ADD ADHD Addessories

ADDessories, accessories for ADD ADHD

ADHD Rabbit Holes

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Being distracted easily is the number one symptom of ADHD. The, “Squirrel!” ADHD meme takes the easy distraction concept to its absurd end. However, it turns out that not just us ADD-ers get distracted online and fall into a never ending series of clicks, and opens, and reading.

My wife has started using the expression, “down that rabbit hole,” as a way to say, getting sidetracked by something that and taking a long amount of time to get all the way to the end of the path your original distraction sent you on. One of the keys to managing ADHD is seeing ADD rabbit holes before you venture too far down the path.

ADD Rabbit Holes

Examples are often better than descriptions. This particular article is actually one of my ADD rabbit holes (I’m supposed to be writing about IOT security). I figured I would minimize this particular distraction by trying to quickly document the rabbit holes my ADHD mind tries to send me on as I work.

  • Writing an article about ADHD rabbit holes
    • I prefer ADD to ADHD, but ADHD is the official acronym and ADD can be confused with add — like in math– so I should really just embrace the whole ADHD thing
    • Do I really not have an ADD vs ADHD article on this website to link to? — You know what I should write?
    • (OK, I’m back. I started a draft, wrote 383 words, and picked stock photography before I was able to pull myself back to THIS article, which is already a rabbit hole!)
  • I bet I could make better stock photography for rabbit holes…
  • Figuring out if my SSL WordPress plugin is really doing what it is supposed to
  • Figuring out why my AMP plugin throws off so many errors
    • Is it the Genesis WordPress theme?
    • If so, should I find a new WordPress theme
    • What about that webhost that does WordPress specifically…
  • Did I remember to hit publish on my Stash vs Acorns review article.
  • Are my free SSL certificates still working
    • Does it matter
  • I like this song. Maybe I would like this band… the Banners… or is it just this song? “Someone To You” — I should Sticky Note the name and listen to them later… or I could add them to a playlist…
  • Why does my PC STILL have Runtime Broker using up so much memory all the time… does it actually matter now that I’ve upgrade to SSD and my computer is plenty fast enough…
  • How to save an email to OneNote — just copy and paste it. You already know how to do that, and you can keep going…
  • I should add an ADHD Life category to this website…
  • I wonder if my opening a 529 article needs updated for the new year…
    • Geez. Nerdwallet really crushes the search rankings for finance terms… I should check out their site and see what they are doing…
  • WAIT! Where is that list of rabbit holes I was logging?

ADHD Distraction Rabbit Holes Continue!

How about this tweet from 3 days later?

When your ‘What Is Bitcoin’ article was written in 2015, and sorely needs updated, but that isn’t what you are doing today. NO DISTRACTIONS! (Wait, capital or not… let’s check the AP Stylebook…) -> What Is Bitcoin Is It Worth It? https://financegourmet.com/blog/personal-finance/bitcoin-worth/

twitter.com/ArcticLlama

Or how about Microsoft Edge asking for an update. A quick click and its done, except…

There are new themes you can use for Microsoft Edge. It won’t hurt to look at them… I wonder how they get put together… could I make make my own Microsoft Edge theme?…

microsoft edge themes

Yeah, it’s been 25 minutes. That’s not even a bad rabbit hole for me.

You can bet that I’ll come back and add more to this list of rabbit holes… probably when I’m on an important deadline and am supposed to be working on paying projects for a freelance client.

What are your rabbit holes? Do you have a better term for those distractions where the bottom seems to fall away from you?

(This article really needs a how to snap out of ADHD rabbit holes section, but I just snapped out of this rabbit hole after seeing the clock and panicking… I’ll be back…)

Interesting update for me: I recently got a Fitbit. It has this slightly irritating feature where 10 minutes before the hour it reminds you of how many steps you still need during that particular hour in order to reach 250 steps. It turns out this helps when you are down a rabbit hole. The buzzing on your wrist reminds you that there are only 10 minutes left in the hour, and you realize, you aren’t using the hour for the productive task you meant to be using the hour for.

I wonder if setting additional buzzers would work. The danger, as always, is that the ADHD mind will begin to ignore “usual” stimulus in favor of new stimulus…. BTW, learning how to set new buzzers and setting them up would be another rabbit hole, but fortunately, I saw that one coming.

Quick ADD Distraction Rabbit Holes Can Be the Most Dangerous

Back to work.

Except, I’m supposed to be writing an article about claiming the Education Credit on your taxes, but I noticed my WordPress theme needs updated.

  • I’ve been hacking the theme function with one change on every update.
  • I could do that again in minutes, but…
  • I’m really supposed to be doing a child theme…
  • I could do that in 30 minutes, but…
  • I could just redo what I have if I learned Elementor better…
  • Or I could wait for Gutenberg updates that are supposed to allow for similar functionality…
  • Wasn’t I going to try and join in the open source by chasing down some bugs in order to build skills, reputation, and maybe connect better with the WordPress community
  • Ahhhhhggggghhhhhhggghhh! (How do other people type the sound of falling for a long time… Ack! Another rabbit hole….)
  • Choosing a playlist for Spotify to block out the side of spouse’s zoom calls.
  • Switching to whitenoise generator… picking exact white noise I want….

