5 ADHD Reasons Why I Never Get Anything Done

There is a strong chance that I may not get most of my ToDo list checked off today. In fact, any day of the week that ends with the same three letters is likely to be such a day. Each night, I make a list of ten to fifteen items that absolutely have to get done, then I go to bed. When I wake, I stand as good a chance as the day before to end the current day with relatively few boxes checked. So unproductive. How do I not hate myself?

This question came to mind the other day when I was in the thick of a virus and getting frustrated with my unproductivity. There was so much to get done, yet all I seemed able to do was pathetically watch TV and say stimulating words like "oohg" and "blaaaaah". As I read off my aggressive list of ToDos to my wife, I commented that I had accomplished so little on the list that it was a list of ToDidn'ts, not ToDos. She laughed and said she had been thinking along the same lines.

Although I was discouraged, I didn't settle into a brooding self-loathing mindset as I used to do years ago. I had learned instead that the ToDo list was merely a guide. I couldn't take it too literally. There were several reasons for this.

1) I was notoriously bad at prioritizing all my tasks. The night before was filled with the panicky items that seemed so important, but that weren't truly important as the next day progressed.

2) Even though I tried to keep the list short, I had a tendency to pile things on there that weren't easy to check off. Learn Japanese, Solve World Hunger, etc. Eventually, I began to laugh at the aggressive items I added to my ToDo lists, and then I left them off.

3) I never accounted for the colossal amount of distraction time I would face the next day. Distraction and ADHD are like long lost lovers who cling to each other desperately and never let each other out of sight.

4) Nothing ever goes as planned, so why stress over it? All does not hit the fan just because I have ADHD. Sometimes life provides its own obstacles.

5) I never seemed to put on the ToDo list the things that I would actually spend my time doing. Things like drive the kids to dance, go shopping, pay a bill, spend hours on hold with customer service, stop the girls from trying to kill each other, etc.

Perhaps I should place a big old "Get Distracted" up at the top of the list. That way I would at least be guaranteed to check something off at the end of the day. In fact, I think I will do that and report back to you how it felt. In the meantime, I continue to finish as much as I can before it is time to retire. As long as I focus on the important tasks and stay mindful of my list, I'm bound to be productive despite my best efforts to the contrary.