How to Get Back into the Flow of a Project #shorts #adhd

[JustinWarkentin]

This is solid advice. Also, if you stop doing something when it's feeling difficult or frustrating, it will feel impossible to come back to it. If you stop on a high note when you're feeling really good about what you've done, stop. It'll be easy to come back to it at that point.

[ericastwilight]

The breadcrumbs thing is exactly what I started doing for my writing. It helps so much.

[rainpooper]

I need to try that. I always overdo it with my university work which makes my brain want to start even less the next time around, but the anxiety of losing the flow is just too much.

[ConManAU]

This is particularly good if you need to take a break because you’re stuck on something - write down what you’re trying to do and why you’re struggling to do it, refresh your brain with a break and by the time you come back to it you might have already worked out the solution.

[vtheb]

this is great advice. I'm currently cursing myself for not leaving myself breadcrumbs some months ago when I last worked on the thing that I picked up today and need to finish by the end of the day (procrastination facepalm). And yes, I bailed out on my friends to do it :-( AND it was the last nice sunny day for a while, the forecast is promising rain for the whole next week.

[nathanieljames]

I'm trying to pick stopping points in my studies BEFORE I NEED THEM... It's so hard to be like, "I feel good about everything I'm doing right now. Time to stop doing that or I WON'T feel good about ANYTHING I'm doing later." But it's definitely a skill worth practicing because coming back from EVERYTHING SUCKS I DID LIFE WRONG AGAIN is much harder than stopping while I'm ahead and leaving breadcrumbs!

[kevinjpluck]

"I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day…"

— Ernest Hemingway

[johnburr]

This technique is one of my most-used tools. I structure my whole workflow around making it interruptible by constantly leaving comments and establishing patterns so that by looking at my screen I can quickly remember where I was before that phone call or whatever. Such useful advice!

[LegendoftheGalacticHero]

Great tip! It works great for me. And also leaving physical breadcrumbs like say a pen by the dinner table if I'm meant to keep writing

[klaracraft]

This simple advice brings up so much of my past that I never understood about myself. I started to describe it as being different people - not just "past me" and "future me" but completely different people who had different thoughts and feelings about things. I would be really excited about something and think "okay this is something I can follow thru on." Then be pulled away from it to do what was "expected of me" and by the time I got back to my stuff I felt no connection with it whatsoever. I would be told it obviously wasn't that important to me or I would still have the motivation to do it.

[DiMakingiteveryday]

I’m either, hyper focused or zero focused 🙋🏻‍♀️😊

[averycockburn]

Anyone else routinely see their "5-minute break" turn into an hour and a half? (Especially those of us who are self-employed and work from home.) Sometimes it feels like the only time I make significant progress is when I sit at the computer for 2+ hours straight, which is terrible for one's health. I love this advice for picking up once I actually get back to the computer, though! :)

[DuncanEllis]

this excellent advice, particularly the point about stopping when you know what to do next.

[Phn_tm]

YES! It's the lack of reassurance to "get back into it" that keeps us from stopping. Coz let's face it: we never do. This really helps! Especially for the novel you're working on ;)

[yosecretsquirrel]

So one of the great superpowers of being ADHD is the ability to point out and describe effective methods of dealing with ADHD specific behaviours, while not personally being able to utilize those methods because, well, ADHD. Im not suggesting this is the case here, just that as divergent minds, we often forget the differences between a generalized group and the individual.

[alexandrialeonora]

Thank you for this! I actually discovered this on my own at some point in the past year or so! I realized that if I needed to go somewhere but didn't want to break the flow state I was in, I could just write down quick notes about the ideas I had still coursing through me, and not only would I have them there to continue at a later date, but I'd also be looking forward to doing it, because the ideas themselves were exciting! It's such a useful, simple tool for those of us with ADHD!

[asafupps]

A great way of getting back into, say, writing an essay I have found is saying “I just need to write 50 words.” I always end up writing more, it’s great.

[Ellaliluleloka]

Yes!! I've started doing this on my thesis. I write to myself what I'd just done, highlight in big letters where I had stopped, and wrote instructions to myself on what to do next. It makes such a big difference!

[rwh]

This sounds like such a good hack, imagine it would’ve been very useful in my working days - and I’ll use it now in retirement as well: it’s often exhausting to pick something up you’d researched & started & knew a lot about - and have it no longer be clear.

[breezywindflower]

you make me feel like i am ok. thank you.