Track Patterns | Part 2 | ADHD Energy Recharge

Transcript

1. ADHD Energy Recharge Part 2 - Track Patterns Wed, Oct 11, 2023 11:06AM 8:09 SUMMARY KEYWORDS jot, patterns, feeling, information, notes, tasks, reminder, sociable, app, literally, moment, track, write, words, energy, day, notebook, work, energized, pop SPEAKERS Patricia Sung Patricia Sung 00:01 So when we identify the patterns that are unique to you, one of the things that was like the first obstacles that we were like, well, how many keep track of that. And when we create things instead of our live in a way that makes sense for ADHD, one of the first things we need to do is look at the obstacles. And one of them is like tracking things is hard for us remembering to journal every day is hard for us. So how do we make that easy? How do we start to track our own unique patterns of energy, there are plenty of apps out there, if you have one that works for you use that to me, I don't really want another app, I don't want another thing to do, I want to keep it really simple. So you can use the fancy tools that are available. Or you can use my very simple system, which is, I make a note in my notes app on my phone, and have a reminder pop up on that note. Whenever I want to, like actually make the note. And my job there is not to write a novel, it's not to like fill out a giant form. My job is on that reminder pops up. I literally just have to write down like one or two words, or one sentence about how I'm feeling in that moment, just start tracking my patterns. So as we start diving into looking at patterns, this is what I want you to think of is we're not trying to fill out like the fancy dancy coolest Pinterest tracker there ever was. We just need to capture the piece of information in the moment. Because if we try to do it later, our brains gonna be like, I don't know, how did I feel at 3pm? Today? I don't know, how did I feel last week? I don't, we're not going to remember. And if we do remember, it may be wrong. So how do we keep this really simple. Open up the note app, put a reminder on it to pop up at a certain time. And just jot down the tiniest amount of information that you can even if it's one word that is better than nothing. And we are going for like how do we make this super easy. So what I actually want you to do right now is like make this note so that you can start tracking your patterns. So thinking about when we look at, like, what are the things that you would want to do right now what do you not want to do right now are keeping it super simple. So right now, if you think about okay, for me, it is 11am On Thursday, the 21st we're gonna put that in my notes. So if you were playing along with me here, go to your notes app. Or if you don't use your notes app, if you want to put your notebook, it doesn't matter to me if you wanna put it somewhere else. But I like my notes app. Go in there, open up a new note, and jot down the date and time to 21st at 11am. And write down literally like one or two words about how you feel right now. And I usually look at it in three ways. So task oriented, like, if you think about like, for me, it's like late morning, what are the kind of things I would want to do right now. For me, I'm a little bit more energized, like right
2. before lunch and usually got a pretty good amount energy. So like, this is why we're doing this workshop right now. Because this is an energetic time for me. Like, I'm happy to show up and talk and do stuff. If you need me to go like clean up some stuff. I'm on it, I got energy right now. So looking at from a task, so jotting down like one or two words about like, what are tasks that you would want to do right now. Or if you're like, I for sure don't want to do this right now. Like if you're like I don't like people, and I don't wanna talk to anybody today, I'm in a bad mood right down, don't want to do that don't want to talk to people today. So I look at it from people's and tasks. And then feeling just how am I feeling? Am I tired? Am I okay? Am I happy. So I'm gonna give you about 30 seconds to a minute here to open that app. Open up your notes, your notebook where we want to jot it, and just literally take 30 seconds to a minute to write down how you're feeling. If there's anything you for sure do or do not want to do in terms of people or tasks, and just wanna do that right now. So we know we leave here we have started this process. Okay, go and I'm going to check the chat while you are writing. Patricia Sung 04:46 Opening up either that Notes app on your phone or a piece of paper in your journal, jotting down how you feel at the moment, just a couple words. Or you can do it versus like whether or not you like people Moment, do you want to actually talk to people? Are you being sociable? And then tasks are the things that you'd be like? Yeah, I'm down to do that today. Or I'm for sure not me that today. Patricia Sung 05:24 Okay, so this can be this easy, it can literally be 10 seconds out of your day. If you are using the app, if I know for sure, in Google Maps, it's called a reminder, you can pop in the time for it to do at the same time tomorrow. And you may adjust the timer later, as we are talking through to find a better time for you to make those notes. But when I was super sick, and I had to, like, keep track of how it was doing to try to figure out like, What on earth was wrong with me? This is what I did. I had a reminder that showed up every day at it was 2pm. And I would just jot down, okay, how am I feeling right now, as before, like my kids got home from school. So that was a good time for me. And literally, like, whatever I had capacity for the moment, if I felt like writing a bunch, I could write a bunch, if I literally just write one word is good enough for you just put down the date and the time, jot down what you're feeling. And the goal here is that right now we're just starting to accumulate information, we don't have to know all the answers, we don't need to like have all the magic solutions. The goal here is just to start collecting the information. So we can start finding the patterns. As you gather information in this Notes app. And you, you literally don't have to do anything with it for like, two weeks, a month from now. And you can look back and be like, oh look, every day that I noted in the afternoon, I was really tired. So that will tell you like, hey, the kinds of tasks I'm going to do in the afternoon are going to be different than the tasks I'm going to do at like, mid morning. Or, you know, if you're doing it for more than a month, you can start to see the patterns. If you have a somewhat regular cycle of seeing like you know, the times that are working for you to be feeling more sociable or not getting things done, or you want to hide under your covers. The whole point here is is to start gathering information in a really easy way. So that you can then look back and see where those patterns start to appear. And as we're talking, you may already know some of the patterns that work for you. And you can use that information you'll be like I don't really need to take copious notes here I got this. Or you might be like, I genuinely have no idea how I feel on
3. most days. Like there's a lot of times they're coming as a hey, are you doing and I'd be like how am I doing? Like slow down and stuff and like check in and be like, Am I okay? I think I am or Oh no, I am not. But this moment to jot down the tiniest bit of information will allow you to start seeing the patterns as we go forward.