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Have ADHD and Struggle with Planners? This System Will Change Everything | Cloth & Paper | CLOTH & PAPER | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Have ADHD and Struggle with Planners? This System Will Change Everything | Cloth & Paper
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Core Theme
This content explains how a discbound planner system can be a highly effective organizational tool for individuals with ADHD, addressing common challenges like forgetfulness, overwhelm, and distraction by offering modularity, simplicity, and visibility.
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Let's talk planners, specifically why
planners fail me. If you have ADHD, you
probably know the struggle. You want to
use a planner, but then you buy a
planner and you use it for like a week
or sometimes, if you're like me, not at
all, and then it just goes into the
void. the planner graveyard. Uh,
personally, I have tried every kind of
planner. I tried the the colorful ones
with all of the stickers and pretty
stuff because I thought, "Oh, give me
dopamine and make me happy." I've tried
the ones that you can just get at the
big box stores. I've tried the really
expensive ones that you can customize
and spend a lot of money on. And none of
it ever worked for me. So, after a lot
of wasted money and effort, I just kind
of gave up on it. I was like, I'm just
I'm just not going to be a planner
girly. and that's okay. But then I found
this discbounce system and it completely
changed the game for me. I'm going to
tell you why I like the discbound system
and how I make it work for me. So, first
thing is it's completely modular. I can
change anything I want. Like if
something doesn't work for me, I can
just be like like see you later. Bye.
Uh, if I want to add things throughout
the year because I see something cool or
new that I want to try, it's easy to do.
The one sizefits all like pre-made, just
absolutely not. Doesn't work for me at
all. Um, this allows me a lot of
flexibility. You know, I only keep three
months in my planner at a time. And this
lets me set things up exactly how I want
them to be set up. And that's really
important if you have ADHD because
everybody with ADHD is a little bit
different. and different things work for
us. Second, I can keep it simple. If you
don't like keeping it simple, that's
fine. Uh, but for people that have ADHD,
I always recommend a simple planner
setup because all if you do too many
stickers and flourishes and colors and
you've got 10,000 things, it can really
lead to overload and you can get more
distracted by the planner itself. So, it
really loses its functionality and its
purpose. So, for me, I keep everything
really simple. I keep a highlighter,
this awesome little dot marker, a pen, minimal
minimal
stickers, and that works really, really
well for me. The third thing that I do
to make this work for me is that my
planner is always open. People with ADHD
struggle with what's called object
permanence. So basically, that means
that if I don't see something, it
doesn't exist. Like if this is closed
and it's on my desk like
this, this no longer exists to me. This
might as well not be here because
nothing inside of it is real anymore. So
by leaving it open, it becomes my
external memory. So I'm not missing
tasks just because I don't see them. So
I'm just going to quickly take you
through my planner and show you how I
have it set up that works for me. But I
do want to point out that if you have
ADHD, it's really important to try
different setups. That is one reason the
disbound system works so well because
you can try different setups. You can do
different things until you find what
works for you. It took me a few tries to
get to the system that I have now. So,
first of all, I love this this cover.
This is cactus leather. Um ADHD people,
we have sensory stuff. So, I actually
like the way that it it feels. Um, I
don't like things that are overly
smooth. This is smooth enough, but has
like a nice texture to it. Um, you know,
I keep it really simple in here. There's
a lot of pockets right here. I know a
lot of people love to keep um, you know,
their page flags and and various things
in here. For me, that can become really
distracting. Normally, I actually don't
have anything in here, but this
journaling card is uh in the April
intention box, and I actually really
really love it because I like the way
that it feels in my hand, which sounds
silly, but again, if you if you know,
you know, uh the grommets in it, which I
think are so clever and so cute. Uh just
it's like a fidget toy in my planner.
So, that's really what this has become
for me. Uh and I actually sit there in
meetings and do this. This is another
way to engage your hands if you don't
happen to have a notepad available. Um,
so I do that a lot. So, I just really
like that journaling card and that's why
it's there. Normally, I don't really
keep anything there. As you can see, I
have a few dashboards. I do like the
dashboards. I think they're fun. I often
change them out. This is one of my
favorites. Chaos Makes the Muse. I think
that speaks for itself for somebody that
has ADHD. Uh, so I keep that in there
pretty much all the time and swap out
the other ones. Uh, this is something
that I actually added recently. I did
have a regular annual spread, but I
never used it. I didn't find it to be
very functional. The layout just didn't
really work well for me. And then this
came in the January intention box. And I
thought it was so fantastic because it's
so I don't know. I don't know what it is
I like about it, honestly, but I love
the pull out and um that it's really
easy to read. It's just great to get a a
big picture overview. Works well for me.
Uh, I don't plan that far out. So, you
can see that it doesn't have a lot on
it. Just kind of what's going on right
now if it's important, like I have my
kids birthdays and um a trip on there,
but I don't really use it for daily.
