ADHD Weekly Planning: Before You Make Your To-Do List, Look at Your Week
If you have ADHD, you may know this routine:
You sit down to get organized. You make a list of everything you need to do. Maybe it's even a really good list.
Then somehow, by Wednesday, the plan has fallen apart.
Sometimes the problem isn't the list.
It's that we made the list before looking at the week it needed to fit into.
Your calendar tells you more than where you need to be
Before deciding what you want to accomplish this week, look at what's already there.
Appointments. Meetings. Practices. School events. Deadlines. Social plans. Travel.
Your calendar isn't just a place to remember appointments.
It's information about your capacity.
An open hour doesn't necessarily mean you have an available hour. A day with multiple transitions may require more from you than a day that looks relatively open.
Look for the things that happen before the thing
This is one of my favorite parts of planning ahead.
A Friday event might create a Tuesday task.
An appointment might mean finding paperwork. A school event might require an email. A weekend away might mean laundry, packing or shopping.
The event has a date. The preparation has a timeline.
Getting some of those steps out of your head and into your plan can make the week feel much more manageable.
Then make the list
Once you can see the week you actually have, ask:
What needs to happen before something else?
Where does the week already feel full?
Where do I actually have some room?
What deserves my attention this week?
And finally:
Does this plan fit the week I actually have?
If it doesn't, you don't necessarily need to try harder.
Something in the plan may need to change.
That's planning, too.
Want help doing this every week?
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