An ADHDer and her Planner
ADHD PART 4
Episode 022
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TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Crystal: Welcome to the Plan for Wonder podcast. I'm Crystal, the talking head founder and creator of mylifeplanners.ca. I'm back this week with the final of my four-part ADHD series with Liz Tizzard. We're ending with a deep dive into how there is no wagon to fall off of. Oh my god, I've been having so much fun talking with Liz. And the last three episodes have been You More than I had hoped.
[00:00:29] Crystal: I think that's amazing. So, to finish things off this week for our last episode, I want to dive into the idea that every day can be a win.
[00:00:38] Liz: Yeah.
[00:00:39] Crystal: Can, and it doesn't have to be. And I want to cue in on my vision and intention for these planners. I look at them as worksheets for your life.
[00:00:50] And by simply using that word worksheet, It allows you to scribble shit out. Totally. Yeah. It will enable you to rip it out and tear it up. That's why it's undated. You can flip. It, it, it's there for you. Because here's the thing: when you write it down, it's not life or death here. And I don't see perfection as a part of my life.
[00:01:10] Unlike, cause you know, I, I'm a little addicted to seeing online socials, bullet journals and people doing all their beautiful things. Yeah. But all I can envision when I see them doing this is all the time and effort to do that for just to put in your appointments for the day.
[00:01:28] Liz: And the reality is I have other shit to do with my time.
[00:01:30] And not only shit to do with your time but let's be realistic. Time is our greatest strength and greatest weakness. Like that is the one thing, if there's anything I have learned Since my son's mental health crash, since the pandemic, and even just coming into my 40s, is if I get to capture pieces of time that I otherwise couldn't, why would I not be like, blazing downtown on roller skates to get a coffee?
[00:01:57] Or to see some public art? Versus, like, an hour in my planner? When I can take seven minutes in the morning and check in on it five minutes twice a day. Yeah. Right. Why wouldn't I leave going back to your whole theming around this? Why wouldn't I plan for wonder? For me, getting more organized always allows me more time to explore.
[00:02:20] Crystal: And here's the thing. You know what? If you are that person who wants everything, there's a lot of space here. You can make it pretty, and you can make it. So it's an all-people-welcome kind of space to be in. So. Overall, because, like I said, it's a worksheet, you can't screw it up. And if you do, you can start over.
[00:02:39] It's that idea, and you talked about there's, you know, falling off the wagon, you know, when when you tried it in the beginning, and it didn't work. That's the thing. If you don't use it well, it's there for you when you are ready to.
[00:02:50] Liz: Yes. It's so interesting because the one thing that I've noticed in the last year is how so many different aspects of our life.
[00:02:59] If we employ the same strategies, we will end up with the same success in multiple areas. So, the strategies that I've built around home fitness and waking up in the morning are the strategies I'm now employing for my day timer. And so there is no wagon. Like I wish, I wish if there's one takeaway you could take.
[00:03:20] Guys, there's no wagon. There's no wagon in your physical health and fitness. There's no wagon in planning. There's no wagon in career. There is literally no wagon to fall off. It's just a tool. Everything is just a tool to put you on the trajectory of where you want to be in your life. So I was somebody who used to like, Take on so much personal development, so many podcasts, so many readings, so many things like that.
[00:03:44] Then I stopped because I had to start looking around and being like, what if I spent the same amount of time using a planning tool? What if I spent the same amount of time being more mindful of what I wanted my day to look like? Instead of just taking in words from all these quotations from people who thought they were gurus.
[00:04:01] Crystal: Before you consume.
[00:04:01] Liz: Absolutely. Yeah. And so that's one of my biggest takeaways is, specifically around being an ADHD er. We and I've talked about this in a previous episode; we tend to get into this analysis paralysis. And, guys, it's not our fault; it's a symptom of ADHD. And so if you can look at it and be like, and actually visualize like, there's no way again, I did not fall off.
[00:04:27] I have to keep going. Then, you can start looking for the wins and how those wins impact your day. Find motivation and find the motivation in the success. Instead of waiting for this glorious day, that energy and motivation are going to show up because motivation is fleeting. It's based on systems and strategies and the tools you need to build and succeed in your life.
[00:04:55] So, how do you stay motivated? What are the things that you keep in mind?
A big thing for me is recognizing that even being 10 percent more organized will make my life 100 percent easier. So, since coming back to my day specifically, I've been using that strategy, and it's been amazing.
[00:05:14] And like, we're looking down right now at my planner because I said, I said to Crystal, I was like, I'm putting it in front of me, I'm marinating with it, But what's interesting is I looked back, and I pre-write out at least a week to week and a half in advance. And Crystal said, "Oh, you don't have to use it every day."
[00:05:30] But I want to, even if I don't use it often. And when I look back on yesterday, it was empty. The only thing that was on there was the date. And the day of the week, but then as I was sitting here, I was like, okay, I'm going to add that I worked for eight hours, I'm going to add that we took our son out for his birthday dinner.
[00:05:48] I will add that my son had gymnastics and not because I need to. If I look back and write things down, it proves to me, "Liz, you did lots of things!" You just didn't need to plan because you didn't have time for extra and...
[00:06:02] Crystal: it's almost like journaling gratitude.
