Optimism can be so lovely except if you’re ADHD and are too optimistic about time.
We always think that we can get more done in a shorter amount of time than is humanly possible. Again, not even just possible for someone with ADHD, all humans, humanly possible. We always think, “Oh, this will just take five minutes,” when it takes five hours. We always think, “No, I'm going to make a list of everything I need to do before I walk out the door to work.”
When we plan going forwards in advance instead of backwards, we get caught in the planning fallacy, and we find ourselves suddenly running out the clock.
If you’ve never been able to get out the door on time, try Planning Backwards which is also known as:
Backward Planning
Reverse Planning
Backward Scheduling
One reason it works is that when you plan backwards, you are faced to confront the actual steps involved in getting out the door.
Backward planning is harder to do fluently. Like with anything, it's harder to walk backwards. You've got to really think about it. It's harder to say the alphabet backwards. When you're planning backwards, there are these automatic questions that come up like, “Okay, what has to happen or what has to be true before that step?”
You keep doing it each time, and that's naturally going to expose any obstacles. It's going to cause friction, which is what you want.
The bottom line is that people who plan backwards more accurately estimate how long it will take to get something done.
To hear more about why this works and how to make your plan, listen to this episode of my podcast “You Are A Lot” an ADHD/AuDHD Podcast.
