You know exactly what you need and want to do.. but you never "feel like it" or have the mood/energy?

I've found making to-do lists helpful. I stick it on my door/desk and its there to remind me, also put a due-date by the task. Occasionaly i decide to do just one task, because even I can do that.. A little bit of mental effort and its done.. Then one more... one more the next day..
By the end of the week your list is done, if not the weekend is a great time to finish them all off.

How do you remember to make a todo list?

I really need to make lists, but another part of me believes I can just remember everything... that part wins out too often...

I'm trying to make specific days, where all I do is get things done. But that's usually a weekend day... and I get distracted by all the free time... thinking I'll eventually be able to get it done. And by the time I get rolling, so much time in the day is passed... that I either push it off to another day... or get only a fraction of it done.

You know exactly what you need and want to do.. but you never "feel like it" or have the mood/energy?

I've found making to-do lists helpful. I stick it on my door/desk and its there to remind me, also put a due-date by the task. Occasionaly i decide to do just one task, because even I can do that.. A little bit of mental effort and its done.. Then one more... one more the next day..
By the end of the week your list is done, if not the weekend is a great time to finish them all off.

That is a great habit to get into! Keep it up and I bet it will start to get a little easier. I didn't get diagnosed until I was 31 and had never made to do lists before. I'm still trying to make it a habit.

One other really good tip from a book I read called "Getting Things Done." There's actually lots of great tips in the book but they are VERY involved. This one in particular is simple and easy. If you have a task either in your mind or on your list or whatever, just think to yourself (or write it at the top of your list) - "Will it take less than two minutes?" If yes, then do it right now. I've started doing that and I know it helps me getting little things done that I would otherwise just forget to do.

I don't know what I'd do without my list(s). I started to make lists a long time ago. In the beginning, I found it to be a great stress reliever - because I'd have things pop into my head that I needed to do, and think "I've GOT to remember to do that...don't forget....don't forget" - but often, as soon as my mind was on to something else, I'd forget. Screwed a few (only a few?) things up because of that, and don't like the looks and comments from the NTs, "How in the world could you forget that?". So I was always worried about forgetting things.

So I started to write things down on lists, and felt relieved. Now, as soon as I think of something - "excuse me - I've got to go write that down before I forget", and I repeat it to myself until I get over to my post-it note memory bank for recording.

Anyhow, I'm ALL4 to-do lists. It also makes it much easier to move if you're overwhelmed by a large task. Just break the task down into small manageable parts and just do one thing at a time.

To-Do lists are great on the front end. But many ADD'ers ignore the list, forget to look at it, etc. Or else they actually "do" some things on the list, but sloppily (e.g., they study for an hour, but spend most of the time diverted by other things.)

Better to augment one or more to-do's with a specific outcome and time that it will be completed. And note to yourself that you will be the biggest piece of excrement on the planet if you don't finish the task to the specified quality level by the deadline. I mean actually say it to yourself or write it down. "If I don't complete this task by this hour, I will be absolutely the biggest piece of **** on the planet. Because it's a chicken**** task. If I can't do this, I deserve the title."

Because you will be. At least for the brief moment of self-induced shame. There will be no excuses. It's not that you couldn't do it. It was because you chose to do something else! You pathetic, time wasting slob! You flushed another irretrievable slice of time down the procrastination toilet where it will be carried off to the sea of dissolution. Where you will soon be rowing a boat in circles if you keep it up.

No one likes to called a piece of ****. Even by himself. So think like that. That'll get things done.

SteveM

P.S. I evaded being the "biggest schmuck" on the planet by a hair getting my Christmas tree down and the decorations put away before 5PM on a Saturday. Whew!!

I love lists. I have two diary's, a daily 'To Do Today' book, a calander and a white board on my fridge. If it wasn't for these things i'd probably stand in my kitchen and stare into space all day (or bob silently in the sea of dissolution.) The key AD/HD is creating strategies.
:)

I hate to-do lists. They stress me out, seeing all the stuff that has to be done... I rather do things as they come up. Get them out of the way.

I hate to do lists too, but they are a good way of keep an eye on what needs to be done. Making myself deadlines helps a bit, the pressure of it helps me focus, but not always - depends on how much interest I can manifest and that's the most important part for me. If I can create interest in my mind for any items I can get 'r done and do a good job of it!

I lose to do lists

I have to have lists to remind me where I put my lists and then it all ends up lost!I lose to do lists

This is probably borderline OCD but I use notebooks, in certain colors for certain things.

example:

yellow notebook in the kitchen is for grocery lists and writing lists of things to
do housework wise.

blue notebook by the computer is for finances and billing, and any websites I want to check out, or anything I find online that I want to jot down.

