3+ ADHD Tools For Adults (+Resources)

This article explores ADHD tools for adults to cope with the symptoms of ADHD. This article is a concise guide on ADHD and looks at the symptoms, management and resources and additional skills for helping adults with ADHD to thrive.

3 ADHD Tools For Adults

Here are 5 top ADHD tools for Adults:

• Task Planner
• Jar of Successes
• The Pomodoro Technique

Task Planner

Aside from the apparent benefit of remembering appointments and obligations, utilising this tool on a regular basis aids you in accomplishing two goals:

For many persons with ADHD, visualising the passage of time and making time “real” is a difficult effort.

Enabling you to break down larger projects into smaller ones and schedule things over time can help you avoid “major project overload.”

It can also make you feel more accomplished if you write things down.

Jar of Successes

It’s easy to become disheartened, especially in the early stages of diagnosis and therapy. Two steps ahead, one step backward — or even three steps back — might feel like progress.

A setback may depress your mood and self-esteem if you don’t have an effective strategy in place, and it can lead to a mindset of “why even bother trying?” Enter: a proactive method for reversing a downward spiral.

Make a list of accomplishments, big or small, such “A student complimented me for understanding her” or “I finished a paper in record time!” After that, put them in a jar. This is your very own success jar. Dive in and read as required later!

The Pomodoro Technique

The word “pomodoro” means “tomato” in Italian, although you don’t need a round red timer to use this method. Any timer will suffice.

Setting a time constraint is one way to entice oneself out of procrastination and into an activity (e.g. 10 minutes toward clearing off your desk).

Structure Checklist

• Make a daily schedule and try to stick to it.
• Set meal times for yourself and structure your day around them.
• Every night before going to sleep, plan and make a to-do list for the next day.
• Set a fixed bed time and try to hit the sack at the same time every night.

Make Time For Relationships

The symptoms of ADHD may make a person seem insensitive and uncaring in their relationships sometimes even when it is far from the truth. Others will miss birthdays and anniversaries because they are preoccupied with other obligations. Setting aside time for your relationships, no matter what your challenges are, will help you improve relationships.

A plain lack of awareness can cause major problems for many couples. Spend some time educating your partner about ADHD, or inspire them to learn more about the condition by reading about it. Many therapists will work with you and your partner to address questions, educate you, and help you close the gap.

Relationship Checklist

• Everyday try to spend some amount of time with your loved ones.
• Hang a calendar or planner in your room with birthdays and anniversaries marked on it.
• When with your loved ones try to practice active listening and even ask questions to stay attentive.
• Create reminders for important events especially related to friends and family so you don’t miss out on them 

Organizational Tools

• Using a planner to manage appointments.
• Talk about any issues you’re having with your calendar system. 
• Review any problems you’re having with using your task list on a regular basis. 
• Use of the “A,” “B,” and “C” priority ratings.
• Talk about any difficulties you’re having with task prioritisation.
• Breaking down big tasks into manageable steps and using problem solving (picking the best plan of action)
• Evaluate how you use these tactics and put one or both of them to the test using examples from your existing to-do list.

Tools For Minimizing Distractibility

• Breaking down projects into manageable chunks is a good technique to use. 
• Discuss any difficulties you’re having breaking down activities with your therapist. 
• The use of the distractibility delay. 
• Examine any problems you’re having with the distractibility delay process.
• Getting rid of distractions in the environment
• Defining unique locations for valuable items and ensuring that they are always stored in these locations
• Use of prompts, such as “Am I currently doing what I should be doing?”

Overcoming Procrastination

• Consider a particular activity or problem that you’ve been putting off. 
• Utilize skills that are specific to this role or problem. 
• Split the challenge down into manageable steps using the problem-solving technique. 
• Make a list of the steps on your to-do list. 
• Next, make a list of your automatic thoughts about getting started. 
• Finally, describe the relevant reasoning flaws and try to come up with useful, pragmatic solutions.

Develop Everyday Habits

You can develop and strengthen your everyday habits, learn to identify and use your abilities, and build strategies that will enable you to function more efficiently, stay organised, and communicate with others more effectively.

Set Daily Goals

ADHD Workbooks for adults may prove to be a useful resource for helping you set goals and break them down into bite sized ones to make them easier to accomplish. These workbooks can help you identify your strengths and build on them. 

Work on Organizational Skills

ADHD workbooks for adults could help you by improving your organizational skills and structuring your life by bringing order into it. Let’s see how ADHD workbooks can aid people with ADHD manage their symptoms and become more efficient in both their relationships and professional lives. 

