I hope these tools and apps are helpful!! xTiles is my favorite right now and you can try out right now for free: xtiles.app/en?fp_ref=jessica - Thanks to xTiles for sponsoring this video.
I actually tried this software, and not gonna lie, it's kind of good... or at least the desktop version is, the app version on Android is pretty bad, but it still has promise, hope they fix the bugs.
One of my new favorite apps is Goblin Tools. It's a checklist style app that helps you break down what steps you need to do to finish said task. You can set just how detailed the breakdown list is as well so you can have one or two tasks or 20 or more to get the task done. It has really helped on those days when the overwhelm hits and everything seems hard. I am also coming to love Millanote for mind mapping. I started using it for costume projects but now use it for just about everything.
I would like to talk to you if you have the time. I am the Ambassador for the upcoming film/documentary "50 Years of Fantasy" the 50th anniversary of D&D and looking for Creators and Influencers in our community.
Quick critique, if you can't do everything you'd like to do with the free tiers of these apps, every one of them are SaaS (software as a service). A lot of people are starting to get tired of being nickel and dimed by every single product they use. If there are alternatives to these that you can just buy once and own or even open source or free options, I'd be way more interested in that.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I’ve noticed almost everything is on a subscription model now too…I’ll keep my eyes peeled for tools that aren’t and maybe do a video specific to those!
That is so true. I’ve found Chat GPT is worth the money though. The one big tip with that app is to tell it who it is. For example, the first thing you can say to it is “You are a highly successful logistics specialist in Australia who has experience working with people who have ADHD” and then ask it questions about how to move from Melbourne to Sydney. That way it knows what knowledge banks to draw from.
@Tuillyy seconded! Obsidian is great, especially if you like designing your own (and if you don't, people have shared templates). I just tweak my obsidian when I get bored and like magic keep using it.
Something I REALLY love about how you describe all these tools is by showing real use-cases, not just a bunch of blank boxes that say example example example. I can not only understand how these tools are helpful, but how they might work into my flow. Thank you!!
OMG THIS. The reason why I find it so hard to start with these apps or tools is because they don't give me any examples and I get overwhelmed trying to start from scratch so I never got very far with them 😅
@@san.tastic86yes! After Evernote nerfed their free version I was searching for a new note taking app. I know Notion is SUPER powerful, but I can't get past the "system design" hurdle to where I can actually use it as an EDC. I got Obsidian and I found it much simpler, but also much more approachable. I like how customizable it is, but only if you want it.
After decades of living with ADHD, I’ve finally admitted to myself that I do best with paper. I use a notebook to keep everything in one place and a paper calendar. I’ve started printing things out and keeping projects organized in their own binders. The visual organization makes so much more sense to my brain than any virtual system. Out of sight, out of mind.
I personally use the Finch app for tasks and productivity, when it's just a simple to-do list. Having a little finch bird that grows up and discovers the things of the world as you accomplish your goals just makes me wanna _do_ things.
@@HowtoADHD I used to use Finch for productivity but switched to using it for productive self care and it seems to work so much better. I have tasks that I can usually complete on good or bad days but they keep my space a bit cleaner, my body a bit healthier, and I'm motivated to avoid some bad habits. Self care is the number one thing I drop that makes everything else worse so the motivation of the little birb is great! I honestly think it's better to separate my work tasks, self care tasks, and house tasks in three different apps. It's probably not helpful for some people because it's semi-organized chaos, but I stop using apps if I use them for too many things and it took me forever to figure that out.
@@tiryaclearsong421 Absolutely, I mostly use it for self care and house care productivity. Work productivity I'm still looking for solutions on, hence why I came to this video. 😁
@@HowtoADHD It definitely brooks on this list as a fun engaging app for managing daily/weekly/monthly routines as well as to-do's. It's the only app that has worked for reminding me about things like vitamins and medications, booking appts, etc.
@@CavatinaProductions YEEES! Plus the saving up of diamonds to buy clothes and furniture makes me want to come back and do more stuff! Even if it’s just, “write in notebook,” or adding errands for that day alongside my daily habits!
I’m posting this comment before watching to the end of the video to recommend Goblin tools! It costs 0.99 cents, but there’s NO in app purchases and it honestly helps me a LOT. It’s mainly a list app, but it can also help you break down tasks to make them simpler, rewrite thoughts and ideas, and it generates recipes based on what you have in your fridge!
I’ve used them too. They’ve been helpful from time to time but I find ChatGPT’s “chattiness” is more helpful for me when it comes to bigger plans like moving house or renovations. Goblin Tools are good for smaller to medium sized ones like decluttering a room.
I haven't had much luck with the recipes part of it, but I loooove the "Formalizer", which is the bit you mention about rewriting thoughts. I use it while at work to rewrite my emails, because I tend to agonize over wording a lot. I just type in what I mean, and then I usually choose the "less snarky" option or the "more friendly" option, and it spits out something that sounds as polite/approachable as I was hoping for. It saves me so much time.
I just learned about this one at work! (I'm a therapist who works with lots of kids with ADHD and/or autism.) The coworker who recommended it themself has ADHD and uses it.
Content idea for you: making a budget. I have never made one (we won't mention how old I am LOL) but there are so many pieces to organize (along with self judgement to deal with) that my brain just runs from it.
I like YNAB. Been using for the past year. Has a bit of a sharp learning curve but once you're setup and comfortable it's really ADHD friendly. If you don't want to use the app (its a paid subscription) , just google "envelope budgeting" then do that in whatever way fits you best. It's the same process, YNAB just has a nicer work flow.
30? You must have just opened your browser. By the way, did you know that if you reach 100+ open tabs, it stops displaying a number and shows infinity instead? I've deleted several open tabs only to still have the infinity show.
Bullet Journaling has changed my life. The actual method, not the artsy versions. It’s so forgiving and it helps you to be productive and mindful to what you actually need or want to do, and living accordingly to your values. You can stop and start with no empty pages and… it’s ok to use it together with digital calendars and tools.
Curious how ur bullet journal system works? I found that i delayed using it as i was trying to do too many things… and my brain gets overwhelmed sometimes by blank pages like more structure helps me
@@DancingErica333I’ve used it for years in conjunction with a digital calendar. I sit down on Monday and map out my meetings and tasks. At the beginning of the week, I list out meetings and appts on the left page and my tasks on the right. At the bottom of the right page, i make an uncoming list block for meetings and tasks that are outside of my normal schedule that are coming up in the following week that I need to keep front of mind.
Re: making lists new and shiny, ice discovered the cheat code that if you like stationery, just use different pens when you start getting bored! It seriously feels broken with how useful it is. For example, I've been using a planner for THE ENTIRETY OF 2024 just by choosing 5-8 different pens per week as my "theme" and this is forreal bonkers for me to have managed. Also, taking notes for meetings, I'll often use one color for planning the meeting, another color for notes during the meeting, another for notes after the meeting, and another for writing v important tasks. It's killer y'all, would recommend
I've always loved office supplies, but only lately did I fully understand this. Always a pleasure to see one of my people 😊 I'm assuming you know about Jet Pens, but if not, check it out. Even if you don't buy anything from them, their web site is a peak rainy Sunday afternoon destination. Want to watch a guy talk about the different types of fountain pen nibs and try them on different papers? Well clear your schedule bc they have hours of video like this. And their sampler packs... and the Japanese student tools are so useful, I never realized how much a ruler could do, heh. Keep crushing it with your paper system, I'm just starting down that path myself!
Ahaha yeah I could see that…I definitely appreciate that Ayoa makes it quick & easy to rearrange them when I realize one branch should actually be part of another or w/e
I've had similar experiences! Ayoa seems really simple so I'm willing to give it a shot. I've found success with starting my mind map on paper then transferring when my page gets too crowded. This help me to keep the ideas free flowing at the outset and then easier to maintain digitally in the future. I've also found that digital whiteboarding is much more friendly to my thinking/presentation style as opposed to PowerPoint style slideshows. I know I digress but hopefully makes sense as a parallel to the mind mapping discussion!
