Create A Smooth Workflow

Simplifying your day with ADHD starts with smoothing out the "rough spots" that lead to overwhelm. By reducing friction in your routines and honoring your personal "why," you can create a gentle, sustainable workflow that protects your focus and makes daily tasks feel effortless.

Transcript

Create a smooth workflow. So I'm going to admit. I tend to be kind of impatient. I don't like wasting time. I don't like when things sort of get kind of messed up and there's extra steps and whatever. I mean, I'm not the worst. I can deal with it, Whatever. I'm a big boy. But I got to say, I really prefer it to sort of set things up so it's kind of pretty easy to roll through. So let's talk about how to do it and why that's important and helpful. Now, Part of the issue is that for anybody, Anytime you hit kind of like a rough patch or, You know, Like there's some bumper or whatever. It's more likely that we get sort of distracted or kind of knocked off onto something else. And, You know, Like I used this example a couple of videos ago, But I'll use it again of, You know, I don't know. This is like a common thing, But I was talking to a client about, You know, Whether he had ADHD and he talked about how, You know, It's that password reset thing, Right? He was supposed to do something on the bank website, Goes to do it, Doesn't have the new password, Clicks password reset, Goes into his email. The banquet email shows up he sees some other thing and then he's doing that and then he's doing another thing and he's doing right and it's just like if he'd had a password manager and been able to just like log in straight away no problem right so um If you tend to be more distractible, If you tend to be a bit more impulsive, If you tend to sort of like lose that flow of like, No, This is what I'm doing, It's more likely then that you're going to get bumped off. And then it's going to take you longer to kind of like come back around to do, You know, Back to the thing that you started with. So not only is this kind of a, You know, It gets in the way of getting like this thing done right here. The other issue with it is it also like if this happens enough, I don't know, Like you begin to sort of notice it and it contributes to that feeling of like. I don't really do this stuff I'm supposed to do, Right? It's sort of another place that you, You know, Got sort of knocked off and it's another thing to feel kind of frustrated about. So as much as possible then. Figure out how to streamline your processes, Right? The things that you do often and to minimize the transitions, Right? The going from this to this to this. The reason why this is important is if the thing that you need to do isn't that big a deal, Right? If you're like, All right, Yeah, Man, I could do that. It's a lot easier to talk yourself into starting it, Right? So you're less likely to procrastinate because the more kind of annoying or frustrating or awful it is, The more willpower it takes to make ourselves do something. There's also less willpower to kind of sustain doing it, Right? So not only start it, But hopefully to like finish it as well. And less likely to sort of get off task somewhere along the way. So. Take a moment and sort of think about it of like, How can you make the various things that you need to do, Like on some regular basis, How do you make them easier? Who are faster. Make things closer so there's fewer steps between here and there. Make them simpler so there's less to remember and it's just less cognitively demanding to do it. Maybe making it more predictable. Just in general, Fewer steps, Right? There's just less things that have to be done about it. Even if you just make it a little bit better, If it's a thing you do often enough. Kind of makes a big difference. It's sort of, I mean, This is like a dumb example, But, You know, I used to grind my, You know, I'd put coffee in the grinder and I'd grind it because it was easier to measure the amount of coffee I was putting in and whatever. I got to say, Like, Ever since I got rid of the grinder, I just bought ground coffee. It's amazing how like every morning it's just a little bit easier and then I don't have to worry about the grinder waking anybody up. It didn't like revolutionize my life, But like that little bit made it much easier to get through my morning routine. So look for those little places to kind of grab a little bit of like efficiency. In general, You know. I don't know, Change tends to come in small steps, Right? Most change is not like, You know, Revolutionary in the moment where there's this like sort of fundamental shift in what somebody is doing. So much as mostly when we change things, It's by making it a little bit better and a little bit and a little bit and a little bit, Right? And then that really begins to get you somewhere. Um, I think it's also important to, In terms of this, To not go like too far overboard, Right? Like I'm all in favor of being more efficient, But there comes a point where it's like, Okay, Good enough is good enough. Um, You know, There's also the issue of how much is this going to be functional and how much is this going to look good? And obviously people have different opinions and preferences about that. So, You know, If you're someone who likes keeping things out because that's your reminder system, Someone who likes things put away because it's stressful for them to have too many things out, Right? So how do you sort of balance that out? In this process, To really remind yourself as vividly as possible. Of why you're doing this, Right? Why are you kind of making these refinements? Why are you doing it this better way rather than these other ways? Because every time you use this better system is a little better than not using it. So for example, If you have one of these password managers, You know, It's tempting to just kind of click through and on some new website and not, You know, Load up your password or not, You know, Update this. It's like save the, You know, Updated password or whatever. And it's true it is easier except then next time and next time and next time you know then you need to mess with the password reset or whatever and it's just a headache you don't want to have So let's think how to put this to work. Identify a few of those small spaces, Like a few of those things that you do. Where you get kind of knocked off track, You know, Like what is the thing that kind of gets in your way of getting all the way from A to B to C to D, All the way done to Z? So where are a few of those rough spots and how do you smooth them over? Number two, Identify at least one pretty good workflow that you have that, You know, Maybe you can refine it to make it like a little bit better. Again, Not like fundamental ground shifting change, But just like a little bit better. And then finally. What can you tell yourself to make it more likely that you're going to continue to use these better systems, Right? In other words, To not talk yourself into like taking a bit of a shortcut, Right? How do you sort of remind yourself of the benefit? Really hold on to that in those moments that you're tempted to like do the easier thing and just kind of shoot ahead. So think about it. Let's see if you can make your life a little bit easier.