Planning with ADHD is Important – You Need A Plan! It’s A Cold, Hard Truth.

I heard a cold, hard truth recently. Did you know that thinking about the past is so stimulating that we can spend all of our time and energy on it, even at the cost of planning for the future? If you have ADHD – You need a plan.

The power of this idea is in how often I can apply this thinking!  This concept affects the amount of time and energy that I spend on re-processing events, both large and small, instead of thinking ahead. Let’s get into it:

It is very difficult to engage in planning with ADHD. I’m not sure if it’s harder for me than for the next person, but it is difficult for me. Planning comes very easily for my wife, who seems to experience legitimate joy from the process of planning itself. Oh to be so lucky!

The brain type that we call “ADHD” loves stimulation. Remember that we don’t just seek the pleasurable, comforting, good kinds of stimulation. Our brains chase it ALL – good, bad, scary, uncomfortable – all of it! Unknowingly, we will make ourselves get pretty spun up on whatever stimulation is available to us.

Be sure you catch that word, “unknowingly”. Most of the time when this happens, it is because we are not conscious of it. We may recognize the feeling (happiness, anger, frustration, sadness), but we’re not stepping back to identify that an external situation caused a specific feeling in the moment and we are just responding to it. But, in some cases, the external situation is actually a memory, not a current situation. This makes things more complicated for our neurology.

Planning with ADHD is known to be especially difficult because of the rumination and brooding that we ADHDers usually engage in. Likewise, according to Dr Gabor Mate’, we have a genetically significant increased sensitivity to things that trigger traumatic memories.

Rumination and Brooding

I drove 6 hours back from a family property in South Georgia last week. It was New Year’s Eve. Along the way, I remembered events from my childhood, I remembered the previous week of my life, I thought about concerns I have for people I love. I thought about this stuff the entire trip.

I never once made a plan to actually do anything non-immediate the entire way. When I had to stop for coffee, I made an immediate plan and I did it. When I remembered a deadline to return rental equipment the next day, I made a semi-immediate plan to do that, but I never actually planned for larger-scale life! Additionally, I never considered what trips I need to take for professional education this year. Furthermore, I never thought about what protocols could improve my management of my professional finances. I never considered how to improve anything in my life.

If you’re an ADHDer, you know that this is just how we live. In the words of Dr. Russell Barkley,

“The front of the brain knows What to do and How to do it. The back of the brain is where we determine When and Where…You have a disorder of performance, not knowledge…You have a disorder of the When and the Where.”

Even as I write this post, I am stimulated by working out the wording and the thrill of having a minor epiphany recently! But I’m still not actually stopping to make any plan, I am only formulating an explanation to an interesting problem! Planning with ADHD can be a drain!

The present moment: Make A Plan

Dr. Ed Hallowell says in his book ADHD 2.0 that ADHD is full of “contradictions and paradoxes”, and I believe it. Today, I am struck with the realization that what feels like the present moment is sometimes just over-stimulation from a stimulation-filled environment. I generally want to avoid the long, elaborate planning of details so that I can preserve the present moment and enjoy spontaneity when it presents itself. BUT, what I am discovering today is that some forms of planning can actually make more space for the present moment, not less.

A moderate level of planning is necessary for the present moment to be enjoyable.

The big question here is how much planning in what directions is going to help me feel the most comfortable overall? What kinds of planning with ADHD are going to give me a sense of appropriate control and enjoyment?

A loose plan for the day is always a good thing for ADHDers. A loose plan is one that says “First I’m going to do X, and then I’m going to do Y, and then I’m going to do Z.”  Even though we don’t like to admit it, having specific times to be certain places also helps us. For instance, my ideal work day is full of 4-6 sessions occurring and specific times in a specific location. In this situation, I have the What (do therapy), the How (using my eclectic CBT method), the When (10:15AM) and the Where (my office or online).

Still, none of these are the broad-scale, executive view of my life functioning. So, why do we avoid plan-making so much? I think it has something to do with Demand Task Avoidance.

ADHD Demand Task Avoidance Keeps Us From Planning.

ADHD Demand Task Avoidance (DTA) is a common problem for us. DTA occurs when we simply avoid doing a particular task, seemingly for no good reason. The truth is, however, that there is a strong emotion unconsciously associated with the task. We never connect the task to the emotion or name the emotion, so we avoid the task because it makes us feel “bad”.

For me, it almost always comes down to money. For instance, there are at least 3 work trips I want to take for self-improvement this year. However, they’re all expensive! I don’t want to feel the uncomfortable emotions around planning them, which would include shame, guilt, and fear. So, I usually do nothing with them and don’t go.

For Want of A Plan…

If I were to stop and make a plan, I’d go on the trips.

If I were to stop and make a plan, I’d be better off.

…calmer and less anxious.

…better for my family and those I love.

If I were to stop and make a plan, I’d _________________________.

If you want to get started in plan-making, you’re going to have to find your Why. Once you determine your reason for making such a change, you can dig up some Passion for the pursuit, generating the dopamine to get you going.

So go get ‘em! Let’s start making your specific plan to get you where you want to be. Let’s pull your attention off of the past and onto the future. Ruminating on the past won’t help you a bit, but Planning with ADHD for the future always will.

Your ADHD Therapist – ADHD Planning Specialist

I work with creative professionals across Georgia who deal with Anxiety, ADHD, or Autism (Level 1). If you’d like help with these or related issues, give me a call at 770-615-6300.

You can also schedule a session here. We offer both telehealth and in-person sessions, and I’m in-network with Aetna and United Healthcare insurances and Lyra EAP. We provide paperwork if you want to file with your out-of-network insurance.