More Rabbit Holes!

Oh, yes. With my ADD I fall into plenty of rabbit holes. The extra trouble I get in as an adult with ADHD is that sometimes the rabbit holes happen when I’m in “hyperfocus mode”. When you fall into a rabbit hole during hyper-focus with ADHD, it is tough to climb back up, mostly because you don’t even realize you’ve fallen. You are just focusing on the rabbit hole now.

  • Microsoft Clarity – it’s a new webmaster tool from Microsoft. It does some intriguing things like heatmaps and recordings of user sessions. I set it up for one website a few weeks ago and an email prompted me to check it out. I not only rabbit-holed looking at all the new data, I continued to rabbit hole by traipsing off to set it up on my other websites. — I’m SUPPOSED to be answering emails during this “brief break” in my online training. Gah! — Oh, and by the way, guess what would make a great article for my computing/business/marketing website? Microsoft Clarity! Into the notebook it goes.

Quickest and Easiest ADD Planner

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I’ve spent years trying to find the right planner to manage my ADD with. The right ADHD planner is tricky. It has to be featured enough to handle all the difficulties of planning with ADD, while not being something too easy to get lost in. Otherwise, your ADD planner just becomes one more thing that distracts you.

Easy ADD Planner for Quick Planning

Honestly, I’m starting to give up on the idea that I can manage my ADD life with a single planner. In order to handle everything, the planner ends up large and complex. Even worse, there typically is no good way for me to move things from long-term planning to short-term tasks, or to keep track of dreams and big plans, while at the same time ensuring that long-term necessities are not forgotten.

Sometimes you just need a really quick and easy way to plan for your ADHD life.

As someone who obsessively looks through the planners, journals, and notebooks every time I walk through an office supply store, bookstore, or stationary store, as well as browsing online stores, I think I may have finally found the easiest to use ADD planner.

Easiest ADD Planner

Obviously, the easiest ADD planner will, by virtue of being easy, leave out many overall planning needs. But, for a quick ADD planner that help keep track of your hectic life, this easy ADD planner is a great option.

Quickly optimize your week and to do list in one place with this easy planner.

This planner centers around a Weekly Planner page, which is typically my favorite way to handle tasks that need have specific date and time requirements like appointments and deadlines.

The weekly planning page has two columns, one with the traditional list of days of the week, and the second as a list style. Although it is preprinted with Goals, Priorities, and Notes as section headings, there is no reason you have to use them that way. Make a straight list, make notes about the following week, or whatever.

The best part is that as you finish each week, the page tears away. Transfer anything you need to the following week. Anything unimportant enough for you to not write on the following week goes away. It’s a self-cleaning planner.

On the facing page of the weekly planner are blank sheets that can be torn off separately from the planner pages. I like keeping my non-date specific lists over on this page. For example, I need to clean the gutters, but there is no reason that has to happen on Thursday, or even this week. So I can write it here, and if it takes a week or two to get around to it, I don’t feel the pressure of having written it on a specific date, but at the same time it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Sticky Note Reminders and Bookmarks

Finally, the sticky notes are a goldmine for organization.

When closed, the planner has a plain, non-distracting cover, that is a great place to put a sticky note with info that you need front and center without opening the planner. Whether it’s a note to remember your badge, or grab your tickets, or whatever, it will be right there in your face.

You can also put notes right where you need them. A note on the fridge to remember to use the leftovers, or one on the bathroom mirror to remember to fast for your blood test in the morning.

The tiny notes can be used to bookmark important things in this planner, or in other books, or journals. They also make great don’t forget notes, with their bright colors and small footprint.

There aren’t very many sticky notes, but you can always stick a fresh stock in the empty place when you run out.

Easy ADD Planner Value

The other great thing is that this simple ADD planner is cheap, unlike that big Moleskine planner, or Franklin Covey thing that you bought and never used (or maybe used the heck out of making it too big and unwieldy to be your quick ADD planner.)

Let me know if you find success with my pick for easiest ADD planner, or let me know what you use for your own quick ADD planning.

ADD ADHD What I Do Meme

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For those of you who spend a lot of time on the internet (and let’s face it, a lot of us with ADD do), you may have seen something called the “What I Do” meme. It’s basically an image, usually two rows of three columns with pictures depicting things like, “What my mom thinks I do,” and “What society thinks I do,” finally ending with “What I really do.”

Here is an example of one I found for writers:

What I Do Writer Meme

As you can see, the whole thing is a joke that pokes fun at both the perceptions of someone as well as actually poking fun at the person the meme is about. There are thousands of these things out there about just about any topic or profession you can think of. Ironically, a significant number of them show Moms thinking that the  person in question hangs out getting drunk. I’m not sure what that says about many professions and hobbies, or what it says about mothers, but that is not our topic for the day.

Someone sent me a What I Do – ADD / ADHD one of these. Now, before anyone goes crazy about how attention deficit disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is no laughing matter, let me remind you that

a) I have ADD

b) laughter is the best medicine

c) it’s a JOKE!

