Ok so here’s an update of sorts. Nothing really substantial but still.
One of the things that I’ve noticed is that I often get overwhelmed when I have too many tasks. I’d imagine this is exceedingly common dependent on the person. I think others can handle having a lot of tasks and plowing through them but given my executive function difficulties and ADHD, I need things broken down and simplified as much as possible. The overwhelm is real and I’ve acknowledged that and have taken steps to reduce this.
One of the biggest things that I’ve done is to utilize tasks that are due versus that are just deferred. I think I often times got really overwhelmed with tons of tasks when really I realized that it didn’t necessarily need a hard due date and that they could just be deferred as if I were to get to them that would be great. I should review our previous conversations in this thread surrounding deferred vs due tasks though I think this might be a way to go. One thing to consider though is I don’t want things to really fall through the cracks terribly and I want to make sure I still get a decent amount of my maintenance tasks done dependent on the day. I like the idea of having my routines tasks but I think sometimes I don’t really put hard limits on how long this will take and then further procrastinate on them versus say “let me take this amount of time to get some of this crap done and see were I get”. Often times the trigger for me to get certain housekeeping tasks done is by listening to music or podcasts. I need to start getting back into this. I’ve also started using flags for things that absolutely need to get done which has helped me with the overwhelm but I’m not sure if this will stick long-term.
As you’ve said many times before, we have to figure out the system for us. I think more so I need to make sure to hide some of the projects that are on hold so that I don’t get as overwhelmed when looking through my OmniFocus projects list and maybe set aside a time once a month or so to look at those projects that are on hold to see if there’s anything I need to get started on. This is something that could be done during a bi-monthly review.
The school year is starting around the corner and I intend to put several of my big rock type projects on momentary hold despite my wishful thinking. I’m still applying for jobs currently but I’m looking for being a aid for special education students as that’s the field that I want to go into and I’m soon to be certified but in the meantime would like to be working with the students before jumping into my own classroom. Sometimes I think that I just want to get everything on my task list done and sometimes that isn’t necessarily the goal and I need to be easier on myself to realize what’s “good enough” to get done versus “I’ve had a perfect day and I’ve gotten everything possible done”. Maybe setting some of those things is nonnegotiable’s to get done to make everyone happy per se given I still live with my parents! Maybe things like chores should take priority instead while I’m home during the day so that I’m keeping them happy and then later on once am done with the chores I can get my own stuff. Like many I sometimes prioritize my own things before those things but I gotta make sure that this household goes round and round without any major disasters.
