life 1000% and made managing my money sooooooo much easier and has removed literally all finance related stress. I hope to God that yall see this and that other brains see this because it was hard to find; I had made an excel document that did the basic functions and nearly paid a programmer to develop an app when they found this. But it took some googling and it wasn't on the first page of results. Anyway I cannot recommend this resource enough, please please check it out if you struggle with budgeting and financial health.

Rosemary Jones

Also, for mental health stuff - WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) literally saved my life. I discovered it during my first inpatient stay and it's amazing. There's an app and it really helps to take the classes or at least complete it in a group setting but if you don't have access to the classes you can do it on your own. I'm planning on getting my certificate to facilitate it but covid delayed that by a lot :/ I'm not a certified facilitator but I'd be happy to answer any questions about it

Smiley Yearwood

My everyday carry pocket stuff lives in a hat that sits on my bed.

Smiley Yearwood

My wallet and my keys are on chains. Have been for twenty years.

Smiley Yearwood

I have a spreadsheet of all my income and outgoings and I've set all my bills to go out by direct debit as soon as possible after payday.

K Johnson

1. I use the notes and reminders on my phone/iPad extensively including sub tasks and setting reminders - sometimes multiple reminders. That enables me to capture the things that pass by during the day and allows me to choose and prioritize later; 2. I find writing things by hand has more emotional/cognitive value so I created a journal I had printed. It has an index, themes for the month, note pages, weekly plans, day by day plans along with a variety of journal/gratitude/challenge questions and reminders. 3. I bought other journals and planners and they just didn’t fit ADHD. In a previous life I ran a company that worked with executives and we created custom planners for them based on the company culture. I notice that my journal has evolved as my life “evolves” but I was confident enough to print ten months’ worth (one per month) at last printing.

Smiley Yearwood

I use Todoist. There's a regular task to call my mum every three days.

Will Tharp

FB Support groups, friends, betterhelp, my doctor, and How to ADHD. I recommend H2A often.

Laura MacAlpine

I use Microsoft to do for work and personal use. I use Microsoft planner with teammates for collaboration. I have signed up for better help, first session tomorrow. Have been messaging, prompt replies and sent me some good resources. I am so newly diagnosed that my main resource is HowtoADHD. I also have a spreadsheet like smiley yearwood with all my income and outgoings down to the 99p for extra cloud storage each month.

Erica Wisher

I am a relatively new ADHD'er but Philips Hue light bulbs for getting up in the morning because I don't hear my alarm and I turn it off unconsciously. The bulbs are like $10 ea and you can set them with your phone, it beats a $70-150 alarm clock with the same feature. And speaking of alarms, I have Spotify and I use my alarm on my phone for everything for both me and my son, pretty sure he'll be dx'd soon. When that song comes on we know it's "XYZ TIME" and it makes it really easy to transition for some reason. We have alarms for brushing teeth, putting shoes on, lunch, taking out the garbage, dishes.. you name it. I also use my phone's calendar for everything.

Meows

YOU & Team, showing a level of insight and holistic consideration that I've seen from no other source.

Denise Strickland Tillman

Edward Hallowell's Answers to Distraction and Driven to Distraction, were some of the First books I read when I learned that my daughter had ADD. Reading them showed me that I also likely had it. Sticky notes and paper list tjat I can cross off are my jam. I love the Notes app. I've also had some benefit from Dr Amen's videos

Denise Strickland Tillman

Oh and my planner for daily task and money management. Automatic deposit and bill payments are a must

Siikakala

Apps which automatically yells at me based on absolute/relative time or location - currently: Google assistant. I have the mini speaker, super handy for adding reminders, for meds just "hey google, remind me about medication in five hours" but also more complex things like creating reminder to fill my water bottle when I get to work as part of leaving for work routine. Wake up routine is also very handy as it tells date, time, weather, 3 first things in my most relevant calendars for the day and starts playing daily mix from Spotify to get my energy levels up. Super useful! Several cloud-synched calendars for different uses, important events with notifications. "Normal" calendar, migraine tracking, sleep, work meetings, free-time activities, anime conventions, fb events.. My agenda is also biggest widget in my home screen. I would forget absolutely everything without calendar and I check it regularly during the day too. Todoist with various projects and recurring tasks - meals, shower, chores (one for each), shopping list (with separation between groceries, pharmacy and others), other "remember to do this" things - best thing is the cloud sync between devices. Sleep as Android to get me out of the bed in the morning as well as getting me back to bed in the evening - requires to read qr-code from my fridge door (if I'm at home). In the evenings internet is bit too interesting place usually so forcing myself to move actually initiates my evening routine. Smart lights, nice lamp already installed to the ceiling so why not use it as a wake up lamp as well and it also warms up the color temperature in the evening and fades down. RGB and google assistant integration as added bonuses.

