Can ADHD Adults Be Productive When Everything Feels Urgent?

Description: Many ADHD adults rely on urgency to get stuff done. And, consequently, are often stressed. Use these tips, if you’re ready to change that. Key Takeaways: * ADHD adults often rely on urgency as a primary means of motivation. * Too much reliance an urgency to get started and follow through can be stressful. * The key is to diversify your motivators. * Doing more upfront thinking and organizing your environment can help reduce your reliance on urgency. Articles and Books: * How ADHD Adults Do Better by Doing Less * The ADHD Adult’s Guide to the Weekly Review * 7 Steps ADHD Adults Use to Be Productive Every Day * Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown Transcription: 00:00: Is it even possible for ADHD adults to choose what to do when everything feels so urgent? I think it is. You’ve tuned into Scattered, Focused, Done –  Re-imagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD, adults, like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills, to be able to get your central work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins. And I’m glad you decided to join me today on this journey to re-imagining productivity, with ADHD. So, you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else. 00:47: One of the things we often talk about in the online membership group is how adults with ADHD can better choose what to do when everything feels so urgent. In fact, recently, both in the forum and in the mastermind group members shared the following about this topic. And by the way, I did get their permission to share this with you. In any case, one member said: “I’ve often tried actually putting every goal and task and action item on the wall or the floor in an effort to help me better organize and prioritize and strategize. And every time I’ve gone through that sort of exercise, I’ve nonetheless ended up back at square. Overwhelmed self-critical unproductive, spinning my wheels.” Does that sound familiar? Another shared: “I struggle with either scheduling too much leading to stress and anxiety or not scheduling enough leading to not getting enough done” Because of the struggles illustrated by these two comments, adults with ADHD tend to over rely on urgency for motivation. Because, well, that’s what they’re used to doing to get things done. 02:05: But if you’re used to relying on urgency, I bet it causes you a lot of stress. One of the keys, in order to change this, is to diversify your motivators. But before we look at how you can do that, let’s look at why all tasks seem to have equal weight for ADHD adults. Some think the primary challenge for ADHD adults is not being able to pay attention. Consequently, the thinking goes, you’re doing task at the last minute, when you’re up against the wall. This, you and others may think, is the reason everything feels urgent. That’s just not true. The reality is that you pay attention to everything. In fact, your ADHD brain is constantly scanning the environment for stimulation. Whereas in the neuro-typical brain, the various areas of the brain work together. So that extraneous stimuli are not so distracting. But, because of your brain wiring,