I’ve used SimpleMind for this which has auto-arrange options that lay the map out for you. I’m not sure if it has a free version but it’s a one time purchase and not a subscription.
Regarding sleep, I think it's worth looking at recent findings that the timing of a meal or snack can have a strong influence on circadian rhythm. Not everyone can eat to a schedule, but when I was traveling long distances for work, I found that adjusting the time I ate gave me more traction in the fight against jet lag than trying to force my sleep schedule to shift.
Example rather than data here, but I had to do a hotel quarantine after a very long couple of flights during covid restrictions, and I got over jet-lag faster and more easily than ever before, and I put it down to having three hot meals a day at specific times, and no way of re-heating them, so I had to eat then and there or I’d go hungry. Theoretically I could have ordered something to be delivered to the hotel front desk but I really didn’t want to, because I hadn’t set up my bank account in this country fully (they required in-person ID); using my overseas bank-card was emergency only and I couldn’t justify it to myself. After this experience I have concluded that times meals will be something I will be trying again if I’m doing a similar length trip
For the distraction blocker, as far as I can tell Android phones have this capability inherently in their "Digital Wellbeing" tools and I have had people tell me iPhones do as well. On Android it's called Focus Mode and you can choose which apps you want to block during which times, which repeats daily. I started using it as a way to curb how much I was checking social media apps and it's been great! Like the app you described, there are ways to manually override it but it takes some steps. (You can either turn off focus mode completely or take short breaks for 5, 15, or 30 minutes.) You can also set daily limits for apps as far as amount of time to use them, which disables the app for the rest of the day once you hit uour time limit. (This is a separate feature under Digital Wellbeing but I forget what it is called.) From what I can tell once you hit the time there is no way to override it and have to wait until the next day. I've described these as like having parental controls for yourself! Just some tips for folks who might not want to buy or download more apps. 😊
If your time ran out, you can still use the app if you disable the timer or take the app out of the timer. It's a bad option because you'll need to set it back up again, which is why I don't like the way the "digital wellbeing" app timer works. I don't want a timer to count down how much time I have left to live-eee-I mean use my apps. Instead, I want it to make is harder for me to use it. Make me wait a minute or five before I can open TH-cam, make me go for a run before I can play a game, get me to set a timer and write out at least 100 characters on what I plan on doing in this session. If I have to exert myself - mentally or physically - I'll think twice about using the app. But if I am outright blocked out of the app and still want to use it, I'll just break down the wall and then it's not useful anymore, because setting it back up would take new effort.
Yeah, I've been using that to block out specific apps during particular times of the day. Opal does look interesting to me though, because it seems like it provides a bit more friction compared to being able to click "use for 5 minutes". Still, I've definitely found the Digital Wellbeing tools to be helpful.
I've been using Digital Wellbeing on my phone for a while with so-so success. The thing that has been a game changer for me has been ScreenZen. There are lots of customizations and the thing I like best is that it makes you wait before it opens apps you designate as "distracting". You can set it up so it can add additional time every time you open the app and you can limit how long the app stays open each time you open it. I definitely still catch myself using using distracting apps but not nearly as much or for as long.
Thank you for this channel. I'm in my 40s, and I recently started my treatment. It's life-changing, and your channel has been instrumental in getting me started!
So the thing is this: It would actually be really nice to have software support me in some of the usual daily challenges. However, it is very tedious to separate the good from the bad. There are a bunch of companies agressively pushing their apps at ADHD content viewers, and on top of that, ADHD content creators also get sponsored by some of these apps every now and then. To me, it feels too frustrating and tedious to filter through this mess and maybe find something that is worth being integrated into my routines. I wonder if other people feel similarly.
I think that's true, and one of the real downer consequences of adults with ADHD becoming a bigger online demographic is that they also become a marketing category! I definitely take any recommendations less seriously when the recommender is being sponsored. But having said that, even if there was no money in it, we'd still be sorting the good from the bad and trying to figure out whether these things integrate into our lives because what works for other people isn't necessarily going to work for us.
I recently started taking therapy and my third session in, he said he noticed my ADHD on day 1 but kept watching and now he's sending me to another doc to get on ADHD medicine and was surprised I have lived all these years without it. At my session yesterday he sent me one of your videos and it blew my mind how many things you said connected with me. I always knew I had ADHD but I never really knew what to do about it except masking - which I didn't know that is what I did all my life, I just tried to adjust to the world around me the best I could and much later in life found tiny little tips to help myself. Still to this day, I have not a single supportive person or even anyone trying to understand ADHD other than my therapist, but I'm trying to learn ways to not seek their support . I am going to start watching your backlog of videos so I can find ways to help me. Thank you for putting these videos together!
Right off the bat, you talking about mind mapping just leads me to one of the things I love to hype as a benefit of ADHD - because we don't think in sequential order we often come to solutions far more quickly than neurotypicals who are stuck thinking in "order" 🤩
App rec: Due, it's a to-do list that keeps reminding you. eg I have it remind me to take meds at 8am, if i dismiss it, it will remind me again in 1 or 5 min intervals until I actively choose to delay it with options, or just take the damn meds.
Is this on iOS only? I have a similar app specific to medication tracking and it's helped me so much, but having certain other tasks also be like this would be awesome! But I have a Samsung.
my biggest frustration with this subject is how many of these use subscriptions and like i understand that's kind of just how the market is now for a variety of reasons! but... i just miss being able to buy software and not have to worry about my situation.
I've tried checklists but for many things and it never worked. The idea to use ONE checklist to solve THE SAME problem EVERY DAY is actually awesome! I work at home so I frequently forget to take things when I go out. I'll try it! Thanks!
Ever since they made me make an indented outline for a term paper in 11th grade, it has helped me make sense of everything in the world so much - seeing what things fall under what things... LOVE
THANKS for your videos. My wife and I are 70 years old and yesterday we took several tests and questioners to see if I have ADHA. The questions my wife answered were for children and the parent. On my part of the test and questions it was not for older folks who are retired. There were no discussions about our situation. I filled out a form about my history online. I find this surprising that there is no questions for retired people.
I appreciated the callout of tools that you can drop and then come back to later; I've had my share of systems that I fell out of the habit of, and then felt like I was never able to pick back up again, because there was just so much of a mountain of effort needed to bring it "back into sync". (language learning/flashcards have been something I've habitually struggled with in this regard because of how much constant effort they needed!)
I was kinda hoping this list would include an app that takes your motivation to start tasks and gamifies it. Like, when you get trapped on the couch scrolling it’ll help you get up before two hours pass, or if you need to sit down and pay bills and instead you’re dawdling in the kitchen making tea and tidying the silverware drawer, it’ll reward you for just getting on with the bills. This is really what I need the most help with, since as a late-diagnosed 40-something I already have systems in place for my other ADHD challenges like weekly planning. I wonder how hard it is to make an app yourself….. (that’s such an ADHD thought 😂).
I use Habitica at the recommendation of my counselor. It gamifies daily tasks, to dos, and habits. It reminds me of the old 8 bit games. It helps my ADHD and anxiety.
I used Habitica for years but after getting to level 100 twice*, I got bored. (Don't join a party (or whatever they're called) for adventures that has a lot of high level characters in it. You'll earn eggs, gold, and levels so fast it becomes worthless. )
I still love Obsidian for combining a lot of these tools into one place. Their Canvas tool is so cool for visual storyboards. It's a good place for me to toss things that I'm thinking about but might not be ready to do and have a section of stuff I'm interested in now
I've been starting to explore Obsidian; I need to work on making it more of a tool, but I think it could be a great way for me to start storing stuff from my brain.
@@CarpeGuitarrem yeah, it can be overwhelming at first. I recommend starting simple with just using their notes feature. Keep the notes small and topic-based and then link them. Obsidian automatically creates a visual map of how your notes are linked to each other. That's helped me see how my ideas relate.
I found your discovering things in real-time very amusing. Like, you use the app one way and now that you have a reason to explore, you're finding new things during your recording lol!