Nicholas Frega

Well Tile is great for not losing keys, wallet, phone How to ADHD, Black Girl Lost Keys, and Dani Donovan are the most useful content creators I’ve found Digital calendar reminders with extreme specific notifications help with remembering to do things - like, putting in my calendar on my phone “Take pills” at 6:30am and not deleting the notification until I do so it keeps annoying me. But it can’t just be an alarm, it has to say what the task is

BrainAnnierysm

I have tons! - Todoist for tracking everything I do. It syncs between all my devices so I can add items on the go from my phone. I basically manage my whole life via Todoist. - Notion for reference material. It's a catch-all tool. I keep things like product keys, quick snippets of code, wish list items, etc. My favourite use is capturing recommendations from people. I can quickly add a new one from my phone and capture who gave me this recommendation (so I know who to thank later if I like it). - Google Sheets for planning and tracking random things that aren't really tasks. - Google Keep for grocery lists. I have a shared one with my spouse. Also great for capturing ideas on the go. - Unsolicited Advice planner as almost a diary. I put events in Google Calendar so I can get the phone reminders, but I use the paper planner to recap each day and write a few things I'm grateful for. - Rocketbook for taking notes. I used to get really stressed out about keeping my notes in chronological order by topic in a notebook. With Rocketbook, I upload the notes from a session and organize them on Google Drive, then erase the pages. No notebook organization needed! - Brain.fm subscription for focus music and sleeping music. I need background noise while I'm working. For sleeping, I don't wake up as much and I have an easier time turning my brain off. There are more but those are the essentials for me.

Laura MacAlpine

There is also an app called fabulous that helps you build routines for various parts of your day.

Jordan Parrott

I use a combination of things depending on the day. The most frequent tools is use are a bullet journal, a 60 minute timer, and if I’m fidgety I chew gum. I also use a habit tracking/mindfulness app called Fabulous. If I want information or encouragement, I usually watch Jessica’s videos on YouTube. Also I like to read but find it very difficult at times, so I listen to a lot of audiobooks.

Peta Thames

Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD by Dr Thomas Brown is an amazing insight into the emotional issues we often struggle with. I feel the first chapter should be mandatory reading for everyone.

WitchyStitches

My planner - The Witches Planner (https://thewitchesplanner.com/collections/planner/products/the-witches-planner) a DayRunner style planner from England - goes with me EVERYWHERE. I track everything from important dates, bill pay deadlines (even though I have everything on AutoPay), how I spend my time, how I'm feeling, my period.....everything. I use stencils to create habit trackers in it, too. Something I've started doing lately is using colored pens to indicate what part of my life (green for personal, orange for work, blue for family, etc.) each entry relates to - it helps keep everything from turning into visual word salad. I also use that technique on my To Do List - which is a completely separate pad of paper I keep with my planner. My Apple Watch and phone are also vital - being able to set timers and alarms (sometimes several at a time, depending on how busy I am). Clocks generally are essential for me - I have at least one in every room so no matter where I am or how flaky I'm being that day, I can't escape the knowledge. I've tried apps upon apps, and none of them come close - a paper planner is the best option for me. A sharpie on the back of my hand is also really helpful, especially if my brain isn't being terribly cooperative that day. Post it notes in the places I spend my time can be helpful as well. I crochet, and that can be super helpful - keeps my hands busy while waiting or watching a movie, etc. and helps me pay attention - AND I get to make my friends gifts while I'm at it. What else....A deck of cards to endlessly shuffle - Tarot, Oracles, regular playing cards. AUDIOBOOKS! The rhythm of doing laundry is extremely grounding. That and folding T-Shirts is always satisfying. As for media, obviously I'm a huge fan of How to ADHD, and I check in with Dr. Hallowell too.

