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The #1 Mistake ADHD Brains Make with Planners | Caren Magill | ADHD Coach + Multipotentialite | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The #1 Mistake ADHD Brains Make with Planners
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Summary
Core Theme
For individuals with ADHD, the key to long-term planner system success lies not in the tool itself, but in developing the skill of planning, prioritizing, and reflecting, which combats the brain's natural inclination towards novelty and waning interest.
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If I had a dollar for every time an
ADHDer told me that they had a certain
planner system that worked brilliantly
for them for about two weeks and then
all of a sudden mysteriously it just
stopped working just like that. I would
be a bazillionaire. My name is Cara
McIll. I'm an ADHD coach and creator and
I'm here for the busy ambitious brains
who use planners for about 2 weeks and
then somehow magically it just it stops
working. And in today's video, I'm not
only going to explain to you why that
is. I'm also going to share my strategy
for actually sticking with a planner
system for almost four years now. Y'all,
I have been with the same planner system
for 4 years, and it has worked for me
well, most of the time. But if you
watched the video I posted about two
weeks ago about needing to freshen
things up in my life, then you will know
that my planner is actually the best
place for me to start when I want to
make bigger life changes because I have
and this is a big part of it built a
skill around using my planner to
actually craft, design and execute the
life that I want. But sometimes things
get stale and that is one very big
reason why our planners stop working for
us. But before I get ahead of myself,
let's start with the number one reason
why planners only work for us for about
2 weeks and then stop. Okay, here's the
situation. People with ADHD have
interest driven brains. That means that
we can do things all day long as long as
it's interesting for us. But here's two
really important limitations around that
system. Number one, things that are
interesting to our brain are not always
the things that we should be doing.
Interesting might be binging Netflix or
playing video games or doing anything
other than the task we're supposed to be
doing at any given moment. And number
two, interest is not sustainable for the
ADHD brain. Meaning, we get sick of
things very easily. So, we need an awful
lot of novelty. And that is the reason
why most planners work for us for about
2 weeks and then stop working because
the planner itself is neither working
nor working. It was just that we were
running off the empty fumes of novelty.
And once that wore off, so did any
interest we had in using that planner
system. So once again, we're back at
square one, wondering why we can't seem
to stick with anything when it comes to
planning and executing on our goals
until today. that is because I'm now
going to share with you what actually
works in terms of adopting a planning
system and using it not just for a week
or a month but year after year after
year as I have finally figured out how
to do for myself. And you want to know
what the secret is to having a planning
system that will last for years and
years. It might shock you. Lean in
close. You ready for this? Has nothing
to do with the actual planner that you
choose. It has to do with the skill that
you build. I know. I know you might be
thinking w you wanted me to tell you
about some super fancy AIdriven planning
system that does all the work for you.
And I apologize for bursting that
bubble, but it really doesn't have much
to do with the tool itself. It does have
everything to do with the skill you
build around it. And unfortunately,
we're not really taught how to develop
this skill for ourselves in school. And
if nobody's teaching you this skill,
then there's no reason why you should
know it because it's not really a
natural thing for anyone, much less a
very busy ADHDer. So, let me break this
down for you because I think it's going
to make you feel a lot better about all
of the past planning escapades that
you've had that haven't lasted. So, when
it comes to productivity and planning in
general, which is very important, by the
way, in my opinion, it's the highest
form of self-care to take the time to
plan your week in advance. Actually
check the plan throughout the week. Do
the things you say you're going to do.
And at the end of the week, give
yourself a little pat on the back for
getting it all done because that is
actually how you build a life of your
own making. But let's keep the life
coachy stuff to the side for a sec and
talk about the practicalities of
building a productivity system that will
actually work for you. And it doesn't
start with the tool itself. It actually
starts with being very clear on what is
most important to you in this season of
life. And I think that this is why my
system has supported me so well. And I'm
not even talking about just being
consistent with the system. I'm talking
about the results I've gotten from this
system. The system I use has helped me
build the business that I have be
consistent with YouTube. I think I'm up
to like 130,000 subscribers at this
point. It has helped me build an amazing
podcast and a suite of products for my
ADHD audience and most recently a
community of ADHD business owners. So,
this has really been the system that has
changed my life, I would say, in the
last four years. That's not an
overstatement by any means. And up until
a couple of weeks ago, this system has
been working really well for me.
However, like all things with the ADHD
brain, over time, the novelty wears off.
