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The ADHD Time Hacks That Actually Work (From Someone Who Was Always Late)
Episode 314th January 2025 • Femme on Fire, The ADHD Career Advantage • Sonja Lekahena
00:00:00 00:05:16

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Forget traditional time management advice!

These unconventional strategies will transform how you handle time - even if you've tried everything else.

From shower clocks to psychology tricks, discover battle-tested solutions from an ADHD mom of four who runs multiple businesses. Finally, time management advice that works for the ADHD brain!

Transcripts

Sonja:

Hi, good morning.

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It's Sonja again.

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Coming at you from my command

center of chaos, as usual.

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Today we're diving into something that

makes most of us break out a cold sweat.

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It's called time management.

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So, I can hear almost everyone

groaning through the speakers.

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Let me paint you a picture of my

life before I figure this out.

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Picture me running around the house

like a headless chicken, one shoe

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on, frantically searching for my

keys, while my kids are yelling

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that they're going to be late again.

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Does that sound familiar?

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Well, here's the thing about us, A

DHD people, we have a, let's call

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it a unique relationship with time.

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It's like time is this slippery fish

that we just can't seem to get a grip on.

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One minute we're hyper-focused

on a task, and the next thing you

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know, three hours have passed and

we've missed two appointments.

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Which happened quite a lot in my work

because I was diving into all kinds

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of nice analysis and things like that.

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And of course, I was not aware

that that meeting that was going to

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happen in 10 minutes had now passed.

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So, it's a problem.

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But there is some good news.

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We can learn to wrangle this time base.

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And I'm going to share some of

my favorite tricks with you.

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First up is clocks.

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And I've done it for years now

and it's really changed my life

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even though it's such an easy one.

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I used to have maybe

one clock in the house.

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And now I've got clocks everywhere.

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In the bathroom, in my kitchen, in

my office, even one in my shower.

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And here's the kicker.

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I set them all five minutes ahead.

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And, I know, it's, you're thinking, but

I'll just know they're five minutes fast.

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And that's true, you do.

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But trust me, it works.

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Even when you know, it creates

this sense of urgency that can

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just be enough to get you moving.

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Your brain gets tricked, so to say.

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Next, let's talk about timeboxing.

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I mean, this is like an interval

training, but then for your brain.

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So you set a timer for a specific

amount of time, let's say.

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And then you focus on just

one task for that time.

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You know when you start, you know

when you finish, and when the

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timer goes off, you take a break.

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It's like telling your brain, okay,

you only have to focus for this

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long, and then you get a reward.

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And let me tell you, it's

been a game changer for me.

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I get so much more done than

before I used to do that.

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Oh, and here's a fun one as well.

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I'll call it the when then approach.

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It goes like this.

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When I finish this report,

then I can check social media.

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It's like creating a little reward

for yourself throughout the day.

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And let's be honest, our ADHD

brains love a good reward system.

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I mean, it's what we thrive for.

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Now, I know what you're thinking.

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Ah, this all sounds great, but

how do I actually stick to it?

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Well That's where the power

of agreements come in.

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Instead of thinking of your tasks as a

to do list, think of them as agreements

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that you've made with yourself.

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It sounds silly but, and it's

a subtle shift, but it can

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really make a big difference.

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It's like you're making a small contract

with yourself on what you're going to do.

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I'm not saying this is easy.

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I really wouldn't.

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And there are still days when time

slips through my fingers like sand.

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But these strategies have helped

me from constantly running late and

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always feeling overwhelmed to actually

having some control over my day.

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And remember, we're not trying to

fit into some neurotypical box here.

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We're trying to find ways to work with

our unique brains and not against them.

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So be patient with yourself and

celebrate the small victories and

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keep experimenting until you find

that thing that works for you.

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So, next week we're going to be

diving into how to tackle those

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big scary projects that our ADHD

brains love to procrastinate on.

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So trust me, you won't want to miss this.

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Until then, embrace your

beautiful time challenged self.

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I mean, you're not broken,

you just need the right tools.

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This is Sonja signing off.

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Keep the fire burning, ladies.

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Bye!

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