Today’s entry is more of a personal thought. I basically wrote a book right before the pandemic. But it wasn’t quite long enough. It was about 85 pages on how to keep a bad ass to do list, task management for the ADHD brain. It is a topic near and dear to my heart. And I don’t ever write blog posts about it because it’s a system I’ve developed that I consider somewhat proprietary. I only share it with my clients.
While I was thinking about what to add to it to beef it up into book length, I got sick in the fall of 2019 and then the pandemic happened. At that point I had an anxious fifth grader into bipolar/dyslexic kindergarten. That went well.As a matter fact things have been a challenge on the homefront since then. You know this if you are a “constant reader.” (A term I have stolen from Stephen King.)
Originally, I was completely without resources. I had no time. Had no extra attention or executive function. I had no bandwidth. And my mood was in the toilet. Things have been up and down since. But I never felt like I had the time and the bandwidth to re-tackle this project. Which is a shame. Because writing this book is a lot of what I want to do and work towards in terms of professional fulfillment. I love writing this blog and I get great feedback from the 30 or so of you who get it and read it. Thanks! But got a lot to say. I wanted to get out there.Anyway, I realize at some point that what I had written in 2019 was so old that it would have to be completely scrapped. Also, those were the days of speech to type when you either bought Dragon or used the built in Google Doc tech. And, that tech really sucked. So, even before my first draft was obsolete, I was overwhelmed by the idea of having to edit it. Basically an impossible task. (I’m using Apple’s built-in talk to text on my iMac right now. A gazillion times better. I think I’ve only had to put my hands on the keyboard like three times so far.)
The only other time I thought about going back to work on the book was while I was at the APSARD ADHD conference in Orlando in January. I got super jacked up on the plane on the way down and started planning this grandiose book with all of my thoughts about ADHD. Got to the conference which was great but required sitting still and listening to doctors, scientists, epidemiologists talk about ADHD for 6 to 8 hours a day. No more bandwidth.
Now I take pride in creating killer systems to manage my ADHD and to constantly be reevaluating them so that things are always optimal. Life changes. Needs changes. Systems need updating. It took me quite a while to challenge the belief that it was an insurmountable task to rewrite this book. But I had an epiphany on Monday. Combined with the knowledge that speech to text is so much better, I realized that I teach my to do list system in a single 50 minute session to almost all of my clients. If you take that and the few other things that I wanted to add to the book to make it a little longer, I could unselfconsciously talk them to the computer in three hours. And I proudly declared that I am going to write a book this week!
I did, in fact, find that speaking in a linear enough manner to be a book actually took a lot longer than I thought. When I’m speaking to clients, if it’s a little more circular and a little less linear doesn’t really matter. If I don’t include parts to tailor it to the individual, it’s a little bit shorter. But I managed to format the book, not get hung up on the introduction, and voice type about a 10th of the book in an hour today.
As I like to practice what I preach, I am focusing on the fact that I had this epiphany. I’m not lamenting that I may could’ve had it earlier. And my instinct tells me that this was the right time anyway. I think the universe wanted me to start working on it now. Anyway, the build your systems. But also reassess them regularly. Don’t stand on assumptions, like I did. And if something is really important adopt a growth mindset and try to find ways to get it done instead of excuses to not get it done. Good luck! I look forward to reading all of your books. is, build your systems. But also reassess them regularly. Don’t stand on assumptions, like I did. And if something is really important adopt a growth mindset and try to find ways to get it done instead of excuses to not get it done. Good luck! I look forward to reading all of your books.