There’s a lot of to-do list apps, reminders, calendars etc out there advertised towards us to help us do things like break down large tasks into meaningful chunks and focus on what we need to do each day, but I want to hear from the community what do you guys think is the best so let’s start a thread
Am I the only one who feels like productivity/organization tools for ADHD people is like bicycles for blind kids? Like, “yeah I can see how a functional person could find this useful, but what the heck am I going to do with it?”
I just have a dry-erase board for planning out my week at work and at home I fly by the seat of my pants and spend months attempting to form good habits
It took me 25 years just to start brushing my teeth once a day, no idea how long until I get it up to twice a day.
heard recently that people with ADHD can’t form habbits in the same way neurotypicals do, thats why we struggle with this shit so often!
I try to brush before bed, and when I shower. Thats like… 1.5 times daily (most days), i’m almost there :P
The only way I’m able to get anything done is by externalising my memory. I just make sure I have reminders on a smartwatch so that they forcibly are brought to my attention even if I’m away from my PC/phone.
My most used app for this is the built in alarms app.
The problem with apps is they put my phone in front of my face, opening up FAR too many options for distraction.
Honestly, a bullet journal was a game changer for me. the fancy ribboned, decorated, instagram-ready craziness people make pictures of, but the basic system created by a person with ADHD for their own of index, monthly calendar with not more than two habit trackers, daily task list, future (more than a month), and a new spread (page) for whatever random thing I need when I need it.
The right notebook makes is a LOT easier. My Leuchtturm1917 A6 lives in my right pocket, with a pen twisted in the elastic. Prenumbered pages, preprinted index, good paper when my fountain pen habit surfaces, and no distractions.
Most of the websites about it are so into beautifying it that the system gets lost, so if it sounds useful try this: https://libgen.is/search.php?req=Bullet+journal&lg_topic=libgen&open=0&view=simple&res=25&phrase=1&column=
The useful information is in parts 2 and 4 - the rest is motivation and fluff.
Disclaimer: I am medicated. Using productivity apps is easier when you’re medicated.
Anyway, here’s some apps that I use:
- Mozilla Thunderbird: Emails, calendars, tasks and contacts in one place. Also the only functional fully offline calendar you can find on Windows. They are in the process of developing an Android version with the developer of K9-Mail. They’re also finally getting to a UI update so it doesn’t look like shit, which has previously been a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
- Tasks.org: Simple tasks app I use exclusively as a shopping list. It works. That’s about it.
- Loop Habit Tracker: Habit tracker I use for my daily/weekly routines. Very simple.
Be wary of falling into the new tool new toy cycle. I have a huge problem of wanting to try new tools despite the current solution working absolutely fine.
I’m down to Ticktick for tasks and habits, and Obsidian for notes.
My #1 app is myNoise.com. Without 30 minutes of noise-assisted chill after a work day, I’d be an overwhelmed wreck at home.
I use the following four apps to manage my chaos ✌️:
- Workflowy - General archive and digital memory (Divided in Inbox, Several dossiers/projects, Other, and Archive. I dump everything in Inbox first and sort it when I can.)
- Tasks.org - For its simple todo list widget. Mainly little things I have to do, sorted into 4 priorities by color (app does this automatically).
- A calendar - I use a lot of recurring ‘all day’ events. (Like for getting notified I need to take out the trash on Wednesday)
- Stock Android Clock/alarm - I have alarms set for a lot of daily recurring things. Like literally alarms for taking medication to alarms for reminding myself I have to go to sleep.
Important things I often put in all several of the above 😊 I tend to swipe notifications away, but if 3 apps notify me, well it works. So garbage on Wednesday is a recurring weekly thing in calendar and alarm ⏰
It’s actually a pretty fast setup when you get used to it. But I do put things in at least one app immediately. If I wait, I forget.
Workflowy is truly awesome imho. I put everything in there, even things like the address of my dentist. This way, I have only have one place I have to search for anything I need. It has a great search function. It’s really handy that you can share text from anywhere with the app, which then throws it in the inbox. Sorting things is also very smooth, isn’t necessary that often, and make me feel good when I do it. Very handy.
I use all of the above in the most basic way. No tag systems or anything; I can’t keep those systems up for longer than a couple of days. I only use simple basic, inbuild functions that I can perform quickly. Together they work very well for me.
Hope this is helpful! Good luck! 👍🍀
Goblin tool. You give it a task you want to do and it breaks it down into smaller tasks/steps which you can keep breaking down. Also has a tone rewording tool and a tool for checking if you are taking something in the wrong tone. Super helpful for people with ADHD and Autism.
Oh, that looks really promising. But I’m extremely hesitant to use something like this if it can’t be done 100% local and offline
Edit: Maybe I’ll use it just for the most basic, non-personal stuff, like cleaning my room. Actually yeah, I think that’s okay
They have an app for $0.99, but I believe it still needs connection for all the back end task generation and stuff. Hopefully it works for you as another tool for the tool box!
What it spits out from just the words clean room is pretty damn great, more than enough to convince me. And while I’m generally very careful with AI, I think in this instance it’s best for me to swallow my damn pride, and accept the help it can give me.
The About section does mention the wish to move this to open source solutions, which I’d very much love to see. I’m looking forward to whenever that can happen.
I’ve been messing around with obsidian (a note-taking/thought-keeping app only for people who like to tinker and customize so wouldn’t necessarily recommend here), but having something that syncs between all my devices is FANTASTIC. It would still be nice to try something more grab and go, but I would highly recommend considering apps that can be easily accessed and edited from multiple devices.
(a note-taking/thought-keeping app only for people who like to tinker and customize so wouldn’t necessarily recommend here)
It’s as simple or complex as you make it to be. Obsidian can be used with core plugins only and work just fine.
only for people who like to tinker and customize so wouldn’t necessarily recommend here
I seriously cannot tell if this is sarcasm
I’m finding Obsidian.md really great, it’s become my daily checklist, to-do lists, shopping lists, calendar, and notes archive all at once. It doesn’t give reminders (there might be a plugin for that actually) but I always have it open on a second screen and I sync it between my phone and my computer, and I’ve been much better at keeping track of things since I started using it.
The program is kind of a lot, but it’s worth putting in some effort to set it up in a way that works for you. Although to be honest I think I only figured out how it works because I was also motivated to use it for Dungeons and Dragons. Otherwise I’d probably still be using my old mess of sticky notes.
Just a shame that it’s not open source. I’ve been using Zettlr instead, it’s pretty much the only FOSS alternative that doesn’t pester me into syncing my stuff to a cloud, which is the one thing I like most about Obsidian.
How do you go about using it? I have a strong case of out of sight, out of mind, so I set it to launch automatically when I login, otherwhise I would just forget about its existence.
I personally use Logseq and sync my notes between my computer and my phone using Syncthing.
Logseq didn’t work with my brain but for anyone wanting an open-source alternative to Obsidian, this is the closest one.
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