..is also known as how I know what I’ve done and what I need to be doing. This is an invaluable tool, and is something I’ve done in various forms ever since middle school. Back then, I’d make a homework list every day so I’d be sure to bring home the right books at night. My master task list system is a more complicated version of my old homework list.
I wouldn’t be an ADDer if I wasn’t preoccupied with HOW to organize my list.
Consequently, I actually have three “master” lists, listed here in the order of “used least” to “used most”:
- A small notebook for research ideas, since I know I won’t remember them for long. This travels to work and home in my backpack.
- A composition notebook for meetings. I prepare notes with my progress, questions, etc., before going into meetings with my supervisor. During our meetings, I tak
e notes about our decisions, future directions, and assignments. This is handy because all the notes are in one place, and a notebook tends to last for at least a year. If I ever forget when something was decided or the chain of decision-making altogether, I can just flip back through the book. This tends to stay at work during the week, but might come home on the weekend. I have a tendency to tuck active drafts into it whenever it comes home.
- A legal pad on my desk in which all big tasks are broken down into intermediate steps. I check things off as I do them, and add new tasks as needed. I start a new list each week, carrying over last weeks’ unfinished tasks and adding new ones for the week.
I also have a PDA, which I essentially treat like a paper calendar. It has the added benefit of alarms. I don’t use it for task lists because I find it too cumbersome & slow to add them, and I get annoyed with how the task items interface with my appointments calendar. Tasks only end up in the PDA if an alarm is necessary.
Most of the time this structure is sufficient to help me be productive most of the day. Instead of having to determine which tasks need to be done, prioritize them, and then stick to them, all I have to do is figure out what’s the top priority and get going. It’s certainly not foolproof. Sometimes it’s hard to stick to the list. I have to WANT to stick to it in order to do it. All bets are off if medication isn’t right or if there are big stressors.
Let me stress that what works for me won’t necessarily work for other academics with ADD. Others might benefit from just one of my three lists, or might require an additional one of their own. It’s all about finding what works for the individual and not getting caught up in the stimulation of setting up a new system.
This may be easier said than done, however. Last year I attended an Adult ADD group at my local psychiatric outpatient center. Based on the groups’ experiences, simplicity seems to be the most important factor in finding & sticking to an ADD-friendly life-organizing system. Group members who tried to implement more complicated systems generally became frustrated at some point of the process and gave up.
In particular, I recall that one member was determined to make his hand-held voice recorder “talk” to his computer’s calendar software so he could print a daily schedule each morning before work. In theory it sounded like a great, very ADD-friendly idea. Say it, transmit it to the computer at night, and print it. In a practical sense, however, it was a total nightmare because there were too many steps involved in making it work. It was relatively simple to set up the hardware and software. The big obstacle was training the user, as getting the appointments and notes in the right places required that he speak a type of computer code before the actual appointment entry (something like “Open calendar. New appointment. Monday, 30 July, 2007. 7 am to 8 am. Dentist appointment”). Miss a step and the entry didn’t make it into the calendar. He worked on this for almost a year before giving up in frustration.
The bottom line… an academic’s time is limited, and adding ADD into the mix makes it harder to productively use that limited amount of time. Keep your system simple, and it should help you stick with it.
2 responses so far ↓
chicagometallic // April 13, 2008 at 10:32 am
Simple but work
Pat // March 11, 2009 at 10:38 am
Just found your blog, looks great, thanks!