Creating Healthy Habits with ADHD
Lack of focus, time management issues, absent-mindedness, disorganization, and chronic forgetfulness plague those with ADHD. These symptoms can impact your life in many negative ways. By taking one day at a time, one issue at a time, you can turn these around and create healthy habits to make your life a little easier.
It’s recommended to start with one small change at a time. Creating a habit will help you be more successful and will create a positive impact on your life. Typically, it takes anyone 90 days to form a habit, whether you have ADHD or not. Our brains like habits because they are efficient, when you automate common actions, you free up mental resources for other tasks.
“Learning new habits is hard for anyone, let alone people with ADHD,” Edward Hallowell, MD, says during the Distraction podcast, Tips to Adopt Healthy Habits and Create Positive Distractions. “It can seem like you’re sabotaging yourself, but you’re really not, you’re just reverting to the old habit.”
Dr. Hallowell offers suggestions to help you achieve your goals and be successful in areas of life that are important to you:
1- Do what you’re good at doing.
2- Delegate what you’re bad at to others, as often as possible.
3- Apply your energy to a creative outlet.
4- Get well enough organized to achieve your goals. The key here is “well enough.” That doesn’t mean you have to be very well organized, just well enough organized to achieve your goals.
5- Ask for and listen to advice from people you trust.
6- Make sure you maintain regular contact with a few close friends.
7- Go with your positive side. Even though you have a negative side, make decisions, and run your life from your positive side.
We would love to hear from you! Please share with us what good habits have you set for yourself that supports your goals in life? Or even makes your life a little easier? We’d love to know! Please comment below.
List of resources:
https://chadd.org/adhd-weekly/first-steps-to-building-habits-for-success/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3505409/
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-form-a-habit#psychology-behind-it
https://www.distractionpodcast.com/2016/08/29/healthy-habits-positive-distractions/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIpzOiCHZng