5 Tips to be productive when you have ADHD (Without medication)

Most people who suffer from ADHD like I do feel like they have no other choice than to take medication to be able to be productive. While I still take medication for extreme cases (for university exams), I managed to figure out a way to still be productive even when I’m not on the meds.

1. Isolate yourself from outside noises

One of the problems people with ADHD have is that when you are trying to focus on your current task, any small noise around you will immediately take your focus away, which is incredibly annoying. Finding a quiet place, or simply using headphones with good noise cancelation or decent ear plugs will help you find good focus on a regular basis. Personally, I listen to music with my noise canceling headphones (Bose QC35 II) and I instantly feel an improvement.

2. Go to bed early and make sure you eat and drink enough during the day to maintain a good energy level

Your mind always needs to be clear, if you don’t have enough energy due to a lack of sleep, or because you are thirsty or hungry, focusing will be twice as hard and you will need twice as much time to accomplish anything, if you don't give up before that.

3. Take notes

Taking notes is essential, whether at school or work. Whether you have a hard time following a course or a meeting, taking notes will help you salvage any knowledge you can. Even when you can’t really follow what’s going on, taking notes of what you were able to understand or listen to will turn out to be a big help in the long run as you will have a lot of useful information written down and when you have a better understanding later on, you can complete this information. At work, this will show your superiors how organized and dedicated you are.

4. Set reminders

Setting reminders is a very good way to take things off your mind. If you set a reminder for something, you don’t have to think about it anymore until you are actually reminded to do it. Which means that during the day, you will have less on your mind and be able to focus on what you have to do right now, or what is more urgent.

5. Find a solution that works for you

Sounds obvious, but you should know that the tips you read online are personal tips, like mine, or just tips that will work for a majority of people. Which is why it is very important that you also take in consideration what works for you. If you notice anything, any environment, any time of day, where your productivity is higher than usual, you should 100% implement it in your daily routine while continuing to seek for better ways to keep your productivity up.

Conclusion

There isn’t any magic trick or technique that will make you productive. You need to be real with yourself, accept that you have weaknesses and that you need to improve, and put the work in to do better, to be better. By doing that you will see results, take pride in being the hardest worker in the room, and keep pursuing your goals, it’s always about discipline and hard work. Always. Thank you for reading.