Some tips of things that I use,: A - I have a home for my keys that is right next to the door and a particular pocket in my purse. B - I have a checklist for ongoing things on my iPhone. For example, groceries and you can check it off the list and then uncheck it when you need it again. C - I ask Siri to set an alarm / or set alarms for something that pops up as an urgent thing to do so that I can’t forget it. For some reason, I cannot figure out how to make my Google calendar actually notify me via an alarm, so I fine on most important things I need to set an alarm
Hey! Great ideas for helpful tools; I really like the mind map and the distraction blocker. One thing that really helped my daughter and me is timers. She has a very rigid timer app that has her study for 25 min and get a 5 min break, then every few breaks she gets a longer 15 min break (obviously, these can be set to whatever works for you). I actually use youtube videos as my timers, so I'll have music for about an hour, then I'll queue up a couple of 2-3 min videos, then have another longer music video. That way I don't fall down a rabbit hole of following links, but I still get break. Whatever the tool, timers have been game changing in our lives.
Great video. Consider adding time stamps! Mind mapping and 2nd Brain are so clutch. My personal addition to this list would be YNAB for budgeting. It took me FOREVER to start being more disciplined about using it, but huge difference when I started using for real.
I’m a fan of Todoist for the “need a checklist” category because I can type things in sentence format and it makes them into scheduled to do list items. So I can type “replace tape every week until December 10” or “water plants tomorrow morning” and it understands me. Also integrates with google calendar & Apple Watch. There’s also pretty sophisticated project management stuff in it but my life isn’t that complex currently!
Love xTiles! Have been using since this video. It is not complicated as Notion and I can create different 'projects' to keep things separate! There is a premium version which I might need soon but for now I am super excited. This is everything I needed (personal and for work)
NOTABILITY! My eldest, who has ADHD, too, uses it at school, and it was a game changer. You can import PDFs or images directly into the document and annotate it in class. You can take notes, draw pictures, lot of things. I use it when planning projects or when taking workshops.
The fact that these are subscription based apps instantly makes them useless to me. Subscriptions are one of the least ADHD friendly things. If an app designed for ADHD people actually wants to be ADHD friendly, IMO it will be either genuinely free (ad free) or it will have a small reasonable one time payment.
I find Due very useful for checklist purposes. You can set it to be able to snooze something indefinitely, so that eventually an impossible task becomes more annoying to keep snoozing than to do (even if it takes a month or more).
I use the Reminders app on my iPhone like mad crazy. Through my Wople Watch, I just say “Hey, Siri, remind me to do [this] in 5 minutes”. (Right now my Watch is being fixed on, won’t return for a few days, omg it’s hard to recall anything 😭😭😭) It’s a lifesaver. If this was 20 years ago, I’d be using so many sticky notes, my desk would be covered in them 😅
I use Finch (free version but can pay for it to get more options like different breathing exercises and stuff like that) for checklists: it has suggestions for options if you need something to help start making a checklist, also it also gamifies the goals with a little pet bird. I use the free version but it’s also helpful because you can have reminders on for the task or you can have it off. Also I’ve been told Trello is good for checklists it doesn’t work for my brain but is cool and intuitive I just need suggestions to help warm up my brain for tasks I should do.
Not related to the video but I read your book recently and it's been eye-opening :D I use Keep Notes for lists and Notion for writing down my thoughts and it's been very helpful also!
Thanks for these recommendations! It's always great to find new apps that work for fellow ADHDers. On our Discord server, our community members share apps that they like or have worked for them, for example, How We Feel (which helps with emotional intelligence and tuning into the emotions we experience).
So interesting, I've always hated mind mapping. In school growing up they'd force us to use it and I tended to sit there staring blankly at a piece of paper because my brain doesn't work like that, or doesn't like the aesthetics of it or something I don't know. Cos the gods knows that my brain does a lot of association hopping that NTs don't always follow lol
I second that. I’ve tried mind mapping, but never found it to click for me. It always feels like something to do to simulate making sense of something, as opposed to actually doing so. Instead, I’ve found just dictating a stream of consciousness using voice transcription to help me work through problems to be more effective. I use Tana for this because I can link the transcribed notes to other ones I’ve taken, but both iOS and Android have built-in voice transcription features as well.
I love using a copy and paste clipboard holder, I’m not sure what the right word is but I use Maccy (it’s free) and it allows you to hold the past 50ish things you have copied on your laptop. I usually have a problem where I copy something and then copy something else and I’m like oh wait I need the things from earlier, so it’s been a real lifesaver
If you're on a Mac, Alfred has a built-in clipboard history. It's come in handy for me several times, especially for pasting long blocks of text that I copied in the past. Raycast also has a clipboard history feature, but I've never used that app.
I have literally started walking down the street on my way to work, a 28 minute drive away, and have never had a habit of walking. Morning brain throws me for loops sometimes and I don't think likes me very much
@@peterjaylewis good point - I have also done this, walking back from somewhere I only drove to because it was raining. My mistake was assuming "out the door" meant leaving the house, not leaving anywhere
I love using mindmaps to organise my notes and this app makes my life so much easier because I've unconsciously procrastinated and I can't wait to use this app in future to organise my notes! Thank you so much! I'm actually checking out AYOA right now! 🤗💕
"to Do" by Microsoft is great as a free things that can collaborate with anyone since pretty much everyone has a MS account it takes a ton to set up but I may have missed some presets or features. you can however import lists and things so thats nice. Fly lady is kinda cool. i don't like it or use it much but the idea of just getting a new list of things to do every sunday plus some suggestions is great. I hate seeing a never ending list of things because you set stuff to be recurring and a checked item doesn't sort of go dormant for a week.
one thing that frustrates me is that it's hard to find a tool that lets you create many to many relationships and list hierarchies. Say I have a step "cut the carrots". It is part of a task called "make salad". That task is both part of a list "kitchen tasks" and also part of a topic "diet" part of a larger topic "self-care". then I want it to be part of "Do this week" not a great example but yea. a task should be able to live in two lists simultaneously without creating two separate tasks. this is especially valuable if you add notes/attachments to the tasks as you complete it. infinite width and depth lists.. - list - sublist1 - thing1 - thing2 - sublist2 - thing1 - thing3 - subthing1 oh i see a trending listthing... thing1
While not quite the same thing, I use Airtable to manage my tasks in part because I can make a task the predecessor of multiple tasks. For instance, I could make "thing 1" the predecessor to both "thing 3" and thing 2". Additionally, each of these tasks could belong to their own project, which would allow for more elaborate task relationships.
Heads up that the core functionality of Opal is actually already baked into iOS for free. You just set it up in settings. Personally it doesn't work for me because, like Opal, being able to turn it off means I turn it off. There's a similar app for macOS that's completely free called 'Self Control'. This allows one to blacklist/ whitelist certain websites for a set amount of time. This you can't turn off (not without some serious terminal command line stuff (don't update your macOS version number while it's running or you'll have to look into the terminal thing(don't ask me how I know))). Even deleting the app doesn't stop it. Much more helpful I've found.
Yeah, I use the iOS version too and also just turn it off. I need one that makes me wait like 90 seconds or something before opening so that I get bored and leave before it opens. 😆
Burnout buddy is basically free and it does that! You can toggle strict mode and you have to go through some annoying hoops to toggle it off 😅 and you don’t have to pay unless you want to support an indie developer and have a different icon :)
My favourite app is Structured. I love the app's design because it allows me to change the colour of the icons to change the look of the list, giving me a dopamine hit from the fresh new look of my daily schedule. I also love that it sends you notifications for your upcoming tasks and that you can visualize the day going by with the line going down throughout the day, making it easier to see where you are. As a bonus, there is a checklist on those reminders, making it super fun to use. The app enables me to set myself a timeframe for my tasks, this makes me see accurately how much time a task actually takes, so I have better knowledge for the next time that I need to do that task. The app is free, at least for the basic version, and personally, that is all I need, I have been using it for two years now, and I love it! You can always upgrade if you please, but I didn't. Hope this helps!
