The Keep:ADHDers Guild

Description
This is the guild page of the ADHDers Guild, the guild for those of us with diagnosed or undiagnosed ADD/ADHD using Habitica to help manage the issues of motivation, distraction, and other impairments that come with our condition.

This wiki will be used to collect helpful tools and recommendations to manage ADD/ADHD submitted by the guild members.

Finances
Android
 * Mint

iOS

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Home Organization

 * the reminders function of smart phones - some allow to connect reminders with GPS (e.g. reminder to take out the trash that pops up as a notification when the phone GPS sees you get to the spot you've designated as "home")

Android
 * Magic Home Inventory by Robert Papp - make an inventory of all your possessions and their location in your house. Helps with finding things you need but forgot where you have them. Prevents double purchases since you can always check what you already have while being in the shop.
 * AnyList for synchronised grocery shopping. You can put present ideas there, too.

iOS

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Medication Trackers
Android
 * MySymptoms - Has a reminder function and allows to track type of medication, dosis and time of taking the meds. It also has a function of tracking (customized) symptoms, their duration and severity. Might be helpful when trying medication for the first time: rate your ADHD symtoms daily for one month before trying medication (base line), then track the same symptoms for one month medication. Calculate the average rating of each symptoms and see whether the numbers differ from the base line. Though calculation must be done manually (you might use an Excel Spreadsheet for the same purpose and it might be easier to use because of the integrated calculation functions).

iOS

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Meditation
Android
 * OMM or one moment meditation - It is literally that - a timer for one minute meditation, up to three minutes if you include warm up and cool down. It's just a moment to get the squirrel thoughts off their various trees and thus helps with brain buzz.

iOS

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Note Taking
Android
 * Google's Keep notes app. One thing likeable about Keep is that you basically throw in a bucket of random notes and total chaos, but when you add reminders to them, they show up nicely organized in your Google Calendar.
 * Line's Keep – integrated in the LINE messenger App
 * Microsoft OneNote - for example for class notes, storywriting, and video game notes because it's set up like notebooks and is good for tiered bullet notes. It also has a mobile app that syncs up with the desktop version, which is great if one forgets to charge the laptop for class and needs to see one's notes.
 * Memorix because it can set reminders, pin memos to one's phone notifications, has color coded sections and a password protected section, and can be backed up in case the phone dies
 * ColorNote - Like Sticky Notes, but sorted and you cannot loose them. You can create checklists, but plain Text is also useful from time to time.
 * Omni Notes on Android (from f-droid.org naturally)

iOS
 * Apple Notes and Reminders
 * Agenda to write down all your thoughts, ideas, notes, and meeting minutes. Because it can automatically specify the date and time for each note as you write them, you can find them easier when you look back and build on them later. The more important feature though is that you can assign notes to specific calendar items, like meetings, so that when you want to look back at an event, you can check out when and where it happened, who was there, and what you wrote about it. The App automatically cooperates with Fantastical 3 & Things 3

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Studying
Android
 * White Noise

iOS

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Time Management
Android
 * aCalendar - Works well with Google Calendar
 * Excel Sheets
 * Brili Routines
 * Time it - similar to Brili but the way in which it displays the time for each task is more visual (a round clock divided into sections rather than just a timer). It is a free app and good for all ages. Another difference from Brili is that when one task times out, it automatically goes to the next task rather than waiting for the user to swipe it. Depending on what people are looking for it might work better than Brili for some people

iOS
 * Fantastical 3 keeps your schedule easy to read, and the natural language input feature means that you don't have to think about what you're putting in. Just type it in as you would say it, and all the relevant information is there automatically.

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To-Do Lists
Android
 * Regularly - to keep track of periodic activties, like getting a haircut, that don't occur daily or weekly; when one comes up as due, put it into your "To Do" list in Habitica.

iOS
 * Things 3 - clean interface, the ability to hide notes away when not need but bring them back easily, and looking over the To-Do list can also include your calendar items so that you can plan your lists ahead of time without jumping back and forth between apps. Being able to see and do everything in one place makes it easier to ensure you put them in and complete them.

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Websites & Browser Extensions

 * 750Words for typed journaling.
 * calenders - personal calender (color coded with class, work, extracurriculars, etc) and a family calendar that syncs with the family so that you can coordinate on things
 * There's also a software called Bitrix24 it's free, as long as remembered, and it might also help you to manage your time, projects and goals.

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Firefox

 * Form History Control - Auto-save text entered in any form while typing to allow fast recovery when disaster strikes (e.g. saves Habitica guild posts you were writing in case of internet disconnects etc.).