ADHD Resources

Helpful Adult ADHD Websites & Blogs

• Attention Deficit Disorder Association
• National Resource Center on ADHD – “What We Know” fact sheets
• Resources for College Students with ADHD
• Children & Adults with ADHD (CHADD)
• Help4ADHD.org
• ADDitude Magazine
• National Association of Professional Organizers
• Queens Of Distraction.com
• Moms With ADD
• My ADD Store
• Totally ADD
• LD Online
• ADDJourneys.com
• ADD Consults
• ADHD Health Central
  

ADHD Videos (Courtesy of ADDitude)

• The Emotionality of ADHD
• How ADHD Causes Emotional Dysregulation
• The Neuroscience of the ADHD Brain
• Why You Feel Rejection So Intensely
• The ADHD-Executive Dysfunction Link

Books on Adult ADHD

• Driven to Distraction
• Delivered From Distraction
• Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed
• Journeys Through ADDulthood
• Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD
• Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do About It
• Poems, Pathways and Peace: A Baby Boomer’s Journey With ADHD

Relationships

• The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps
• The Couple’s Guide to Thriving with ADHD
• Is it You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.: Stopping the Roller Coaster When Someone You Love Has Attention Deficit Disorder
• Married to Distraction
• You, Your Relationships & Your ADD
• When an Adult You Love Has ADHD: Professional Advice for Parents, Partners, and Siblings
• Helping Your Husband with ADHD: Supportive Solutions for Adult ADD/ADHD
• ADHD After Dark 1st Edition

Strategies for Coping with ADHD

• ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life
• Taking Charge of Adult ADHD
• ADD in the Workplace: Choices, Changes and Challenges
• Adventures in Fast Forward: Life, Love and Work for the ADD Adult
• More Attention, Less Deficit: Success Stories for Adults with ADHD
• Permission to Proceed
• Living Well with ADHD
• The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents
• Understand Your Brain, Get More Done: The ADHD Executive Functions Workbook
• The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD: An 8-Step Program for Strengthening Attention, Managing Emotions, and Achieving Your Goals
• FAST MINDS: How to Thrive If You Have ADHD (Or Think You Might)
• The ADHD Advantage: What You Thought Was a Diagnosis May Be Your Greatest Strength
• Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 2nd Edition-Revised and Updated: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized
• Your Life Can Be Better, Using Strategies for Adult ADD/ADHD
• Making the Grade With ADD: A Student’s Guide to Succeeding in College With Attention Deficit Disorder
• Thriving with Adult ADHD: Skills to Strengthen Executive Functioning
• The Adult ADHD Tool Kit: Using CBT to Facilitate Coping Inside and Out
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD: An Integrative Psychosocial and Medical Approach

The Takeaway

If you or a loved one had ADHD you should consider investing in an ADHD Workbook for adults because it could be potentially life changing or atleast help get you on the right track.

From the link given below you can download the ADHD Workbook for adults ‘Mastering Your Adult ADHD’ for free. It is the best ADHD Workbook for adults available online and it is divided into 4 concise modules which address organization, reducing distractibility, adaptive thinking and additional skills.

Most importantly, it has now become imperative to end the stigma around ADHD so adults who have ADHD can talk openly about the challenges they face and receive support.

Additional Resources

The Best ADHD Workbook For Adults can be downloaded from the link below:

Mastering Your Adult ADHD

BetterHelp: A Better Alternative

Those who are seeking therapy online may also be interested in BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers plenty of formats of therapy, ranging from live chats, live audio sessions and live video sessions. In addition, unlimited messaging through texting, audio messages and even video messages are available here.

BetterHelp also offers couples therapy and therapy for teenagers in its platform. Furthermore, group sessions can also be found in this platform, covering more than twenty different topics related to mental health and mental illness. The pricing of BetterHelp is also pretty cost-effective, especially considering the fact that the platform offers financial aid to most users.

Conclusion

This article explores ADHD tools for adults to cope with the symptoms of ADHD. This article is a concise guide on ADHD and looks at the symptoms, management and resources and additional skills for helping adults with ADHD to thrive.

If you are looking for an alternative, review The Best Strains for ADHD and Anxiety.

Frequently Asked Questions: ADHD Tools For Adults

References

Our Favorite Healthy Finds: ADHD Management Tools

ADHD Resources (Books, Websites, Apps, Technology Tools)