I can never remember, it’s so useful! I keep posting about doing more but feel needy, haha
I keep getting adds for this FLOWN Flocks: facilitated focus sessions
Often wondered whether just having some sort of DiS audio room could be nice for something like this, but I think the camera on nature of being seen allows some of us to feel like we can’t be seen to not be doing what we need to do, if that makes sense?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuNnRe2h2eI/?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ==
We keep the cameras off when we do them
I’m trying to find a better to do list / project management tool, as I have A LOT on again at the moment and was officially diagnosed with adhd a few weeks ago, just had my blood tests this morning to see if meds will be safe to try.
I often use Trello but having to constantly change the deadlines doesn’t really work for me, as I’ll just snooze something and then forget about it. Or not get a reminder for a few days and not get into the habit of using it as a solo project management tool - so much better for working on team stuff where it’s a daily task to get back to people.
I’ve been considering getting Motion but it feels quite expensive, but I like that if you don’t mark the task as complete, it’ll continue to keep adding it to your to do list. https://www.usemotion.com/
Just grabbed the Tiimo app which sounds promising for planning to dos. Has anyone used it? https://www.tiimoapp.com/
I watched a bunch of those Notion ‘second brand’ organiser things and have done a free trial of Spark AI email, which I thought was pretty decent (remembering to finish draft emails, that my brain thinks I’ve done because they were 90% complete is one of my recent issues)
What I really want is something that will turn my to do list into a playlist of tabs or something like that, so I can add stuff I need to do and skip things for later. Feels like Apple coulda/shoulda designed this already.
Anyway, curious what solutions you’ve found for planning and how you use your various project management tools.
I struggle so much with this (partly because I often find it hard focusing and so blame my to do list tool rather than actually addressing my focus BUT…)
I enjoyed using Sunsama for a while but always come back to Trello. I set my to do list up as a backlog (where I dump everything I have to do) and then have Monday - Friday as separate lists, and every morning I drag the cards onto that day’s list either from the backlog or from the previous day. Works reasonably well when I actually use it properly. Happy to share my board if that’s useful?
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Think this is known as eating the frog, isn’t it?
I have read so many things about getting organised, before realising it was potentially ADHD (then spent 3 years not having the exec function to book an actual appointment)
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This was how I did a lot of the video commissioning at BBC. Would have an epic list of all the upcoming projects, and slowly drop in video ideas, then script them, then comment on the edits, then mark as ready to post and have myself a column of content that was ready to schedule up.
I think I need to get better at breaking down trello tasks into much smaller chunks, I have a tendency of making a to do a project that will take 4 hours, rather than the 3 minute tasks all in fragments but then I also feel like ding the to do list is a big task in itself and just have a day planner where end of the day I handwrite 5 things to do tomorrow at the moment
My school reports shoulda been fed into AI. Consistent themes of the subjects I enjoyedI thrived in. Everything else I seemed smart enough in class but rubbish on paper. Literally never did homework and all my coursework was done the day before when adrenaline kicked in. Text book.
And here I am, putting off tasks chatting on here 
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Might hold off on replying until I’m not lying in bed in my pants playing Zelda because I’m feeling overwhelmed by the two (2) tasks I really need to do today 
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Yeah that’s one of the tricky parts I think - I tend to break down the tasks either within the trello card on a checklist or on a separate doc that I run with… but it can be challenging to find the right level for trello (and I manage a team of project managers so I should be way better at this)
Can’t wait for the ‘how do you do your to do list’ thread…
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Haven’t we had this recently, or was that somewhere else. I do mine thus:
Write down “write list” “wake up” “brush teeth” “have breakfast” etc, then when I don’t do any of the things I need reminding to do I can at least check off loads of stuff anyway
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fanks x
@sean this was the last time I went off on one about this:
https://community.drownedinsound.com/t/struggling-with-time-management/74102/9?u=epimer
tl;dr pretty much every productivity and organisational rules you’ll have internalised are by and for neurotypical brains. The best thing you can do for your well-being after an ADHD diagnosis is trying to unlearn all the shame that comes from not being able to implement all those bits of advice. Repeat after me: you haven’t failed, it was just the wrong advice for your neurotype.
I can only speak for myself, but the next best thing I did (and am still trying to do!) is to work with your brain and not against it. ADHD brains are not good at working consistently, so don’t beat yourself up if you have big swings in productivity throughout the day/week/forever. That’s how your brain works. You haven’t failed.
ADHD brains are driven by novelty, interest, and urgency. Not priority. If your brain doesn’t latch on to a task, there’s no convincing it otherwise. Rather than fight that, I instead use about three different project trackers (two Notion sheets, one spreadsheet), plus reminders in both Gmail and Google Calendar, plus Notes. I’m also about to fork out £many on a profession-specific deadline tracker because if I don’t have it and I fuck something up, my regulator is not going to be impressed by me explaining that I use the froggy icon in Notion to remind myself that this is an unpleasant task that needs doing anyway.
And then I just use whatever project tracker my brain can be arsed engaging with today. When it stops working, move on to the next one. Is that kind of bonkers? Yeah, but it works - leverage the craving for novelty and don’t expect yourself to be consistent. Your brain doesn’t work that way, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
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Took about 3 minutes to do both once I’d started on them, obviously
How do I not be a nervous wreck in a job interview
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Yep another member of constantly tired club. Life is basically stressful and tiring by default isn’t it. I don’t eat right or exercise probably but I still think laughter’s the best medicine for this.
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Idk if there is a way. When I interviewed for my current job I told them at the start that interviews make me very nervous and I’m likely to mix up words and mistype and whatnot, thinking that would take off some of the pressure and make me less nervous. Made me more nervous because they said is there anything we could do to make accomodations for you to make you feel less nervous and then I said I don’t think so and was worried I’d been a rude prick by saying that.
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Thank you, I needed to hear this.
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Flip the narrative. Of the hundreds of applicants, they’ve chosen you for their shortlist. They’re excited to meet you to see if you’re the person they need.
Having interviewed a fair few people for roles, it’s always tough as the shortlist is always going to be great people (often far more qualified than me in my case, as I didn’t go to uni and often interview people with masters or phds).
If you don’t get the job, it’s either because the perfect person turned up or because they got the job brief wrong, and realised when they started interviewing people.
You should really be turning up to see if the company is right for you. So many workplaces are toxic and figuring out if they’re poorly resourced, have a wonky structure (I didn’t get a job at a huge firm last year because I asked so much about their structure and why it was that way, that they realised I was far more of a strategist and they just wanted someone subservient)
They’ve whittled it down to you, so take that as a little confidence nudge and do whatever research you can into them, have a few questions prepared and remember you’re there to see if it’s the right opportunity for you too.
Hope that helps.
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It’s really interesting because Notion seems to hurt my brain. I just can’t get on with it, something about the UX just doesn’t click. And I find the process of filling in any spreadsheets really hard. But thank you. I’ll see if I can find a way to put a multitude of reminders. The annoying thing is I find notifications are a major jolt for my focus and attention, which makes sense the more I’m reading* about ADHD.
I’m also being added to the wait list for an autism assessment in NHS as I can’t afford to do that privately too (just spent my savings that I had to go on holiday 3 years ago that was cancelled due to lockdown and still haven’t been in holiday since)
*=ok, watching in YouTube, TikTok and Insta