Using your "ADHDar" every day

Pattern recognition and intuition can be a double-edged sword. Let's see if we can't wield it more effectively.

In commenting on a note from Jesse J. Anderson about ADHD today the term “ADHDar” came to mind. It’s that sense of something being up; that almost precognitive feeling we can get when one of our processing threads in our heads puts together the clues around us and gives us a heads up.

It can be frustrating at times, for example when watching a movie with us and we’ve already figured out what’s happening in the next three scenes or who the killer is. It can be confused with intelligence or acting like a “know-it-all” when we have answers that turn out to be right for no apparent reason.

So how do we put this facet of ADHD to use? First and foremost, not every ADHDar blip needs to be acted upon, but they do need to be acknowledged. If you try to ignore that mental beep, it will just keep getting louder and louder until it drowns out everything else.

I’ve taken to jotting down what it is, regardless of what it is, on my phone. The act of giving it a physical (technically digital, but who’s checking) form helps me close that loop. My brain says, “ok, you got that, now I can move on to the next 12 things.” Processing and managing those captures is an entirely different challenge and discussion, but let’s focus on one thing at a time.

You may be thinking, “but I don’t have ADHDar. Guess I can’t use this.” Au contraire; this approach can work for you as well. I’ve been practicing a method I refer to as the CPR approach to productivity and it is basic enough that I think most anyone could benefit from it’s steps. CPR refers to Capture-Process-Report and with capture being the first step you can put the strategy to use right away.

Decide on a way you will consistently be able to capture your thoughts. It doesn’t matter what the mechanism is…just that it is available, efficient, and reliable. You could send yourself a text, make a voice recording, jot down a note in a notebook, use a sticky note or index card, whatever you feel most comfortable with. Make it a routine when there is a thought running loose in your head and you’ll start to see benefits almost immediately.

If you’re an ADHDer, it will probably be harder to establish the routine. Likely also you will struggle with keeping with a single method of capture as we are easily bored and like the dopamine hit that comes from learning new tools and processes. This is why tools such as Notion are so popular with the ADHD community; opportunities to learn, tinker, and change, often at the expense of productive solutions.

For example, one of the common sinkholes in the approach is using multiple mechanisms for capturing your thoughts. You use an index card now, but then one isn’t handy, so you write the next thought on a notepad, but then you’re in the car so a voice message, and so on. The downfall comes in not only wrangling all these capture points, but even remembering we used them because object impermanence is a thing.

“You need a notebook” is a common thing we hear that rarely solves the challenges of ADHD, but this is the one case where having a capture tool with us at all times CAN make a difference. Since we are all carrying pocket supercomputers now, I recommend finding the simplest app possible to capture your thoughts. You can graduate to bigger and better later when you feel ready, but that basic capture tool is the place to begin.

In my specific case, I use Samsung Notes, which came with my phone, and works with the stylus on the phone. In one tool I can take handwritten notes, typed notes, or voice notes depending on the situation and know they’re all going to the same place. When my ADHDar blips, I can capture what I need and know it won’t be lost. It’s not organized, nor is it “process ready” but it’s not lost and that’s what matters.

ADHD is how our brain works. We’re not changing that anytime soon. By accepting, understanding, and adapting we can find ways to make our lives less stressful and more functional. There’s no magic wand here, just an acknowledgement that we process things differently than common wisdom and can use that to our advantage if we give ourselves a chance.