Hey there! Let's talk about Alex Hey
A while back I reached out to an ADHD coach. I was so overwhelmed. I had all these ideas and thoughts running through my head. I didn't quite know where to begin. I had to learn how to balance my own health needs with my family's needs with my goals I wanted to progress. I wasn't making much progress as I was often in head, calculating everything I needed to get done.
I turned to Alex Hey. Alex is an ADHD coach. I found him through his blog and YouTube videos where he gets pretty real about his own struggles. I found it a very genuine approach and could really relate to what he was going through. So I looked him up. Now I know what you are thinking... I am a brain injury survivor and I don't claim to have ADHD. During my time of navigating my brain injury, I did a lot of research as to what works for me and what doesn't. Many of the tools and resources that are helpful to those with ADHD are helpful to me. As well, tools for those with Autism and other spectrum disorders are also helpful to me. So I do incorporate a lot of those strategies into my life to manage my brain injury and other health challenges.
Over several sessions, Alex and I planned out how I could pursue my daily activities, my business goals, my family's needs, and still carve out some "me time". It was really helpful. I would like to share my biggest tip I learned from Alex here with you. I first used this with some of the more mental tasks I have to do during the week, such as figuring out my financial budget and bills. However, I then applied this technique to my organizing and decluttering approach. Voila! It was a beautiful match and I still use it to this day.
Alex taught me the Pomodoro technique. This is not a new technique, it has been around for quite some time. I scanned the book on the Pomodoro technique years ago. It never clicked. However, Alex walked me through it and talked about how he used it in his life. This made it more real for me and showed me how I could apply it as well.
The Pomodoro Technique
If you are not familiar with the Pomodoro technique it is a timing technique. You figure out something you want to work on, let's use doing a huge stack of dishes as an example. To use this technique you would get out a timer. You would give yourself an amount of time where you are going to focus solely on doing the dishes. Its not going to be a huge block of time like 3 hours all at once. You choose something that gives you enough time to make a good dent in your task while not burning you out for the rest of the day. The technique uses 25 minutes for the task and 5 minutes for a break. It then goes on to explain that by breaking it up with 5 minute breaks throughout the day, you are more productive then if you go for a few hours with no break.
In our example where we are going to use 25 minutes for a task and then 5 minutes for a break here is the break down:
Starting the timer for your task for 25 minutes
Start washing dishes
Timer rings at 25 minutes
Stop washing dishes
Start the timer again for 5 minutes
Begin your break (you can do whatever you want on your break, you can watch TV, enjoy a latte, listen to music, the list is endless)
Timer rings at 5 minutes
Stop your break
Start the timer for 25 minutes
Start washing dishes again
Timer rings at 25 minutes
Stop washing dishes
Start the timer again for 5 minutes for your break
Begin your break
Timer rings at 5 minutes
Stop your break and the cycle continues of 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off until you are either done for the day or your task is finished.
My personal approach to the Pomodoro technique is different. This is what Alex helped me with. I originally dismissed the technique because with my medical situation and past brain injuries, I can not focus for 25 minutes at a time. It is too long a time most of the time. I can't operate anywhere close to this type of breakdown. So Alex and I discussed a lot of different timeframes I could try until I came up with one that works for me and that I can stick with. It was in late 2019 we found me a time setting I could use. I still use it all the time and love it.
My Approach to the Pomodoro Technique
I get fatigued very easily. So I chose 15 minutes for tasks followed by 15 minutes for a break. I can also only do about 4 cycles of this before I am completely wiped out for the day. So in essence, I am only doing about 1 hour of Pomodoro calculated task time in a day. It sounds like nothing! Yet I am able to get dishes done, the apartment tidied, and clothes put away during that time. If I use it for digital tasks, it helps me get my bills in order, ensure my budget is on track, or that I prepped my grocery shopping list for the week. Sometimes I also use it to do the meal prep for the week.
Without the technique, I will still eventually get my tasks done. However, it could take me several hours to get around to doing the dishes or the budget as I will get wrapped up in something else. I find the Pomodoro technique, used with flexibility to match your own personal situation, keeps you on target for accomplishing what you want to do accomplish that day. It really helps dampen any procrastination as well as perfectionism because it makes the task the most important item to accomplish.
Thanks Alex for all of your help! While I was chatting with Alex and giving him the update on my progress, he told me that October is ADHD Awareness month. I have received comments from learners that took my decluttering course that it was very helpful from an ADHD perspective. As a thanks to Alex, I would like to give back something as a shout out to those in the ADHD community and those helping them. I am offering my course on decluttering for free in October. Just sign up for my course on those days with the coupon code OCTADHD and the price will be reduced to $0 for you. You can take as long as you want to finish the course, you just have to sign up in October.
You can find Alex here:
My course is here if you want to check it out:
The coupon code to claim my course for free is OCTADHD which lets you claim it for free anytime in October.
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