Having a watch has been so helpful. I have two colors of the same basic casio watch that is easy to wear and clean so if I set one down somewhere I can grab the other and run out the door, and just being able to look at the time that I know is consistent and correct without looking at my phone is great.
My main problem with taking any notes, and especially Checklists is that I almost instantly get numb to them. I made a checklist written on my wardrobe and also door. So that its physically IMPOSSIBLE for me to leave the room without seeing the checklist. And it worked for .... 3-4 days. As the week went by though. I am just not noticing the list anymore. I SEE it, sure but i just tune it out. It's like staring out the window without actually recognizing what's going on outside of it. Same for notes. I can make notes on something to "not need to remember it" but then i always forget that i had the notes in the first place.
So not a productivity app in itself, but i use Finch and have found it incredibly helpful for reminding myself of little self-care tasks I'll often overlook. It's quite gamified as by doing the tasks you are looking after a pet penguin, and you earn currency to buy clothes, furniture etc. It's really accessible for me as it grabs my attention (and is super cute) I use it for things like, exercise for a few minutes, drink water, etc. You can make any kind of self care goal you like, there's plenty of suggestions, and they're customizable too so you can set if they repeat and how often, and there's absolutely no punishment if you don't do a thing, but plenty of rewards if you do them. ❤️❤️
Gentle reminder that none of these tools work if you are not emotionally regulated. So please use these as add ons after receiving help with your nervous system regulation.
I have found a few game changer apps for my brain: voicenotes , iam, and any task planner that shows the completed tasks to record an "I did a thing" list. I only add to it when I've done something, so I get to watch it grow which motivates me.
If you're a fan of Pokémon and have low motivation to take care of brushing your teeth; Pokémon Smile. There's no penalty for missing a day aside from just you don't catch the Pokémon as quick, and the visuals are cute and colorful to give you that serotonin to motivate you to keep at it.
These resources sound really cool but most of them involve writing or words and me having a combination of ADHD and dyslexia memes it will seem like work to me. (I will still try and give some of them a go. Thank you for the video)
Notion buttons are great for checklists and available in the free version! You make the checklist inside the button and when you click the button it brings up a clean copy of the checklist. The paid version probably has a way to clear the page before making the new list but deleting what is there isn't hard
I use my phone for everything, not my computer. Could you sometimes share apps instead of desktop programs? See that the first one you mentioned has a handheld version., so I’m gonna try that one.
Check lists/to do are the biggest things I use, especially when I have days off. However, how my brain works, I call them “Try to do” lists as I know I might get through the whole thing and thats okay.
Sometimes I think apps just add to my problems. They can become a distraction that keep me from doing real tasks. Still searching for the right system for me.
ToDoist has been helpful for me, especially for meal-planning (they have a template for that!). What's been most helpful is that I can not only assign meals to days, but I can make a "sub-checklist," so a reminder goes off the night before telling me to defrost whatever is needed for the next day's dinner.
Im returning to todoist after a long hiatus and I'm shocked by how much they have added! It is an oldie but goodie for sure for people who follow app supported time management online, but I can only say it's gotten better and better compared to apps that neighbor it. 😊
The mind mapping app is freaking incredible for brain dumping! Why have I never tried it. It’s been revolutionary! Writing ideas down on bits of paper and then losing them then later to not be able to make heads or tails of the ideas on those bits of paper or notes…. Well no more!
Verdigris! (Fun fact, did you know that the green "rust" on copper is called "verdigris" because a lot of copper was exported out of Greece, so they also exported a lot of this stuff as pigment? It literally means "green of Greece")
AT LAST! Mind mapping instantly tripled my marks in essay writing in high school back in the 80s. I have been looking for a digital tool to do the same thing ever since! There was Pearl Trees once upon a time but some NT person changed it into a flow chart app and it no longer worked for me, and there’s a limit to how large a piece of paper or cardboard I can buy from the newsagent. 😅 So I will be checking this out when I go back to university.
Brain mapping isn't for me. But the checklist thing is great!!!! I use a dry erase board in my kitchen by where I make coffee because I know I will see it there every morning. When I come home I check it again to see if there is more, and if I didn't get it done I just erase the day at the top and write the next day up there and then it's just the start of tomorrow'a checklist instead of an unfinished checklist for today. This has helped me so much. I don't like the reminders app. I even deleted it and necer noticed really. But a checklist of some kind has been a game changer.
I hope these tools and apps are helpful!! xTiles is my favorite right now and you can try out right now for free: xtiles.app/en?fp_ref=jessica - Thanks to xTiles for sponsoring this video.
try mind mode
I actually tried this software, and not gonna lie, it's kind of good... or at least the desktop version is, the app version on Android is pretty bad, but it still has promise, hope they fix the bugs.
@@No_moral_to_the_storythey really should people like me don't use a desktop anymore!
One of my new favorite apps is Goblin Tools. It's a checklist style app that helps you break down what steps you need to do to finish said task. You can set just how detailed the breakdown list is as well so you can have one or two tasks or 20 or more to get the task done. It has really helped on those days when the overwhelm hits and everything seems hard. I am also coming to love Millanote for mind mapping. I started using it for costume projects but now use it for just about everything.
I would like to talk to you if you have the time. I am the Ambassador for the upcoming film/documentary "50 Years of Fantasy" the 50th anniversary of D&D and looking for Creators and Influencers in our community.
Quick critique, if you can't do everything you'd like to do with the free tiers of these apps, every one of them are SaaS (software as a service). A lot of people are starting to get tired of being nickel and dimed by every single product they use. If there are alternatives to these that you can just buy once and own or even open source or free options, I'd be way more interested in that.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I’ve noticed almost everything is on a subscription model now too…I’ll keep my eyes peeled for tools that aren’t and maybe do a video specific to those!
ADHD Tax hurts worse split over so many apps.... so I agree
That is so true. I’ve found Chat GPT is worth the money though. The one big tip with that app is to tell it who it is. For example, the first thing you can say to it is “You are a highly successful logistics specialist in Australia who has experience working with people who have ADHD” and then ask it questions about how to move from Melbourne to Sydney. That way it knows what knowledge banks to draw from.
Obsidian is not SaaS and it's highly recommended.
@Tuillyy seconded! Obsidian is great, especially if you like designing your own (and if you don't, people have shared templates). I just tweak my obsidian when I get bored and like magic keep using it.
Something I REALLY love about how you describe all these tools is by showing real use-cases, not just a bunch of blank boxes that say example example example. I can not only understand how these tools are helpful, but how they might work into my flow. Thank you!!
Aw thanks for saying that! It was super vulnerable trying to show what I was doing
OMG THIS. The reason why I find it so hard to start with these apps or tools is because they don't give me any examples and I get overwhelmed trying to start from scratch so I never got very far with them 😅
@@san.tastic86yes! After Evernote nerfed their free version I was searching for a new note taking app. I know Notion is SUPER powerful, but I can't get past the "system design" hurdle to where I can actually use it as an EDC.
I got Obsidian and I found it much simpler, but also much more approachable. I like how customizable it is, but only if you want it.
After decades of living with ADHD, I’ve finally admitted to myself that I do best with paper. I use a notebook to keep everything in one place and a paper calendar. I’ve started printing things out and keeping projects organized in their own binders. The visual organization makes so much more sense to my brain than any virtual system. Out of sight, out of mind.
Same! 🙌
I personally use the Finch app for tasks and productivity, when it's just a simple to-do list. Having a little finch bird that grows up and discovers the things of the world as you accomplish your goals just makes me wanna _do_ things.
Yes!! I use Finch too, I almost included it but was saving it for a list of self care tools ☺️
@@HowtoADHD I used to use Finch for productivity but switched to using it for productive self care and it seems to work so much better. I have tasks that I can usually complete on good or bad days but they keep my space a bit cleaner, my body a bit healthier, and I'm motivated to avoid some bad habits. Self care is the number one thing I drop that makes everything else worse so the motivation of the little birb is great!
