Dear Dr. Ruth,

I have ADHD and am working my dissertation. I need some ADHD focus techniques. How can I manage multiple tasks with ADHD?  

Signed,
Overwhelmed PhD student  

Dear Overwhelmed PhD Student,  

As an adult with ADHD, the challenge to focus when facing multiple tasks is real. You wear several hats and your to-do list is as long as your arm. You have a family and work responsibilities. Plus other projects and commitments. If you are an adult student pursuing a higher degree, you have multiple class assignments which require attention and time.  

Your ADHD brain sees every item on your to-do list as equally important. This makes the situation feel impossible. At this point procrastination offers an immediate relief for the tension you feel.  

Welcome to this all too common scenario among PhD students and adults with ADHD.  

How to stay focused with ADHD when juggling tasks

The best way to address this dilemma is for the “boss” of your brain to step up and make a judgment call.

You need to make a decision. Sometimes we call that decision an “executive decision.” Yes, you can use your executive functions skills with your ADHD brain. Let me give you an example.

Remember when you were in middle school and you asked your mom if you could go over to a friend’s house? She would ask you questions like. “How will you get there?  Who else will be at the house?  When will you get home?” Based on your response, she would make an executive decision. She might say, “No, but you can invite your friends over to our house and make hot dogs and watch the game at our house.”

Thanks, Mom!  

Fast forward to the present, as an adult you must make your own executive decisions.

How do you make those executive decisions?

These decisions are based on given information and decision making criteria. Here is a hint. Think about the questions your mom asked and you will see that behind question, there is logic and rational thinking.

Planning. Logistics. Scheduling.  

When you are facing multiple tasks with multiple deadlines and your focus is going cattywampus (that is a word), I recommend that you think like a mom. Develop a criteria to make a decision. Here are four effective strategies for prioritizing tasks with your ADHD brain.  

• Chronological order. Some tasks on your to-do list are due before others. Get the things that have an immediate deadline first. Immediate deadlines creates urgency. Use that urgency to motivate you to get it done.  

• Size. Some tasks are bigger than others so they will need to be broken down into chunks and started on with enough time to complete before the deadline. This requires flexible thinking.

Think about how good you will feel tomorrow after you get part of the work done today. On the other hand, think about how bad you will feel tomorrow if you don’t get any work done today.  

• Materials. Some tasks cannot be started until you acquire materials. Schedule time to purchase or locate your materials. Not having all your materials will give you an excuse to procrastinate. Remove all your excuses by making shopping a task on your to-do list.  

• Needed information: Many times, you can’t focus because you lack information. One way to sort through your thoughts and ideas is to ask yourself the following questions. Write out your answers. What do you know? What do I not know? What do I need to know? Schedule time to do some research.  

Try using these four criteria to help you decide which task on your to-do list to tackle first. Once you start, you will find the momentum to keep going and get it all done.  

Warmly,
Dr. Ruth

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