Living With ADHD
Resistance to Scheduling
Many people, but particularly those with ADHD, struggle with time management, and organization. They may feel that they have failed at setting up and maintaining a schedule in the past, and that they are likely to fail again. Or they may see schedules as conformist weapons that stifle their creativity and stomp on their individuality. If they were to personify a schedule, it might look like a sadistic jail warden, forcing their spontaneity and personality to fit into predefined, artificial, ill-fitting boxes. Or a punitive overseer on a Viking warship, ordering them to kneel in an arbitrary row, and then whipping them if they don’t ply their oars fast enough. When framed this way, we can understand why scheduling would feel insurmountably daunting, and like an instrument of self-imposed misery and punishment.
In my experience, attitudes like these are the biggest barriers to using schedules. Virtually every human can benefit from organizing how they will address the multiple demands on their time. Almost everyone, if they practice, can become adept enough at scheduling to appreciate the value it brings to their life.
You will grow to utilize and cherish your schedule if you can learn to view it as a wise scout, escorting you across a wilderness terrain, pointing…