I honestly think it's better to separate my work tasks, self care tasks, and house tasks in three different apps. It's probably not helpful for some people because it's semi-organized chaos, but I stop using apps if I use them for too many things and it took me forever to figure that out.
@@tiryaclearsong421 Absolutely, I mostly use it for self care and house care productivity. Work productivity I'm still looking for solutions on, hence why I came to this video. 😁
@@HowtoADHD It definitely brooks on this list as a fun engaging app for managing daily/weekly/monthly routines as well as to-do's. It's the only app that has worked for reminding me about things like vitamins and medications, booking appts, etc.
@@CavatinaProductions YEEES! Plus the saving up of diamonds to buy clothes and furniture makes me want to come back and do more stuff! Even if it’s just, “write in notebook,” or adding errands for that day alongside my daily habits!
I’m posting this comment before watching to the end of the video to recommend Goblin tools! It costs 0.99 cents, but there’s NO in app purchases and it honestly helps me a LOT. It’s mainly a list app, but it can also help you break down tasks to make them simpler, rewrite thoughts and ideas, and it generates recipes based on what you have in your fridge!
Oh! Yes I forgot about this one! Thank you so much
The website is free!
I’ve used them too. They’ve been helpful from time to time but I find ChatGPT’s “chattiness” is more helpful for me when it comes to bigger plans like moving house or renovations. Goblin Tools are good for smaller to medium sized ones like decluttering a room.
I haven't had much luck with the recipes part of it, but I loooove the "Formalizer", which is the bit you mention about rewriting thoughts. I use it while at work to rewrite my emails, because I tend to agonize over wording a lot. I just type in what I mean, and then I usually choose the "less snarky" option or the "more friendly" option, and it spits out something that sounds as polite/approachable as I was hoping for. It saves me so much time.
I just learned about this one at work! (I'm a therapist who works with lots of kids with ADHD and/or autism.) The coworker who recommended it themself has ADHD and uses it.
*Timestamps:*
05:55 ‐ Mind Mapping (Ayoa)
03:34 ‐ Second Brain (xTiles)
06:14 - Planning your week (Sunsama)
08:13 - Distraction Blocker (Opal)
10:20 - Checklists (e.g. Location-based Phone reminders)
please pin this
Thank you
Love ppl like you!
Ty
God bless
FINCH!!! Best ADHD friendly app I've ever used. 🐦❣️
Yas! I am trying this for the first time and loving it so far!
@@StillWater974 it's so low key and fun!
❤❤❤ getting lost in XTiles, then realising you are ACTUALLY making a video, and switch back to video making 😂😂😂. You are seriously incredible! ❤❤❤
Content idea for you: making a budget. I have never made one (we won't mention how old I am LOL) but there are so many pieces to organize (along with self judgement to deal with) that my brain just runs from it.
check out You Need A Budget (or YNAB). It has changed mine and my family's life for the better!
GAHH I was just thinking about that as she mentioned budgeting
CoPilot - you only have to categorize purchases once - and it figures it out. Makes keeping it up so much easier.
I like YNAB. Been using for the past year. Has a bit of a sharp learning curve but once you're setup and comfortable it's really ADHD friendly.
If you don't want to use the app (its a paid subscription) , just google "envelope budgeting" then do that in whatever way fits you best. It's the same process, YNAB just has a nicer work flow.
hell yeah 30 tabs in the browser because you know you'll never find them again but refuse to commit to a bookmark
I'm doing both extensively 😅
30? You must have just opened your browser.
By the way, did you know that if you reach 100+ open tabs, it stops displaying a number and shows infinity instead? I've deleted several open tabs only to still have the infinity show.
@@AKcess_DniedA fellow Firefox user? Chrome mobile shows :D instead lol
Those a rookie numbers 😂
MOOD
Bullet Journaling has changed my life. The actual method, not the artsy versions. It’s so forgiving and it helps you to be productive and mindful to what you actually need or want to do, and living accordingly to your values. You can stop and start with no empty pages and… it’s ok to use it together with digital calendars and tools.
Curious how ur bullet journal system works? I found that i delayed using it as i was trying to do too many things… and my brain gets overwhelmed sometimes by blank pages like more structure helps me
@@DancingErica333I’ve used it for years in conjunction with a digital calendar. I sit down on Monday and map out my meetings and tasks.
At the beginning of the week, I list out meetings and appts on the left page and my tasks on the right. At the bottom of the right page, i make an uncoming list block for meetings and tasks that are outside of my normal schedule that are coming up in the following week that I need to keep front of mind.
Re: making lists new and shiny, ice discovered the cheat code that if you like stationery, just use different pens when you start getting bored! It seriously feels broken with how useful it is. For example, I've been using a planner for THE ENTIRETY OF 2024 just by choosing 5-8 different pens per week as my "theme" and this is forreal bonkers for me to have managed. Also, taking notes for meetings, I'll often use one color for planning the meeting, another color for notes during the meeting, another for notes after the meeting, and another for writing v important tasks. It's killer y'all, would recommend
I've always loved office supplies, but only lately did I fully understand this. Always a pleasure to see one of my people 😊
I'm assuming you know about Jet Pens, but if not, check it out. Even if you don't buy anything from them, their web site is a peak rainy Sunday afternoon destination. Want to watch a guy talk about the different types of fountain pen nibs and try them on different papers? Well clear your schedule bc they have hours of video like this. And their sampler packs... and the Japanese student tools are so useful, I never realized how much a ruler could do, heh.
Keep crushing it with your paper system, I'm just starting down that path myself!
I really love this idea! I wanted to add stickers and stamps are a great way to add a little sprinkle of dopamine to the checklist.
My only problem with mind mapping is that I often spend more time trying to arrange the diagrams than I do putting information into the diagrams.
Ahaha yeah I could see that…I definitely appreciate that Ayoa makes it quick & easy to rearrange them when I realize one branch should actually be part of another or w/e
I've had similar experiences! Ayoa seems really simple so I'm willing to give it a shot. I've found success with starting my mind map on paper then transferring when my page gets too crowded. This help me to keep the ideas free flowing at the outset and then easier to maintain digitally in the future. I've also found that digital whiteboarding is much more friendly to my thinking/presentation style as opposed to PowerPoint style slideshows. I know I digress but hopefully makes sense as a parallel to the mind mapping discussion!
Me too.
Mind mapping on paper takes care of that 😂
I’ve used SimpleMind for this which has auto-arrange options that lay the map out for you. I’m not sure if it has a free version but it’s a one time purchase and not a subscription.
Regarding sleep, I think it's worth looking at recent findings that the timing of a meal or snack can have a strong influence on circadian rhythm. Not everyone can eat to a schedule, but when I was traveling long distances for work, I found that adjusting the time I ate gave me more traction in the fight against jet lag than trying to force my sleep schedule to shift.
I wonder if there’s an app for that…
Can you link the information? I'd love to have a good guideline for this
Example rather than data here, but I had to do a hotel quarantine after a very long couple of flights during covid restrictions, and I got over jet-lag faster and more easily than ever before, and I put it down to having three hot meals a day at specific times, and no way of re-heating them, so I had to eat then and there or I’d go hungry. Theoretically I could have ordered something to be delivered to the hotel front desk but I really didn’t want to, because I hadn’t set up my bank account in this country fully (they required in-person ID); using my overseas bank-card was emergency only and I couldn’t justify it to myself. After this experience I have concluded that times meals will be something I will be trying again if I’m doing a similar length trip
Iirc you should fast 16 or 18 hours to reset your circadian rythm to reduce or avoid timezone jetlags
I would love another video regarding sleep. I’ve had 6 hours of sleep in almost 3 days.
For the distraction blocker, as far as I can tell Android phones have this capability inherently in their "Digital Wellbeing" tools and I have had people tell me iPhones do as well. On Android it's called Focus Mode and you can choose which apps you want to block during which times, which repeats daily. I started using it as a way to curb how much I was checking social media apps and it's been great! Like the app you described, there are ways to manually override it but it takes some steps. (You can either turn off focus mode completely or take short breaks for 5, 15, or 30 minutes.) You can also set daily limits for apps as far as amount of time to use them, which disables the app for the rest of the day once you hit uour time limit. (This is a separate feature under Digital Wellbeing but I forget what it is called.) From what I can tell once you hit the time there is no way to override it and have to wait until the next day. I've described these as like having parental controls for yourself!
