My Best Tip for ADHD: Best Practices

Not long ago I was featured as a guest ADHD expert on Ellen Delap’s Blog.  It was an honor to appear and Ellen asked some fantastic questions, one of which was “What is your best tip for ADHD?”  My response…

When you learn something that works for you, it’s important to find a way to remind yourself of it, so you can continue to use it to support you.  Unfortunately ADHD often results in us forgetting what supports us most.  Document what works best for you on a list of best practices, and review it regularly.

Yesterday, a colleague of mine who read that post asked me what I meant by “best practices”, so I thought I’d share a little about them.  I’ve discussed them in a previous posting and I invite you to read that post, but I’ll also briefly summarize them here because they are such a powerful tool.

1. Best practices are activities or habits that encourage optimal performance.
2. Best practices are something typically discovered as a result of experimentation related to overcoming challenges.
3. Best practices might be forever practices such as exercising daily to support brain health or sorting the mail the minute you walk in the door each day to prevent papers from piling up.
4. Best practices might be something temporary that support you when creating new habits, such as keeping your alarm clock on the other side of the room so you get out of bed and get to your new job on time.
5. As an aside, I also recommend adding your current commitments to yourself to your best practices list, as looking at them every time you review your best practices keeps those commitments front and center for you.

What best practices do you already have?  How might writing them down and reviewing them regularly support you?  What best practices might you add to make a difference in your life?

I look forward to hearing what you have to say!