What are the best apps for managing ADHD?

Am I the only one who feels like productivity/organization tools for ADHD people is like bicycles for blind kids? Like, "yeah I can see how a functional person could find this useful, but what the heck am I going to do with it?"

My most used app for this is the built in alarms app.

Goblin tool. You give it a task you want to do and it breaks it down into smaller tasks/steps which you can keep breaking down. Also has a tone rewording tool and a tool for checking if you are taking something in the wrong tone. Super helpful for people with ADHD and Autism.

Be wary of falling into the new tool new toy cycle. I have a huge problem of wanting to try new tools despite the current solution working absolutely fine.

I'm down to Ticktick for tasks and habits, and Obsidian for notes.

Habitica for daily tasks (I like the RPG feel), gobin.tools for breaking down tasks into manageable increments, and the pomodoro app Focus To-Do to keep momentum. I use a paper calendar for appointments and dates and index cards to keep track of tasks that don't have a specific date involved.

I’ve been messing around with obsidian (a note-taking/thought-keeping app only for people who like to tinker and customize so wouldn’t necessarily recommend here), but having something that syncs between all my devices is FANTASTIC. It would still be nice to try something more grab and go, but I would highly recommend considering apps that can be easily accessed and edited from multiple devices.

I'm finding Obsidian.md really great, it's become my daily checklist, to-do lists, shopping lists, calendar, and notes archive all at once. It doesn't give reminders (there might be a plugin for that actually) but I always have it open on a second screen and I sync it between my phone and my computer, and I've been much better at keeping track of things since I started using it.

The program is kind of a lot, but it's worth putting in some effort to set it up in a way that works for you. Although to be honest I think I only figured out how it works because I was also motivated to use it for Dungeons and Dragons. Otherwise I'd probably still be using my old mess of sticky notes.

I've been using TickTick for a while now. It syncs with my Android phone and work computer pretty cleanly. It handles notifications, recurring tasks, skipping a task until the next time, habits tracked differently than tasks, etc. I don't use the premium stuff and it doesn't have ads in it. So, it's free for me.

I've got a keyboard shortcut on my computer ,so I can quickly add new items on the fly. The entry has basic language parsing to pick out the date and things. I can just enter "every monday check the mail #life" and it'll set up and tag the task automatically.

I'm working on finding good ways to make sure that I actually follow my to-do at work instead of latching on to the top item and getting lost on it for the whole day, but it's working for now.

I use the Microsoft 'To Do' app.

On your phone, set it as a widget and put it on your home screen so it's the first thing you see when you unlock your phone.

On your computer, set your browsers homepage as your To Do task list, so it's the first thing you see when you open your browser.

Whenever you think of anything you need to do, just write it in, you'll be reminded of it constantly. Any appointments won't be forgotten, and you can set due dates for any task.

Google Calendar with a ton of notifications per event and goblin.tools to automatically break down tasks.

Pen and paper. It has to be in front of me and visible. I have installed so many apps just to forget about them in an instant. Apps just don't work for me. Maybe try that if nothing else works.

TickTick has served me well for the past few years. I throw them some cash but I hear the free version doesn’t lack much.

Android user here.

Habits to track my habits and get reminders to do things. I've got things as simple as brushing my teeth in here and have them spread across multiple areas. You can set different goals such as every day, 3 times a week, etc.

Google keep for short reminders/quick access info. The search is good and it integrates with my Google home devices to add items to my lists such as my grocery list

Todoist for task management. I love that I can use natural language when creating a task. I keep both work and personal tasks in here and plan out my day every morning using task time estimates. I've got labels for 5, 15, 30 minutes and higher for estimates for how long a task will take. Helps when I've got 30 minutes between meetings and need to find something productive to do during that time.

Notion for notes. I jumped on the hype train and thus far have found I don't use it to it's full potential. I could probably get by with something simpler but I don't want to migrate again (came from onenote)

Journey for journaling. I try to use it daily and include pictures if possible. This has really helped with my poor memory of past events. They will remind you of throwback entries which are always fun to go back and look at. I also record what I ate for the day (not tracking macros so this is good enough) and also things I'm grateful for here.

Google calendar for work and personal. Wife and I add each other to events which has helped immensely when juggling shared things, doctors appointments, kids events, and more.

Insight Timer for meditations. I try to meditate in the mornings and the premium features gives you access to some courses that I've found really great. It also has sleep meditations which don't always work for me but come in handy on occasion.

Those are the big ones. Every year around Christmas when I take some time off work I try to evaluate my productivity tools and process, and so far these have all been what I've settled on

I use a list program called any.do (synchs with my iphone and computer) as well as my google calendar. Any.do lets me keep multiple lists by category (and can share them with other people). It also creates grocery list that it sorts by category. Then I use evernote for all of my brain dump stuff and notepad for quickly jotting stuff down (like lists of names 😊).

I'd add MyTherapy to the mix. It's designed for tracking medication. It can pester you into remembering your meds, as well as keep track of remaining supply.