Just some tips for folks who might not want to buy or download more apps. 😊
Thanks!
If your time ran out, you can still use the app if you disable the timer or take the app out of the timer. It's a bad option because you'll need to set it back up again, which is why I don't like the way the "digital wellbeing" app timer works. I don't want a timer to count down how much time I have left to live-eee-I mean use my apps.
Instead, I want it to make is harder for me to use it. Make me wait a minute or five before I can open TH-cam, make me go for a run before I can play a game, get me to set a timer and write out at least 100 characters on what I plan on doing in this session.
If I have to exert myself - mentally or physically - I'll think twice about using the app. But if I am outright blocked out of the app and still want to use it, I'll just break down the wall and then it's not useful anymore, because setting it back up would take new effort.
Yeah, I've been using that to block out specific apps during particular times of the day. Opal does look interesting to me though, because it seems like it provides a bit more friction compared to being able to click "use for 5 minutes". Still, I've definitely found the Digital Wellbeing tools to be helpful.
I use the modes for a reminder to go to sleep!! Gray scale screen for if I'm playing app games mindlessly (which is a lot).
I've been using Digital Wellbeing on my phone for a while with so-so success. The thing that has been a game changer for me has been ScreenZen. There are lots of customizations and the thing I like best is that it makes you wait before it opens apps you designate as "distracting". You can set it up so it can add additional time every time you open the app and you can limit how long the app stays open each time you open it. I definitely still catch myself using using distracting apps but not nearly as much or for as long.
Thank you for this channel. I'm in my 40s, and I recently started my treatment. It's life-changing, and your channel has been instrumental in getting me started!
So the thing is this: It would actually be really nice to have software support me in some of the usual daily challenges. However, it is very tedious to separate the good from the bad. There are a bunch of companies agressively pushing their apps at ADHD content viewers, and on top of that, ADHD content creators also get sponsored by some of these apps every now and then. To me, it feels too frustrating and tedious to filter through this mess and maybe find something that is worth being integrated into my routines. I wonder if other people feel similarly.
I think that's true, and one of the real downer consequences of adults with ADHD becoming a bigger online demographic is that they also become a marketing category! I definitely take any recommendations less seriously when the recommender is being sponsored. But having said that, even if there was no money in it, we'd still be sorting the good from the bad and trying to figure out whether these things integrate into our lives because what works for other people isn't necessarily going to work for us.
For sure and they are the same . We are a fad market haha
I recently started taking therapy and my third session in, he said he noticed my ADHD on day 1 but kept watching and now he's sending me to another doc to get on ADHD medicine and was surprised I have lived all these years without it. At my session yesterday he sent me one of your videos and it blew my mind how many things you said connected with me. I always knew I had ADHD but I never really knew what to do about it except masking - which I didn't know that is what I did all my life, I just tried to adjust to the world around me the best I could and much later in life found tiny little tips to help myself. Still to this day, I have not a single supportive person or even anyone trying to understand ADHD other than my therapist, but I'm trying to learn ways to not seek their support .
I am going to start watching your backlog of videos so I can find ways to help me. Thank you for putting these videos together!
Right off the bat, you talking about mind mapping just leads me to one of the things I love to hype as a benefit of ADHD - because we don't think in sequential order we often come to solutions far more quickly than neurotypicals who are stuck thinking in "order" 🤩
opal and sunsama have improved my life so much i can't even put into words. thank you.
App rec: Due, it's a to-do list that keeps reminding you. eg I have it remind me to take meds at 8am, if i dismiss it, it will remind me again in 1 or 5 min intervals until I actively choose to delay it with options, or just take the damn meds.
Is this on iOS only? I have a similar app specific to medication tracking and it's helped me so much, but having certain other tasks also be like this would be awesome! But I have a Samsung.
I love Due.
@@sammgemm It is on both platforms.
I'm 18 and your channel helps me understand my ADHD tremendously. Thank you so much.
my biggest frustration with this subject is how many of these use subscriptions and like i understand that's kind of just how the market is now for a variety of reasons! but... i just miss being able to buy software and not have to worry about my situation.
Thank you for this. I’ve been struggling with productivity lately real bad at work 😅😂
Of course! Hope this helps!
@@HowtoADHD it does!! Thanks again ☺️
I've tried checklists but for many things and it never worked. The idea to use ONE checklist to solve THE SAME problem EVERY DAY is actually awesome! I work at home so I frequently forget to take things when I go out. I'll try it! Thanks!
Ever since they made me make an indented outline for a term paper in 11th grade, it has helped me make sense of everything in the world so much - seeing what things fall under what things... LOVE
THANKS for your videos. My wife and I are 70 years old and yesterday we took several tests and questioners to see if I have ADHA. The questions my wife answered were for children and the parent. On my part of the test and questions it was not for older folks who are retired. There were no discussions about our situation. I filled out a form about my history online. I find this surprising that there is no questions for retired people.
I appreciated the callout of tools that you can drop and then come back to later; I've had my share of systems that I fell out of the habit of, and then felt like I was never able to pick back up again, because there was just so much of a mountain of effort needed to bring it "back into sync". (language learning/flashcards have been something I've habitually struggled with in this regard because of how much constant effort they needed!)
I was kinda hoping this list would include an app that takes your motivation to start tasks and gamifies it. Like, when you get trapped on the couch scrolling it’ll help you get up before two hours pass, or if you need to sit down and pay bills and instead you’re dawdling in the kitchen making tea and tidying the silverware drawer, it’ll reward you for just getting on with the bills. This is really what I need the most help with, since as a late-diagnosed 40-something I already have systems in place for my other ADHD challenges like weekly planning. I wonder how hard it is to make an app yourself….. (that’s such an ADHD thought 😂).
I use Habitica at the recommendation of my counselor. It gamifies daily tasks, to dos, and habits. It reminds me of the old 8 bit games. It helps my ADHD and anxiety.
I used Habitica for years but after getting to level 100 twice*, I got bored.
(Don't join a party (or whatever they're called) for adventures that has a lot of high level characters in it. You'll earn eggs, gold, and levels so fast it becomes worthless. )
Body doubling is probably best for this sort of thing.
Habitica!
@@TheCrisses Focusmate!
Did I just find a treasure for my ADHD self !? Wow. Thanks you’re doing great work.
I still love Obsidian for combining a lot of these tools into one place. Their Canvas tool is so cool for visual storyboards. It's a good place for me to toss things that I'm thinking about but might not be ready to do and have a section of stuff I'm interested in now
Oh yes! I’ve heard great things about Obsidian too
I've been starting to explore Obsidian; I need to work on making it more of a tool, but I think it could be a great way for me to start storing stuff from my brain.
@@CarpeGuitarrem yeah, it can be overwhelming at first. I recommend starting simple with just using their notes feature. Keep the notes small and topic-based and then link them. Obsidian automatically creates a visual map of how your notes are linked to each other. That's helped me see how my ideas relate.
I found your discovering things in real-time very amusing. Like, you use the app one way and now that you have a reason to explore, you're finding new things during your recording lol!
Some tips of things that I use,: A - I have a home for my keys that is right next to the door and a particular pocket in my purse. B - I have a checklist for ongoing things on my iPhone. For example, groceries and you can check it off the list and then uncheck it when you need it again. C - I ask Siri to set an alarm / or set alarms for something that pops up as an urgent thing to do so that I can’t forget it. For some reason, I cannot figure out how to make my Google calendar actually notify me via an alarm, so I fine on most important things I need to set an alarm
I am a 15 year old who got diagnosed with ADHD last month, and these videos have helped a lot already thank you ❤
Hey! Great ideas for helpful tools; I really like the mind map and the distraction blocker. One thing that really helped my daughter and me is timers. She has a very rigid timer app that has her study for 25 min and get a 5 min break, then every few breaks she gets a longer 15 min break (obviously, these can be set to whatever works for you). I actually use youtube videos as my timers, so I'll have music for about an hour, then I'll queue up a couple of 2-3 min videos, then have another longer music video. That way I don't fall down a rabbit hole of following links, but I still get break. Whatever the tool, timers have been game changing in our lives.
