My ADHD Brain: Task Management with Toodledo and Notability

👉 With ADHD, emotions can go from 0 to 100 fast. My free Emotional Thermometer & Guide helps you recognize where you are on the scale and what strategies work at each level: https://larahammocktherapy.com/#emoti... In this video, I'll tell you about the system I use for task management. This is part of a series on my ADHD brain and all of the systems I use to compensate for a lack of internal structure and organization. Please subscribe and leave comments below! *** A truncated transcript follows. A full transcript can be found at https://www.marblejar.net/blog/2017/6.... *** Hi, everyone! This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll tell you about the system I use for task management. This is part of a series on my ADHD brain and all of the systems I use to compensate for a lack of internal structure and organization. Okay -- so, I have a video that gives an overview of my organizational processes and apps. Then I have a video that describes how I use Gmail to funnel all of the digital information coming into my life into a single stream. This video discusses one of the core elements of my organization system -- task management. I am a list keeper -- always have been. One of my weaknesses is in working memory, which is the ability to keep more than 2 things in your head actively. I was a waitress for a couple of summers and I was a perfectly good waitress if I had a pad of paper to write everything down. But things really fell about when customers asked for things as I was rushing though the dining room with plates of food in my hands. I just did not have the ability to remember anything that I didn't write down. So, I have always written things down to free up working memory. Paper lists are great, but they have drawbacks. I won't bore you with all of the electronic solutions I've tried over the years, but I've settled on Toodledo's website and app. It's not pretty, it definitely not super simple, but it addresses my requirements and gives me a couple of nice to haves as well. So, here are some of my requirements that are fulfilled by Toodledo: • Cross platform - this is one of my main requirements. I want a system that works on my computer, my phone, and my iPad. Again, not pretty, but it works! • Schedule tasks in advance - this is crucial for me. I need the ability to schedule a task in the future -- like reminding myself to call for a grooming appointment for my dog (I can only schedule 2 months in advance but they fill up quickly). I also like the ability to push things off to a different day if they aren't pressing. For example, I know I need to take my son's bike in to get tuned up. I don't have time to do this today, so I look at my schedule for next week and schedule it for Wednesday, which is the day that I will be running errands. • Recurring tasks - my use of recurring tasks borders on the bizarre. You are really getting to see how the sausage is made here. Embarrassing, but here goes. I'll give you some personal (non-work) examples of how I use this: • o Annual - reminders to schedule well appointments for my kids, schedule flu shots, change the batteries on the smoke detectors, cars safety inspected, buy cards for certain birthdays, schedule spring and summer gardening o Every several months - reminders to reach out to specific friends for dinner dates, go through photos quarterly, do quarterly financial chores, file receipts o Monthly - reminders to change heating filter, give my dog flea and tick medicine, wax my eyebrows (yes, I need to be reminded), family budget report, send photos to family o Weekly - reminders to pay bills, do laundry, call my grandma, renew library books, plan meals for the coming week, respond to emails in outstanding items folder o Daily - Meditate, check my son's sticker chart, homework planning with my son, daily log, practice guitar o I told you it was bizarre and embarrassing to share. But I forget to do things! And I hate that feeling that I'm forgetting something. I don't like getting tickets for forgeting to have my car safety inspected. I don't like having to pay library overdue fees. This is the best way to make sure all of this stuff gets done and gets done in time. • Hotlist - the last of my requirements. This Hotlist view allows me to only see the tasks that are overdue or due today. Meaning that I can hide tasks that have been completed or are in the future. • Here are the "nice to haves": o Tags - I like to have the ability to tag tasks based on project. Some projects are big and need to be broken down into smaller tasks. I list each individual task and tag them each with the project name. . . *** Read a full transcript at www.marblejar.net. ***