I struggle to maintain focus while watching videos, especially longer ones, but I’ve found a combination of increased playback speed/captions to help me substantially!
First comic panel shows the main character holding a pencil larger than themself and using it to draw a line. The caption says “ADHD Bri’s How To.” The sub caption says “writing alt text”. A disclaimer at the bottom states “this is an example of how I write my alt text and is not perfect nor the only way to write it.”
The second comic panel shows an example comic. The caption states “1. List how many and types of images.” The sub caption says “This lets tour audience know what to expect. Example: “Two panel comic.”
The third comic panel shows the same example comic focusing on the first panel. The caption states: “2. Clarify which image you are describing.” The sub caption says “example: “comic panel one.”
The fourth comic panel shows the example comic. The caption says “3. explain the visual elements of your image.” The sub caption says “example: comic panel one shows the main character leaning back in their chair with their foot on the table in front of them.”
The fifth comic panel’s caption says “Tips”. The sub caption says “use only tangible descriptors. If there are multiple characters, make sure to label which one you’re referring to. Don’t go overboard describing everything. Pick and choose which best tells your story.”
The sixth comic panel’s caption shows the same comic example. The caption says “4. Write the caption or spoken text in image.” The sub caption says “example: the main character asks “how tough am I? Let’s just say I’m not afraid of anything.””
The seventh comic panel’s caption says “Tips”. The sub caption says “the punctuation and symbols are not always screen reader friendly. Be mindful how you use any. If you intentionally misspell or use alternative spelling of something in the image, write it so it can be readable in the alt caption and specify it was written originally in a particular fashion or tone.”
The eighth comic panel shows the same example comic. The caption says “5.) Repeat steps 2-4 for any other image.”
The ninth comic panel shows the example comic. The caption says “The results.” The sub caption says “Two Panel Comic. Comic Panel one shows the main character leaning back in their chair with their foot on the table in front of them. The main character asks “How tough am I? Let’s just say I’m not afraid of anything.” Comic panel two shows a large figure looming over the main character with “making phone calls” written on its chest. The figure asks “you were saying?””
maybe wander around the house/stretch a little if you’ve been sat at the computer a while (artists especially: sTRETCH THOSE WRISTS)
reply to that text/message from earlier you’d forgotten about
maybe send a nice lil message to someone having a bad day?
I just would like to thank everyone who ever reblogs this so that it somehow ends up back on my dash because I usually need the reminder (especially the drinking water one)
Ok can i tell y'all the world’s stupidest ADHD hack for this?
First, work out exactly how much time you really need to get to the appointment. (E.g. 10 min drive, 15 mins to stop what I’m doing and get my papers together, 5 mins leeway = 30 mins.)
Subtract that from the time of the Thing and set an alarm. (in this case, for 2:15.)
Now, DON’T LOOK AT CLOCK!! I usually just put a post it note over my laptop clock. Now you exist in a timeless void where the appointment does not exist. How much time do you have left, 2 mins or two hours?? Who knows, not ADHD brain!! That bitch has no idea what “an hour” feels like!!!
Anyway, now that you have been freed from the shackles of time, you can start that homework assignment or whatever it is with the knowledge that you will not be late
Reblogging this one too because this is a good tip. That’s what I usually do.
Have a passion project on the side you can go back to any time
Momentum is very important to us. When i feel myself slowing down while working on my responsibilities, i get my momentum back up by doing something im interested in.
Usually when im getting bored or distracted, i go on social mediawhichkills my momentum even more.
But when i do something im interested in which is also productive, i can kill my boredomwhilemaintaining my momentum. When i feel im in the zone, i return to my responsibilities.
A fun way to get yourself to do chores when you have adhd is to simulate a sense of panic by setting horrible deadlines that fit into other things that you’re doing.
For example, you set up a kettle of water to boil for your tea. Quick! Wipe down the whole counter before it’s done boiling, for the love of god you’re running out of time! Wipe it down! The water is almost boiling.
The water is boiling and your counter is clean. Now set your timer for your tea for three minutes and of my god there’s cups in your room! Quick! Get all the cups from everywhere in the house! Run! You’ve only got three minutes! Get all the dishes into the kitchen!
Oh would you look at that. You got all the dishes in the sink and now your tea is ready. Nice. Now you can chill with your tea.
I’ve found that little stuff like that helps me. Forcing myself into unexpected last minute deadlines. It fills up empty space and my house is a little bit cleaner.
I HATE that I know this works- legit heating something up in the microwave? Rushing to put everything away before it goes off because there is something satisfying about beating it and you feel accomplished.
PEOPLE I HAVE SOMETHING TO HELP YOU GET CLEAN AND HEALTHY TEETH AND REMEMBER TO BRUSH EVERY DAY
The name of it is pokemon smile it’s perfect, it doesn’t just remember you to brush with notifications it’s ADORABLE I mean look at this
You get to brush with a Pokemon on your head that smiles and there’s a mini game that is perfect to motivate you to brush correctly and you get a new pokémon every time you brush if you brush correctly not to count the sound effects are adorable and you get different little hats as it goes on, i got bulbasaur, eevee and pikachu as for now and i caught a porigon it’s so perfect
Picture of a squirtle that you can pick as your starter if you haven’t been convinced to download the app yet
If you guys have ADD/ADHD, autism, OCD, or something else that affects your ability to concentrate, I highly recommend the chrome extension Mercury Reader. You just open whatever link you’re using, then click on the MR icon (it should look like a rocket) and it’ll simplify the page so that it’s in a focus-friendly layout. Instead of having random pictures and word boxes all over the screen, it’ll be in a vertical format with nothing to distract you so you can focus on what’s important. You can also adjust the text size (small, medium, large), font (serif, sans), and theme (light, dark). And the best part is, it’s completely free! It’s honestly one of the best things I’ve ever downloaded.
