Adult ADD

Everyone who has ADD needs to have the following:

• a to-do list
• a phone call list
• a shopping list
• a calendar
• an annual event list (birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, etc)
• a reminder system
• a way to keep track of emails you don’t have time to answer now but want to remember to answer later
• well, maybe everybody doesn’t need this one, but it can be helpful for some: send yourself a voice-to text-to email or text message via iPhone while you’re on the train, jogging, sitting in your car, etc

The To Do List

• It is best to keep this on a piece of paper or in a book.   Computers systems don’t work for most people.
• Put the date you started the page on the top of the page.
• One item per line on the list.  The item should say exactly what you want to do.  For example, not “call Martha” but “call Martha about agenda for meeting on Thursday”,  not “work out more” but “call Jack on Tuesday to set up date to run together on Mondays”.
• Each item is something that can be and will be done then checked off.  They cannot be general, like have birthday party.  The birthday party do do has to be broken down into specific items, each of which can be done within a relatively brief period of time.
• Make a check to the left of the item once it is done.
• At the end of each day, copy all to-do items you have have written on little scraps of paper during the day on to the to-do list and throw away the papers (unless you tend to make mistakes copying phone numbers, etc, in which case you can store the scraps out of view for a week or so then throw them away).
• Once the to-do list page gets filled, start a new page with the date on the top,  and copy all the undone items to it.

The Phone Call List

• This is similar to the to-do list but for many people it’s best to keep it on a separate page since for people who make a lot of calls, the phone call past gets filled up much more rapidly than the to-do list does and requires rewriting of to-do items each time you start a new page of phone calls to return.
• It’s a good idea to save the phone call list as sometimes you will want to call someone on the list and won’t have their number stored anywhere else.
• Once a to-do list page is filled, start a new page with the date on the top,  and copy all the undone items to it.  Save the old page in a folder.  Some day you will want to know something on it.

Shopping lists

• Make a shopping list for each store using one piece of paper for each, for example, one list for the food store (one for each store), one for the hardware store , one for department store,  one for gifts, etc.
• Many people keep these lists attached to their refrigerators by small magnets.  If there are personal items,  like birthday presents, surprises, or private items, you may want to give them innocent aliases.

Calendar

• This is one of the most difficult parts of the tool kit.  Calendars nowadays can be written or maintained electronically.  My experience is that written calendars work better but, for people with ADD, must be used in conjunction with an electronic reminder system.
• Appointments must be written down in your appointment book at the time they are made.  No matter how sure you are that you will remember it without writing it down, no matter how much you want to avoid inconveniencing someone by making them wait while you enter it, if you do not write it down immediately, there is a very good chance you will not be at the appointment at the time it is scheduled.
• However, even writing it down requires that you look at your calendar to be reminded of appointments.  That often does not work.  Thus the need for…

The Electronic Reminder System

• There are many electronic reminder systems (or Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs) on the market that vary in price and features.  I will describe one I use, the iPod. With all its features, is on the expensive side.  Very useful ones are available less expensively.
• Its features and uses are as follows:Each time you enter a date into your calendar, enter it also into your PDA.  Then ALWAYS enter a reminder (which dings at the time of the reminder) for the time or times you set it.  The iPod allows you to set two reminders for each appointment.  I set one 24 hours before hand and one an hour beforehand.  Sometimes I set the second one 5 minutes beforehand if it involves no preparation or travel.  The Android and Blackberry allow only one reminder per appointment.

A way to keep track of emails you don’t have time to answer now but want to remember to answer later

With GMail, you can

• define a label, such as “follow up” and add it to the label list.  (Click on Labels, Add, then add “follow up”.)
• Click on the box to the left of the email you want to follow up later
• Later, enter into the search box, “label: follow up”
• A list of  the emails you labeled “follow up” will appear on the screen
• Once you’ve followed up, you can remove the label by clicking on the box to the left of the email, clicking on Labels, then unchecking the label.
  

Talk into Your iPhone, Have It Convert What You Said Into Text, Then Email Yourself the Message

• One of the great features of the iPhone and possibly other PDAs that have both phone and dictating capabilities it the ability to send oneself an email reminder of an appointment or of an idea you had while away from home.  With the iPhone, you can download the Dragon System voice recording app.  Use it to record a file, like the details of an appointment you just made or a message to a your spouse or fellow worker.  Use it to write a novel. Use it to record a radio program in the car.  Once your message has been recorded, the system will convert it text that will appear on the screen.   Click an arrow on the screen to edit the text if needed then another arrow to send the file via text message (if it’s short) or via email.  If you choose email, you will be asked to select the person who is to get the email from your contacts list.  To speed up this last step when I’m sending myself the email, I have put a contact in my contact list whose name is “a” and assigned my own email address to “a”.  When prompted for the name to whom the email is to be sent, I enter the letter “a” into the “to” field.   “a” and my email address appears at the top of the list of email contacts that match “a”.  I click on it and send the email to myself.  It’s all pretty quick.
  This is great system for reminding yourself of …
  • appointments you have just made
  • wonderful ideas you had while walking down the street and don’t have paper and pencil or computer with you
  • You can also use it to write letters or documents and to get the text of lyrics of songs hear on the radio (this does not always work if the background music is too loud)

  It also works for sending quick messages to fellow workers or family members when you’re on the go.