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some (hopefully) helpful tips from a formerly exhausted adhd student

ADHDer here who has tried so many different methods (and medications) over the years. what works for me doesn’t always work for my friends who also have ADHD, which means it’s kind of a treasure hunt to figure out what works best for you. i especially struggled a lot with executive dysfunction in college and had trouble forgetting basic homework and turning in writing assignments days or weeks (and, once, two months) late. there are a lot of simple tips that non-ADHD people will try to give you that can potentially help, but it’s not a cure-all for executive dysfunction. the big ones are planners (i have like 3-5 planners/calendars and todo lists which can help me keep on track at my current job, but that hasn’t always worked for me) and “have better time management” (and of course they never expand on that supposed advice). i’ve been diagnosed with ADHD since i was 7 years old, so i’ve heard and tried it all… here’s what works for me now as someone who works 40 hours/week and when i was in school: • BREAK DOWN TASKS INTO SMALLER BITS. this is my #1 go-to for any work or assignments involving writing. outlining, Extremely Rough drafts that i can tinker for a few minutes at a time when i’m feeling motivated, messy bullet points and half-baked opening paragraph sentences. even if i’m scribbling stuff that won’t end up in the final product, but you’re getting your brain in the habit of thinking about and planning your writing earlier in the assignment process. • LETTING GO OF IDEAL PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFECTION. this is more of a personal tip, but i think some of my procrastination and executive dysfunction when it came to assignments came from anxiety around how i was expected to perform productivity in a neurotypical fashion and my own crippling anxiety around perfectionism. this may not apply to you, but i think it’s always helpful to remember that you do not have to adhere to society’s ideas about what productivity “should” look like. this is also why the tip of trying to manufacture urgency or deadlines doesn’t work for me. • PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BRAIN. learn what cues you to feel motivated. adjust your environment to incorporate those cues even more and reduce distractions or executive dysfunction. (for me, that includes having a clean workspace and some headphone or earbuds in even if nothing is playing. if i am playing something, it’s usually non-lyrical music at a low volume or a video essay i’ve already listened to 200+ times.) • TAKE A WALK. this is something that i started doing recently and i’ve found that it helps me feel more alert and my brain less muddled/unable to focus. • finally: TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. i definitely made my executive dysfunction worse in college by not eating well or—more specifically—not sleeping enough. speaking from experience, the psychological connection between your brain and body is critical in how effective these tips for dealing with executive dysfunction can be. this may not be as simple as you’re hoping for, but i do hope that this helps. ❤️

@eiza

Mar 23, 2025

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adhd brains are different, so they need different advice!

i relate to almost everything u said, i was unable to do anything until literally an hour before the due date. one thing i’ve learned over the years is that normal advice like “make a schedule” and “develop habits” do not work at all for adhd ppl, bc our brains are not made to do those things. this makes things difficult, but it doesn’t mean achieving our goals is impossible. here are some things that have helped me personally: - pomodoro method (there are timers on youtube). sitting down and actually timing myself has helped me a lot. also it helps me feel better with just how fast time goes by. working very hard and getting the notification that 15 minutes has passed, helps me to remember that sometimes small steps are easier than they feel like. - my therapist told me that instead of worrying so much about how much work i could be doing all the time, i should just work on it when i actually feel like doing it. so if i only have motivation an hour before, that’s when i would do it. the stress i used to feel a month before an assignment was due, significantly decreased bc of this new mindset, and it actually felt like my ability to do things increased. it’s not a good long term solution, but when ur in a tough spot, allowing urself to sacrifice some late time in order to not feel as much mental stress is worth it for ur mental health. - realizing that a lot of my motivation was based on what i thought would please others. i feel like this isn’t commonly talked about among ADHD circles, but once i learned about it, it kind of changed my life (fr). i realized that i couldn’t work the most productive way i could, if i was being watched or within someone‘s sight. i also procrastinate a lot in order to avoid being judged by others for how slow or disorganized i work. even then, procrastinating causes me to feel more judged by others bc im scared they are thinking im being lazy. so to avoid this, i try my best to work alone or ask someone to do parallel play instead of help me directly. however, i know some ppl benefit from the opposite, having someone around to keep them accountable. it all just comes down to personal preference. - making sure my needs are met. did i get enough sleep? have i eaten recently within the last 4 hrs? have i drank enough water? did i take my medicine? do i feel too overstimulated; if so, how can i change my environment? do i need headphones? do i need to wash my face or take a shower? do i need to change the lighting? is the temperature too hot or too cold? are my clothes too overwhelming / scratchy? these are some of the things that can keep me from working productively, so i have to keep track of these questions whenever i feel distracted. - don’t beat urself up. giving into shame and causing urself mental distress will only increase ur anxiety and make u more unable to work. remind urself that ur just now figuring urself out and u are trying ur best. plus, u have good intentions. ur just trying to figure out how to work better and more productively! i think thats all anyone can ask for. anyways i hope this helps maybe. everyone has a different way of getting things done, so not all things will help or apply to u (which doesnt mean something’s wrong with u, just that the advice wasn’t meant for u!). also seeking specifically adhd related forums / groups / blogs / youtube channels / etc. helps a lot when trying to find different types of advice other than “work harder” lol. good luck and u r not alone! 🫶🐛

