goingghost1876-blog

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How to Hack ADHD

I have ADHD, I’m going into my third year of college, at a good college, and have never been medicated. It is possible. I’m also not perfect. Here’s how it works:

Avoid anything that will make you discouraged and want to give up. Bullet journals are beautiful and work for many people, I am not one of those people, and just because something doesn’t work for you, doesn’t mean you aren’t working properly. This goes for classes, teachers, friends, study habits, and anything else that seems like it isn’t working for you. You are unique and your approach to your version of success will also probably be unique. 

Write your shit down. I like to have a paper planner, not a bullet journal for all my assignments. I write out every assignment as its given to me, on the day that it’s due. If the Holy Lord gives me a syllabus with every assignment and due date, it goes into the planner when I get the syllabus. I write tests in red or highlight them, and put a reminder about the test a week before in my paper planner. I cross things off as I do them. 

Get sleep. You can bullshit a lot more coherently if you’ve slept. 

Google Calendars! I have an event for each and every class. I have it already set to remind me to go to class. I have it show when I have an exam or paper due, so I know it isn’t a regular week when I check my calendar to see if I can hang out with friends. I like to use a separate calendar to schedule study times, weekly, or to time manage on a busy week. The clean layout and color coordination helps and is easy to change, unlike a bullet journal. Anyone with ADHD knows, things change. 

Schedule time to study and do homework. Don’t have the attitude that you will find time at the end of the day to do homework. Figure out when and where you work most effectively, sit yourself down, and commit to a time frame or amount of work to get done. For people with ADHD, I recommend picking a time frame to keep from becoming discouraged and giving up because it took 4 hours to do 20 pages of reading (that’s happened to me too many times to count). 

Schedule time for yourself. Its easy to get caught up and think you don’t deserve a break. Brain fatigue is a thing. Don’t feel pressured to study for 6 hours straight “like everyone else” because you aren’t them and they aren’t actually studying for 6 hours straight, it just looks like it. 

There’s this app called Forest. It’s $2 in the app store, but I find it extremely worth while. You “plant a tree” and if you leave the app, the tree dies. Its an incentive to focus for 10 minutes up to 2 hours. You get little coins when you grow the tree and you can get different trees, or save up to plant a real life tree and help the environment! All your trees are saved in a virtual forest where you can see all the time you’ve put in studying, working, or just being off your phone. I use this because I have a lot of trouble starting things I really hate. If I set the timer for 10 minutes to just start that paper I really don’t want to do, I have incentive to work for the 10 minutes (the tree), and I often am focused enough to keep going. This is recommended for anyone struggling to get started, but was one of the key things I’ve implemented since my diagnosis. 

Find classmates who are understanding of you and where you have setbacks. Too many times people have disregarded my right answer for wrong because it took me an extra minute to get there. Find people who are understanding and will work with you. You have valuable things to offer a group if that group is willing to wait the extra minute for you to get there (both to any group meeting and to the conclusion).