It's really just a great reference
calendar. Um, then of course, we have
these little doodads in here. You'll
notice that I do just do three months of
planning at a time. So, I've got March,
April, and May. Uh, I was going to get
the nicer tabs that have the months all
preprinted on them, but I happen to have
these at home already, and I'm
impatient, so I just wrote the months on
there. Um, it's not the most aesthetic,
so, you know, it is what it is, though.
So, what we'll what I'll do when I get
to the end of March and I'm looking at
April, because I do try once a month to
spend at least 10 minutes looking at the
whole month. So, what I'll do when I get
to April is I will go ahead and I'll add
June in. I have the whole year of
inserts. I just don't like having them
all in here because I find it to be
really overwhelming. So, I keep them on
another set of rings that I keep in my
office and then I just add a month as I
take a month away. So, that's how I do
it. And just to show you how I have it
set up, I will give a little bit of a
trigger warning. If you are very type A
or bothered by uh handwriting that is
not super aesthetic, this may be a bit
of a jump scare for you because this is
my real planner and you know I don't I
don't usually show my real planner so or
my planner at all. So it is what it is.
So at the beginning of the month uh I
love this layout right here. Um, at the
beginning of every month, I have the
goals section, which I do find helpful.
Sometimes those can get a little
overwhelming for me, but I do find this
particular layout helpful. And I just
write in work and then home across here.
Uh, because I always have a lot going on
in both. So, you know, I've got my job
here and then I have, you know, a big
wonderful family at home. So, um, I try
to leave space for goals for both. So, I
just try to keep it simple. For work,
I'm writing in the big picture things
that I know I need to work on that I
want to remind myself of throughout the
month. Uh, and then for home, you know,
we're doing a lot of spring cleaning
stuff right now, trying to get things
ready for spring and summer. I live in
Florida, so we tend to do that just a
little earlier than maybe they do in
other parts of the country. So, you
know, things like cleaning up our lai,
finalizing summer vacation plans, all of
that. Uh, important dates. Usually I
write down like spring break for the
kids when they're out of school. Uh
birthday, you know, any traveling that
I'm doing. Um I I don't think my life is
that entertaining most of the time. So
this is actually a lot for this section
for me. Usually it's full of events that
have to do with my kids. Uh because
that's life when you have kids. And then
I try to always make at least three
priorities that are for myself or my
family. Uh very often I'm bad at
prioritizing those things and this
little section here has helped me with
that. So for this month I'm trying to do
more meal planning because I am the
queen of Door Dash and I really want to
improve on that. So I'm working on more
meal planning. And then I have a move
goal with my job. I do a lot of sitting
down, lots of meetings and I get really
hyperfocused when I get going and then I
forget to do things like stand up or
move at all.
So, I've tried to make it a goal that,
you know, I'm not sitting for longer
than 30 minutes at a time without a
break because that's really bad for your
body. Uh, and then summer camp, just
getting things ready for the kids for
summer so that they have their things to
do while I'm working and everybody gets
to stay sane in our house. So, I try to
keep it simple. Um, I will often write
bills down here. I didn't do that this
time because that seemed weird to do
when I'm showing it to thousands of
people on the internet. So, um, normally
I'll write just bills that are not
typical bills. I don't find that I need
to write down things like rent,
electricity, a lot of things are on
autopay like that, but bills that are
maybe unusual, um, you know, bills I get
in the mail, things that are not monthly
things, I will write them down here. And
I'll also put an what I call a note to
my future self, which you'll see here in
a minute, uh, on the date that I need to
pay it, cuz that helps me remember to
pay those things that are not super
routine for me. So then just moving on.
Um oh, you'll see this is um some of the
doodling that I do. Uh there's a
separate video actually that involves
why I do this. Um but moving on from
that, this is how I do my planner
layouts. I try to keep it really simple,
really clean. You'll notice I don't have
a lot of different colors. I don't have
lots of different stickers and page
flags. And the reason that I don't do
that is because for me it becomes
distracting. Uh, and they almost become
like toys because, you know, I like them
and I think they're fun to play with and
it's it's fun to make very aesthetic and
pretty spreads. But functionally on the
daily for me, this is what works really
well. So, over here is um my task
snowball. If you don't know what that
is, uh there's another video about that
that explains how I use that for
productivity. So, this is like my weekly
task snowball. This is where I start
out. Um, this is actually another one
that's for a larger project. So, you
know, I write that down and then a lot
of times I will draw a line and just
write this is where I put like personal
tasks that I need to get done that
particular day or week depending on what
I'm doing. Um, and I try to always make
a line between the two because I do work
from home a lot of the time and I I need
some kind of separation so that I don't
get things too mixed up throughout the
day. Um, and then I'll make, you know,
whatever memo is really important over
here. It can vary from day to day. I
don't really have a rhyme or reason to
it. It's whatever makes sense. At that
time, you know, on this day in
particular, I needed to remember to
check in for a flight. Um, the little
the little dot stickers here, uh, they
don't really serve a purpose. This is
just one of those things that I love the
way it looks and it calls it out. And,
um, out of all the stickers we have, I
will say that the dot stickers are
probably my favorite. I love these
stickers. I would buy them in 20 colors
if we made them because I love the way
they feel. I like the way they stand
out. Um I really like the clear ones
because as you can see over here, um I
do the dot with the marker and then I
put the clear button over it and it just
makes it a little bit fun. So, you know,
for me, like I said, I keep everything
simple. So, I've got simple tools and
then I have um you know, one pen. I only
really let myself carry around or have
on my desk one pen at a time. I'll have
more more pens like I have more pens I
should say. Uh probably a million of
them, but they have to stay in the
drawer. I only really let myself have
one pen on my desk because again trying
to keep things free from distractions.
