ADHD Planner: Why a Planner Can Keep You Grounded
If you have ADHD, you may have given up on staying coordinated and organized. Life is a lot harder when you’re always missing appointments and deadlines. Using an ADHD planner to keep track of your day can revolutionize your life. No matter how bad your ADHD is, there is now something you can do to find relief.
Keep reading to learn how to level up your concentration game with an ADHD planner.
How to Focus With ADHD
ADHD is a condition characterized by distraction, forgetfulness, missed deadlines, and missed opportunities. It’s one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorders for children but also affects adults. Many adults who have trouble staying organized or think they have too much energy may have undiagnosed ADHD.
If you feel like you’re always letting yourself and others down, you might have ADHD. The most common symptoms of ADHD include daydreaming, forgetting meetings, losing things, being unable to sit still, and talking too much. People with ADHD also take unnecessary risks and have impulse control problems that can interfere with relationships.
There are three main ways ADHD manifests in your daily life: inattentive, hyperactive, and a combination of both.
Inattentive ADHD makes it hard to get organized or finish tasks. You may find it hard to pay attention to detail, or you pay so much attention to some details that you miss others.
Hyperactive ADHD looks like it sounds: You can’t sit still. Small children may run and jump and climb on everything. Adolescents and adults may feel restless and succumb to temptation with alarming regularity. People with hyperactive ADHD may interrupt others, take things without asking, and talk when inappropriate. They may even have more accidents and injuries than other people.
If you can learn to harness the power of your ADHD, you will unlock a powerful gift. ADHD often goes hand in hand with creativity, passion, and deep intelligence, even if others can’t see your gift.
An ADHD planner for adults may be the key to overcoming the workplace impact of ADHD and help you reach your full potential.
What is an ADHD Planner?
Planners exist for every type of person under the sun. No matter what your profession, interest, or personal situation, there are many planners that are made to target you. People with ADHD often find planners frustrating. They might simply wing it as they go through life. This is a mistake.
There are several powerful planners for adults with ADHD. If you find one that works for you, it may even help you refocus your mind. The key to ADHD planners is convenient reminders. Because people with ADHD are easily distracted, solutions focus on pop-ups, alarms, and other types of reminders that activate on a regular basis.
If you turn your planner into an ADHD habit tracker, you’ll be on your way to full control of your life. Immersing yourself in your ADHD planner is one of the most effective ways to go. The more of your life you can integrate into your organizational system, the easier it will be to get things done.
Even people without ADHD find enormous benefits from immersive planning. The best part is that once you get it set up and running, it can become second nature. People will be amazed at your organizational skills and productivity.
My favorite mobile app for ADHD is Simple Mind Pro. It’s a dynamic and powerful suite of tools that can help you get on top of your schedule and harness all of your energy.
ADHD Productivity Tools
There are so many apps and solutions available for people with ADHD that it can be hard to know where to begin. If you currently feel overwhelmed, I’d suggest you start with Remember the Milk. This app will help you create task lists with the option for subtasks. When you’re overwhelmed, it can be easier to focus on one little thing at a time. Due and Doist are two more reminder and list-based planners that are easy to set up and use. Clear Todos is an iPhone-only option for planning lists.
If you have to take many notes and keep track of web pages, pictures, and other multimedia, Evernote is an amazing solution. I use Evernote every day, and it’s been a game-changer. Not only do I keep all my notes in one place, but it’s searchable too. I can find things I wrote ten years ago without breaking a sweat.
Trello is a project-based app you can use with an entire team of people. It can help you manage a large group of contributors who aren’t always on the same page. Another team-planning option is Asana, and in addition to being highly rated, it’s free!
Many people with ADHD have tried the Pomodoro method for time management. Brain Focus is an app designed specifically with the Pomodoro method in mind and can take your planning to the next level.
Bear provides enhanced security for your planning system to help keep you safe, and it’s only available for iPhones. Productive is another iPhone-only option that is designed to create flexible and personalized routines that maximize your productivity.
Get Your ADHD Daily Planner Today
The best digital planner for ADHD is the one that works for you. Download and experiment with several of these apps. Does one app stand out to you as fun, easy, or really useful? Ask yourself what has worked for you in the past and which one of these apps is most likely to help you develop.
If digital solutions don’t work, you can always try the old-fashioned method of a physical planner. The Franklin Covey Planner is a tried and true method that has helped millions of professionals succeed.
I recommend you give each of these apps a try for a week until you find one that works for you. If you exhaust these options, branch out on your own and expand the search. A good planning system is key to reaching your goals.
As you develop your time management skills, you’ll discover a whole new world of productivity and success. Take five minutes download one right now, and start your journey to a more organized and fulfilling life.