ADHD

I have found no software solution, premade or coded by myself personally, that beats a pen & paper bullet journal.

I recently tried one that boasted about how it used AI to help organize your tasks, but it didn't and couldn't do the one thing I needed it to, which is automatically populate a daily to-do list with suggested tasks.

I tried one of those "for ADHD" aps tiimo I think it was. It was great for about 3 days because it was new and exciting and the I just never used it again.

I use calendars for birthdays and for the people I need to gift I set up reminders to buy or send gifts that way. Anything I need to do goes in the calendar too or I'll forget about it.

Not so much an app but smart home stuff has been a game changer. I just setup my washer and dryer on a smart plug so I get notifications when my laundry is done. At some point I'll give myself reminders I haven't done anything with it too lmao. I also have lights turn on and off at certain times, doors auto lock after 2 minutes, I'm changing out my bathroom fans soon for humidity sensors, and I'm sure I'll come up with more.

Ohh app stuff. Scheduling text messages! Sometimes I forget people exist so when I remember I'll schedule a text or two for a few days later to keep a conversation going or start a new one so they're not always the one to text first.

I wrote an email service that really helps me with organization of my email.

I wrote this article about it: https://sciactive.com/2023/07/17/the-best-email-for-those-who-struggle-with-organization/

I use plain old mindmaps for many things. When they are related to tasks and todos, I use a tool where it has little checkmarks, possibly completion progress bars, failed-icons, blocker-icons etc.

For understanding a topic, e. g. from a textbook or a job problem, hand-drawn works better with the additional freedoms it provides, such as this one: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/53571999/Mindmapping

It fits in nicely with how I work through a text:

• Think about what I want to get out of this
• Flip through & glance over everything. Whatever draws my personal attention, be it drawings, graphs, tables, the headers - different for everybody. Might occasionally look at one of those things for a bit longer.
• Read the TOC
• Do the actual reading start to end and draw a mindmap
• Possible do-over the mindmap once I understand where I did it "wrong" due to my previous assumption of how things categorise and relate

I use ticktick for medium and long term stuff like

• monthly payments I can't automate
• maintenance tasks (clean filters, check car)
• fill in taxes

I like its natural language input, it's easy enough to just remember something and type it in and get back into what I was doing.

For short term stuff I use my smartwatch and voice assistents reminders. It leaves my wrist for charging and not much else. (I use Bixby because it integrates well with a Samsung phone, has persistent annoying reminders that don't go away. Also Google can't keep their shit straight and just keep a system for two years without killing it). Some examples of that I use my smartwatch for:

• do laundry in a few days when I just saw its going to be sunny
• timers for the oven or laundry
• take non routine medications

I keep a notebook at my desk for brain dumps and generally as a working memory replacement. I bullet journal on and off every few months, I like it when I'm using it, but as soon as something disrupts my routine it's gone.

Im certain I have ADHD so lately Ive been using Proton Calendar as a todo list and its helped a lot but I still find myself procrastinating sometimes.

As for avoidance earlier in the year I decided to change my habits with the internet, especially youtube. Which is becoming more and more of a burden and waste of time to use imo.

So I created a patreon account and looked through my YT subscriptions choosing a small group of people to donate to that I found to be worth while content wise then deleted my channel. I also subscribed to nebula for a couple other channels such as NotJustBikes. Then I switched to using Grayjay which supports this method since I can see it all in one place.

Also its not like I completely avoid YT as a whole I just merely use it as a search engine now instead of being subjected to the ads, thumbnails, clickbait, shorts, drama, etc in every waking moment.

I recently discovered the PARA method: the idea that most of what we do falls into one of 4 categories:

Project

Area of Responsibility

Resource

Archive

I've setup a OneNote notebook and a paper planner using this approach, and it's been very helpful with de-chaos-ing so much stuff. Now it hasn't halped much with specific tasks, other than I can more easily record and then find them.

Lately I've been using my shopping list app (Anylist) for my daily to-do's since it syncs with Android and iOS, and I'm in it all the time for other lists on every device (I keep a browser window open just for it on my laptop). Unfortunately it doesn't have reminders.