If you are like me and you have ADHD, doing homework might feel like a constant lifelong battle that goes on for hours, and hours, and hours. Especially if you are living in April of 2020 and the Coronavirus has ordered that all your schoolwork must be at home. But don’t worry, you are not alone and there are a lot of us people who can’t seem to sit down for five minutes. So to help you not to panic, here are seven tips that might come in handy, when the same teacher who is concerned with your mental health assigns three hours worth of homework.   

1. Make Your Bed

The first step to being successful is actually getting out of bed in the morning. Once that is done, you should make it. Making your bed is proven to help you feel accomplished and with ADHD brains, every small victory helps. 

2. Stick to a Routine

If you had a routine for school before this all happened, then keep to it. This will help you to stay on track and make sure that you aren’t wasting time. Put on your clothes, and eat breakfast then take a couple of minutes to allow yourself to realize that you need to start getting to work. During this time that you are preparing yourself, is the time that you would be commuting to school. When we drive to school we are mentally preparing ourselves for the work we are about to do whether we realize it or not. It’s the same thing as putting on a uniform before a game, it makes us mentally prepared.  

3. Have a Specific Place to Study

You want to have a specific place where you can work that is basically the only thing that you can do there.  This is important because when you do something that is only for that one spot, your brain knows it is time to focus. It is the same mentality thing that we talked about with the uniform above. This space should be free of distraction such as siblings running through, or a tv. Having some background noise is not always a bad thing but just make sure that it isn’t something that could distract you. 

Note: Don’t do your homework in your bed, that’s for sleeping. When you stop doing that, it could also help you sleep better because when you lay in it now your brain knows the only thing you can do here is sleep, not work.

4. Write down EVERYTHING

The first thing I do once I have done all of the above is go through each class on google classroom and write down each assignment for that day in a planner. If you don’t have one of those you can use an app or just a piece of notebook paper.  I prefer paper because I like crossing out the things that I get done. Write out each item that needs to happen for that day, so that you can easily see what needs to be accomplished.  This gives you structure and an easily planned out day. Make sure to allow room for things like lunch and multiple breaks. Ideas for random projects and things I need to get done are constantly running through my head, so writing things down is extremely helpful. Keep a notebook nearby, specific for random things, or have sticky notes to remind you to do things later but not to interrupt you from getting the work done that needs to happen now. 

5. Set Goals

Challenge yourself to get your work done in a certain amount of time. But make sure that they are more than reasonable. Succeeding in something small in a lot of time is much more productive than making a small time frame and being disappointed in yourself if you don’t reach your goal. When you do reach your goal, reward yourself. Allow yourself to take short but frequent breaks to get up and stretch or go have a snack. Go easy on yourself because doing everything at once is exhausting and might tire you out before you can get all of your work done.

6. Be Consistent with Medication

If medication is something that you take, take it consistently! Set a reminder on your phone or put it into your routine. For instance, right after breakfast always take it. Having a set routine helps to remember to do things and keep up.  I know how much my medicine helps me to focus and is pretty important to helping get a single productive thing done. I am not a medical professional but I do know that if I am not consistent with when I am taking it, it can really mess things up. So stay on top of that and it will help you to stay on top of the rest of life. 

7. Apps and Phone Management 

My phone is single-handedly the most distracting thing in my life. Between all social media, endless scrolling of youtube, and keeping up with texts, the constant stream of notifications that phones provide is a lot to handle. Do not disturb mode should become your best friend. The only problem with that is it does not silence everything when you are using your phone for school. Going to my phone’s settings and putting time limits on certain things has been really helpful for me. When I do this I can silence everything else and only use the things I need to until the work is done.

On the flip side apps that you can download can be helpful to remind you of every crazy thing that otherwise would slip your mind, build great habits, or just plain focus. Here are a few: Fabulous, HabitHub, Flora, Tiimo, etc. 

I hope that this list will be helpful to you. Just remember to continue to be patient with yourself and eventually, the work will get done. To find more about ADHD go to HowToADHD.com or look for them on YouTube.