Space and Time Management

[jehoshabeath]

My roommate encouraged me to "get out" this weekend.  While I lay half-awake this morning, I went through all the possible outdoor locations where I could go to relax. The Waterfront?  Nah, I'd be a little too envious and regretful if I went there. The mall? The National Book Festival will be occupying all of that space this weekend. Fredericksburg

Comments

[olifhar]

Executive function is a complicated concept in cognitive science, but it has to do with making decisions and directing your attention to what is most important. Memory, conscientiousness, planning are all involved, but I think it comes down to being able to selectively ignore (maybe temporarily) what is important.

People like me, who fit the ADD description, have trouble exhibiting certain kinds of executive function in many common environments. We tend to go impulsively from task to task, get caught up in our own thoughts or new, interesting things that appear. We also get bored very easily with things that we don't like, or don't seem too relevant.

While everyone struggles with planning, attention, and keeping personal commitments, you don't strike me as someone fitting the ADD description. In fact, you strike me as quite conscientious, though often full of conflicting doubts and worries.

There is a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done (so popular, it is often referred to as "GTD"). Most of the book has to do an

[jehoshabeath]

Thanks for this great info - I will have to check out that book.

It's interesting to hear about how ADD impacts these areas, too. I was recently talking to my parents and they told me that when I was young, I was diagnosed with ADHD and medicated for a brief time. I think only the "hyperactive" part applied, so now we're wondering if that was more due to other factors such as anxiety, sensory issues, etc.

Have you found any techniques/tools helpful to keep focused and on-task with ADD?

[olifhar]

It's still pretty complicated these days, even though it's gotten a little better. I can summarize getting to work with three objectives:

1. deciding what is most important
2. remembering what I have to do
3. giving myself permission to work on it

"Deciding what is most important" is one of the hardest parts. It is the most difficult, up front, because so many things seem important right now. It is the most subjective and requires the most reflection, but not doing this first can mess things up. And above all else, it involves elimination (at least for the time being

[jehoshabeath]

It sounds like you have some great strategies in place, Oliver. Thanks so much for sharing these with me. And best wishes to you as you continue to grow and learn :)