Stick to your Schedule on Weekends

Weekends can be chaotic if you are not working. You can improve your weekends by sticking to a regular schedule for getting up and doing a few things to keep some structure to your day. Your week can go great and you can be on schedule all the time. However, when Saturday gets here those of us with ADHD have a tendency to just want to have our freedom. We often like to just have the day open to do whatever we want without being on the clock. However, this is the surest way to lose the weekend and instead of coming back to work refreshed and ready for the week Monday often finds us drained and tired after getting nothing accomplished over the weekend.
A better strategy for the weekends is to keep a morning schedule for getting up and exercising. It is important to make sure you don't over sleep or miss out on your exercise because it will cut in to your relax time later in the day . I think it is always good to take some time to relax for a leisurely breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. However, put a time limit on the leisure and get started on something you have wanted to do for a while or take a family outing a set time. Schedule your afternoon rest time later in the day and set a time limit to whatever you would like, especially on Sunday so you don't feel you were "cheated" out of all the weekend rest time.

Keyless Locks to help the kids

I spent many days locked out of my house after school. I was always supposed to have a key but needless to say I would forget on occassion. Children can always be forgetfull, just like the rest of us, but ADHD can make normal childhood forgetting into a normal routine. It is the little things like remembering to take the house key that can cause a great deal of stress for kids and their families. The best solution ever is the keyless entry system for the doors in your house. Every home should have at least one door with a keyless entry lock system. Even if someone forgets the code a simple phone call can get them in the house easily. I first tried the keyless system when I moved into a new house that had a separate garage. I always wanted to keep the garage locked to protect my tools but I didn't want to always make sure I had a key every time I wanted to get in the back door. The keyless entry system was the perfect solution and allowed me to free myself from the frustration of trying keep a key on hand at all times.
Keyless entry systems are just one way we can help children with ADHD. It can be one less thing they have to think about which in turn will free their mind for more productive pursuits. Anyone with or with ADHD would enjoy the ease of securing their home without ever having to worry about being locked out. The codes can be changed easily at anytime for security or if you want to allow access to your home for some repair or service while you are gone. I would not be surprised to eventually see all new homes with keyless entry locks.

ADHD and time management

It has always been so easy for me to get side tracked when I am working. There are certain things that I maintain a very vigilant focus but it is still easy for me to preoccupied with another task once I leave my desk for break. If you are anything like me you often feel like you have two jobs. The first job is to do your job and do it will and the second is to make sure you constantly remind your self to get back to work so time does not vaporize. Setting time limits on your projects or your breaks can be a big help. Leaving your work for a few minutes is necessary to be at peak productivity but having ADHD may mean that leaving your work is the last time you see your work for the day. Pencil in break times if you have the option on the job and pencil in re-start times and then stick to your schedule. You will increase the amount you get done in the day and you will feel as though you accomplished more too. You will be able to get your work done while you work and your time after work will be more enjoyable knowing you accomplish all you could that day.

Practice your focus

ADHD is somewhat of a misleading term because many kids or adults with ADD or Adhd are not hyperactive. Often is it quite the contrary and the label hyperactivity disorder tends to complicate the definition of attention deficit. Even though it is more difficult for someone with ADHD to focus at times, significant improvement can be made by practicing your focus. Your ability to focus can improve just by the fact that you are paying attention. One way to help cope with these difficulties is to shorten your times needed to focus by taken breaks for set periods of time. It is important to be careful to not lose yourself on your break and forget about your homework.
Pay close attention when you are better able to pay attention and plan some of your more arduous chores accordingly. If you feel more focused in the morning, try to take some of that focus and put it to work on some homework for example.

Muli-task your way to better physical and mental health

As I said before exercise can be a bit boring. Anything that can be done to pass the time more quickly will be helpful in sticking to our regimine.

The stationary bike, sit down or regular, offers a chance to do many things while exercising. Here are a few ideas:
watch television
listen to music
read
write and do emails-I am writing as I ride my own stationary bike right now.
surf the web
send text messages,
relax
meditate
talk on the phone for work or for pleasure
I have even figured out a way to practice my guitar while on my stationary bike.

It just takes a little creativity and ingenuity to be able to enjoy any of these things while you ride your stationary bike.
If you can set your keyboard and screen up for use or your laptop you can have unlimited access to doing just about anything on your computer or the web. You could even get your mindless web surfer done for the day so you don't have to fall into that trap later.

Auto pilot for time management

It is extremely helpful if we can adjust our routine to become one of habit and make certain very important things become automatic in our day.
The one thing we can make automatic that will benefit our lives immediately is exercise. if you can stand doing it in the morning it will make everything you do during the day much easier. Even if you can't stand it in the morning it is worth a try. The positive effects on the rest of your day might make it easier for you to want to get your exercise done in the morning. However, I know that exercise can be only done at night by some people. If this is the case go ahead and make it part of your evening auto pilot routine.
Exercise can be a chore for anyone and adhd can make it an even greater challenge. The most difficult hurdle is just getting started. If you can start you likely can stick to it for enough time to get a benefit. The next challenge will be boredom. After about 10 or 15 minutes it could get extremely boring. I have some ideas on how to help the time go more quickly in my next post.

Structure and Routine

There is something about ADHD that may make it a bit harder to follow a schedule. There are things that can be done with our daily routine that can help us maintain a schedule without being "overloaded" with a MONSTER things do list. One of the best ways to aid in getting the most out of our days is to create a routine that you can eventually turn on to auto pilot. Most of us have routine for brushing our teeth and eating breakfast. I will list a few things in the next post that may be helpful in conquering time management.

ADHD Success Site

Anyone with ADD/ADHD knows that some things come easy and somethings come hard. Each individual is just that: An individual. Any one specific treatment likely will not be perfect for everyone. It is extremely important for parents to be more involved in helping their children learn ways to make dealing with ADD more of a team effort. Contrary to popular belief, treatment for ADD will not solve parenting issues. When a child is diagnosed with ADHD it can be used as a wake up call for all parents. Use the diagnosis for personal discovery and bonding of the family. Anyone who chooses do give the child a pill without looking deeper into their own history or current family dynamics is mistakenly misguided. It is like the phrase you break it you buy it. You made them, now you take care of them. It is not easy but rarely anything that is worth anything comes easily. This site will try to help individuals and families learn better ways to deal with ADD and family life. I am extremely hopeful that my experience growing up with ADHD and now living with ADHD as an adult can provide examples of how to be, have and do anything. There is no reason to think that ADHD is something that will hold you back. All of your are unique and ADHD is just one facet of your personality. You will eventually learn that ADHD often leads to high levels of personal success and achievement. All you have to do is take the time to learn about yourself and find your individual strengths.

Exercise and Fitness.

Exercise is one of the best things anyone can do for their mental health. It is especially important for anyone who has ADD. You can benefit tremendously by setting aside at least 1/2 hour each day for some type of aerobic exercise. Everyday is not too much for exercise of this type. You get many different benefits from getting your heart rate up and getting blood flowing to your brain.

If you just pencil exercise in on your schedule everyday it will help give structure to your day. Structure is nearly always a major issues for those with ADD. Most of us don't want it but if we don't purposefully set up a schedule the days will pass by and nothing seems to get accomplished.