Looking for Behavioral Tools

[josefifi]

Hello, I'm new to this site, am basically retired . A family member has pointed me in the direction of this site for some needed answers. Even though I haven't been diagnosed, I seem to have many symptoms of ADHD . I'd like to first explore non-medication avenues of behavioral tools to help in lessening many of these symptoms. I would like to smooth over some of my behaviors that make communication difficult with my family members: listening skills, patience, calm and non-stressed approaches to living, and focus in completing much needed daily tasks. I also would like to make organization of both simpler and more complex tasks easier to design and complete to aid in a more streamlined life. I have had some moderate hoarding issues, that are now at a mild level. Many times I have felt so stressed and overwhelmed by tasks that I have a quite a problem with procrastination.

[Gettingittogether]

If you don't want to get medication treatment, are you willing to go to therapy? Otherwise, I don't think there exists any self-treatment.

But you can start by reading ... reading here ... reading through old posts and responses and then books and lectures. And see, we run into the problem: lots of people with ADHD have trouble following through. So often people need medication to get the insight and habits going outside of medication.

This is a serious and debilitating and cunning brain condition. It does not respond to positive thinking. There are tricks we can learn. Try reading up on habits ... that's a start. Start exercising 5x a week, that's a start. Start meditating--that's a start ... But again, most folks with ADHD are much more regular with those activities with medication and therapy.

[MTA-]

Mindfulness is the first one. That will help with stress, and the rest will flow from there. Read the Happiness Trap by Russ Harris, and Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

(Man's Search for Meaning is basically the foundational text for mindfulness. It was written in the 50s, and is pretty far removed from modern mindfulness. But it was the context that I needed to fully understand mindfulness. But parts of it will destroy you. Viktor Frankl was a German Jew, and survived the holocaust. He basically wrote the book comparing the mindsets of those who survived to those who didn't. So it doubles as his memoir of the holocaust).

Then, as for organizational tips, can't beat Kanban. It was developed by Toyota (I think) for visualizing and planning production lines. Really good for visualizing the steps needed to get a task done.

[Hidden]

Have you ever thought of C.B.T as I am trying this out but early days. I am finding it helpful in working on my moods and emotions. There is an app that you can download its free too bonus