Laurel’s Reviews > How to ADHD: An Insider's Guide to Working with Your Brain > Status Update

Hacks: write a shitty first draft. Even include silly or extra metaphors or frameworks just to get ideas out (Harry Potter metaphors?!)

“Resparklize”: sometimes need to make old system or task more interesting.

Strike while the iron is hot

Do what you can ahead of time. Wear workout clothes to sleep

Remove obstacles: keep barrier log to figure out where getting stuck

Invest in tools you enjoy using

“I find that if I do something faster than my brain can realize I’m doing it, then it’s like a cartoon. I might be missing motivation slats on my bridge, but I’m just walking on air and not looking down.”

I learned that ancient Greek has two different words for time: Kairos and Kronos. Kronos is where we get the word chronological and it refers to specific amounts of time like hours days, year… kairos is about an opportune time, about the conditions being right. an example of Kronos time is I go shopping on Monday afternoon. An example of kairos time is I go shopping when I run out of bananas.

But those of us with ADHD often forget about the set up and clean up part and only account for how long it’ll take to do the thing. When it comes to driving somewhere, for example, we might leave ourselves 15 minutes because that how long the map app says it will take. We don’t account for the time it takes to get to the car, get gas if necessary, find parking… or account at all for if something goes wrong.

Play has 3 parts: setup, the play itself and cleanup. The same is true for pretty much everything, from making dinner to holding a meeting.… Right? I didn’t know that either! Yeah, we have to get there, get our materials in order, notes ready, attend the meeting, then capture the follow up tasks, update people and process what we learned.

Those with ADHD tend to have a soft sense of time. Unless we are intentionally tracking it, we cannot tell how much time has passed. Or sense time passing as others can.