And I will tell you, I love this pen. I
really was not a fountain pen person.
Um, as you can tell, penmanship is not
super high on my priority list most of
the time, but I got this in the December
intention box. And I it's really heavy.
I feel like it actually improves my
handwriting. Yes, this is the improved
version of my handwriting,
um, just in case you're wondering. And I
really, really have enjoyed it. So, I
switched to the fountain pen. This one
in particular, like I said, I love it.
The quality is great. It's nice and
heavy. That's my pen right now. And then
I also use a gray highlighter. Again,
some people prefer the colorful
highlighters, but to me, when I'm using
the colorful highlighters, it is to
really highlight something, and that's
not what I use my highlighter for. I use
my highlighter for crossing things off.
For example, I just finished these, so
actually cross that off. because to me
it's like shading it and saying I'm done
with it. So that's something that I use
the gray highlighter for. This I use for
pretty much everything. I love this
little dot marker. Love it in different
colors. Everything you can think of. Um
I make my own little check boxes
sometimes when I'm doing these smaller
breakdown lists of big tasks. Um or like
right over here. So that's the probably
the most typical way that I use it. But
sometimes I'll also use it like
decoratively. Like over here for
example, I made like a fun little
marquee. So, um, these are really the
only three tools that I keep on my desk
all the time because they're the
essential pieces of the planner. So, try
to keep it really, really simple. Um,
I'll swap them out, but I have a rule
that if I add something, I have to put
something in my desk drawer so that I
don't become too overwhelmed with
choices. It's really very simple and I
keep it very simple intentionally. Uh
the workflow, you know, really just
flows throughout the week. I'll make
this big list at the beginning of the
week and then it kind of flows into the
next pages. You know, obviously things
crop up during the week that I didn't
know were going to be happening on
Monday, but typically I can predict a
lot of the tasks that I have to do. So,
I'll just keep carrying it over
throughout the rest of the work week.
You can see I've already added some
things here. This is actually what I'm
doing right now. So, um I'm going to
just cross it off. Even though I'm not
all the way done, I'm just going to I'm
going to cheat right now and just cross
it off. Um and then this here, uh is
another thing that I do that helps me a
lot. This is what I call my notes to
future self. Um I used to use Post-its
all the time. I was somebody who had
Post-it all over my desk. I had them all
over my computer monitor. I used it to
manage my tasks and to try to remember
things. And what I learned is that that
is a terrible system for me. So, I made
a rule that post-it notes are only for
temporary things. They're only for
temporary reminders and things that are
not super important. If something is
really important, it has to go in here
to remind me. So, my notes to future
self, or at least that's what I call
them, is basically when I'm sitting here
and I'm thinking through my week and I'm
like, "Oh my goodness, I need to make
sure that I order groceries on Friday so
that my family has food to eat this
weekend." So, I will write it on a
post-it and I will stick it in this part
right here because I don't really feel
like it needs to go in the main task
list. So, then when I do order the
groceries, I, you know, can take the
note and I can throw it away. I'm not
going to do that because I do actually
need to remember to order groceries for
my family. So, I'm gonna put that back
in there. Um, and yeah, so I just do the
same process week over week. I try to
keep it the same mostly. I switch things
up very slowly if I do because I don't
want it to become something that is
taking up too much of my time and, you
know, negating the purpose of the
planner, which is to be organized and
productive. So, that's what works really
well for me. Long story short, if you
have ADHD, you need a planner, but you
need a planner that works for you.
Something that's customizable, simple,
and most of all, visible. That's a
planner system that will work for you.
Uh, beyond that, get something that's
modular. There's, you know, discs like
this. There's also ringbound planners.
Some people prefer those. There's
various sizes. This is a half letter for
those who might be wondering. This works
really well for me cuz it's not too big
and not too small. So find what works
for you. Try different things. Don't be
afraid to say, you know what, this
doesn't work for me. And try something
else. That's how you find the system
that works for you. And when you do,
it's a complete game changer. So that's
it. Let us know what works for you.
Happy planning. [Music]
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