Ahh, yes, living with ADHD – whether you’re new to your diagnosis, saw a video online that had you going, “Welp, that sounds like me,” or you’ve been long since diagnosed but are seemingly always struggling with just… living. Hopefully, we can help today.

We’ll skip “What is ADHD?” and go straight to, “Hey, that happens all the time; how do I fix it?!”  –  The fix? There is none, sorry, bud. However, there are things you can do that will help you live with your ADHD way better than whatever is happening right now. 

You gotta accept that you have ADHD. You’re probably like, duh, I know I have it; why else would I be reading a whole article on the subject? That’s fair, but not what I meant. Yeah, you know you have it—you probably even joke about it. But deep down, many of us fight it. I used to get frustrated every time my brain didn’t work the “normal” way. But once you accept that your brain is just wired differently—and that it’s okay—you start to appreciate how it works. That shift in mindset can make everyday life a lot easier.

Now, I’m not saying that it will magically allow you to do things as simple as wanting to shower or brush your teeth every single day. Even though I’m offering this advice, I still struggle with tasks like that.

But it does allow you to free up some space in an already cluttered mind to say, alright, let’s stop trying to function like a neurotypical “normal” person and function in a way that works for me, no matter how crazy the method. My motto is “There’s madness in my methods.” 

Speaking of methods, because I unfortunately can’t write a book using this article, I’ll give you some tips and tricks that work for me.

They call it Habit Stacking, but we call it “Brain-Tricking”. We have to trick ourselves into zoning out – Not thinking is a big help for small tasks. Because those with ADHD tend to focus on all the small steps, such as getting up, putting on shoes, and walking, just to complete a simple task like using the bathroom, not thinking about it helps.

Say you go to the washroom in the morning—after washing your hands, you can build muscle memory to trick your brain into thinking, “Since I’m here, I should brush my teeth.” It might be harder on days you’re staying in, but that’s the thing: with ADHD, 30 days don’t always make a habit. But tricking your brain? That’s totally doable.

Time Blindness is a real pain. What is that? You know when you have an assignment and think, “I have forever to get it done”? Then you rush at the last minute, but brush it off because “I do my best work last minute.” Yeah, no, that’s not gonna be sustainable for long. To counter time blindness, make a list of everything you need to do between the due date and now to see just how much of your time has already been spent. Include other assignments/tests, hanging out with friends, family stuff, and after-school activities. Visual reminders to show us that the last minute won’t always cut it will help in the long run.

Body doubling will be your best friend. Studying sucks, we can all agree on this. It’s hard to keep yourself focused and on track because everything is interesting when you want to avoid doing something you don’t want to do.

Find someone who won’t waste your time yapping and ask them to double you. If you have no one to double you, use a timer, lock yourself out of your socials or try my favourite hack; go into a public space and work under the pressure of knowing someone could be watching you, so you have to be productive.

Retaining information feels hard but rest assured, our memory doesn’t suck; it just doesn’t work the same as others. Writing and rewriting are key here when it comes to retaining information. Typing does very little, and reading or listening even less, unless it’s something we’re interested in. Also, keep in mind that working while overstimulated will yield nothing except a good tantrum.  ADHD folks tend to be more visual learners because our left hemisphere is in charge most of the time. This makes us great for creative problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking.

Guilt will hinder your progress in life. Don’t feel bad about not making your bed, putting laundry away or lying down knowing you have things to do. It’s ok to ride out the dysfunction. Once the critical pending tasks are done, you’ve got plenty to be proud of! Guilt is a huge thing for those with ADHD; the moment you let it consume your thoughts, you’ll get nothing done, and it will only lead to that same guilt accompanied by its BFFs, anxiety and depression. Comparison is the thief of joy, even if you vs you.

The clothes on the chair will be there to haunt you later. Get the big stuff out of the way, and once you’re fed up enough, you’ll get to the small stuff.  As you grow into accepting your ADHD, you can find your systems; if you know you need to clean, invite someone over who you’d be ashamed to see your room in its current state.

Please note that these methods won’t always work for everything, so if you’ve just begun to accept your ADHD or are just learning to navigate you ADHD, I suggest trying one or two methods first and only for the essential things, and then you can try gradually implementing and tailoring them to your everyday life. Also, know that ADHD comes in all shapes and forms; perhaps the suggestions I’ve offered today won’t entirely work for you. This is because you could be more:

  • Hyper body and mind – adHd (ADHD)
  • Chill body, rampant mind – ADhD (ADD)

You could also have what I like to call a combo deal: ADHD and another neurotypical behaviour. For example, I have ADHD and Autism, but lower on the ’tism scale. So if one thing doesn’t work, don’t get frustrated for too long. If you ignore the “normal” way of doing things, you can eventually figure out how to navigate your brand of neurodivergent-ness.