Brains....
All my life I have been crazy busy, but I've never gotten anything done.
Perhaps you feel the same.
It is because of....
It is because of.... The Matrix!
*lightning crackles in the wind*
*robot noise*
*sound effect title here*
Unfortunately no one can be... told what the Matrix is.
Except for me.
I'm gonna tell you, right now
*dramatic glasses*
Follow me.
*upbeat intro-music*
Like most people with ADHD, I tend to prioritize whatever is urgent!
Paper due in 2 hours?
Paper due in 2 hours? I'm on it.
Friends in a crisis?
Friends in a crisis? I'm there.
Somebody's being a jerk on Facebook?
*angry typing noises*
Here's what I learned recently
and apparently it is why my system of prioritizing doesn't work so well.
There is a difference between
Urgent....
and Important.
In fact when something is urgent
It's often not important
What?!?
If you are anything like me, then that concept doesn't even make sense.
Of course what is urgent is important, it's what has to be done right now!
But lets take a look at it a little deeper, what does "Urgent", mean?
I have to get to work, is urgent.
It means if you don't start moving right away you might be late and get a write up or be fired.
but
there's a new article about Kim Kardashian? Also urgent.
If you don't read it while it's in your Twitter feed, you might never know how she feels about Taylor Swift!
They both call for immediate action and have immediate consequences
but that doesn't mean they are both important.
They're just urgent.
Okay then, how do we know what's important?
By the way...if you don't have any goals...it's okay! =-)
Start here.
Not doing the important stuff also has consequences.....
but unless the consequences are immediate....
the important stuff isn't urgent.
Behold....THE MATRIX!!
It's the priority matrix.
Because we tend to live in the now and respond to immediate feedback...
ADHDers are GREAT (!) at responding to what's urgent.
So much so that we often wait for the important stuff to land in the urgent box...
before we ever address it.....
and in the mean time, respond to whatever else is urgent....
whether or not it's actually important.
For our ancestors this probably worked out okay.
It made sense to take care of whatever was urgent before your long term goals...
so that you'd still be alive to achieve them.
The problem is...in today's world everything's urgent.
Social media....text messages....e-mails.....phone calls
Specials!!....Today only!! Act now!!! =-O
If we respond to everything that's urgent, we may never stop being crazy busy....
and actually have time for the stuff that's important to us.
But if I wait long enough, won't the important stuff become urgent?
Not necessarily.....and, in fact, most of the time.....only if it matters to someone else.
If your boss needs that article turned in.....YEAH!! It'll become urgent to write it...
but if no one is waiting for that novel you always wanted to write....
you may never have time to write it.
When was the last time someone gave you until Tuesday to eat a vegetable?
So what's a BRAIN to do?
How do we make sure that stuff that's important...
but not urgent get's done?
The solution is actually pretty simple. =-)
Step 1
Step 2
Since our brains are wired to respond to what's immediate....
make it immediate!! Set a time for it so it doesn't happen.........eventually
It happens today.
Some easy ways to do this:
Set aside a block of time every day or week just for taking care of those.
The nice thing about this is...because they're not urgent....
you get to choose what to work on.
Don't feel like doing laundry....take the dog for a hike.
If you want to get advanced with this, there's an app conveniently called priority matrix.
To help you keep track of which tasks belong in which boxes....
But honestly.....the urgent stuff, I know I'll get done.
and the other stuff doesn't matter.
I never once said....aw man, I forgot to check Facebook today.
So personally, I'm just going to focus on the ibnus
A.K.A. (also known as) the things I don't have time for.
If it doesn't need to get done yet, why am I doing it?
You're doing it because it's important to you....and didn't you say you'd do it...
if you just had time. =-/
Well, you just made time! =-D
You're doing it so that next week when something that's urgent and important....
unexpectedly comes up, you don't get overwhelmed and burnt out.
Taking care of things while they're important, but not yet urgent is your best insurance....
against feeling like your life is getting away from you.
Let's face it....most of us could use that insurance.
That's it for this week! =-)
Check out the links in the description below for more tips and info!
Comment below or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter to let me know what #ibnus you're working on.
If you like this video and want more....SUBSCRIBE!!
I will see you next week! =-D
Bye BRAINS! <3
Pss....Edward says #ibnu won't catch on. LET'S MAKE IT CATCH ON!! =-D
Just work on a #ibnu and post it. After a thousand he's going to do a Q&A.
About me......
Question time!
Can you describe what your day is like when you forget your meds?
Netflix, Cheetos, Pizza....nap.
That's about it.
Seriously, if I forget my meds and I need to be productive I know that I need to be....
a little bit better at using my tools.
So I will be sure to exercise! I will make sure to meditate!
I won't over-commit myself if at all possible.
I won't take on extra stuff that day. I'll just do whatever I've already committed to.
Have you ever accidentally taken your meds twice?
I live in mortal fear of this.
I think I did once.....I don't remember that day. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a good day.