@urbfbear

Mar 23, 2025

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Experiment and see what works for you

I’m not gonna get into my whole night routine but know that I am a mother of two young children and while that makes it harder to do some kind of wind down nightly ritual, it is not impossible. I will note that because of our work schedules, we are working during normal dinner time, so I make dinner in the afternoon and usually eat that big meal early and have more of a lunch kind of situation later. My projection is that everybody hates when I recommend meditation, but I recommend it because it actually works. You don’t have to do it for a long time, but doing a guided meditation for even five minutes can help Relax your mind and body. Yoga can be very meditative while also moving your body, so kind of a two birds one stone situation with that. I’m a big water person so a shower and bath will immediately relax me. Journaling at night has at time been very useful, or laying down and listening to an album. I actually just recently started using a sound machine that plays a thunderstorm because I felt it helped my 5 month old and we all like it. What is your day like that you are going to the point of exhaustion and then passing out? Are you not scheduling time outside of work to have to yourself? Are you psychologically emotionally avoiding feeling things so you don’t actually want to relax? A nightly ritual doesn’t have to be longer complicated, just different from what you’re doing the whole rest of the day. Building new habits and changing your routine is hard. Start small and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start by changing one thing and once you have that down, add in or take away something else.

@mossyelfie

Sep 8, 2024

Top Recs from @chickeninshoes

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going to the park

touching grass, blades between toes, dappled shade beneath the trees, reading a book or quietly painting or people-watching or picnicking with a friend...babes, there is nothing like it

@chickeninshoes

May 12, 2024

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im 30 and this is deep

This could change when I hit 40 (lmao), but the older I get, the more confident I know who I am. I feel more and more sure of myself, and less and less concerned with how others view me. My life is my own, and comparing it to other's is a disservice to myself and the path I'm now on. Do I still experience guilt, regrets, doubt? Of course I do. Do I know what I'm doing with my life? I might have less of a clue than I did in my twenties. Do I still feel like a weird little freak, like I did in my teens? Hell yeah, some stuff just never changes. I still enjoy things I loved as a child, like video games, Pokemon, stuffed animals, and giggling. I still enjoy things I loved as a teen, like pop punk music, being annoying, and singing whenever the mood strikes. I still enjoy things I loved in college, like dancing enthusiastically, writing amateurish poetry, and crushing on women who will never, ever be into me. But now I'm just...30. More health issues. More scars. More silvery hairs that sparkle in the sun like some vampiric trope made real. But also...more memories that sweeten with time. More time spent in awe and revelry. More reveling in the beauty of nature. More of my own innate nature revealed to me as I sit with myself more, alone. I feel thirty, flirty, and thriving. I also feel as a child, as a teen, as a drunken young adult, bumbling around without knowing if what I'm doing is right. I'm just doing my best. That's all you really can do; embrace how you are now, and how you are tomorrow, and again, and again, and again.

@chickeninshoes

May 13, 2024

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gina the tortie

she is cute and sleepy

@chickeninshoes

May 8, 2024