Medication, caffeine in the morning, and some hard cardio in the evenings.
The medication helps overall but impacts my sleep quality, the caffeine makes the mornings easier and also makes me more tired in the afternoons, and the hard cardio makes my sleep quality way better plus makes the following day easier to do things as even though the medication helps it only helps so much.
Basically I hope on my bike (which has been converted to stationary) and drive my heart rate up for about a half hour
Edit: By caffeine in the morning I mean a cup of coffee
I drink caffeine in the morning, but I really need to stay away from it after that. If I drink coffee later on in the day (or just a lot in the morning) then I won't be able to get good sleep. If I don't get good sleep them I won't be able to concentrate.
Working out also really helps me fall asleep at night. I do some weight lifting during the day at work, and some cardio at night. I also don't try to force myself to get to sleep, I try to make sure that I will be tired by bed time by burning off any remaining energy during the evening so I'm tired when my alert to start winding down goes off.
But good sleep is absolutely the key. When I get bad sleep, especially consistently bad sleep I can't concentrate.
ADHD is becoming more understood as more studies are conducted, and more people get informed so they can get a diagnosis.
While you'll probably find that there are a lot of commonalities between people that have ADHD there are 3 main sub categories, and each individual who deals with it will be a little different from their fellow neurodivergent homies.
Enh, I dunno. I don't have a diagnosis and maybe I don't have ADHD. But a lot of the behavioral hacks people share here have been helpful to me, and it's nice to see other people struggling, and succeeding, against the same problems I face.
"Do not gatekeep or diagnose" is one of the rules here. This is not the place for "everyone does x, its not ADHD." The meme sub went further and spelled this out in unambiguous terms in their sticky because so many people do this.
I think it's that neuro-diverse people tend to gravitate towards each other, so this is probably survivor's bias. I definitely find that other people with ADHD are able to grab and hold my attention better than neuro-typical people and also they're more understanding and forgiving when I'm flaky, or too hyperactive, or whatever.
In philosophy there's a term "second order desire" which is "wanting to want" something. So, when you want ice cream it's a first order desire, you just want it. But when you want to eat healthily, it's often a desire for wellbeing, long-term goals, etc. Not a sudden urge for carrots.
The challenge for adhd is that second order desires aren't that motivating. When I'm in a sporadic fitness phase (seems to hit for a few weeks every few years) then I really want to exercise (first order desire). I'd rather do exercise than play on my phone or watch TV. But the rest of the time I want to want to do exercise (to be fit) and if I had a magic wand or a pill I could take I'd prefer that to the exercise, because it's not something I genuinely want for itself. But going for a walk somewhere beautiful, or going dancing with friends, are things I genuinely want to do, so are easy to achieve. And they have a byproduct of being some physical exercise.
A more subtle one. Get a bunch of bag clips (I used IKEA ones) then write the name of all the things you keep in the freezer (peas, sweetcorn, chips etc). You want 2 of each. Attach 1 to each bag in the freezer, open or closed. You also want a piece of string attached somewhere. When a bag is empty, put its clip on the string. Congratulations, you now have a shopping list. Once you restock, just attach the clips to the appropriate bags, before putting them away.
At least for my household, this seems to flow well. There are no hard steps, and an obvious flow to it. Unfortunately, I've yet to figure out how to extend it to canned food, but it works for any bagged foods (pasta etc)
I did this too, but it backfired horribly. I got like four packs of identical socks. But I guess two came from a different batch, because they feel different. So now I have to spend twice as much time pairing socks by feel, rather than simply being able to grab and go like I originally intended.
As someone who is in a similar place, the only piece of wisdom I have to offer is that it's okay. It's okay for life not to have some grand meaning or propose. It's okay to just keep finding things interesting for a while and then move on to other things. It's okay to not have a singular focus, even if it seems like everyone else does. That doesn't mean we can or even should, or that we never will. It's okay to be directionless, just so long as we keep moving somewhere -- even if sometimes that direction is backwards. I know how hollow and annoying platitudes are but it actually is about the journey and the quality of it, not the destination.
As difficult as mindfulness was for me to learn (and no, I'm not about to tell you to meditate), the one thing I couldn't help but take away from some teachings on the subject is that life is here, now, in this moment, and only here and now. And what grounds me in the present moment is to remember that I am basically a sentient meat robot, one that is carrying out its programming based on a 14-billion-year string of prior causes over which I had no control. Genetic, environmental, parental, developmental, and yes, even pathological factors that all conspired to lead me to this moment right now. I didn't plan to write this, I don't know what will happen once I have, and some of these words came as a surprise even to me as I wrote them. I don't know if it will mean anything to anyone, and it's fine if it doesn't. What I know is that I found a stranger's post interesting and relatable enough to spend a few minutes responding to it, and for a little while that gave me a sense of connection. Next I'll probably either upvote a meme, write a shitpost, or go to sleep.
Uh... No. This suggests that NTs act like drones, without any thought. Like they're sitting on the sofa, then they just get up, wander to the bathroom, brush their teeth, then get into bed and think "wow how did I get here hahaha what a habit, eh?"
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