Amanda Davis

My little circle of people. I've tried planners and reminders and sticky notes and so sorts of resources but the best ones are the people I'm around. I wouldn't be where I an today without them.

Felicia van Bork

This whole conversation is stuffed with good tips! Thank you so much for How to ADHD, Jessica + Team ❤️ • You introduced me to the bullet journal which has been better for me than any ADHD pill. • I agree with the person who said physical reminders are helpful; I don’t like stuff to be on the floor, so putting something there is un-missable for me • Audiobooks help me stick with monotonous tasks • Listening to a familiar and pleasant story (on YouTube) at .5 speed is the best thing for redirecting my thoughts and getting me back to sleep if I start fretting • I draw the person who is giving a lecture so I can focus AND retain the information better • in a house with an ADHD kid, the index card system is great: each card names a household task that needs doing; lay out the cards in columns from hard to easy; each person has to do one card from each column; the first person to get to the columns of cards gets to choose their chores first.

Andman144

My biggest help is in lists, very organized lists. Tasks that I have to do are written down and categorized by activity or event. When I need to be ready for a specific event, I go through it’s specific list. -Andrew, in California

Ann Ingham

Google calendar and homemade glitter bottles!

Ann Ingham

Colour coding google calendar activities - blue for private clients, yellow for agency clinic sessions, flamingo for health service clinics, green for learning and CPD, purple for fun, red for task reminders ( through from trello) I find colours make meaning by passing words my brain understands them directly. I have trouble with words sometimes.

Emily Rieman

- Bullet journalling - Brilli app for reminding me of all the things I need to do in the morning, one-by-one. I don't use it for much else but it really helps to offload that first bit of executive functioning early in the day when my brain isn't quite awake yet. And it reduces the amount I proscrastinate in the mornings. - Amazon Echo (Alexa) for reminders, timers, etc and to control my smart lights. I have these set to come on in the morning to help me wake up, and automatically change colour/ turn on/off during the day to help with my awareness of time. It's really nice having a gentle wind-down in the evening where the lights slowly dim themselves and change colour. By bedtime I just have dim red lights on, which get me feeling nice and sleepy. - Related to the above; an SAD light which I use on dark mornings. Definitely helps to wake me up and feel a bit more energised. It's also a great grow-light for my houseplants while I'm out XD

Tristan Alwyn-Clark

I was only diagnosed last year so I'm still learning and reviewing my journey to this point. But something I have found that help (me anyway) were some brainwave entrainment products (mainly BrainEV, Brain Salon, Zen12, Nitrofocus). I've been using BWE for 10 years or more now (I also use more traditional meditation as well). I sometimes use Meditainment.com guided meditations. Post-Its in some form (physical or virtual) help too. There is MS To-Do at work it's ok but not great and I'm not sure why. I try to use To-Do. I'm also finding How-To-ADHD a great help too.

Jeimie Parrilla

Resources that’s have helped me are: 1. How to ADHD (your) videos - helped when I was newly diagnosed to learn about my brain, ADHD, helpful tips, and practical solutions/resources to dealing with ADHD. 2. Reminder widget on my iPhone screen - when I have something I need to get done but I’m avoiding, I add it to my reminder’s list which is displayed on my Home Screen page thanks to the widget. This way, every time I use my phone (which is often) it’s right there in my face. 3. Alexa - I add reminders that normally go on my calendar. Example: Doctor appointment on X day at X time. Because it verbally reminds me, I’m sure not to forget. 4. Color coding: when I used my planner, I highlighted items in different colors. Primarily Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue. (Bills - orange, Green - payday, Yellow - appointments, Blue - other social activities or tasks. OTHER THINGS THAT HELP: I set one of my clocks 10 minutes ahead so I always have a visual 10 minutes buffer. I tend to arrive late to places. However, setting my clock 10 minutes ahead (even though I KNOW it’s 10 minutes fast, when I visually see it, it makes me feel like I’m late which gets me out the house faster, which helps me arrive on time to places).

