It took me a long time to figure out I had ADHD. I guess that’s mostly because I also have depression, anxiety and complex PTSD, which all cause their own hurdles to a person’s train of thought. But long story short, once I figured out I probably had ADHD while working on my second degree in college, my therapist gave me a test. I had 90% of the markers. Taking the test was really just for concrete confirmation. The brain-buzzing, 10,000 random thoughts & connections, and complete inability to employ any kind of executive function basically gave it away!

I grew up in the 80’s. I never really knew the markers for ADHD, especially as we now know, how differently it presents in girls/women. I do remember almost every single one of my elementary teachers complaining to my mother that I “daydreamed too much,” “wouldn’t” focus, and so on. And just as with her own mental health, my mom did not want to “label” me by having me diagnosed with any type of learning disability. Furthermore, I mostly went to private schools, so they were on the same page with her. Private schools don’t have the same obligations as state schools do.

As you know if you follow me, I am primarily a writer of poetry. ADHD is not connected to the reason I started writing poetry, but it helps that poetry is my chosen form because poems are short pieces and it’s much easier for me to compose an effective piece of poetry than prose.

One of my biggest hurdles, however, has not much to do with the actual act of writing itself, but with achieving a mindset in which I find it possible to settle down, concentrate, and write! Stay with me. See if this describes you too.

I crave order & organization. I struggle to concentrate in messy, cluttered surroundings, yet I have to really make a point of being, and staying, organized! It definitely comes more naturally to throw things everywhere & create chaos before I’ve even realized it.

And since I struggle powerfully with executive function, it’s imperative that I keep things where I can find them, create lists and alarms so I can meet deadlines, and so forth. I also need to be able to outline and write articles like this one in a linear, readable way since blogging about overcoming my struggles is part of my ministry and mission.

Here’s a snapshot of some strategies & practices I’ve learned to put in place so I can both create and share.

Preliminaries…

• Take anxiety meds soon after getting up in the morning. I take Buspirone, and I’ve learned over time, if I take it first thing before my brain is fully awake and able to start firing like crazy, it takes a good bit of the edge off to start with.

• Do 10 minutes of yoga for focus. Make sure to take deep in-and-out breaths to the count of 4: “iiin-1-2-3-4, ouuut-1-2-3-4.”

• Pray. Dedicate the work of the day & the workings of my mind to the Lord. It takes a lot of pressure off of me right away if I can just leave all the loose ends to Him. And as we who struggle with it know, there’s nothing like pressure to shut our brain right down!
  
  
• Journal. It really helps me to clear my mind so I can focus on my writing,

The work space…

• This past year, I got myself a planner calendar (pictured above). I designated it for the sole purpose of keeping up with my professional writing and art – from events to pay schedules, revenue to resources, I’m keeping it all in there. My husband suffered a prolonged illness during which I cared for him until he recently passed away, so depression has also been a struggle for the past 3 years. That’s why I got this particular planner (pictured). It’s just irreverent enough, makes me laugh, and says “Eff you, depression, I am living my life and achieving my purpose. I will persevere despite you!”

• I’ve also adopted a practice that I’ve never heard of anyone else using, but I find it very helpful: I now create work logs for myself. These are working absolute *wonders* for me! I do still have to-do lists, but when I log the day’s activities as I do them, it helps with SO many things that lists do NOT. Here are a couple:

1) Like many people with ADHD, I struggle to get past overwhelm. It is the #1 cause of me freezing up & not being able to get anything done. A work log is encouraging vs. pressuring, because I can see what all I got done vs. what I did not do.

2) I have the worst memory and always have many projects going at the same time, so it helps me track what I did the next time I set up to write, vs. having to sit and think through it all again. I can simply review the work log from the last time I worked on that particular project and pick up where I left off!

• I create filing systems. My brain does not organize my projects, to-do list or goals at all. Everything is a jumble if I have to think it all through. So I find it incomparably helpful to have systems of organization that I can use externally. It saves a lot of time and energy. I’ve begun to file by the year, since I noticed that I frequently categorize projects, poems and activities in my mind according to the year they were done. It’s often the only fact that remains clear! Here are some of the filing systems I’ve put in place:

1) Make file folders. You can create these in a flash drive, in Google docs, or just when saving files to your desktop. For example, I have a folder for “Blog posts 2024,” “Wellbeing Wednesdays 2024” (which is a weekly post I do on social media) & “Poems 2024.” Customize according to your needs! J

  2) Use dates in the title of documents. I find helpful to use this format: 1.22.24 (Month in number form because it’s shorter than month in letter form. Day because who knows if I may need or want to know what day I originally wrote it at some point? End with year.) Just decide what works best for you, but the key is once you decide, stick with one basic format or you’ll never find anything! If I forget what format I started naming my files with, I simply go look at the last file saved and follow suit. But now I’ve done it the same way for so long that it has just become habit.

3) Use binders. – Label the spine and cover with general topic. I use binders only for certain things, such as organizing invoices & receipts, because for the most part I find the folders easy to grab and best for organizing smaller sections of things (such as separate poetry challenges I’ve been part of). And of course being small and flat, they are much easier to store!

I hope you’ve found this post helpful and gotten some ideas that will help you organize and make it easier to write productively, moving forward. What are some strategies you have you learned that help you get past your mental obstacles so you can write in a fulfilling, productive way? Please share them in the comments!

I am not a therapist. Everything I write is according to my own experiences. Take what you need! 💚