Too much to do? MAKE A LIST!

Professional organizers advise you to write it down. Make a list, they say.

Writing it down is the easy part.  Can my lists get everything accomplished…or do I need to get personally involved?  I’ve got way more to say on this subject, but am still making a list.  Before it gets too long, here’re some high points:

Keep your daily to-do list short and manageable.  

Set a reasonable expectation for what you can accomplish given the nature of the tasks and the time parameters of that particular day. 

This is NOT the time to write down all of the things that you have failed to accomplish for the past 6 months, nor what needs to get done 2 weeks from now.  Just TODAY.

This advice works for both adults and children.  Long-term projects ought to have already been broken down into smaller segments and dates designated for completion.  Depending on the grade level, perhaps the teacher provided a checklist for the class?  Factor in your child’s extra-curricular activity schedule and help him/her to understand that each academic deadline is the date of required completion and not a ‘nice-to-do’ target or start date.

This means that the CALENDAR date

for DOING the task is

BEFORE the assigned deadline.

For those uninitiated in the ADD world, this may seem obvious, but  it’s not so obvious to your ADD child.  For the ADD’er, time is either NOW or THEN. 

 Dr. Thomas Brown Ph.D. has written extensively about the Executive Function deficits associated with AD/HD.  Sorting, prioritizing, and sequencing various tasks challenges the ADD mind.  The inability to estimate time necessary (under or over) for accomplishing specific tasks gets in the way of planning.  The tendency to ignore realistic expectations of what can be accomplished makes it difficult to create a to-do list that is actually do-able within a particular time-frame.

The result is that the child or adult with AD/HD continually fails to achieve because they have failed to plan in a way that would promote success.

Keep the daily to-do list limited to no more than 5 things.  

Start each item on your to-do list with a verb,  suggest Judith Kolberg & Kathleen Nadeau in their book  ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life.  State an ACTION to get you going.  Write down only what you know is necessary and realistic to accomplish that day!  Put your list in sequential order.

Here’s an example of a short to-do list for your elementary-aged child for the time between school dismissal and soccer practice.

1.      Eat snack.

2.      Show Mom take-home folder.

3.      Put sticky notes on 3 facts for AZ Report

4.      Change into soccer uniform.

5.      Complete Math worksheet (15 minutes)

 It’s do-able, creates some routine, builds in time to get organized, and creates the mind-set to consider an expectation of what is reasonably necessary to accomplish in a given time period.  Remind them to cross off each task they have accomplished.  Not only is it a visual reminder, it’s such a great feeling to see progress!  Creating opportunities for success and praise is important for the child with ADD whose self-esteem takes a hit every time they get caught forgetting or not following-through with something.

Teaching them how to sort, prioritize, and sequence is possibly more  important than learning how to clean their room.  These are skills that you may take for granted, but once mastered, will serve the ADD’er well throughout a lifetime of school, employment, and roommates.

GTG…….oops, I almost forgot.

 Post Blog about Lists

~~Debbie