Managing Yourself Towards Success

I have always had a challenge staying focused on one thing at a time. I was tested and diagnosed with ADD when I was 12, long before it became the norm that it is today.

While my ADD is still a daily challenge, I've worked hard to create ways for myself to be successful and avoid the issues that come with my ADD (mainly high anxiety and trouble remembering small items):

• Write it down! I still struggle with this, because everyone I know carries their laptops to and from meetings. I need to physically write things down in my work notebook to help commit them to memory.
• Take time to organize: Make a spreadsheet with project status. When the status changes, take time to change it in the spreadsheet. Small, 30 second tasks can help to avoid stress in the future when the status isn't correct and I can't remember what it is.
• Do it Immediately: When I have a thought or remember to do something, I either must write it down immediately or perform the task immediately...otherwise, it's lost, and I feel stressed trying to remember what I was going to do. This even counts for small things like remembering to take something with me to work the next day. Right when I think about it, I place it by my keys or my purse so I know I can't miss it. I also email myself notes, or set reminders for the evening so when I get home I remember to do it. By doing this, I also can move on to something else and not worry about forgetting it, because I know I've set a reminder.
  
• Don't avoid the big tasks: Doing all of the small things on your list first may feel good, but in the back of your head, you know what's still left to do, and the bigger the task, the more overwhelming it can feel by not getting it done right away. Even if there are multiple "big tasks" on the list, taking time to organize for them and get the balls rolling can really help to feel better about how big the items are.
  
• Keep a very small daily list of to-do's: While your main list may be very long, keeping a daily list of to-do's that is very short--one or two items only (and not the smallest ones!) can help motivate you because you're not so overwhelmed with the huge long list. Once those are done, the feeling of accomplishment helps motivate you to bring a couple more items on to the list, and so on.

These five items have really helped me to keep everything I do on the right track, and keep me from being overwhelmed and stressed.

Good luck!