I love ModernSam! The art is fun, the story is interesting, and the energy for completing tasks is IMMENSELY helpful
I'm using school planner, love the new ideas, I'll try them out
Great video. Consider adding time stamps!
Mind mapping and 2nd Brain are so clutch. My personal addition to this list would be YNAB for budgeting. It took me FOREVER to start being more disciplined about using it, but huge difference when I started using for real.
Thanks for everything you’ve done to help!!!
You are so welcome! 🤗 Thanks for making me smile
yayyy i’ve been waiting for this!
I’m a fan of Todoist for the “need a checklist” category because I can type things in sentence format and it makes them into scheduled to do list items. So I can type “replace tape every week until December 10” or “water plants tomorrow morning” and it understands me. Also integrates with google calendar & Apple Watch. There’s also pretty sophisticated project management stuff in it but my life isn’t that complex currently!
Love xTiles! Have been using since this video. It is not complicated as Notion and I can create different 'projects' to keep things separate!
There is a premium version which I might need soon but for now I am super excited. This is everything I needed (personal and for work)
NOTABILITY! My eldest, who has ADHD, too, uses it at school, and it was a game changer. You can import PDFs or images directly into the document and annotate it in class. You can take notes, draw pictures, lot of things. I use it when planning projects or when taking workshops.
This looks so cool! But unfortunately it looks like it is just for iPhone...
@@heatherpallett4928 I know. I'd love it on my laptop.
The fact that these are subscription based apps instantly makes them useless to me. Subscriptions are one of the least ADHD friendly things. If an app designed for ADHD people actually wants to be ADHD friendly, IMO it will be either genuinely free (ad free) or it will have a small reasonable one time payment.
Thank you for all you videos! You do so much while having adhd to help others. We appreciate you xx
🥹🙏
My issue is that I forget that I have the apps in the first place lol
That’s my struggle as well😭
So I'm not alone 😂
ACCURATE
You can set up automations for your phone! I kept forgetting to clock in at work until I added the automation to open the app when I arrive.
I find Due very useful for checklist purposes. You can set it to be able to snooze something indefinitely, so that eventually an impossible task becomes more annoying to keep snoozing than to do (even if it takes a month or more).
Thanks for covering Ayoa. Great little easy-to-use mindmapping app. Love it! ❤
Thank you for helping me accept and love myself more! Having adhd is exhausting at times 😪
I use the Reminders app on my iPhone like mad crazy. Through my Wople Watch, I just say “Hey, Siri, remind me to do [this] in 5 minutes”. (Right now my Watch is being fixed on, won’t return for a few days, omg it’s hard to recall anything 😭😭😭) It’s a lifesaver. If this was 20 years ago, I’d be using so many sticky notes, my desk would be covered in them 😅
I use Finch (free version but can pay for it to get more options like different breathing exercises and stuff like that) for checklists: it has suggestions for options if you need something to help start making a checklist, also it also gamifies the goals with a little pet bird. I use the free version but it’s also helpful because you can have reminders on for the task or you can have it off.
Also I’ve been told Trello is good for checklists it doesn’t work for my brain but is cool and intuitive I just need suggestions to help warm up my brain for tasks I should do.
For checklists, I find making a 3 x 5 card with images instead of words to be very helpful. I have not been making/using these lately and it shows.
Thank you so much for sharing Sunsama! It has been such a game changer for helping me feel actually productive at work since I tried it.
Not related to the video but I read your book recently and it's been eye-opening :D
I use Keep Notes for lists and Notion for writing down my thoughts and it's been very helpful also!
Thanks for these recommendations! It's always great to find new apps that work for fellow ADHDers. On our Discord server, our community members share apps that they like or have worked for them, for example, How We Feel (which helps with emotional intelligence and tuning into the emotions we experience).
So interesting, I've always hated mind mapping. In school growing up they'd force us to use it and I tended to sit there staring blankly at a piece of paper because my brain doesn't work like that, or doesn't like the aesthetics of it or something I don't know. Cos the gods knows that my brain does a lot of association hopping that NTs don't always follow lol
I second that. I’ve tried mind mapping, but never found it to click for me. It always feels like something to do to simulate making sense of something, as opposed to actually doing so. Instead, I’ve found just dictating a stream of consciousness using voice transcription to help me work through problems to be more effective. I use Tana for this because I can link the transcribed notes to other ones I’ve taken, but both iOS and Android have built-in voice transcription features as well.
I love using a copy and paste clipboard holder, I’m not sure what the right word is but I use Maccy (it’s free) and it allows you to hold the past 50ish things you have copied on your laptop. I usually have a problem where I copy something and then copy something else and I’m like oh wait I need the things from earlier, so it’s been a real lifesaver
If you're on a Mac, Alfred has a built-in clipboard history. It's come in handy for me several times, especially for pasting long blocks of text that I copied in the past. Raycast also has a clipboard history feature, but I've never used that app.
I love how "car?" is on your get out the door checklist, like you could forget your car haha
It literally happened one time 😂
I have literally started walking down the street on my way to work, a 28 minute drive away, and have never had a habit of walking. Morning brain throws me for loops sometimes and I don't think likes me very much
To be fair I have driven somewhere nearby and walked home on more than one occasion. Found my car the following day because it has an AirTag in it
@@peterjaylewis good point - I have also done this, walking back from somewhere I only drove to because it was raining. My mistake was assuming "out the door" meant leaving the house, not leaving anywhere
Anyone else watching this whilst they procrastinate their work?
Me
Not me. It’s after midnight. I wanted to know at what temperature frostbite sets in, opened my phone and here I am. 🤦🏼
I love using mindmaps to organise my notes and this app makes my life so much easier because I've unconsciously procrastinated and I can't wait to use this app in future to organise my notes!
Thank you so much! I'm actually checking out AYOA right now! 🤗💕
"to Do" by Microsoft is great as a free things that can collaborate with anyone since pretty much everyone has a MS account it takes a ton to set up but I may have missed some presets or features. you can however import lists and things so thats nice. Fly lady is kinda cool. i don't like it or use it much but the idea of just getting a new list of things to do every sunday plus some suggestions is great. I hate seeing a never ending list of things because you set stuff to be recurring and a checked item doesn't sort of go dormant for a week.
one thing that frustrates me is that it's hard to find a tool that lets you create many to many relationships and list hierarchies.
Say I have a step "cut the carrots". It is part of a task called "make salad". That task is both part of a list "kitchen tasks" and also part of a topic "diet" part of a larger topic "self-care". then I want it to be part of "Do this week"
not a great example but yea. a task should be able to live in two lists simultaneously without creating two separate tasks. this is especially valuable if you add notes/attachments to the tasks as you complete it.
infinite width and depth lists..
- list
- sublist1
- thing1
- thing2
- sublist2
- thing1
- thing3
- subthing1
oh i see a trending listthing... thing1
While not quite the same thing, I use Airtable to manage my tasks in part because I can make a task the predecessor of multiple tasks. For instance, I could make "thing 1" the predecessor to both "thing 3" and thing 2". Additionally, each of these tasks could belong to their own project, which would allow for more elaborate task relationships.
I do plan my week, but I do it on paper, and it is wonderful!
Heads up that the core functionality of Opal is actually already baked into iOS for free. You just set it up in settings. Personally it doesn't work for me because, like Opal, being able to turn it off means I turn it off. There's a similar app for macOS that's completely free called 'Self Control'. This allows one to blacklist/ whitelist certain websites for a set amount of time. This you can't turn off (not without some serious terminal command line stuff (don't update your macOS version number while it's running or you'll have to look into the terminal thing(don't ask me how I know))). Even deleting the app doesn't stop it. Much more helpful I've found.