So without further ado, the What I Do ADD Joke Meme:

What I Do ADD ADHD Meme

By the way, I think this could be funny without using the cliche of getting lost in the middle of doing something. ADD isn’t really always like that, of course. Still there is some comedy gold in ADD and ADHD if you are willing to remember that your life is not only as full and rich as everyone else’s, it can also be just as funny as well 🙂

That being said, when I get some free time, I think I’ll punch out a few of these that are maybe just as funny, while being a bit more clever.

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ADD More Energy Less Tired

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People with ADD often take medical stimulants or other prescription medications to help control their ADHD symptoms. Ironically, adults with ADD often complain of being tired or having low energy. While the various ADD medications can alleviate some of these symptoms, thanks to their stimulating effect, many times the boost can be short lived. Furthermore, for those ADDers who are currently not taking any medication or looking for alternative, natural ADD treatments, the stimulant solution offers little help.

As regular readers of this ADD tips blog know, I’m not one to really go in for pseudo-science or even limited empirical evidence. On the other hand, when I find something that helps me, I like to pass it along, just in case it would help others as well. I’ve stumbled upon something that helps with my energy in the morning and throughout the day that I wanted to share. Keep in mind that this is something that works on my ADHD and may or may not work on yours, although there is no down side if it doesn’t.

More Energy from Nutrition

When it comes to attention deficit disorder, or any other medical condition, the one almost universal constant is that better diet and nutrition, and regular exercise is helpful. While not a cure, exercise and diet make almost anything better, from diabetes, to cancer symptoms, to yes, ADD/ADHD, better nutrition and healthful exercise are always beneficial.

There is a trick to better nutrition, however, Like most folks, when I think of eating better I think about all of the things I should STOP eating. However, real nutrition comes from not just reducing the amount of junk food you eat, but also from increasing the amount of healthy things you eat. It turns out that eating more healthy stuff is actually harder for me than cutting out things. That’s because I actively dislike many healthy foods.

Stop eating nachos? Well… OK, if I must.

Eat this bowl of spinach? Eww, yuck.

Recently, however, I stumbled upon a wonderful little trick that lets me not only eat better nutrition, but do it quickly and painlessly, first thing in the morning when my nutrition needs the biggest boost.

There is a book out there, actually two books, about increasing health by reducing inflammation in the digestive track. One is called Clean, and the other is Clean Diet, I believe. (I’ll do a quick write up about them in a subsequent post.) These books greatly overreach in my opinion. However, my wife wanted to try out some of the concepts, and being a supportive husband, who frankly could stand to be in better shape, I went along.

One of the main things you do with this diet plan is to make nutritious shakes. The basic shake consists of nutrient rich leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, and so on, some coconut or almond milk, combined with protein powder, some coconut oil (for taste and fat), and some fruit like bananas, apples or berries, along with a bit of ground flax seed.If you’re doing the math, you can see some pretty nice nutrition in this combination. You can also see that to actually eat this every day would not be fun. Eating it for breakfast would be even worse. But, by blending it into a shake, you can chug it down with your morning coffee.

Here is where it gets interesting. When I was doing this diet plan I never really thought much about it. However, when I stopped I noticed a sharp drop in my energy levels in the morning. These low energy levels are the reason I pound coffee like a camel gearing up for two weeks walking across the desert. (Camels drink a lot, right?) However, the energy is never really all the way there even if my mind is racing a bit. I always blamed my ADHD. After all, if it takes a boatload of Adderall to affect this brain, how much is coffee really going to help?

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As it turn out, I might just need a little more in the nutrition department. I tried just the shake, and blew off everything else from the diet and the energy returned. It’s gotten so I can actually feel the difference. I find that the secret ingredient is kale (specifically baby kale). While the shakes made with spinach and other greens are good, the ones with kale seem to be particularly effective. Experiment with your own combinations and see what works for you.

Healthy ADD Energy Shake Tips

  • Use plenty of liquid. The difference between a juicer and a blender is pulp. Unfortunately, when making these kinds of shakes, the pulp is all the good stuff. That means this drink will not be smooth or pulp free. I said it was easy, not that it was yummy. I don’t like these shakes per se, but for just a few minutes of effort, the result it worth it. The more liquid you use, the thinner, and more drinkable your shakes will be.
  • If you really don’t like the pulp, don’t use apples. Apples seem to resist blending the most of any fruit.
  • If you don’t like the taste, add bananas. Bananas flavor is apparently pretty powerful. Throw a banana in your shake and most of the taste will be banana.
  • Chug – this isn’t for pleasure. The taste isn’t phenomenal and the thickness isn’t fun either. But, if you chug your shake, you can be done with it in just a few seconds and go back to drinking your morning coffee.
  • You’ll need a decent blender. — The gold standard in blenders is the Vitamix. However, at around $400, that’s the same price as a new TV. While a different blender will be louder and maybe not as perfect, it will do just fine as long as it isn’t some $40 Target blender. I shelled out for a Ninja blender which means that there is something in my kitchen named Ninja, and it does a nice enough job whacking all of this nutrition together.

Try out the shake idea with your favorite recipes and let me know what you find works (or doesn’t) for you.

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