8 Life Changing Tips for Adults with ADHD to Improve Attention and Focus!

There are so many great tips out there for adults with ADHD, and children with ADHD. On this post, I’m specifically talking about tips for adults. Why is this topic so popular? Well because it’s relevant, and people are looking for solutions and strategies to improve symptoms of their adhd. And if its free, its even better right? This list was getting so long, that I will be making a part 2 for this topic. So stay tuned for even more great tips!

All of these tips I have slowly been learning just over the course of 2-3 years, so I am still working on implementing these as well! Don’t ever think I have it all figured out, but I have noticed lowered stress levels, and I have decreased my levels of frustration and overwhelm by applying these to my own life! So let’s get to it!

What is ADHD?

In this blog post, I go over ADHD more in depth, but in general, its a disorder that affects memory, attention, self control, and physical activity. It’s considered a disorder because it interferes with daily life activities, and work related tasks.

There are so many misconceptions about adults who have ADHD. Here are just a few, and why they aren’t true.

• Myth 1- Adults with adhd are lazy. I know it may seem like we are, because we may not finish things, and some things we procrastinate on starting. But there is a psychological reason for this! I won’t go into the psychology on this post, I will save that for a future post, because it’s worth talking about! Just no, it’s not laziness, but they are fighting an unseen battle in their brains.

• Myth 2- Adults with adhd can’t focus on anything. This is 100% not true! They can hyperfocus on something they excel at, or even things they don’t excel at. If they aren’t good at something, but they have to learn a new skill for work, then they may take on this challenge with gusto and determination, because they want to please or get better. So if they are driven, then they can totally focus on things that aren’t in their strengths.

• Myth 3- They are always the class clowns, and life of the party. Yes, our personality can be louder and more gregarious than other people. However, an adhd child’s enthusiasm may get squashed out in elementary school due to being misunderstood, and adults and teachers not knowing enough about how adhd children learn. They end up learning what is acceptable, and what is not, what will get them in trouble, and what will not. They may start to feel self conscious, and their self esteem takes a plunge. By the time they get to high school they might even be labeled as quiet or shy, when that isn’t their personality at all! This is why learning different teaching styles and how children learn best are crucial for a child to feel successful while they are young.

Why are attention spans and focus decreasing?

Ok, so hear me out. Even people who don’t have ADHD, struggle with attention and focus right now. I have heard people say they can’t even read a whole chapter in a book, or a show on tv or a whole movie, without getting distracted and losing their focus. So if they are struggling, then is there even hope for us?

I remember, just 2-3 years ago being able to watch a christmas movie, and watching the whole thing without getting distracted. The past two Christmases, I have noticed a big shift in my own inattention. I know exactly what the problem is for me. For all of us.

It’s technology. It’s so convenient, and we can see or hear or watch anything we want, in mere seconds on our phones! Our phones are dinging constantly to notify us of a text message, or a message on this app, and that app. It’s overwhelming, and it not only affects our attention spans, but it really affects our mental health, and relationships. Look around. We can be sitting beside of our spouses at a table in a restaurant (Ok, maybe not this past year), on phones! We pull out our phones waiting at the doctors office, at the drive thru, on the toilet. Hey, don’t act like you don’t!

Here is a study about how technology affects us, and decreases our attention span. “Researchers found that the students who reported using digital media many times a day were more likely than their peers to show these symptoms:

• Inattention, such as difficulty organizing and completing tasks.

• Hyperactivity-Impulsitivity, such as having trouble sitting still.”

8 Best Tips to Improve Attention and focus in Adults

Tip 1: Make up your bed

I know what you’re thinking. Tara, how can this help me with my attention? Well think about it. Why do we not make up our beds most of the time? Because we are rushing around, and we don’t have time. Slowing ourselves down for a mundane task like making our bed will help us:

• Practice being present in the moment

• Focus on one thing at a time

• Feel better seeing a clean bed

• Slow down our bodies and brains

• Learn better habits that will make you feel better, and will increase attention spans.

Tip 2: Limit Phone/Technology Usage

Like I said above, even people who don’t have ADHD have problems focusing their attention on things more than a few minutes. Why? Because of technology like our phones that notify us of every little thing, and even if you turn your notifications off, you are still tempted to pick up that phone every few minutes to check it. I have noticed a huge decrease with my attention span the last few years and I think its because I am so distracted by my phone, and fb messenger, and podcasts, and personal development things, apps for my business, etc. It is a lot! We are bombarded by ads (that are great are marketing I will give them that) but it’s not helping us in the long run. So here are a few tips for making this transition.

• Start with yourself first. How are you going to set boundaries for your kids, if you can’t even follow the boundaries for yourself?
• If your at home with all your children and husband, have a designated spot for your phones, and maybe only check it once a day.
• Tell important people to send you a fb message if they really need to get a hold of you, and check messages on your computer a couple times a day.
• If your kids go to school or preschool, and your spouse works away from the house, then leave it close enough to hear it ring but far enough so you have to get up to go get it. Don’t make it so easy to access while you’re at home, or working, or homeschooling the kids. Also, Don’t feel bad for needing to leave it out. I leave mine out during the week because my son goes to preschool while I homeschool my daughter.
• If you get tempted to scroll facebook or instagram when you wake up (guilty), delete the app at a set time like 9 or 10 pm, and you can put it back on the next day at your designated check your phone time.

