Getting out the door in a reasonable time frame is a daily struggle for me. I keep wondering why it takes me an hour to get out of bed (even though I'm already wide awake). I chalked it up to just not being a morning person or not looking forward to going to work. But seeing our daughter struggle with getting ready really opened my eyes to the situation.
On days when we have a plan (the backpack is packed, lunches are made, and clothes are laid out), we "magically" leave on time. But honestly, on most days we just wing it. I find myself fussing every day, "Why can't we ever be on time? I hate being late!" Then I noticed that we were usually late for church too, so I couldn't figure out why my husband would decide to load/unload the dishwasher when we needed to be out the door in an hour. I didn't want to discourage him from voluntarily doing chores (yay for hubbies doing chores!), but that just didn't fit the routine.
Ding! A light bulb went off in my head. Routine! Two things ADD folks struggle with are getting distracted and misjudging how long tasks will take. I start to get pick out clothes for our daughter in the morning and notice clothes on the floor. I stop to put them away and notice one of my son's socks got mixed in with hers. I take it to his room and notice the trash needs to be emptied. I go to empty the trash and realize I need a new bag for the can. I... Well, you get the idea.
So, how in the world can I train myself to focus on one task at a time and stick to a routine? Write it down! For my daughter I made morning and bedtime routine checklists that I posted on the wall. For myself, I saw a suggestion to create a Control Journal -- a "personal manual for listing and keeping track of your routines." All you need to get started is a 1" binder and some paper. You build it one step at a time.
I'm going to give a shot and let you know how it goes. If you start seeing me show up on time to things, you'll know it's working!
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