this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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ADHD

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[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Double speed audio.

I have real difficulty with listening to people speaking slowly. By the time they finish the sentence I have lost the start, so unless I actively hold their sentence until it is done I often lose meaning or misunderstand.

Listening at double speed allows me to keep up without losing what was said. I listen to audiobooks and podcasts while doing most chores and it has been a game changer.

[–] ArcRay@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not going through life alone. I dont necessarily mean you need a significant other. But someone who cares for you and is willing to help hold you accountable.

And TAKE NOTES!

I had a really great boss a while back. I was a team lead and he noticed that I'd have a hard time remembering things. Like, he'd give me 5 tasks to do, and I'd only remember 2 or 3 of them. I'd just space out, or my priorities would be fucked up. So he'd come back hours later "hey, did you do this thing yet?" "Oh, I forgot about that".

Eventually, he decided to "force" me to carry a little notebook and had me write the tasks down. He'd start talking to me about the things we needed to do and suddenly go "oh, you should write this down".

Now 10 years later, its a strong habit for me. Anytime I talk to someone at work, I bust out the notebook and just start taking notes. Then later in my office I'll consolidate the notes.

It's helped me out a ton. That boss giving me reminders and helping me to build the habit is one of the greatest skills he taught me. Thanks to him, my second marriage is much better because I can actually listen to my partner (yes, I take notes when my wife and I are talking about bills and plans and chores).

Between writing things down and having someone who would help give me reminders and feedback on my successes and failures, ive definitely grown so much more than I ever could alone.

[–] mrnarwall@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I can second that taking notes has been a life saver. I use Ms one note and being able to search through old notes I took to get context on current things has been a major life saver

[–] masto@lemmy.masto.community 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The part of my brain that needs to be interested in something to do it is actually very stupid and easily tricked. Sometimes when I’m stuck all I have to do is literally pretend I find the work engaging.

[–] lemmyhavesome@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Related, there's some evidence that forcing a smile can improve one's mood.

[–] cravl@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 weeks ago

Be the change you want to see in ~~the world~~ yourself.

Fake it 'till you ~~make it~~ feel it.

[–] Nefara@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Audiobooks have been an amazing hack for me to stay focused on every day household tasks. Listening to an interesting book engages my upper level thoughts (monkey mind) and makes things like folding laundry or dishes much more engaging. I still have a tendency to just fuck off when it's half done but I can keep in motion and stay in the groove and circle around again after doing other necessities.

Simply the act of writing something down, with an actual pen on actual paper, really does help with memory. I know it's a really common thing to suggest, especially in school and classes but I completely skipped it then and only started doing this in the past decade so it's new to me. I've noticed such a dramatic difference in my recall of things that I wrote down vs things that were said to me, even if I never look at the notepad again.

Also, I absolutely hate this, but having less free time. I have less free time now than I ever have before and I've been astonished at how much I've been getting done. Every day I have pressure to do as much as I possibly can within a small window of time and it's been great for my ADHD, but I resent it and grumble about it and wish it didn't work so well.

[–] greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 weeks ago

If you have pets and you feed them on a regular schedule, plan something you need to do for yourself at that time as well. They won't let you forget to feed them, they're going to be really annoying about it, and then you're already up so you might we well do the thing.

[–] greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Keeping a scrub daddy and shower cleaner in the shower. The only time I remember it's dirty is while I'm in there. Similarly, I keep a toothbrush in the shower and one on the sink. Same with floss. As well as a garbage can reachable from the shower so empty bottles don't sit in there for WEEKS.

Oh! I have see through glass jars in the bathroom for things like reusable face cloths, q tips etc. That's not the hack (but clear makes it easy to see), the hack is that the big one is full of cleaning rags so I don't have to go find something to clean with.

[–] WhichCrafter@mander.xyz 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I have a job working with teams to improve processes. I think a lot about waste and efficiencies, what end users will actually do or adopt, making things easier / faster, etc. Now I think about these things all the time in daily life, apply them to my ADHD, and iterate endlessly:

  • If I put a thing I need to do a thing I hate behind another thing, I'm guaranteed not to dig it out. Tetris the things so the limiting thing is easy to grab. I.e., watering can, vacuum
  • If I need a thing for multiple tasks or multiple locations and keeping misplacing the thing or not wanting to go get the thing, get more things and put them in all the places. I.e., gloves, sponges, tools
  • Figure out what I need to do the thing I don't want to do as efficiently as possible. I.e., Good sponges and scrubbers for dishes, vacuum that is easier to pull out/put away

Also, radical acceptance of the things that are limiters.

  • High sensory levels and distaste for dampness- gloves for dishes, gloves for gardening, gloves for cleaning
  • Not going to put all my clothes away consistently ever, design a dresser situation that supports clothes piling without blocking access to drawers
[–] masto@lemmy.masto.community 4 points 2 weeks ago

Hot damn do I love gloves. I bought a 5000-count case five years ago and I’m just about out of them. Turns out making it easier to touch icky things like the sink strainer was well worth the $50.

[–] Meeshall65@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Once i was in an executive position i hired people who are not afraid to oppose me, and who have abilities (like planning of sorts)that i lack.

This is how hiring should work. You hire people to do the things that you can’t. The managers who only hire people worse than themselves so they can one-up their own employees are super toxic.

The project manager for an engineering team doesn’t need to be the best engineer on the team. In fact, they shouldn’t be the best engineer, because then your best engineer is wasting their time with project management work. Some engineering experience will be helpful in communicating with the team, but the most important part is not that they’re a good engineer; They need to be a good project manager first.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Yukily@jlai.lu 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm in France and we still don't have amphetamines. We have methylphenidate.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I wish we had better :(

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

My kids do "the board", write a checklist for the morning on a whiteboard.

I use the heck out of the phone calendar, and set alarms in both home system and work computer to make me stop and focus.

A "we have food for" list on the refrigerator.

To some extent, just aligning my schedule to fit my better hours, which are in the afternoon. I don't go to work so early, because I'm kind of useless before lunch anyway.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I do what I call "productive procrastination".
I allow myself to procrastinate by doing something else instead that's also necessary to do.
Of course, "necessary" is a slippery term.
But what definitely doesn't fall under it is doom-scrolling, day-drinking and wikipedia rabbit holes.

This actually lets me be pretty productive throughout the day, as long as I have tasks I can push back endlessly.
Like, I haven't brought my finances and investments in proper order in over 10 years.
Which probably cost me a 5-digit amount in lost profit over that time frame.
But I'm fortunate enough to not feel it and accept things like this as my ADHD tax.
It would take a couple hours, but would involve decisions and it never becomes urgent.

[–] madgepickles@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

yes this is the way!

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I mainly struggle with the executive dysfunction part. I found that preparing anything at all helps, even just opening the document I need to write on another screen will mean that whenever my attention next detaches from whatever else I'm doing, I will automatically latch onto what I'm supposed to do as the next thing.

This is the only way I managed to make progress on my bachelor's thesis.

[–] greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

Ok but this is so smart! I'm gonna try this.

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 11 points 2 weeks ago

Loud, energizing music will calm you by feeding a steady stream of dopamine.

Sadly this is also why I can fall asleep at a party after a coffee.

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