I have a green one for when I get a home redecorate bug up my bum.

two problems with this: keeping my budding artist children from doodling all over them and staying consistent with checking my notebooks. I'm fairly good with the yellow one. And I'm in the process of getting finances under my thumb and in a binder system. YAY ME!

That said, I do love my lists. lol

I also have a franklin covey planner that I'm desperately trying to incorporate into my life so I can get rid of my notebooks. slowly but surely, baby steps, etc. etc.

Lists are funny things. Sometimes I make a list and follow it, but it doesn't help with motivation.

Often, I'll look at an item and think, I really don't want to do that, and do something else, so I do accomplish something.

However, I can be looking right at an item and not see it. And that's if I can find the list in the first place. :p

This is probably borderline OCD but I use notebooks, in certain colors for certain things.


I've tried hundreds of things, but not this...I've never used colors for things. I think this might work GREAT for me. I'll stay in touch and let you know. ;)

I've tried hundreds of things, but not this...I've never used colors for things. I think this might work GREAT for me. I'll stay in touch and let you know. ;)


yay!! I hope it helps! I do use colors quite a bit. My dust rags are green, glass and mirror cloths: blue, kitchen cloths are white, all purpose are grey,
etc.

It seems weird to my mom, but is perfectly logical to me.

I make "to-do" lists. The problems is that by the time I checked it al already lost interest.

I do, but I can't stick to them, heh

Here is a variation on the "Will it take less than two minutes?" idea, for tasks that require more time.

"Work on it for five minutes and then you can quit."

Sometimes you just need to get over the hurdle of getting started.
Willing yourself to work for five minutes moves you from thinking about it to acting on it. It doesn't always work. If you are still unmotivated after five minutes then move on to something else.

Yeah, to-do lists are great. I have a huge pile of them under the junk mail on the table, which have never been to-done.

To-Do lists are great on the front end. But many ADD'ers ignore the list, forget to look at it, etc. Or else they actually "do" some things on the list, but sloppily (e.g., they study for an hour, but spend most of the time diverted by other things.)

That's me. I make lists almost every day. I rarely look at them again after I'm done writing them.

And note to yourself that you will be the biggest piece of excrement on the planet if you don't finish the task to the specified quality level by the deadline. I mean actually say it to yourself or write it down. "If I don't complete this task by this hour, I will be absolutely the biggest piece of **** on the planet. Because it's a chicken**** task. If I can't do this, I deserve the title."

I actually do something like that, sometimes. It doesn't help. Negative reinforcement seems to be the default but "If I actually complete this when I want to, I'll be the most awesome person ever, and I'll deserve the title" sounds better to me.

It's not that you couldn't do it. It was because you chose to do something else! You pathetic, time wasting slob!

:P I get your idea, and half of me believes that makes sense, but the other half of me is the one that spends all day trying as hard as it can to choose to not be a pathetic, time wasting slob for once, but it generally feels like it goes unheard.

I don't think lists do it for me as far as getting things done though. I think the reason I keep making them is just so that I can get my thoughts together, even for a second, and see them all in front of me. I might pick one and actually do it, or I might not, but either way if I ever look at the list again it looks foreign because I've forgotten how I was thinking when I wrote it.

ADD version of Irony.
In an earlier post I talked about a great book I bought called "Getting things done." Of all the self-help, professional organization, succeed, get your sh*t together books I have ever read, this one was by far the most practical and useful.

I read the book and got totally geeked about trying out all of the tips and tricks and implementing his organizational style into my every day life.

But once I got to the part where he gave the step by step instructions on HOW to get started and set everything up, I lost interest and never actually did it.

This might be good for a new or different post, but I wonder if the ADD has anything at all to do with my unwillingness to think that those self help books actually work. Because I can never actually see myself following through with the tasks and habits enough to make any sort of difference.

"Who Moved My Cheese?"
More like "Where in the Hell did I Leave My Cheese?"

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">I put the coffee maker on my night stand by the bed to help me get out of bed faster and wake up so I am not late. Doh! Now I just have to remember to fill it up before I go to bed.:rolleyes:

They need to make a pill you take at bed time and then 7 hours later metabolizes into a cup of coffee. That or they need to make an IV I can hook up to the coffee maker and set it with the alarm(the first alarm).........I better just go to bed earlier.
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I find that my to-do lists are usually kind of demoralizing. There's so much to do and sorta get down on myself when I don't get it done.

I love the *idea* of organizers and planners, and I even love to write stuff in them. But, I always end up losing them or forgetting to check them so it's kinda pointless.

God no wonder I'm unemployed.