Kate

Let me tell you: ADHD (as well as mental health struggles and neurodiversity generally, as well as trauma, sexual assault, and discrimination/marginalization) is such a huge financial burden--even without considering the cost of prescriptions, therapists, doctors. The number of tools I've bought that have helped me...I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent. And for many years, I was knowingly going into debt to buy some of these things. I could have a decently funded retirement account if I hadn't needed these things.... But they were worth it: I think I'd still be hardcore struggling if I hadn't found many of these resources. I spent 25 years not buying any tools/resources for my ADHD. It's been a gamechanger to incorporate these things into my life over the past 5 years. Unfortunately, for every thing you find that works amazingly for you, you've spent as much money on stuff that doesn't work at all, so that really sucks. I don't know how I would have gotten out from under my mental health stuff without the disposable income (/the zero-interest-for-a-year credit cards) to seek out formal care and also to buy all these tools. It's a huge privilege and also hugely effed up. And then there's the loss of income and TIME. I wish people would talk about the financial burden way more--beyond just the direct medical expenses. Your videos! The two most indispensable things for me are both big ticket items: Time Timer watch!!!! and Apollo Neuro!!!! https://www.timetimer.com/collections/watches https://apolloneuro.com/collections It's not an exaggeration to say that Time Timer's repeating vibrating (haptic) timer feature has changed my life. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY SMARTWATCH WITH A HAPTIC (I.E. QUIETLY VIBRATING) TIMER THAT HAS AN AUTOREPEAT MODE? I've been desperate to find a smartwatch with this feature. In the meantime, for the past several years, I wear this every single day, even though it doesn't look the most professional.... I was very skeptical that the Apollo Neuro would work and was deadset on returning it during the warranty period if I wasn't 100% sure it was working. But boy does it work! I use it every day. After meds...and maybe TimeTimer..., it helps me focus more than anything else. It also helps me so much with anxiety and PTSD by keeping me connected with my body. And with sleep. I got mine for 50% percent off almost 2 years ago--an "essential worker" special. Not sure if they still have that, but it's def worth looking for discounts. HabitNest morning sidekick journals!!! https://habitnest.com/products/morning-sidekick-journal The book "Deep Work" by Cal Newport and also his podcast "Deep Questions"; also his timeblock planner for learning to timeblock according to his system Podcasts: "Scattered, Focused, Done" and "Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast" Jason Stephenson and Michael Sealey's binaural beats for focus; and their hypnoses for sleep and teeth grinding A gazillion timers literally everywhere, especially visual ones like time timer. I especially love this one, though, with a whiteboard and multiple timers, and it's affordable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006OK7RRO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 A printer. I love trees but I just have to print certain things for focus. Kindle Paperwhite, same idea. Can't read with such easy access to internet. todoist--best listmaker ever! it's infinite and amazing website blockers, such as uBlock Origin and StayFocusd Dashlane for passwords Sunsama: amazing app for daily and weekly priorities A big thing has been generally accepting my need and love for sensory stimulation (and also strong dislike of certain sensory stimulation), whether that's stickers, very fuzzy heavy nice blankets, wood wick candles that make the beautiful crackling noise, fidgets, etc. Stickynotes Sunrise alarm clock; vitamin D lamp Any and all forms of coworking and body doubling. Special shoutout to CaveDay, which has Zoom and in-person coworking and an amazing and very helpful newsletter and blog with focus tips. Many other things I'm sure, but I think I got most of the headliners.

Henriikka Halila

Lollipops. They help me concentrate. (Esp when combined with other sensory things like listening to something and fidgeting with something)

Ryan Snead

A reminder app that causes a persistent alarm to go off AND tells you what the alarm was for. I've used a couple of these when I wanted to remember to do something every day or every weekday or every other day. Digital assistants like Google, Siri, or Alexa might do this, but they are easy to miss or dismiss. You need something that will keep reminding you until you say "Ok. I've done it already!" One I've used in the past is called Randomly Reminder, but there are others that might do the same thing.

