Internet: The Lame Seductress

I maybe shouldn't presume, but I imagine that a lot of people with ADD spend too much time on the web. There is a Facebook.com group (don't look for it now) titled "Wikipedia is Choose-Your-Own-Adventure for Grown-ups," and I think it is true. Even more so, the whole web is like a giant cluttered Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, where the "adventure" has endless and rather stupid subplots, many of which are never resolved. What I'm trying to say is that the Internet allows to look up tidbit after tidbit bap-bap-bap, stimulus-stimulus-stimulus. It's the ultimate Devil's playground for those with ADD.

I have tried to establish rules for myself, like no late night web surfing, when I lose track of time the most. However, the most effective strategy I've found is to leave my laptop computer somewhere other than my home, so I'm not tempted to look up "one more little thing." That "one more little thing" invariably becomes a mini-web of its own. So what can you do: stash the computer as soon as you've used it for the day, or get rid of it (or them!) if you don't really need one, especially at home. Limit the number of distractions in your life, especially those that have a low [usefulness]:[time involved] ratio. Even if you get a lot of email, for example, I think it's fairly safe to say that checking once a day would keep you up-to-date enough, and without all the nearly pointless repeat checking (email, news sites, Facebook), you might actually get things done.

The Importance of Living Deliberately

Attention Deficit Disorder often goes hand-in-hand with disorders of anxiety or depression. It seems reasonable how this could be so: people suffering from ADD often feel like they can't do right. Even when they are successful, they are often frustrated by not being able to get it together. This frustration, I believe, can help make someone more prone to anxiety or depression, much like having wet hair on a cold day can make someone more prone to catching a cold.

An important prevention, like diet and exercise, is a good attitude. I believe it is important to make it a priority to live a life that matters to you. Others may suggest channeling creative energies into a field where it is appreciated if it looks like you could benefit from making a career change. However, I'm talking about the larger goal of living deliberately-- in other words, taking ownership of your life.

I realize that everyone has constraints (work, family, and the like), but it is very important, in my opinion, to not feel owned by your constraints. You need to seize the moment, let yourself feel some confidence, and just be autonomous, despite your obligations.

And how to do this? It involves the same three steps that work wonders for any change you are trying to make for yourself:

1) Imagine it →
2) Pretend it →
3) Become it

Brainstorm about it; jot it down if it feels right, and then just pretend that you are the way you want to be. In time, you really will be that way.

My No-Cost Personal Assistant: Google Calendar

One problem, which is particularly bad for those with ADD, is losing track of the things you need to do. Perhaps this situation is familiar to you: you need to do thing X, optimally at time Y, but at time Y you can't quite concentrate on or remember thing X.

People with ADD tend to do best in structured environments, where there's an outside mechanism for making sure they do the right thing at the right time. Adults often have to provide this structure for themselves, and adults with ADD do have some effective strategies available.

One thing that has worked very well for me is to use Google Calendar to keep track of appointments, classes, etc. Google Calendar has an amazing (and free!) function where it will send you a text message on your cell phone as a reminder before the event. Every time I mark something in my calendar, I can specify how soon before I'd like to be reminded. When the text message is received on my phone, it beeps discreetly and I get reminded of what to do. For example, I'm reminded 5 minutes before it's time to take my medicine, and maybe 3 hours before a dinner meeting. I turned off email notifications, because I get too many emails as it is.

One note: your cell phone company might charge you for receiving text messages. If you start using this daily like I do, you might want to buy a text messaging package. Cingular (now AT&T), for instance, has 200 messages/month for $5 (+ $0.10 ea. add. message) or $0.15 per message.