ADHD Productivity: Creating Structure as a Game

Does your productivity decline without deadlines? That would be understandable in anyone, but with ADHD, the absence of a deadline is a free pass to do anything, or nothing at all.

When there is no structure, you can create it..

Name your game.

A game needs a name. How else do you know what game you are playing?
What will you name your game?

What are the rules?

A goal is what makes a game a game rather than just an activity. What’s the goal of your game?

When you are playing, what are the goalposts? What are you aiming for?

A game might have a time limit. It might also have subsets, like innings, quarters, or sets, to mark progress. How will you organize your game?

Who is playing your game with you? Who is on your team?

What do you need to play?

What skills, equipment, or tools do you need? Are you ready now, or do you need to prepare?
How can you get what you need?

Which game are you playing now?

You can have any number of games going at one time - some are short, some are long.

How do you level up?

What’s your strategy, to improve your performance? How will you get ideas of how to train differently, learn new techniques, or understand the game better?

Game changing:

How do you know when it’s time to choose a different game to play?
What helps you make that decision?

Working on your game:

You probably already know the distinction between playing the game and working on your game.
When you are playing, you are doing what you know to do. What you’ve been doing.

Working on your game means looking at what you are doing, making adjustments, and practicing until the new techniques become part of what you know to do.

Following a plan is easier!

For a person with ADHD, viewing their objectives as a game is a way of creating support and accountability for their performance. Following a game plan is easier than remembering the steps of what to do, and doesn’t require as much motivation.

ADHD Life Support is the blog of
Susan McGinnis, CALC of ADHD Impact Coaching LLC
Coaching adults with ADHD www.adhdimpactcoaching.com