And I'm finding myself in that situation
right now such that my system has become
almost like a white noise. It becomes
boring. And when that happens, that's
when I start being inconsistent. I stop
planning on Sundays. I stop reviewing on
Fridays. and I stopped checking my plan
throughout the week. So, that's what
brings me to today or maybe a couple of
weeks ago when I shared that I need to
start changing things up in my life and
resparkizing things cuz they're getting
a little dry and boring. So, rather than
me saying to you, "Tada, here's my new
template and system," I thought what I
would do is walk you through my thinking
process. So, this is less of a technical
tutorial and more of a here's what's
going on in my brain when I feel like my
planning system is starting to get a
little tired and I'm starting to lose
that consistency and momentum that I've
had for a long time. So, let me show you
what I did when I was on vacation last
week and really just thinking about this
from the standpoint of what in my life
needs to change right now and how can I
get my planning system to reflect those
new priorities. So, I started with a
simple list of what are the things that
are important to me right now. The one
thing that I'm thinking is most
important to me in this season of work
is having a simplified strategy and then
a process for implementation and
tracking. So I need to build that in so
that it's more intentional because let's
be honest, I can say that I have a
strategy and a plan, but if it's not
actually written out in front of my face
in terms of what it is I'm going to do,
I'm going to forget it's there and just
move on with the things that I generally
do. So if you want to create change in
your life, you actually need to plan out
what that change is going to be and put
it into your implementation system so it
actually gets done. Now I want to
address the second most important thing
when it comes to building out your
productivity system. And this is really
the skill part. Imagine a master
carpenter who had all the skill in the
world but really crappy tools. that
carpenter is still going to produce way
better results than a crappy carpenter
who has top-of-the-line tools. Right? In
that respect, it's not about the tools
as much as it is about the skill and
that muscle memory of using the tools
wisely and effectively. Right? So now we
want to think about our skill as it
relates to any tool that we might pick.
And I think that the major skill that
all of us need to build is first of all
the skill of tracking what's most
important which we just reviewed and
then either finding a productivity
system like out of the box that will
help you track those things or building
something of your own which is my
preferred method. I have the vision to
action uh system that you can use for
your personal life and the organized
business which I use for my business and
continue to use and everything in that
template is still relevant. It's just
how that data appears needs to change
because my priorities have shifted and
my strategy and plan is hopefully
shifting and the things I want to track
have shifted. So I think if we were to
boil down the essence of this entire
video in one sentence, it's that
whatever is most important to you, think
of that as a data display and then ask
yourself, how do I need to organize this
data so that my brain sees it every day?
It remembers it's there and it's
important that I need to track it and at
the end of the week I have a system for
metabolizing everything that's happened
and making thoughtful decisions about
what I'm going to do next week. So that
is part of the skill of understanding
what's most important and making sure
that you have the structure in place to
keep it going. But the other part of the
skill which is perhaps even more
important is actually engaging in the
structure you've created. So whatever
system that you've decided is going to
work for your brain. Now you need to
build the skill of actually planning
your week in advance with some intention
and then actually going back to that
plan and executing from it. And that in
and of itself is such a valuable skill.
It's the skill of building healthy
habits that move you in the direction
that you want to go. And then perhaps
the last skill is the skill of
reflection where you've executed a full
week of your plan and you're looking
back at it saying, "Okay, this is what
went well. This is what didn't go well.
These are my wins. Yay me. Now I need to
digest all of the things that happened
this week. Think about my greater
objective, where it is I want to go and
what's most important to me." And then
use all of that information to plot out
the following week. And the more you
plan and the more you execute your plan,
whether it goes to plan or not, the more
you start to trust yourself to actually
get things done. And that has a huge
impact on your self-esteem, on your
ability to start things and follow
through. And it really is a big
life-changing mechanism. But for me,
it's like, okay, I just need to move the
pieces around the playing board a little
bit so that my brain thinks it's new and
can start reorganizing information in a
way that works for me. So anyways, that
is what I'm going to do right now. And
instead of walking you through the whole
thing, I'm just going to tour you
through what my template currently looks
like. Then I'm going to go through the
process of messing around with it and
creating something new. And then I'll
show you what the end result looks like.
If you guys have been around here for a
minute, you've probably already seen
this, but at the top of every week, I
create a new weekly layout. And that
pulls in all of the data that's
important to me in the season of life
that I'm in. And this is pretty much the
one that I've been using for the past 4
years. Until now, I've had like all this
data about my personal strengths and
values and stuff like that. The vision I
have for my business and when I know I'm
being successful, I'm not using these
things. So, I know that those things
have to go because they're taking up the
most important real estate on my page.