Ryan Snead

Daylio is a useful app for gathering data on how you are doing. It's geared towards tracking your mood, but it lets you track any sort of physical or emotional state or activity currently happening when you check in. You can set regular check-in times with a reminder feature as well. I have found this very useful for providing hard data to doctors or therapists. With a chart in hand (it includes a premium reporting feature), you can say, "When I experience this, I feel X on this scale" which is a scale you devise. It's kind of like setting up an experiment with a dependent variable (the thing you want to get better) and many independent variables (the things that contribute to whether or not you are succeeding at the thing you want to get better. (Note I'm being very general here because the app is so customiziable). I'm sure you could cobble something together like this, but I have found it worth the price of admission to collect it into one app.

Sara Durham

Right now, sticky notes are working for me. I have a ginormous sticky note pad (it's 25"x 30") and it's on the wall right behind my monitor so I am always looking at it. I cover it with little sticky notes that each contain one task or reminder or whatever. I can pull sticky notes off as I complete tasks, or re-arrange them to make some more prominent, or whatever. When something comes to my brain that I don't want to forget, I write it on a sticky note and get back to what I'm doing (usually). I used to make lists in notebooks and never looked at them once I made them. Google calendar reminders and many many alarms. Just started using the Brain Focus app. It's a timer where you work for 25 minutes, then get a five-minute break and then after four or so cycles, you get a 20-minute break. I've only used it for a couple of days and was pretty skeptical, but it is kind of surprising how helpful it is. When I have long tasks to do that feel endless, it breaks them into 25-minute chunks. And it also helps me to keep track of how long it actually takes me to do stuff. I guess it's like the pomodoro (spelling?) thing, but I've never learned what that is. I also just started using OneNote. I try to keep a daily log that has basically no structure, but is a way to write down my thoughts, what I need to do, etc... so I can erase them from my brain. I also write down what I did that day. So many times at the end of the day I think I've accomplished nothing and then I look ant my entries and I'm kind of surprised that I did a lot more than I thought. Oh, and last but not least, How to ADHD has been invaluable.

JB

This is sort of a boring answer, but the At-A Glance Weekly/Monthly Appointment book is something that I started using in grad school to plan my days. It is nice and spread out so that I can see everything (and add sticky notes without obscuring my schedule) and divides each day into hours from 7am-7pm. This may seem like an oppressive amount of structure, but I find it to be a nice happy medium. The structure can be ignored if necessary. In terms of habits, I talk to myself throughout the day to mitigate the noise in my head. It weirds people out, but if you wear a mask, no one can see your lips moving. You just have to be careful not to start gesturing along with the conversation in your head that no one else can hear.

Xynariz

This is perhaps counter-intuitive, but for me, one of the biggest things to remember is: It's okay to change what tools I'm using if they don't work for me. If a calendar didn't work for me - ask myself why, and try something new! If sticky notes didn't work for me, ask myself why and try something new! I've found that a lot of my failure comes when I try something that *seems* promising, and stick to it long after it should have been apparent it was not working.

Theresa Stangel

From my ADHD Toolbox collection in my Bullet Journal ;-) • bullet journal. One personal, and one for work (just in case they decide it’s intellectual property.) I keep to Ryder Carroll’s method and find it invaluable for brain dumping to prevent working memory overload. • Sunday Basket system for paperwork and to do’s • The White Noise app for work - I find the brown noise blocks out a lot of office chatter • Earbuds at work for above • Alarms on my phone • Looking at a written budget each day to help avoid impulse spending • Routines (rituals) and task stacking. • I still repeat eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and armpits after my head to toe shower (after coffee) so I don’t forget • Zoom study halls for body double work sessions • A Slob Comes Clean podcast by Dana K White for decluttering • FlyLady for establishing household routines • Taking Control - The ADHD Podcast and, of course, How to ADHD to keep learning and as a recommended resource • A five minute power walk to regulate emotions • listening to podcasts during housework and other undesirable tasks

Nelka

- Dr. Russell Barkley's lectures about ADHD on YouTube, How to ADHD YouTube channel; - "Driven to Distraction", Ned Hallowell's book; - many notebooks for different categories of planning/writing; - colored pens; - as well as scheduling various tasks on desk calendar with different color pen for diff. sphere; - doing chores in short bursts; and planning bigger ones on a schedule for the week, then choosing the day when I feel most energetic; - using clear containers/folders, as well as using bright colors on them; - in my daily to-do list next to each task put different color dot based on the sphere (emotional, intellectual, physical, organizational); - enough sleep; bath with epsom salts to relax; going outside every day and long walks at least few days a week; exercise (specific on specific days, schedule it); - fidget toys; - visually obvious the books/projects/etc I want to see/use now; reordering when need to and feel like I want to; - aesthetically pleasing apps, etc - then I want to and do use them; - switching tools/apps/photos/backgrounds/art around me based on what I feel like looking at now; - working with a coach and talking to close friends - both emotional support and discussion of issues; - rereading favorite books many-many times; - quality and aesthetically pleasing tools and things - so I enjoy seeing and using them; - folders to categorize (photos, tabs, etc), clear (to me) category names.

Natasia Chan

Lately, I've been using brain.fm, an app/website that plays background music or sounds to elicite neural phase locking, to help me power through any kind of focus work. It's gotten so pavlovian that even putting the headphones seems to get my mind in gear. I use it even more now that they've integrated a pomodoro timer option. I also have a thing for using a round time table post it in my bullet journal/monthly planner. Whenever I feel at a loss for how to sort my tasks during the day, I use it to mark out my obligations to see what time of day I'm likely to get uninterrupted time to focus or to chart out errands where I need to account for travel time or anything that can fall through the cracks because they don't have a set start time, such as the time it takes to make dinner as opposed to when is dinner supposed to be served. Sometimes it's eye opening how little time I have for focus work. That's when I realize that what I want to get done isn't always physically possible.

Abigail Joffrain

Spare Keys! My number one "gotta have" for my ADHD. The amount of stress it relieves just knowing that if I can't find my keys, I can still do what I need to do, go get the kids, make it to work, whatever the immediate crisis is. Also hooks where I put things like my keys. I like hooks better than surfaces because the things are less likely to be hidden by putting something else on top of it. When I take my Girl Scout troop anywhere I also designate another adult as the keeper of my spare keys, so when I inevitably drop my set into one of the many bags of supplies I bring for the whole troop as we pack up to leave, we can still leave.

Jennifer Barnes

I really got two things out of reading Get Things Done: have a place where what is “true” is stored, and the daily review. I’m scattered across a million apps and notebooks of different bits of information, but setting aside 30 minutes a day to LOOK at all those places forces me to move stuff to where it belongs. I store stuff in OneNote (receipts, emails, copies of notes, when I use Rocket Book the images go there), and stuff that needs to be done goes in ToDoist. In both of those apps I try to write down where else stuff is, like an email convo I need to deal with, or what page in my physical notebook (which is sometimes a bullet journal and sometimes not) an idea is, or where in the house I put the supplies for a project. Galarms is my favorite alarm app. You can make a single alarm that goes off at different times. My Drink Water alarm goes off once an hour, and you can customize how frequent it goes off. And it looks like a To Do check box when you acknowledge the alarm so it stops going off. And you can organize alarms with tags and color coding! myNoise is the best background noise app I’ve found. It’s also a web app. Tons of different environment sounds, and you can make your own custom mixes. I like the Forest app for POMOs, it’s a nice visualization of time I did work. I go back and forth with Habitica, which is a gamified habit and task tracker. I wish it was more visual, I’ve realized that games with graphic trackers affected by game play are really motivating for me.

Evelyn Brylow

I have found the tutoring spaces at colleges really helpful, because I get to tutor and work with others on an assignment without having to set up a study session or get a study room

Tony

Meditation has helped me so much. I remember the first time I tried to just sit still and breathe for 5 minutes. I fidgeted, twitched, and winced, then peeked at the timer several times before finally giving up around 4:40. I wasn't very happy with myself initially, but I was eventually able to sit for over 30 minutes in a guided group meditation. Nowadays I try to find random moments throughout my day to stop, look around, and just be present for a moment. I'd like to say I meditate regularly, but I usually need some kind of motivation to sit down :P Deepak and Oprah do 28 day free meditations from time to time, and those have helped give me a feeling to try and embody, while also offering some thoughtful insights into life, and everything. :)

Heather Hendren

Right now it's a script and post it notes. Use of brili get me up and out on time. Making oatmeal alot of make ahead breakfast.