Yeah, I use the iOS version too and also just turn it off. I need one that makes me wait like 90 seconds or something before opening so that I get bored and leave before it opens. 😆
it's in android too
Burnout buddy is basically free and it does that! You can toggle strict mode and you have to go through some annoying hoops to toggle it off 😅 and you don’t have to pay unless you want to support an indie developer and have a different icon :)
self control is the best. however you cannot have automatic times it's off and on like opal; you have to choose to put it on and off
opal paid full block is not something you can turn off
My favourite app is Structured. I love the app's design because it allows me to change the colour of the icons to change the look of the list, giving me a dopamine hit from the fresh new look of my daily schedule. I also love that it sends you notifications for your upcoming tasks and that you can visualize the day going by with the line going down throughout the day, making it easier to see where you are. As a bonus, there is a checklist on those reminders, making it super fun to use. The app enables me to set myself a timeframe for my tasks, this makes me see accurately how much time a task actually takes, so I have better knowledge for the next time that I need to do that task. The app is free, at least for the basic version, and personally, that is all I need, I have been using it for two years now, and I love it! You can always upgrade if you please, but I didn't. Hope this helps!
Having a watch has been so helpful. I have two colors of the same basic casio watch that is easy to wear and clean so if I set one down somewhere I can grab the other and run out the door, and just being able to look at the time that I know is consistent and correct without looking at my phone is great.
My main problem with taking any notes, and especially Checklists is that I almost instantly get numb to them.
I made a checklist written on my wardrobe and also door. So that its physically IMPOSSIBLE for me to leave the room without seeing the checklist.
And it worked for .... 3-4 days.
As the week went by though. I am just not noticing the list anymore. I SEE it, sure but i just tune it out. It's like staring out the window without actually recognizing what's going on outside of it.
Same for notes. I can make notes on something to "not need to remember it" but then i always forget that i had the notes in the first place.
❤
Just an episode about the checklist apps would be helpful. Showing the positive and negatives of them for ADHD. Seeing demos would be so helpful
I love this video, but I have to admit I was skipping forwards and then backwards again trying to get an overview first. 😅😅 Could you add chapters?
So not a productivity app in itself, but i use Finch and have found it incredibly helpful for reminding myself of little self-care tasks I'll often overlook. It's quite gamified as by doing the tasks you are looking after a pet penguin, and you earn currency to buy clothes, furniture etc. It's really accessible for me as it grabs my attention (and is super cute) I use it for things like, exercise for a few minutes, drink water, etc. You can make any kind of self care goal you like, there's plenty of suggestions, and they're customizable too so you can set if they repeat and how often, and there's absolutely no punishment if you don't do a thing, but plenty of rewards if you do them. ❤️❤️
Twos app has been really useful and helpful for my brain and its so simple. I do like xtiles and will give it a go
Gentle reminder that none of these tools work if you are not emotionally regulated. So please use these as add ons after receiving help with your nervous system regulation.
I'd say a safety plan (ie WRAP(tm) plan) and a self care app like Finch can go a long way in helping with this.
"A > Z > Anteater" is exactly right
I have found a few game changer apps for my brain: voicenotes , iam, and any task planner that shows the completed tasks to record an "I did a thing" list. I only add to it when I've done something, so I get to watch it grow which motivates me.
I don’t who needs to hear this but, YOU DONT NEED ANOTHER APP!!!! WE NEED LESS APPS!!! Productivity does not cost money!!!!! 🌶️
Yes i feel like sleep is such a big problem would love some videos on that topic!
I got Sunsama because of your recommendation recently and it CHANGED MY LIFE. Huge fan 🥰
Same, I’m currently using the month free trial and it’s blowing my mind how much more productive I am. Hopefully it lasts 🤞
Very helpful and caring. Thankyou for sharing. Felt personal and from the heart. Really warm and fuzzy. Thats the Jessica I love
🥰
I would love a video about evaluating apps, tech tools, gadgets, etc. Marketed for executive function and adhd support. How to be a better consumer?
It's admittedly been too long since I've watched a video. However, I was totally unprepared for you not to say "Hello Brains!" lol
Oops 😅 Next time!
If you're a fan of Pokémon and have low motivation to take care of brushing your teeth; Pokémon Smile. There's no penalty for missing a day aside from just you don't catch the Pokémon as quick, and the visuals are cute and colorful to give you that serotonin to motivate you to keep at it.
Oh neat!! I hadn’t heard of that, thanks for recommending
I need this for my kids! 😆
That's so cool! I'm a dental practitioner, so I'll definitely recommend this to my patients. Thanks!
These resources sound really cool but most of them involve writing or words and me having a combination of ADHD and dyslexia memes it will seem like work to me. (I will still try and give some of them a go. Thank you for the video)
My son has adhd and dysgraphia, and I’m always looking for similar tools for him. I think he’s found some things that work for him, but no apps 😂
xTiles sounds like the perfect replacement to what I was using for my to-do lists previously. thanks for the video!
❤❤ I'm excited to check out some of these apps!! So glad I watched this! Thank you!
I'm so glad! Let us know what you think!
Notion buttons are great for checklists and available in the free version! You make the checklist inside the button and when you click the button it brings up a clean copy of the checklist. The paid version probably has a way to clear the page before making the new list but deleting what is there isn't hard
Great video, thank you!
I would swap out Sunsama and replace it with Amazing Marvin, which I think is pretty awesome and very ADHD friendly.
Thanks! I looked at Amazing Marvin and it seems one costs reasonable and even it has an API, unlike Sunsama
I use my phone for everything, not my computer. Could you sometimes share apps instead of desktop programs? See that the first one you mentioned has a handheld version., so I’m gonna try that one.
A free alternative to Sunsama is Routine!
Check lists/to do are the biggest things I use, especially when I have days off. However, how my brain works, I call them “Try to do” lists as I know I might get through the whole thing and thats okay.
Sometimes I think apps just add to my problems. They can become a distraction that keep me from doing real tasks. Still searching for the right system for me.
ToDoist has been helpful for me, especially for meal-planning (they have a template for that!). What's been most helpful is that I can not only assign meals to days, but I can make a "sub-checklist," so a reminder goes off the night before telling me to defrost whatever is needed for the next day's dinner.
Im returning to todoist after a long hiatus and I'm shocked by how much they have added! It is an oldie but goodie for sure for people who follow app supported time management online, but I can only say it's gotten better and better compared to apps that neighbor it. 😊
Notebook+outdoors helps me a lot!
Structured is very simple to make a weekly schedule and has a notes section and an area you can make check lists too
The mind mapping app is freaking incredible for brain dumping! Why have I never tried it. It’s been revolutionary! Writing ideas down on bits of paper and then losing them then later to not be able to make heads or tails of the ideas on those bits of paper or notes…. Well no more!
Tools / coping methods could be a major catagory
"A, Z, Anteater..." 😂 sleighs!
Giraffe!
Manatee ☠️
Verdigris! (Fun fact, did you know that the green "rust" on copper is called "verdigris" because a lot of copper was exported out of Greece, so they also exported a lot of this stuff as pigment? It literally means "green of Greece")
AT LAST! Mind mapping instantly tripled my marks in essay writing in high school back in the 80s. I have been looking for a digital tool to do the same thing ever since! There was Pearl Trees once upon a time but some NT person changed it into a flow chart app and it no longer worked for me, and there’s a limit to how large a piece of paper or cardboard I can buy from the newsagent. 😅 So I will be checking this out when I go back to university.
I really like Notion as a second brain app that has fantastic free functionality
Brain mapping isn't for me. But the checklist thing is great!!!! I use a dry erase board in my kitchen by where I make coffee because I know I will see it there every morning. When I come home I check it again to see if there is more, and if I didn't get it done I just erase the day at the top and write the next day up there and then it's just the start of tomorrow'a checklist instead of an unfinished checklist for today. This has helped me so much. I don't like the reminders app. I even deleted it and necer noticed really. But a checklist of some kind has been a game changer.