I combine it with a timer cap on my medication. That way I can see if I've opened (and taken) it, or just thought about it.

Todark and Habo. I use them in combination and still forget things. But atleast the design is nice

I quite like habitica as it makes stuff do to sorta a game but definitely wouldn’t work for everyone

Honestly the only thing that has worked for me is ritalin_highdose.exe

I used to get sucked into finding new tools to help me be more productive, but keeping it simple and visible works for me.

I use Apple Reminders and leverage their smart tags to break tasks down by how long they’ll take, how much effort, and when they need to be done. I keep Reminders open on my iPad so I can always see it, and when I have 15 minutes to kill, I select a 15-minute or less task and knock it out. It works for me, and my whole family can add to it, so I never forget to do something.

none

I use color note for a to do list,reminder page and shopping lists. It's just a note pad of lists. a calendar, phone alarms and a spin the wheel app. I use the spin the wheel on my days off.One for house chores and one with things I like to do. I do one chore then one fun thing. I can also hide the stuff I complete (on the wheels) until everything gets done. I guess I am trying to make boring tasks into a game so they get done and I get a reward spin for completing the boring task. None of the reward tasks are huge, they basically give me small increments of free time to do something I like to do. Then repeat until the boring tasks are completed.

I use the following four apps to manage my chaos ✌️:

• Workflowy - General archive and digital memory (Divided in Inbox, Several dossiers/projects, Other, and Archive. I dump everything in Inbox first and sort it when I can.)
• Tasks.org - For its simple todo list widget. Mainly little things I have to do, sorted into 4 priorities by color (app does this automatically).
• A calendar - I use a lot of recurring 'all day' events. (Like for getting notified I need to take out the trash on Wednesday)
• Stock Android Clock/alarm - I have alarms set for a lot of daily recurring things. Like literally alarms for taking medication to alarms for reminding myself I have to go to sleep.

Important things I often put in all several of the above 😊 I tend to swipe notifications away, but if 3 apps notify me, well it works. So garbage on Wednesday is a recurring weekly thing in calendar and alarm ⏰

It's actually a pretty fast setup when you get used to it. But I do put things in at least one app immediately. If I wait, I forget.

Workflowy is truly awesome imho. I put everything in there, even things like the address of my dentist. This way, I have only have one place I have to search for anything I need. It has a great search function. It's really handy that you can share text from anywhere with the app, which then throws it in the inbox. Sorting things is also very smooth, isn't necessary that often, and make me feel good when I do it. Very handy.

I use all of the above in the most basic way. No tag systems or anything; I can't keep those systems up for longer than a couple of days. I only use simple basic, inbuild functions that I can perform quickly. Together they work very well for me.

Hope this is helpful! Good luck! 👍🍀

Disclaimer: I am medicated. Using productivity apps is easier when you're medicated.

Anyway, here's some apps that I use:

• Mozilla Thunderbird: Emails, calendars, tasks and contacts in one place. Also the only functional fully offline calendar you can find on Windows. They are in the process of developing an Android version with the developer of K9-Mail. They're also finally getting to a UI update so it doesn't look like shit, which has previously been a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
• Tasks.org: Simple tasks app I use exclusively as a shopping list. It works. That's about it.
• Loop Habit Tracker: Habit tracker I use for my daily/weekly routines. Very simple.

The problem with apps is they put my phone in front of my face, opening up FAR too many options for distraction.

Honestly, a bullet journal was a game changer for me. the fancy ribboned, decorated, instagram-ready craziness people make pictures of, but the basic system created by a person with ADHD for their own of index, monthly calendar with not more than two habit trackers, daily task list, future (more than a month), and a new spread (page) for whatever random thing I need when I need it.

The right notebook makes is a LOT easier. My Leuchtturm1917 A6 lives in my right pocket, with a pen twisted in the elastic. Prenumbered pages, preprinted index, good paper when my fountain pen habit surfaces, and no distractions.

Most of the websites about it are so into beautifying it that the system gets lost, so if it sounds useful try this: https://libgen.is/search.php?req=Bullet+journal&lg_topic=libgen&open=0&view=simple&res=25&phrase=1&column=

The useful information is in parts 2 and 4 - the rest is motivation and fluff.

My #1 app is myNoise.com. Without 30 minutes of noise-assisted chill after a work day, I'd be an overwhelmed wreck at home.

Brili

If you haven’t tried it you should check out Sunsama. I have tried a lot of todo apps and have never found one that works for every situation and Sunsama kinda solves this through integrations. I really like that it connects to email and other calendars as well as apps like Trello and Jira and lets me track them all as cards and even automate what happens when I mark them done in Sunsama. It also supports tasks directly and I use those for a few recurring tasks that don’t fit anywhere else. ADHD wise it has been helpful with planning times for specific tasks and seeing how they fit into my combined calendars and get better at time estimating which I didn’t expect. I think it’s general “turn a week into a kanban board” concept took some getting used to but it has been really helpful for me as well. I anecdotally feel like I get more done and am less overwhelmed when I keep to the daily ceremonies that it has as well for what it’s worth.

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