Quick disclaimer up top,
This is not medical advice.
Done.
Done and done.
I've disclaimed.
All right.
However,
This is how I handle stuff.
This is how I teach.
And this is what we do in our community.
So it is tryable.
You can try this and see for yourself.
Keep what works and get rid of the rest.
In part one,
We did some initial triage.
We did the brain dump to help us get through the overwhelm of all the to do swirling in our head.
We got them out.
On our journey now to overcome this overwhelm and to end this task paralysis,
We're going to talk about prioritizing and doing something with that brain dump that we did earlier.
And if you need help with the brain dump,
Please go back and reference part one in this series.
Okay,
So now assuming you have a notebook and that it's filled with your overwhelming 10,
000 to do items that you've been avoiding since you graduated high school.
Yes,
I'm being dramatic.
Maybe I'm not.
I don't know.
But my philosophy on these mega lists is that we want to interact with them as little as possible because they're nightmares and they never seem to get any smaller.
Through it together line item by line item.
A lot of this work is easier when we have a body double.
So I will be your body double right now.
I say this a lot.
ADHD,
It's a team sport.
Let's be teammates and this is how we win at this.
So we're going to do a first pass on your massive list.
The first is to go line by line and determine yes or no.
Will something bad happen to me if I don't do this today?
You'll get fired.
You'll lose a lot of money.
This is open to interpretation and many of us adults with ADHD,
We can justify a lot of things needing to be done today.
That's why our daily to do list is like 20 items long because it's all important and we got to get it all done today.
So let's really scrutinize it.
Will you have an open wound if you don't do this thing?
Will somebody be annoyed at you?
That doesn't count in my books.
Has someone threatened to file for divorce if it doesn't happen today?
Okay.
Well,
We don't need to unpack that particular relationship issue,
But we're just identifying a true fire.
Something really bad happens,
Some true major consequence occurs if it's not done today.
Pick the kid up from school.
Okay,
That's a biggie.
You're going to want to do that one today,
If that was on your list.
Email Troy.
Yeah,
It keeps getting worse,
And we've been putting it off for weeks now,
But nothing bad happens if you don't email Troy today.
You'll live to email him tomorrow.
Okay,
So let's take two minutes.
Let's go through that list line by line.
This should be very quick.
It's a yes or no.
As you read each one off,
Put a little symbol next to each,
The ones that have to happen today and go ahead and push pause and I'll see you when you're done.
Okay,
Welcome back.
You've identified your fires.
There should not be more than three or four max true fires,
Like true emergencies that must be done today.
If you've got more than push pause,
Really ask yourself,
What's the bad thing that happens today?
Pause it now.
And go forward again,
Okay?
And by now,
You are down to three to four to-dos that must be done today,
Okay?
Uh,
Now what about everything else?
Okay.
All those other important things that we got to get to,
Cause it's all so overwhelming.
We will absolutely get to them,
But first.
I want you to handle the fires.
Go take care of all those things that have to happen today.
Prioritizing further is not more important than your fires.
So I encourage you to go deal with those fires.
And that will complete part two.
When you're done with all the fires,
Come on back and let's do the next steps in part three.
One thing at a time.
This is how we make ADHD a little bit easier.
Good luck.
Thanks for being on my team and I'll talk to you soon.
