#brain tricks

Most of society’s habits and rules are completely made up, and you get to make your own. Okay, there are some general guidelines you have to follow, like traffic laws, no murdering, etc, but for everything else, chuck it out the window.

Have you tried to do something over and over again, only to fail each time while watching other people succeed around you? But this method is proven - it works 95% of the time! Well, that’s great - for those 95% percent of people. You know what else you’ve proven? That it isn’t working for you, and you need to try something different. 

Is it hard for you to eat breakfast, but know you perform better when you’ve had a meal? Eat your favorite dinner food. I LOVE eating Chicken Pad Thai for breakfast. Just thinking about scrambled eggs and bacon in the morning makes me feel nauseous. Do people tell me I’m weird? Sure, but I had a hearty breakfast that let me go into work with a better mindset, and my whole goal was accomplished. 

Take me, right now, as an example. In my home, I have a beautiful office with a clean & organized desk, inspirational quotes on the wall, and a comfortable chair. Guess where I’m sitting instead? In a makeshift blanket fort on my back porch, enjoying the fresh air and some shade at the same time. Do the people passing by probably think a child built it, or that I’m completely strange? Sure. Will my husband laugh at me when he gets home? Definitely. But as much as I tried to be productive in my beautiful office, it felt stifling instead of inspiring. So I kicked the notion that work has to be done in a work space, and moved to where I wanted to be - outside with sunshine and greenery. 

If there is a process or tool that works for most other people, but not for you, don’t waste time feeling bad about yourself or exhaust yourself trying over and over again. It’s not your fault. Remind yourself that the way almost everything is done is completely made up anyway. As long as it works for you (and doesn’t hurt anyone else) you get to make up your own version! This goes for anything. Everyone else says that successful people wake up by 7am and get to work immediately - but you do your best work at 7pm? Great. Go with it, and stop exhausting yourself trying to be the early bird. 

Being bored is the ADHD downfall. If something isn’t interesting, we aren’t doing it.

Sadly for us, there are so many boring things we have to do to keep our lives running.

Cooking? Boring. Eating? Exciting.

Answering emails? Boring. Getting paychecks? Exciting.

So how do you make yourself do the things the are necessary but dull? I have a few tricks but my favorite one is - trick your brain into thinking you’re doing a fun activity. Don’t get me wrong - you probably won’t ever think doing the dishes is fun. But you know what is? Watching TV. I have this pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones (that I’m obsessed with and carry around like a security blanket) that I sync with my laptop. I put the headphones on, turn on an enjoyable Netflix show and do the dishes while watching TV. All of a sudden, my brain thinks I’m having fun AND I’m still finishing my chores.

This works for ANY mindless task - dishes, snow shoveling the driveway, vacuuming, chopping potatoes - whatever you want. Here are a few of my favorite distractions:

- Series TV shows with lots of dialogue that don’t need you to physically see what’s happening on the screen for most of the show. A couple of my favorites for this are Supernatural and The Originals. It also works well with a favorite show you are really familiar with, so you don’t necessarily need to see the screen to keep up. You want something that’s interesting enough to entertain your brain without captivating it and making you stop what your hands are doing.

- Audio books. This is also my trick to get through long car rides by myself. A good source for audio books is Kindle Unlimited - it’s $10/month and while it’s main focus is ebooks, many of them come with a free audio book component. You can even narrow down a category search to “Read and Listen for Free” which helps. (Amazon also has Audible, an audio book app and subscription service. $20/month(I think). It comes with more premium titles but you get one credit to use and then two other Audible original credits) Another good audio book source is the library - many libraries have the newest audio books and you can just listen on an app like Overdrive.

- podcasts - I can’t get into them for some reason (if there is an amazing one you like that you think would change my mind, let me know!) but they do the same job for people who like them - entertaining your brain for otherwise boring tasks.

On the opposite end, something that I find isn’t good for tricking my brain during boring activities are phone calls. For me, I’m either too distracted to be a good conversationalist OR I stop what I’m doing to focus on the call. The reasons the other distractions are great is because they don’t require your participation, only your observation.

Woke up ☑

Showered ☑

Folded laundry ☑

Did dishes ☑

Made a vibey playlist ☑

Picked up rx and groceries ☑

Made a protein smoothie ☑

Played my instrument ☑