For a women with ADHD, your days can feel like you are putting out one fire after the next and your life has been like this for a long time and you don’t know a better way… However I am here to tell you there is a way to reduce your daily ADHD stress and overwhelm. Buffer time is when you need to add extra time for a task or project, gives you time to slow down, think and center yourself and gives you emotional breathing room and a time to think strategically. Below are some strategies to creating buffers which will help you become more productive
Getting To Places On Time – Estimating time and figuring out how much time you need to get to a place is one of the biggest challenges I hear during my coaching session. I explain to my clients to try overestimating the time needed by giving yourself an extra half hour to ensure that you will get to where you need to get to on time But, as I write this, I can hear you asking, “What do I do if I get there early?!” You don’t want to be bored or waste your time. After all you have a lot to do, right? So, bring something to read or do. And with the extra time you can also center yourself, rather than sliding into home base at the last minute, flustered.
Try To Avoid Doing One More Thing- As a women with ADHD you can get random thoughts in your head on tasks throughout the day, and you may try to do the tasks as soon as you think about them. Maybe it looks something like this. You are about to leave the house to go to an appointment and you remember you need to take something out for dinner and you don’t want to try to remember to do it later, and you think you have time. So, you say to yourself, “I’ll just do this now. It will only take a minute…Instead use self-talk to remind yourself, “I don’t have time. If I don’t go now, I’ll be late.
Think Strategically- For a women with ADHD finding and taking the time to plan is one of the most critical buffers you need. While planning may not be your strong suit now, it is possible to strengthen this muscle. The key is to do an ADHD brain dump review on a regular basis — weekly and daily. (https://www.neverdefeatedcoaching.net/the-power-of-a-brain-dump-how-to-untangle-your-adhd-mind/ And, as you do this consistently, the pull of immediate gratification (doing whatever catches your attention in the moment) will weaken.