Expectations — Add Tip o the Day 282

We with ADD or ADHD tend to overexpect, of ourselves. We underestimate how long something will take to do and overestimate how much we can get done in a day. Then we get disappointed with ourself and tend to feel overwhelmed by how much we have planned to do.

That’s part of the beauty of the list of five (five things is the limit), but sometimes I have to work off a list of one – today I literally used an envelope and made my list – “blog”. That isn’t all I’ll get done today, probably, but it’s all I’m going to focus on right now.

Some good slogans : You can only do what you can do. Just show up and do your job.

doug

this post was inspired by Betsy’s comment showing how hard it is to focus on just one or two things at a time and by Scott’s beautiful story with the comment -“You have to show up to see the miracles.” our quote of the day!

Thanks to David Melbourne for featuring the book on FOFA’s links clik here

Some days are just like that.

About doug with ADHD

I am a psychiatric physician. I learned I have ADHD at age 64, and then wrote four ADHD books for adults, focusing on strategies for making your life better. I also published a novel, Alma Means Soul. The books are available at amazon.com (soft cover or E book), or smashwords.com (only E books). The prices are as low as they are allowed to be. Managing Your ADHD Your Life Can Be Better; strategies for adults with ADD/ADHD Living Daily With Adult ADD or ADHD: 365 Tips O the Day ( e-book). This is one tip at a time, one page at a time, at your own pace. It's meant to last a year.

View all posts by doug with ADHD →

4 Responses to Expectations — Add Tip o the Day 282

Betsy Davenport, PhD says:

July 1, 2012 at 10:38 pm

I have long been aware of the distinction between disappointment or regret, and being down on oneself. I have had the untoward experience too many times when expressing sorrow over something not working out due to the vicissitudes of ADD, of someone chiding me to not be so hard on myself. I am not. I am simply saying I’m disappointed. Sheesh. (Never mind that the chiding is more like being hard on someone than what I do. Double sheesh.)

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- addadultstrategies says:
  
  July 2, 2012 at 4:27 pm
  
  that is an important distinction. we do tend to get down on ourselves and we need to learn how to avoid that. there’s a big difference between “I wish I had done that differently.” or “I wish that had turned out differently” vs ” How could I have been so stupid!”
  And you make clear that there is a big difference between being supportive vs being critical (chiding).
  as always, thank you for your welcome comments.
  
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addadultstrategies says:

July 1, 2012 at 6:17 am

Good! it really helps me too,when i can remember it. thank you for the comment.

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crazybeanrider says:

July 1, 2012 at 4:25 am

“You can only do what you can do” is worth repeating as many times as needed. This is my new mantra!

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