How to work on TWO equally important projects when you're ADHD and/ or autistic AND you've got a deadline.
Overwhelmed with more than one project? Here are some tried and tested (by me) solutions.
With multiple deadlines, your brain might go into a full uproar. The better you know how your brain is wired, the better.
Someone asked me: Esther, I'm Autistic and ADHD (AuDHD) How can I finish my projects? And most importantly:
How can I finish two projects at the same time?
- 1To my ADHD brain, EVERYTHING is equally important. Without a deadline, it can't discern between:
- 2A VERY important task, or,
- 3A ask that can wait.
- 4It's like thousands of different tasks are yelling: Think about Me! No! Do Me! Me! Me! And since I have 2.000 new ideas in one hour, I consciously need to drop 1.999 ideas.
- 5While my autistic brain works like a mind map with a 24/7 - 360-degree overview of everything and everyone involved in the projects.
- 6My autistic brain get's very moody when it needs to focus on multiple tasks. It wants to go back to working on ONE topic for days. It hates change and pressure.
- 7Yep! It's quite something. Okay. This works for me
- 8IMPORTANT: YOUR BRAIN IS UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT! LEARN ABOUT IT. This is just as important (or much more important) as learning about marketing.
1. SET A FAKE END DATE
- That is the NON-official date a week or days before the Due Date. Give yourself this EXTRA time (because A LOT can go wrong OR go right)
2. TRIAGE TO FINISH PROJECT AS AN ADHD AUTISTIC PERSON
- ✔︎ Treat your entire business like a waiting room, with patients needing your care. (all the hours spent watching Grey's Anatomy and ER pay off)
- ✔︎ Be willing to drop everything to focus on the patients with the highest survival rate AND the highest chance of a well-spent life.
- ✔︎ Meaning: drop everything that takes you away from your two projects.
- ✔︎ If that means less focus on your marketing for a couple of days, so be it.
3. SET UP DAYS OR BLOCKS
- I prefer full days, but other people are more into blocks. You know what works for you.
4. FOLLOW THE DOPAMINE
- Do you've got epic night dopamine? Work at night (if possible) and sleep longer in the morning (if possible)
5. START THE DAY WITH GOALS
- Have a list ready with all your work in smaller chunks.
- No: Have the article ready at 6 PM
- Yes: Write draft / read draft out loud / rewrite / spelling check / etc, etc.
6. FINISH THE DAY WITH CHECKING YOUR LIST
- That 'check your list' click will give you some extra dopamine fuel. And it also keeps you on track.
7. HAVE A BUDDY AT HAND TO FINISH PROJECT * find a fellow ADHD AUTISTIC friend
- You need a buddy who is either also ADHD and or autistic,
- OR someone who gets you (and is not giving you neurotypical advice like: "Just do it".
8. BE KIND - YOU'RE HUMAN
- This one is crucial (and something I failed to do for a lifetime).
- Praise yourself.
- Celebrate when you finish a project!
reviews
