Simple Rule #4: Capture every task in writing before you forget it. I remember a lot of my to-do jobs when Im in bed or in the car and find it inconvenient if not impossible to write it down immediately. Of course, if I dont write it down immediately, Ill forget it. (ADHD, remember?) So I have a tiny dictating machine at the bedside and also strapped to the visor of the car, so that when the job pops into my head, I record it on the machine before it pops out again. From the machine, its easy to get it somewhere onto one of the lists (if I dont forget to make the transfer). PROBLEM III: I CANT SEEM TO GET STARTED No matter how big or how little the job is, the hardest part seems to be sitting ourselves down and getting started. There is something weirdly intimidating about making the commitment to begin. But once we start, the worst is often over (unless we get distractedmore about that in the next section). Simple Rule #1:

Chip off a little chunk of the job for starters. This rule is analogous to the Chinese proverb, A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, or more prosaically, we usually put pants on just one leg at a time. Before starting any project, even something as simple as paying a stack of bills or answering some mail, I used to have to be sure that I had a completely clear playing field aheada guaranteed stretch of several hours in which I could not be distracted or interrupted. I couldnt bear the thought of possible taskus interruptus. These guaranteed stretches were generally between 2 and 5 AM. Jobs ultimately got done but only at the price of serious sleep

The remedy proved strikingly simple. Dont think of the task as a monolithic whole; regard it as a series of little chunks. No matter how intimidating the whole task appears, dont be afraid to start off with just one tiny chunk. It will mean that youve accomplished something and, more often than not, this breaking of the ice will reveal that its not such a big glacier after all. In fact, taking the first whack at will probably initiate a continuing stream of ice chips until youve knocked off more of the job than you had anticipated at the outset. Simple Rule #2: Come back anytime and chip off a little bit more. The same principle that applies to starting the job applies to making continuing progress on it. Once you realize that its not like trying to jump over a canyon in two leaps, you can finish almost any job in stages, one piece at a time. In fact, this one piece at a time trick is very useful for filling time chinkslittle

But if you have a job that can be chipped away at in pieces, an unscheduled time chink is ideal for filling with one of those detached pieces. Mastering this chink-filling technique is part of the overall therapeutic goal of freeing ourselves from the all-or-nothing thinking that is so inimical to us ADHD people. PROBLEM IV: I GET DISTRACTED There is a reason they call this thing attention deficit. It means we too easily get distracted. Solving this problem requires a fair amount of conscious effort. Simple Rule #1: Remember whos in charge here. Unless you have just been recalled to active military duty, you are in complete charge of what you choose to do or not do at any given moment. So youre the boss; you set the program and you decide whether or not to stick with it. Simple Rule #2: