I, like many other college students, own a daily planner. A necessity to get through college, right? And for someone with ADHD, having something to help keep track of assignments, meetings, and other need-to-dos is really important. However, what I found for myself was that my planner was doing the opposite of what I needed it to be. I have a love for cute stationary, so I would switch out planners whenever I found a cuter one that I liked more. Then I would realize I didn’t like the setup of that planner, and it would stress me out.
I also own over 50 gel pens in various shades ranging from pastel yellow to neon pink. I’ve always tried to come up with a system of writing in my planner. For example, highlighting tests in pink and homework in blue, or highlighting all my math homework in green and all my English homework orange. I could never decide what I liked, and my highlighters and pens weren’t erasable. If I didn’t write something down neatly, I wanted to rip the page out and give up. I’ve even tried a digital planner on my iPad, I thought it would work for me because even the pretty colors could be erased if I messed up, but it still didn’t satisfy the itch in my brain that told me my assignments weren’t done. But, not having any sort of system within my planner didn’t work for me. I couldn’t just write my assignments down in pencil and cross them out with pencil. I didn’t feel like my assignment had been completed with that technique, but none of my other strategies I had tried worked either. There were times when I spent over an hour trying to organize my planner, time I could’ve spent working on my assignments.
My planner was supposed to help me keep track of what assignments I had done, and what I still needed to do. It is supposed to relieve some stress about school, not create more. Even if I completed every assignment on my to do list, there was still something in my brain telling me I hadn’t really done it. To the point where even though I had already crossed it off, I checked Canvas multiple times to make sure my assignment had been submitted. Aside from school I was also someone that made an hour by hour to do list every day, which completely overwhelmed me and never actually helped me get anything done. I didn’t think there was any other option, everyone I know uses a planner and it works for them. So, I of course stayed on the bandwagon and continued to suffer through the stress all throughout high school and into my freshman year of college.
Then around a month ago I saw a TikTok by a popular page that is known for her content about dealing with ADHD as an adult woman. She talked about how she puts sticky notes around her house to remind her to do things because if not she will forget. She then mentioned that the act of crumpling up the sticky note and throwing it away after completing the task worked for her because she couldn’t see that task anymore, so it left her brain, leaving her with the feeling of accomplishment.
That’s when the bell rang in my head. I realized that being able to still see my handwriting of my assignment on the page didn’t let it leave my mind, and I was still thinking about it. So aside from the fact that I was bothered if I didn’t think it was cute or neat enough, it also wasn’t enough to relieve my mind of the burden of that assignment. I realized that was the issue and now I just needed the solution.
A few days after seeing that TikTok I started to mess around with the reminders app on my phone. Yes, the reminders app that comes pre-installed on any Apple product, that I have had access to for years but never bothered opening.After inputting my first to do list, that only took me four minutes to make, I knew this was going to change the way I stay organized. The first benefit is that, unlike my planner that I only had with me in academic settings, my phone is with me at all times. It is also connected to all of my apple devices, so when I get a reminder pop up it goes to my phone, iPad, and MacBook. Best of all, it is simple. I type in the task, put when it is due, and that is it. If something is urgent, I click a button, and it will put an explanation point next to it. And then, when I’ve completed a task, I click the check box and the task disappears, and all that remains are the tasks that still need to be completed. I can put in meetings that are months away and know that when the date comes my phone will ding and I’ll remember to attend.
I cannot see myself ever switching back to a paper daily planner, the reminders app is so convenient, and I cannot believe I waited this long to use it. One day maybe I will use a monthly planner for important dates to help me visualize it, but for now the reminders app is working perfectly for me in both an academic and personal standpoint.