Build Routine Tasks into Your Weekly Schedule. Try to be out the door before the second alarm goes off. When the first alarm goes off, stop what you are doing. Strategy: Set two alarms (a clock, a cell phone, or a computer), one that will go off five minutes before departure time and a second that will sound when it’s time to leave. With the extra time, you’ll feel much less rushed should you run into traffic or another unforeseen delay. If the prospect of facing empty time if you do arrive early horrifies you, keep a magazine, book, or stack of bills that need to be paid in a bag near the door, and grab it on the way out.Ĭalculate your departure time by adding 10 minutes to each half hour of travel time. Avoid getting sidetracked as you head to the door by reminding yourself, out loud and repeatedly, “I’m leaving now, I’m going to the car.” Plan Ahead to Arrive Early.Īim to arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time. Gather belongings and double-check directions, if needed, the night before. Strategy: Think through the steps you’ll take before you leave the house. One-more-thing-itis is a form of distractibility - the phone rings, you answer it, you notice that the table needs to be cleared, or a plant needs to be watered, and, once again, you run late. One reason people with ADHD feel rushed is that they habitually try to cram in “one more thing,” the additional task that so often derails plans. Feeling rushed, like Toni? Here are time-management strategies that adults with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) can use to slow down, get better organized, and end chronic lateness. Lately, she’s been losing patience with the kids more easily, and she seems to have no time to just enjoy being with them. She is running late for work (again), and she’s heading to a project meeting, for which she is unprepared.

Toni can feel the knot in her neck as she sits in traffic.

Just one more thing book