Then I've got current projects. And I
think I need to keep this the way it is
for now, but I think I need to tweak my
project template because right now it's
not very helpful. It's just sort of like
a mish mash of materials and it's not
it's not something that I can work with.
I've got my current goals here, but I'm
not actually working on goals. I'm
working on projects that support goals.
So, I don't know that I even need to
keep my current goals in front of me. I
love this. I've started adding in like
three priorities for the week. And I
found it super helpful. And then I've
also put in this little um quote here
that I just put from time to time a new
quote in. And I love this one. Stop
trying to fix a life you really don't
want. That one hits hard, eh? And then
I've got my to-do list in the form of a
calendar. Every day I do a little daily
story. So, it's just like a little
journal um prompt of like, you know,
what I'm doing or what I'm thinking
about or how I'm feeling. And then these
are the habits that I track. And then
down here is my content calendar. And
then down here at the end of the week,
um I track my wins. I do a little
journaling and I do a little reflection.
I think my reflection questions need to
change. And this is just generally where
I write notes throughout the week. I
feel like some of these things need to
stay. Like my to-do list is working for
me. I want to keep my daily stories. And
I still want to track habits, but I need
to change which habits they are. I
definitely need to change my content
plan, but I think that that's going to
be a work in progress and where I try
different things and see if they work.
So, it's still the same information in
the same database. I'm just remixing it
and retooling it. So, it feels new and
exciting and my brain will look forward
to actually using it again. So, on that
note, I'm going to get into some playing
around here and then I will show you
where I end up. All right, here's the
final layout or as it exists right now.
Probably needs a bit more tweaking over
time, but I don't want to change too
much all at once. I'll just show you
briefly what I've done. There was a lot
more properties here of things I wasn't
actually tracking, so I just got rid of
them, and it's a lot cleaner. Instead of
having like my vision and strengths and
weaknesses, all those things up top
because I wasn't looking at them. What
I've now put up top are things that I
need to access on the regular. So, my
projects and goals or everything to do
with my ADHD business hub, which is a
community I have for business owners and
coaches who have ADHD. My business
dashboard, like everything that I work
on every single day is in this dashboard
is also included in the organized
business if you're interested in that
template and also the organized coach
hub. And then my life dashboard, which
is just everything that I use for my
regular life, like my dog's medications
or um things that I'm doing on
ancestry.com. By the way, I've just
started using that. It's so good. So,
having these things at the ready makes
it easier for me to get to them right
away as opposed to having to go into
search or click around in my notion
setup. I kept my weekly priorities
because I really love having this front
and center. I also kept this little
quote area. I will change up the quote
every once in a while. My to-do list
works great the way it is. But the other
thing I mentioned that I really wanted
to do differently was put strategy front
and center. So, while I still have my
stories and my wellness habits that I'm
tracking, what I've included here are my
business metrics. So, the things that
I'm committing to doing on the regular
that move the dial in my business. So,
I'm going to track how much I'm spending
every day on meta ads if I'm doing that,
what I'm sharing on Instagram and what
my daily revenue is. And then I also
have weekly metrics, which is my
Instagram views, my YouTube views, any
news email subscribers that I get, any
blog post that I do, and my video that I
publish to YouTube, and also my podcast
as well. So, these are things that I can
measure that I am in control of. I'm
really not control of views, but I am in
control of the content that I put out,
which then influences the views that I
get. So, I think that this is going to
be super handy. And these just didn't
need to take up as much real estate. And
then for now, my content is in the same
format. And then I will eventually
change my reflection questions, but I'm
going to keep this as is for now. So,
like I said, it didn't require a huge
overhaul, but these small tweaks are
going to keep what's most important
front and center for me so that
hopefully it helps me with behavior
change and doing the things that I want
to do now in order to get the outcomes I
want to get down the road. So, there you
have it, guys. If you want the most
practical and tactical way to change
your life for the better, start building
the intentional skill of planning. And
that of course, as I mentioned, starts
with understanding what's most important
to you and what you need to track and
plan in order to achieve what you want
to do. And then organizing your planning
system in such a way that your brain
sees the most important things front and
center every day and then building that
habit of checking your plan and
executing it every day and reviewing
your weeks until you get to the point of
where you want to go. So, I hope you
found this helpful. And of course, if
you'd like to explore vision action or
the organized business, then they are
both listed down below. Thanks for
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