This is an article without the extension. See that messy format, and how the actual article content only takes up a fraction of the page? It’s no wonder it took me 7 hours to write that paper.
The same article, this time with Mercury. The user-friendly settings are at the top, and the rest of the article is formatted vertically down the middle with no free-roaming pictures or words. How nice.
PEOPLE WITH ADHD WHO HAVE ONLINE CLASS I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED A BREAKTHROUGH IN FOCUSING TECHNOLOGY:
This extension lets you doodle on any webpage just like you would doodle on a piece of paper in class to focus. I just added it to my chrome and it’s been a godsend. I watched an 11 minute video on LDAP servers without getting distracted once! I don’t know if other browsers offer this specific app as an extension but I know for sure it’s offered through chrome. I hope this helps other people as much as it’s helped me!
forever torn between “if this object isnt always in the same spot i’ll never remember it” and “if this object stays in the same place for more than 24 hours it’ll just become background and i’ll never remember it”
Okay, but.
Have you considered: if it’s an important object, making its home Aesthetique™?
I’m living that ADHD life, and yeah, visual exhaustion is absolutelya thing. I can’t tell you how much time I spend every week looking for stuff that’s right in front of me or even in my hand (and I legit can’t tell you, once it’s north of an hour time ceases to exist for me), except!
I’ve figured out that I’m more likely to be able to find something if the place it’s supposed to live is something I like looking at. I have a little key hanger by my door with birds on it. It’s visually interesting, it pleases me to look at it, and I can see in a moment if my keys aren’t there beforeit becomes mission critical to have my keys.
(image of a brown metal key-hanger with three hooks in the shape of small stylized birds, and keys on each hook)
It’s tiny shit like this that can dramatically improve your life. I also do a lot of crafts, and because I am a self-aware trainwreck and a super visual person, I know that I need to have my materials where I can see them all the time. I also figure, if they’re gonna be constantly visible, I maybe oughtta make ‘em Aesthetique™, because I don’t want someone to stage a hoarding intervention.
(image of cube shelves with fabric stored in small bolts and scrolls, sorted in color wheel order)
This has the added bonus of curtailing my occasionally out-of-control shopping problem, because it feels like shopping through the stash I already have whenever I start something new.
Did it take a while to organize my fabric like that? HELL YES IT DID, but when I started I had maybe half as much material to organize, and I asked for help doing it. (Never be afraid to ask for help, my friends!) And seriously, since I like looking at my stash, since it makes me happy, since I’m proud of the work I did to make it look like that, I’m way more likely to keep it that way.
I actually took my closet doors a coupla days ago, so I can accomplish something similar with my wardrobe. I’ve got clothes I like and never wear because I forget they’re there, so I’m gonna make my closet Aesthetique™ and actually frickin’ use it.
tl;dr acknowledge how your brain works and work with your brain, fuck minimalism, be visual
I recommend watching the video and trying to make yourself a Dopamenu as well. I used OpenOffice to make my Dopamenu, it’s a free alternative to Word and it works pretty much the same!
Sometimes you start to hyperfixate on things and you make an entire mental health plan for crisis situations and also update the looks of your Dopamenu.
ppl with adhd who struggle with journals and planners, make a discord server for yourself and yourself only.
it’s basically a free portable multi-tab binder that you can search and sending things as a message is wayyy better than writing it down in your notes app for reading and referencing later.
you can make a channel to send important links so that you dont need to keep 200 tabs open all the time, or make a channel or group of channels with all your notes for a specific project.
if you have different devices like iphone and pc its way faster than email if you wanna send yourself small files and links
you can make channels to journal in! i find typing like im texting a friend makes it easier to get out my thoughts while also feeling private
and there’s so many more things you can do, especially if you know how to use bots! i like it because its so simple without any aesthetics or customization options i could get stuck on for hours, so im just focused on communicating relevant information with myself.
anyway since i’ve been shitposting my way around here i’ll just give you guys a hopefully useful tip for dealing with adhd and/or executive dysfunction:
>> something that has helped me a lot this year was to just start tasks by doing them wrong.
>> like, i have so much trouble getting started. it’s like i wanna move and do it but i can’t.
>> so i tell myself to do something small even if it is BAD, like writing a sentence for an essay with the simplest words and poor grammar or whatever
>> i don’t know if this applies to others, but in my case the fear of failure makes procrastination even worse. i’m unconsciously worried about doing a bad job, so it takes me longer to start
>> if i say “i’m gonna do it even if it’s bad because bad is better than nothing” then it might still be hard to get started, but much less.
>> if i combine that with breaking tasks into VERY small steps (one sentence now, one paragraph, whatever works for you), then it is much more manageable, because i get to do that small thing and, once i got started, the inertia makes it easier to keep going
that’s all for today folks hope somebody finds this useful and remember it’s okay to struggle! you’re doing an awesome job getting by each day and you should be proud of that! sending you love
