When you are planning your day, are you ambitious in your expectations?

Do you believe you will get more done than humanly possible?

Then, at the end of the day, do you feel bad about yourself for not finishing everything?

You are not alone! Many ADDers do this.

It’s partly because:

1) You are an optimist and genuinely believe you will be able to do everything.
2) You have SO much you want / need to do, you plan to move mountains.
3) Time travels differently when you have ADD so it’s harder to know what is realistic in the time allowed.

However, constantly being disappointed in yourself is damaging to your self-confidence and self-esteem. Here are some suggestions to create do-able to-do lists:

1) Limit the number of things you plan to do, to what you can write on a post-it note or index card. If you have regular sized hand writing, that will be about 3-5 things.

2) By the side of each item, note how long it will take. If you don’t know, time yourself doing it 3 times and then, work out the average. This gives you a realistic idea of how long something takes and helps you plan in the future.

3) Schedule your day and to-dos in a day-time planner. How your day looks, influences how many things you will be able to cross off. A day with back-to-back meetings will leave you with less time than a day when you have none.

4) Take action first thing in the morning. When you cross one thing off, you get a shot of dopamine and this makes you want to get more things done; which makes for a very productive day!