Breaking It Down

Something I touched on the other day is the importance of breaking down larger tasks into smaller parts.  I think that this exercise has a few major benefits for everyone, but it’s especially important for people with ADHD.

Think of it this way:  if you’re trying to move one of those large French door refrigerators into an old house with small doorways, what are you going to do?  Shove it through the doorway, breaking the handles off the fridge and ripping the door frame off the wall?  Did you even bother to measure the doorway?  Did you even THINK that you might have to break down the fridge into smaller parts?

 

Many of us with ADHD just don’t think ahead.  We don’t plan, and when we do, we’re forgetting half the essential elements of our task.  We procrastinate and end up rushed.  We let ourselves become overwhelmed at the IDEA of a task because it requires so much work.  We just try to wing it, and more often than not, we end up with a sub-par result.  Rule of thumb:  if you half-ass the task, you’ll get half-assed results.

In my opinion, the best way to deal with all of this (especially the anxiety) is to break everything down.

Let’s use a more complicated task than replacing the refrigerator for our example.  This is something that gives all ADHDers the willies:  cleaning the house.  *GROOOOAN*

Get out your notebook and have a seat.

The first step is to identify your objective.  In this case, it’s straightforward:  clean the house.

The next step is to break down the overall task into a few big chunks.  For cleaning the house, you can break it down by room.  Your categories become: 

·         Bedroom(s)

·         Bathroom(s)

·         Living/dining room

·         Kitchen

·         Laundry room

Now you break down each sub-category into smaller parts.  Let’s use the bedroom as our example.  Go stand in your bedroom (no really, go stand in your bedroom), and make notes on everything that requires attention:

·         Dust

·         Vacuum carpet

·         Change bed linens

·         Organize night stand & dresser

·         Take trash out

·         Pick up around the room

And take it a step further if you need to:

·         Dust

o   Ceiling fan

o   Dresser

o   Night stand

o   Baseboards

o   Ceiling corners

·         Vacuum carpet

·         Change bed linens

·         Organize night stand & dresser

o   Throw away trash

o   Put up books & other items

o   Straighten up remaining items

·         Take out trash

o   Throw away trash

o   Replace can liner

·         Pick up around the room

o   Dirty clothes

o   Books

o   Shoes

o   Other items

Now, make a checklist for this task for future reference.  As I’ve mentioned before, I use the iPhone app Paperless.  I can make a really tidy checklist with space for notes.  You can also use a small notebook for all your checklists (try to keep them all together!).  Somewhere on the same page your checklist is on, you can even write down the items you’ll need in order to accomplish this task.  I hate it when I go all the way upstairs and forget the mop.  So on your bedroom checklist, you might put:  dust rag, Pledge, vacuum, can liner.

Now repeat the process for all the other rooms in the house.  All this, and you haven’t even picked up a mop yet.  But now, a big part of the stress should be addressed:  you aren’t freaking out about the details or overwhelmed anymore.  You’ve got it all broken down and laid out for you.  

This technique is helpful for any number of tasks that freak you out as an ADHDer (and it's probably helpful for those with "normal" brainstyles as well):  writing a paper, planning a vacation, moving across country, etc.  You may have to adjust the way you categorize things (function, timeline, etc.), but it will definitely help you get a better feel for the big picture and how all the pieces of the task fit together.  It will help you stay on track, follow through, and relieve task-related anxiety in the process.