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Google Chrome
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Common Recommendations for common ADHD Struggles


Cleaning & Organizing the House

 * Watch the Webinar by Susan Pinsky (it's for free and without spam)
 * Audiobooks, podcasts, or music while cleaning. Bonus if it's something that makes you feel powered up.
 * For household stuff, have a page pinned next to the kitchen, nicely designed with daily tasks and a week plan for stuff you only need to do on certain days of the week. So in habitica you only have "do household" as daily and you still have the specifics where you're not distracted.
 * "Laundry tower". It's an... open cupboard? Where you put clothing you already wore but does not need to be washed, yet.
 * Do Cat Litter the right way.
 * Using the Pomodoro Method for cleaning:
 * Start with a break. Grab a timer, Get out of the messy/stressful area and set it for 10 minutes. Move around and do a little exercise. Do whatever kind of movement makes you happy. Dance to music, do jumping jacks, stand still and pick up your knees one at a time walk around the block (low-impact exercise is just as good as high-impact for this step).
 * When the timer goes off, pick the area you want to use the most and set for (x) number of minutes. (x) is how long you feel like you can maintain that energy at the moment, anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes works for me but it varies by my mood. This is how long you will work on cleaning that specific area. Note: the chosen area is specific, like "the top surface of my desk" but as you clean, you might end up cleaning the space around the area too. This is fine! When you realize you have widened the area, just go back to the chosen spot. It might let you end up with more done than you expected (or not). When straightening a specific area, have a box for "things that go somewhere else" that you can deal with at the end. Otherwise you end up in the wrong room trying to put something in a different area for 10 minutes instead of focusing on whatever you picked as your current goal
 * When the timer goes off, see if you want to keep going or want a break. ALWAYS give yourself a break if you want it! use the timer and either relax or do more enjoyable energy-spending activity.
 * When you finish the chosen area (or need to do something besides clean), choose the next task. You could pick another area to clean, run an errand, work on homework, etc. This way you are making steady progress on your tasks, and getting enough breaks to keep it from being too overwhelming.
 * Moving Places or Decluttering your Home with an anxiety inducing amout of mess:
 * Start with the floor because you have to be able to move around freely for cleaning.
 * Choose a well defined area you're going to address (e.g. that 1 square meter at the door). And move clockwise once you finished this area . Move from top to bottom when cleaning shelfs etc.
 * Cover the areas you're not going to clean NOW with bedsheets/towels/etc. to reduce visual overwhelm and anxiety and to enforce the idea of only cleaning this particular square meter you chose.
 * Have a box (or multiple boxes for each room in your house) where you put things that belong in a different room, but are not part of your current defined cleaning area. If you don't have enough boxes just put those things on the floor of the room it belongs into. Don't waste your time trying to find the ideal place for such objects, just put them somewhere and come back to them later.
 * Set a (kitchen) timer to X minutes and start decluttering the chosen area until the timer goes off. Make a short break afterwards and set the timer again.

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Driving

 * Listen to Audiobooks or Pod Casts while driving

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Emotion Regulation & Dealing with Overwhelm

 * Use Noise Cancelling Headphones/ Earbuds or the opposite: Music on very high Volume.
 * High energetic Music (upbeat rhythm, metal etc.) or ASMR
 * Try to get somewhere dark and quiet, feeling enclosed without being crowded, so under a blanket on an uncluttered bed, next to a quiet person/animal/big ol’ plushie on the couch, on the floor in a clear corner where you can put your back against a wall for grounding. If you're at someone's place/outside you could head to a bathroom or side hallways/roads
 * Weighted blanket
 * Touching soft things Or other textures you like (for example petting your cat 🐱😉).
 * Focusing on something else: trying to remember tons of digits of pi, reciting the alphabet backwards, thinking of three good things that happened that day
 * Reading fiction helps retreating back inside your head where it’s (mostly) safe
 * Simple, repetitive Phone Games like sudoku
 * Breathing Meditations - for example "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Calming, Smiling, Present Moment, Precious Moment": you just breathe in or out with each phrase as you say them in your head
 * Leave the situation as soon as possible and shake your limbs as if to get rid of the overwhelmed feeling. Walk outside in a quiet neighborhood, park or natural area
 * Fidget Toys prevent and help managing overwhelm (e.g. Dimpl Clip, Tangle Fidget, a folding fan, especially if you live somewhere hot). They are discreet too
 * Use your favorite scented lip balm and hand cream because they help block out bad or strong smells with a familiar, soothing smell
 * Be prepared: have a specific bag with its own designated coping tools that never leave it, so they don't get left behind. Have it ready to grab at home and take it with you any time you know in advance you're heading to a loud, crowded, hot, busy, etc place.
 * Snacks & Water, because hunger or dehydration add to sensory overload
 * Drinking cold water or even just rinsing your face with cold water for about 45 seconds is a nice cooling effect (consider carrying a water bottle)
 * Dealing with paralyzing anxiety which leads to excessive procrastination: When all else fails, and if it's just the one task out of many, the best thing overall is to get someone else to do it or at least get it started for you. It can even help if someone can does the first steps, like open the envelope or pull up a website. Example: Have someone to help make phonecalls. This person makes the calls and puts the phone on speaker, this way you can both answer the questions.
 * Dealing with Unproductive Coping Techniques / Avoidance Behavior (e.g. gaming): add a grey (never due) daily to your list for the unproductive coping activity: grant yourself 30 minutes for doing the thing and only tick the daily if you actually stop the unproductive coping after those 30 minutes. It's a little bit like acknowledging that something is overwhelming but not letting it take over.

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Finances

 * Use Cash instead of credit Cards. Helps visualizing the amount of money you spend and serves as a physical limiter for purchases.
 * When online shopping save the product in your Cart and wait for at least one day before purchasing it. After waiting for one day you might loose interest in said product.
 * Save things you want to a Wishlist (e.g. Amazon, Pinterest etc.) before purchasing. Chances are you forget, you even wanted to buy them. (Out of sight, out of mind)
 * Container for paperwork so it has a place to sit until you do it once a week.

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Forgetfullness

 * White Board to organize thoughts
 * always carry a notepad and pen to catch task lists, random thoughts, ideas, goals, doodles etc. For some people it all flows out easier on paper for initial brainstorming and planning. After examining and sorting it out implement it into digital, if necessary. Use the notepad as your external working memory: "If it's not written down, it doesn't exist." At work, if something goes wrong, you can show that you wrote it down and did it as asked, or passed it on to someone else. It covers your back. In short: carrying a notebook shows you care about the work. You'll work better and you'll look good to the bosses. But maybe you should learn a little shorthand and stuff to take notes faster. E.g. use lots of arrows, like ct-> [name] means contact, and a little up down ^ shape arrow means tomorrow.
 * Index Cards
 * Pill Organizers for medication. In case you're uncertain whether you already took your pills or not. If the pill isn't in the box anymore, you obviously did.
 * Cue Your Behavior by linking actions with each other based on time ("If it is 3 o'clock, then I will sit down and write for 30 minutes") or timing ("If I brush my teeth, then I will take my medication"), negative behaviors ("If I'm tempted to avoid work by web surfing, I will close the browser"), positive behaviors ("If I listen to this inspirational song, then I will clean the house"), negative thoughts ("If I start to shame myself for procrastinating, I will point out two times when I didn't procrastinate"), or positive thoughts ("If I meditate for 5 minutes, then I will make that phone call").

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Medication

 * To figure out the right medication/dose ask the people around you to note your attitude (or any other changes) when medicated versus when not.

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Social Life

 * say "Thank You" instead of Apologizing

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Sleep Hygiene

 * avoid Blue Screen Light before sleep
 * try drinking Coffee before going to bed (in case you're unmedicated)
 * Melatonin Supplements to manage Delayed Melatonin Release in ADHDers - please consult with your DOCTOR!

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Studying

 * Keeping a personal wiki (Syncthing and Dokuwiki, something like that). This, instead of for planning, you can use for knowledgebasing. A way to try and map your knowledge to make it more accessible and to help you build relations between things.
 * Get organized to the best of your ability (but try not to perfect it. It's supposed to help you not take up 90% of your time)
 * Find someone to talk to, a sounding board of sorts. Talk to your teachers. They're not your sounding board but ask them to help you with accountability and anything you might be struggling with. Ditto for TAs if you have any. (Pro tip: office hours create nice intermediate "deadlines" that push you to work in smaller chunks. Try to go to each one)
 * Be kind to yourself when you screw up ever so often and can't do any of these (or other) things.
 * Try "micro-poms" like “work on the thing for one minute” or micro-to-do lists like “turn on computer”, “open file”, “read one sentence” etc. if you have a hard time initiating a task.
 * Finish a task, get a prize, whether it's watching an episode of a show you like, or getting a cookie. Place a gummi bear at the end of each paragraph and eat it once you've read the paragraph.
 * Respect the Good Day: If you have a Burst of Energy one day, make sure to not do TOO much, because you'll have to recover from draining your energy too much on the following days.
 * To make Task Initiation easier, especially for long-term projects, always stop at a point where things are still going smoothly and you know what to do next. If you stop only when you hit a wall, picking up the task next time will be much harder because you know that a difficult sub-task is awaiting you.
 * Study through rephrashing the text by taking notes on the subject full of curse words, memes, slang, etc. It helps get the general concepts through your brain while also producing some hilarious sentences, which in turn helps to remember even better