Liz: Yes. Yes. And because of your brain, you can forget things sometimes. And it's that tactile learning tool of writing stuff down. So you're like, 'cause sometimes you're like, what did you do on the weekend? I'm like, God, I don't know. But if I went back and, oh yeah, it was Mother's Day. Yeah, we did that. Yeah. It's just a tool for your brain and peace of mind.
[00:06:23] Liz: Yeah. And I think as well to like on those tough days, because you are going to have tough days, ADHD years, you know, have a lot of tough days, especially if we get in that analysis process trap is it gives you the opportunity to look back. I call it my book of proof. So by me putting things on the Tuesday instead of it being blank.
[00:06:44] I prove to my brain that I did things. I just didn't also need the to-do list that I needed on Monday and Wednesday, when my work was more flexible. But if we span out, it shows our brain that we are successful. We have been successful. And that book of proof says, no, you know, like you've done this before, and you've done it well.
[00:07:06] So just, Keep going. I also love it because on those tough days as well, you can look back and you're like, whoa, like I went for a big walk with my kiddo or I Went to you know, I'm going to a basketball game I've never been to a basketball game in Calgary But I can look back at my planner and also see the work I put and those times for play and wonder that really brought me joy.
[00:07:35] Crystal: There's a centralized space for both that inspires you and motivates you to open it up again.
[00:07:36] Liz: That's right. And to keep going.
[00:07:37] Crystal: Yeah. So what about when things get in flux, like routines change, like as a mom with young kids? Summer's coming.
[00:07:44] Liz: Yeah. Yeah. That was a big thing I had to look at last year.
[00:07:50] So we came out of my son's mental health crash. We were in it for almost two years. And bad was an understatement. We'll leave it there. And so when I came in last summer, I had to visit the hummingbirds. I did, oh my goodness, I did. And everyone thought I was joking when I said I fell in love with birding. Still, I had to sit barefoot, like a hippie, and I was in my opposite to Tigger life with the Benjamin swing. I looked at, okay, how do I build structures and strategies around my summer that still stimulate my brain?
[00:08:23] Where I can spend time with my family because I've built my whole career and multiple jobs around always having off when my kids are off for the most part. And I had to look at that and say, okay, but what does this look like for me? In my brain, not kicking into wallow land because the reality is, is like when you're spending, sometimes I spend the better part of six to eight weeks at our cabin depending on summer.
[00:08:48] If I don't have any structure and strategy, it also can feel blurry. People think it's a highlight reel, but for ADHD or like, we still want a sense of accomplishment, and we still want to see pen to paper. This is a reminder because with that time of blindness, we forget that we did that.
[00:09:06] Crystal: When it comes to the tools, you don't need the daily. You need the weekly. I might need the weekly.
[00:09:11] Liz: Yeah. Or a monthly or something like that. But the cool thing is, this now just gets toted around with me. It's no different than my ear, my AirPods, which is a massive your phone or your phone and my wall, but my AirPods, like if you're an ADHD or like headphones, hello regulation, hello regulation.
[00:09:33] Crystal: My daughter's got the loops.
Liz: Oh yeah. I need to buy those loops, too. Like, Swanky on the Instagram, they keep showing them like they're bougie. I don't think they are in real life, but I think they work. they are a regulation tool for us to be able to still maintain being present within our life and also create that dopamine.
[00:09:53] That doesn't stick like bubble gum in a neurotypical brain. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Alright. Oh, and then can I end this off before we say goodbye? There is one big thing that would wrap this up. Magically, when it comes to an ADHDer's life and brain, whether it's you or whether you're supporting somebody within your life, the number one rule for ADHDer's is out of your head and into your life.
[00:10:19] So an ADHDer can get trapped in their thoughts, and the thoughts can be detrimental and often are damaging. They go in what I call a whirlpool, and they keep swirling, and your brain, because of its impulsiveness and lack of dopamine, will prove to it whatever story it wants to tell. ADHD brain. So if you can get your thoughts out of your head and into your life, I can almost, I can almost a hundred percent guarantee your life will be better.
[00:10:49] So whether that is calling a friend, sitting with your partner, just having a chat with your kiddos or using a tool like my day and my week to brain dump. Your brain stops the whirlpooling and swirling. Because it feels like it's been acknowledged, it has been acknowledged! Holy shit. I know!
[00:11:10] Like, mic drop that, ladies and gentlemen. Boom! I'm like Snoop Dogg walking out. So out of your head and out of your, and into your life. And then, most importantly, once you've done all this good work within your planner, within, you know, your therapist's office, with your partner, with your friends. Get outside in nature and enjoy that this is a beautiful, vibrant life.
[00:11:34] Crystal: And there we have it. I absolutely love ending with Liz finishing it up for us. And yes, I agree. We just need to get out into nature and enjoy the fact that our lives are vibrant and beautiful. If you are intrigued to give myLife tools a try, there is a limited time offer to get some great bonuses when you use Liz's promo code, found here.
[00:12:00] And with that, I really want to thank Liz for spending this last month with me and for taking the time to listen to Plan for Wonder.
And remember, the space you take up in the world matters to me, but even more importantly, you matter the most in your own life.
