Those of us with ADHD often create our own emergencies by putting task off. Believe me, this does not come from a place of judgement. It is a fact. And, frankly, correctly treating your ADHD with right medication, dosage, delivery system, and covering as many hours in the day as possible will dramatically affect your ability to do less preferred tasks before they are emergencies. But even with the best meds, we need to cultivate the right strategies to be able to not put things off.
I believe that all proactive behaviors start with the right mindset. Much is said about cultivating the “growth mindset.” I could not agree more with that concept. But I would add that it is important to adopt a “now” mindset also. Most ADHD folks ask themselves one question, “when is it due?” We are run by deadlines and the adrenaline fueled dopamine rush that allows us to perform in the face of them. Perhaps I’ll write more about this in my next post. But suffice to say that you leave yourself no room for error when you leave everything to the last minute. If you are always stretched and up to the last minute, it can get pretty bad when there is a real emergency on top of what’s already on your plate.
I ask my clients to at least try to change their perspective and ask, “can I do this now?” Even asking this question is a major paradigm shift. But, if executed, even partially, it will give you more of a cushion when things don’t go right and it will give you more and better down time to enjoy without feeling anxious about the things you have put off until “later.”
For example, say you have ordered something on Amazon that isn’t quite right. You have 30 day, sometimes 60 days, to return that item. But, why wait? It is actually more efficient to do the return process as soon as you make the decision about not keeping the item. There is no chance that you ‘forget’ and miss the deadline. The money returned is in your account right away, not accruing interest in an Amazon account somewhere. There is no pressure to get to the UPS store immediately to make the return. You can increase efficiency by scheduling it while doing another errand, later in the week, when it is convenient. The item will be easy to find in your account as one of the most recent things you ordered. If you need the box or bag it came in, you will still have it. And, you won’t have lost/misplaced the item itself or risk the item being damaged bouncing around your house for up to 60 day.
Sounds kind of crazy to put it off when I lay it out like that, right? Yet, we often put things that have no deadlines or distant deadlines off. Even when the putting off actively hurts us or makes more work for us in the long run. So, ask yourself, “can I do this now?” And if the answer is, “yes,” do it. And, if you really can’t get yourself to do things promptly on a regular basis, that could be a really good indication that your ADHD (and/or depression and/or anxiety) may not be as well managed as you think.
Standard disclaimer: When posting my thoughts here, I feel that content is far more important than perfection. I try to practice what I preach that ‘done’ is better than ‘not done…perfectly.’ So, unlike with my book, I don’t edit much, if at all. I hope you can look past any small imperfections and find the content useful.