I don’t know about you, but I absolutely needed an entire month to recover from the craziness of the holidays. I should have given a heads up that there would be no posts in January, my apologies.

Before we head into the main event, I have…

A question to you, dear reader!

Have any of you tried diet changes to help with your neurodiversity, attention, or neurodivergent comorbidities? I would love to hear from you! This isn’t self-serving (although, maybe a tiny bit of it is), but I’d like to write an article on this in the future and would love to hear your story. Just reply back to this email or send an email to [email protected] so we can talk!

OK, off we go to talk about…

The Battle with Hyper-Focus

If you’ve ever felt absorbed by a single task to the point of losing hours and hours only to emerge feeling drained and overwhelmed, you’re not alone.

As someone who can easily slip into a double digit-hour workathon with nary a sip of water or a trip to the bathroom, I know the struggle.

I’ve experienced the thrill of intense focus and the subsequent exhaustion, only to recognize that I must find a way to balance my energy, attention, and self-care.

Embracing Time-Blocking

Time-blocking is more than a productivity hack; it’s a lifeline for those days when we either feel stuck in monotonous tasks or are drawn into the whirlpool of hyper-focus.

Enter FocusMate, my new best friend. I don’t remember how I stumbled upon FocusMate (no affiliation, btw), but it has worked absolute wonders for me. So far, it’s been free to use, but when I finally find gainful employment I will absolutely consider upgrading to a paid plan.

Here’s how it works. You schedule a virtual co-working session for a block of time to focus on your task(s) at hand. When you and the other person sign on, you might have a quick chit chat to discuss what each of your goals are, and then you simply start working on them. At the end the time block, you hear a chime and you might choose to do a quick checkin with the partner on how it went. And then you can take a break.

The beauty of this method is it’s employing the “body doubling” principle. If you don’t know what body doubling is, it’s been shown to help ADHDers stay focused when working alongside someone else who is also working. You can read more here.

Some other tactics that have helped me with time-blocking and remembering to do some self care:

An Analog Visual Timer: I have a visual timer (similar to this) with a loud ring when it goes off (I can hear it across the house!). I can use it as a pomodoro clock for chunking out larger projects, or as a simple way to break my hyperfocus and nudge me to hydrate, stretch, and recharge.

Scheduling calendar events for project work: If I have an important project or something I know will take me a chunk of time, I’ll schedule up to 3 hours right in my Google calendar. It helps me stay on track and mindful of my priorities. Scheduling breaks and lunches this way can also be useful.

4. The 5-Minute Rule for Unpleasant Tasks: Setting a timer for just five minutes allows me to tackle tasks I’ve been avoiding. Knowing there’s an end in sight keeps me motivated.

Respecting the Clock and Yourself

We all know our challenges are real, especially when an alarm is easy to ignore or when our ADHD convinces us we can conquer the world in a single day. I’ve learned to set multiple alarms and, more importantly, realistically plan my day with only a few achievable goals.

A Gentle Reminder

These techniques don’t work every time, nor for every person, but they’re tools that we can check out of the tool library in our brains, ready to assist us when we’re striving to stay on top of things. They’re not just about productivity; they’re about self-respect, self-awareness, and self-love.

To my fellow neurodivergent professionals, I hope you find value in these techniques, as I have. Time-blocking is not about constricting ourselves; it’s about creating space for our well-being and success, both at work and at home.

- Davida