At the 2023 International Conference on ADHD, Alan P. Brown of ADD Crusher made a shocking confession. He does not wash his hands after going to the bathroom. Scandalous, I know! However, he further clarified that what he does after using the restroom is go to the kitchen and wash two dishes. By the end of the washing, he has clean hands and two clean dishes. This is silly, and that is why it works.

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to track all of those things you intend to do, it is commonly recommended to make what is known as a “to-do list.” Yes, it is necessary to create such a list, for those of us with ADHD have trouble remembering all we intend to do. Memory is not our friend. It is fickle, so it becomes imperative to externalize our intentions.

Equally important, however, is the need to make a list of those things you do not want to do or are not worth your time. Therefore, I say to you: Make a not-doing list.

The forgetfulness that comes along with ADHD can make traveling difficult. I used to resign myself to the fact that I would forget at least one thing on every trip. One day, though, I got frustrated with always forgetting something. I knew I needed a better system. I tried lists, but that only took me so far. Something was missing. Then I stumbled upon a game-changing system. I have been using it ever since.

Today’s blog post has to do with scheduling. Don’t run away yet! This blog makes the case for scheduling everything. It is truly helpful, and if you are not scheduling your to-do list items, this blog post will help explain why you should give it a shot.

I have a section on my weekly planning worksheet that says “Misc.” This is where to-do list items go when I do not have a specific day or time to do them. I might as well label this section, “Things I Am Not Going to Do.” Rarely do I do anything in that section. The bottom line is this: If I don’t schedule it, it’s not going to happen.

The ADHD brain can be fickle. ADHDers have trouble remembering things, especially in the short term. The old expression “in one ear and out the other” seems to apply to those of us with ADHD. The trick I have found is to find weird ways of remembering. I plan on sharing some weird ways to remember things in this blog post. I hope you find them helpful.

Those of us with ADHD have terrible working memories. One of the problems this causes for me (and I’m sure many other ADHDers) is remembering people’s names. I am terrible at remembering names. This causes me guilt when people who know my name say hello to me and use my name. I can remember their face and how I know them, but I have no idea what their name is. This is an area where I want to improve, so I did what any millennial would do. I googled how to remember names. This is what I found.