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Time Management & Time-Blindness

 * Use Kitchen Timers to "feel" time passing
 * Constant Alarm Snoozing: This isn't the most elegant solution, but if you absolutely positively can't stop yourself delaying the alarms the first time they go off, or you aren't near your meds etc. as the alarm goes off... Instead of hitting snooze, dismiss the alarm and IMMEDIATELY create another one for the future. Use a small interval of time, like 1-5 minutes preferably, for things like meds which have a strict schedule. Do this every time you delay. Eventually (or immediately), setting new alarms becomes more effort and annoyance than just doing the thing. And even if it takes you 4 cycles, you've only lost a max of 20ish minutes.
 * Bujo for short and long term planning. Don't fall for the pinterest/blogger BuJo trap, read the actual book. It doesn't have to be aesthetically pleasing but functional. Stencils are fun for preparing how you want it to look or just spicing up your vanilla style after the thoughts are out. Can be combined with Habitica as a way of attaching goals and reward infrastructure. See BuJo Habitica Guilds: Planner Addicts of the Papery Kind and Bullet Journalers. Used brands: Simple Elephant Planner, Moleskine
 * When people at work keep interrupting you: give them a certain time of the day they could come to you with questions, ask them to email you instead of approaching in person and check your mails every 1-2hours, consider having a visible list, on a whiteboard, or clipboard, or something, of the tasks you are working on. When people walk up, point them to the board and tell them to add their request on the list. Start with some tasks you already finished, so they can see them being crossed off. If they think their task is urgent, tell them to negotiate with people ahead of them, unless it's genuinely your job to decide priority. You'd need to be nice about it, perhaps explain that with X done, there are a lot of tasks floating around, and you want to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. (Or have a shared work flow chart like Trello or Kanban)

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Reading Recommendations


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Habitica Extensions


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Habitica Challenges & Guilds for ADHDers


Self-Esteem

 * Passengers on a Bus - Acknowledge your inner critics without letting them take over. Imagine your life is a bus and you are the driver. Your inner critics are unpleasant riders. You can't kick them off the bus, but you don't need to let them steer.
 * 🌱 Develop a Growth Mindset - You are not a fixed set of traits. You can grow and change. Practice interpreting your abilities in terms of learning instead of limits.
 * Self-Compassion for Procrrstinators - When you procrastinate, you probably don't speak kindly to yourself about it. Would you talk to a friend that way? Probably not. So, when you find yourself putting things off, try treating yourself as a friend.

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Time Management & Procrastination

 * The Instant Gratification Monkey - Learn why procrastinators procrastinate and how to beat procrastination
 * The Procrastination Equation - Learn the specific causes of your procrastination, then practice techniques to address them.
 * Observe Your Procrastination - When we procrastinate, our minds can go in unhealthy directions. This challenge helps you identify your thought patterns. You'll learn how observing reality differs from speculations about the future, value judgments, and unhelpful conclusions.
 * The Procrastination Matrix - Are you putting off tasks that are important but not urgent? Do you instead choose tasks with immediate rewards? Map how you spend your time to understand why some tasks get postponed.

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Guilds
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Problems to Stick with Habitica? Bored with Habitica?
 Root-Cause-Analysis What is causing your desinterest? Here are some prompts:

Have you explored [interesting guilds](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Guilds_Guide)…? Have you tried playing the different [classes](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Class_System#Why_would_I_want_to_be...)? Are you in an active party and do you complete [quests](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Quests#Quest_Types)….? Did you try [gamified challenges](https://habitica.com/challenges/c455a758-2b09-4d27-adf2-487e63922fc2) and [role play guilds](https://habitica.com/groups/guild/6f63fcb9-326d-4cab-8f0f-0b9a7086a147)…?

Did you purchase all the [Enchanted Armoir](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Enchanted_Armoire) and have you activated the [costume option](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Equipment#Costumes) for your avatar….? Do you need more fancy armor and shiny pets….? ( &rightarrow; Can you afford a [subscription for that](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Subscription#Bonus_Benefits_for_Longer_Subscriptions)….?)

Have you tried playing Habitica on [hard mode](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Self-Imposed_Challenges)?

Did you try to become a [challenge creator](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Running_a_Challenge)….? Did you check [contribution options](https://habitica.fandom.com/wiki/Contributing_to_Habitica)….?

Are you overwhelming yourself with the workload you set for yourself….? Add tasks for recreation and reduce workload <.<.

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