Tip 3: Limit Social Media

Social media can have it’s positives, but I don’t know about you, but it takes me down rabbit holes every time I click the app! I might go there for a specific purpose, but then I see something someone posted, and click on it, and then 15 minutes later, I don’t even remember what I was going to do! I mean, I’m a mom, we homeschool, my 4 year old is in preschool, we are in a history club, 2 co ops, have a special needs child, and either me or my husband cooks almost every night! I don’t have time to just scroll social media, but I find myself still getting sucked in, and wondering “What was I going to do doing again?” Here are some tips to help with this, that I obviously need to implement ASAP!

• Delete the facebook app altogether
• Or just delete it at certain times
• Set a timer on your phone, and when it goes off that is your social media time
• If you homeschool, set boundaries for yourself. Say, I can check facebook or insta when school is done, or after lunch, etc.

Tip 4: Finish something

It doesn’t matter what it is, just finish something. This will:

• Improve your self esteem
• Help you feel accomplished and proud
• Give you momentum and excitement to finish something else, or do that thing you have been procrastinating on
• Help you to learn how to control our attention span on something productive
• Give you extra confidence that you can finish something else

Tip 5: Watch a tv show, or movie from start to finish with this rule: NO phones allowed!

I know I just said limit phone usage and technology, so this may seen like an oxymoron. But we need to retrain our brain that we can do something from start to finish without having our phones, and without getting distracted!

• Start with one of your favorite shows or an old show on netflix
• Then graduate to one of your favorite movies, or a new one that might hold your attention better since its new to you
• This will help you slow down, and enjoy some downtime again
• This will help you learn that its ok to be bored
• To ensure your success with this tip, put your phone on silent, away from you, or in another room. Even better, have your spouse hide it from you! That way all temptations to check it, are all but gone.

Tip 6: Clean something

This goes along with “Finish something.” It can be anything, but make sure you do it start to finish.

• Do easy and small things first, like wipe the mirror
• Then that should make you want to clean your counter or at least declutter the counter before wiping it down
• Then clean your toilet. This is an amazing youtube video on toilet cleaning hacks!
• Then clean your floors
• Of course, you can start in any room, or clean as little or as much as you want, just do it well, and finish!

Tip 7: Movement and working out

Movement and physical activity can have a big impact on our focus, attention, and our mental health! If you already work out, or run. great! If you’re not a work out and fitness person, then just focus on movement for now. Don’t think that just because you don’t go to the gym, or have a home gym or Pelaton, that it’s not going to make an impact. Any type of movement will make an impact, as long as you are consistent! Here are some tips to get you started!

• Make a workout playlist on youtube!
• Don’t limit yourself to just one type of workout
• If you want to lose weight fast, you may need to move longer, and more often than if you just want to maintain a healthy weight
• Make a music playlist that you play while you work out to make it fun
• Take a walk on nice days
• If it’s freezing or really hot, then give yourself permission to work out indoors. I do this most days!
• Try a beginners pilates class on youtube. I like this video and instructor!
• Try a beginners yoga class
• If you need something fun, try a steps workout! I like this guy! I do his all the time, and I am sore afterward!
• Try a jazzercise or zumba video or class with fun music
• Try a dance video featuring different dance styles. This one is fun!
• Put on some fun music, and dance freestyle with your children, or by yourself. Have a dance party!
• If you want to gain more muscle, then get some weights and or resistance bands or other workout equipment
• Ride a bike

Tip 8: Meditation

Moving our bodies is important for our physical and mental health, but so is being still! Being still forces us to practice being still, and teaching our minds and body that we are in control. We can control our attention, with the right supports and systems in place. Even if we get bored, it will strengthen our attention span when we make ourselves focus on just sitting, and being present. Here are some ideas to get started!

• Do a guided meditation (they have meditations for Christians!)
• Think about things you are grateful for
• Turn on a diffuser and diffuse your favorite calming oils! I love Frankincense or Valor
• Repeat or think about confidence boosting affirmations!
• Turn on calming music, or falling rain, or a waterfall
• I have heard the calm app is a good one to start with!

Conclusion

The last thing you need to know about attention and focus is whatever we think about or focus on grows, expands, increases, or we get more of in our life! For example, if you focus your attention on negative thoughts or actions, then that will grow and only bring you more negativity and unhappiness. However, if you focus your attention on positive thoughts or actions, then that will expand and you will have more of that in your life. So if there something that you want more of, focus on that (within reason.) Make it a priority. If it’s something you don’t want, or want less of, then let it starve, and don’t feed it! Don’t even let it take up precious space in your brain. But alas, that is easier said than done right? Just some food for thought, while I go figure out what I need to starve, and what I need to focus on!

That reminds me, I just got my first wooden spoon just so I can make a sourdough starter! You have to use a wooden spoon for that, and “feed it” equal parts flour and water every week, so this is making me want to focus on that right now! When we move into our future farmhouse, I just might have to make page dedicated to ADHD Homesteading!

What distracts you the most these days? What would you like to pay more attention to this year? Let me know in the comments, and remember, I’m here for you, and I’m cheering you on!

xoxo, Tara the ADHD Mermaid

Image by Anna Lisa from Pixabay