First on Your To-Do List...

"For those of us with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD), a little worry can quickly escalate to full-blown anxiety. When stress levels rise, we procrastinate, which only exacerbates ADD/ADHD symptoms. We become more forgetful, disorganized, and distracted." (Reduce Anxiety Naturally: Six tips for treating anxiety without medication, ADDitude Magazine)

I'm learning not to let things build up to the point of feeling overwhelmed because my brain can easily go off line if I do.  Then I'm no good to anyone.  One thing that has helped me get a handle on life is having a to-do list.  Here are some tips (some of which I learned the hard way):

• Keep all your tasks in one location.  (You may be tempted to jot down notes on scraps of paper, but fight the urge.  I use a Franklin-Covey planner, for my personal tasks and Outlook at work.)
• Break large/complex projects into bite-sized tasks.
• Consult your list throughout the day (Just because you wrote it down at 9 am doesn't mean you'll remember at 3 pm.  Don't "set it and forget it".)
• Be conservative with estimating how much you can accomplish each day. (It's disheartening to have 20 things listed and only 5 checked off.)
• There's nothing more satisfying than checking off or crossing out an item on your list.  Be proud of your accomplishment!

For more information about using to-do lists effectively, check out Tackling To-Do Lists with ADHD: Combat adult ADHD by using this time-management system to turn your stagnant to-do list into a daily action plan (ADDitude Magazine).

Train Up a Child

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)

We have a household filled with ADD tendencies, so it's no surprise that our house is usually less than immaculate.  That said, we've been making an effort to be more consistent about having our 6 year-old daughter take responsibility for certain age-appropriate chores. 

To encourage this, we've hung a chore chart in her room.  We tried using it many months ago, but when it was on my husband and I to be responsible, her task completion was seriously lacking.  Lately however, my husband upped the weekly goal, and she's been on top of things, exceeding that goal by competing against herself.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of her being more mature or us setting a challenging goal, but whatever the case, I'm certainly happy to see her becoming more responsible and independent.  Do you have any tips for how to get the whole family involved in keeping the house clean?  I'd love to hear them.  Please, leave a comment!

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

When I was in college, trying earnestly to plot out my future, I was shocked by the answer I received from my mother when I asked, "How did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up?"  She replied simply, "I still don't know."  I'd just assumed that my career-woman mom who seemed to have it all together must have had some master plan for achieving success.

Well, more than a decade later, I still couldn't tell you exactly what I want to be when I "grow up".  My resume definitely shows the marks of ADD (though I was undiagnosed until recently).  I've been a college professor, proposal writer, web designer, high school math teacher, and am currently a software engineer who is also an independent consultant for Thirty-One Gifts.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!

Whether you're an ADDer or not, statistics show that you're much more likely to change careers today than did generations past.  So, if you're considering a switch because of the bad economy or you're just looking for a new challenge, a great website I came across called My Plan (myplan.com) can be a useful tool in exploring your options.  It offers detailed descriptions of different careers (including any required training and salary ranges) and also has the following career assessments:

• Career Values Assessment (Measures your underlying needs and motivations) - FREE
• Career Personality Test
• Career Interest Inventory
• Career Skills Profiler

Give it a shot.  It may help point you in the direction!