The original subject line I wrote for this email was "The 8 things that work when my brain hates me" but that felt a little aggressive (though true, lol). I don't know about you, but sometimes I get stuck, or my brain wants to go in 10 different directions. And that can make getting done what I need to get done...challenging, to say the least. Especially for someone who is *always* on deadline (always).

So here's a list of things that work for me and my ADHD, and maybe they'll work for you too (whether you have ADHD or not, but most of these are things that are shown to help people with ADHD in particular!)

These are in no particular order because they all work for me at different times, in different circumstances.

1. Find a body doubling (aka co-working) opportunity. Someone else typing away alongside you, even on a video call, tricks your brain into staying put and believing it's time to get stuff done.
2. Tidy your workspace, just enough that your brain isn't getting distracted by all the clutter. Those of us with ADHD love our piles, but those piles often also exacerbate our distractibility and we focus better with a tidier space. I actually combine this one with co-working and every Wednesday, I'm in a business co-working session and my first task to achieve is tidying my desk!
3. Listen to binaural music. Some brains thrive with an extra layer of sound to drown out the noisier layer underneath, allowing you to focus (Maybe binaural music doesn't work for you, find the music that does. For me, it's just about any music, but sometimes I do put on the Skyrim soundtrack and it puts me right into focus mode.)
4. Use a timer. Twenty minutes on, five off. The clock decides so you don't have to. An alternate of this if you're writing is to set a goal (like 100 words, or for me, 5% edited). Again, that small, incremental goal decides for you. It also goes hand-in-hand with gamifying.
5. Change your scenery when you stall. New chair, new room, new coffee shop. Sometimes you just need to shake up your brain by shaking up your environment.
6. Dictate instead of typing when you're stuck. Talking can bypass the distraction or difficulty of writing. Sometimes I dictate my edit letters because it feels "easier" than trying to find the words to type. Also, people with ADHD can do better with verbal processing (me, it's me, I'm a verbal processor and that's also why I record editing VIDEOS not just write edit letters for my clients).
7. Gamify it. Streaks, rewards, a dumb little chart, a bingo card. Our ADHD brains love little hits of dopamine. Sometimes I just say "if you get this deadline/stopping point done, you can do that xyz thing." (often the xyz thing is going to the thrift store so I get the extra dopamine hit of shopping lol).
8. Most important trick: Stop trying to follow someone else's rules for writing, whether that's how you write or what you write. The rules are always going to be written for a brain that's not yours (because we're not carbon copies or clones of each other).

That last one is really the only "rule" (we all know how I feel about writing "rules" lol): whatever gets you writing is the right method, even if it looks nothing like anyone else's.

~AJ
​
PS: not for nothing, but you can find body doubling (co-working), writing sprints and writing challenges/editing challenges (gamification) in the (free free free) Just Keep Writing community, along with accountability, support and more!
​
PPS: Do me a favor and click on today's sponsorship? For this ad, we get 3x what we normally get per click. You don't need to do anything but click, please and thank you!