Defining Productivity in an ADHD World

To the neurotypical person, defining productivity might seem pretty simple. When you look it up on Merriam-Webster you get “having the quality or power of producing especially in abundance” and “yielding results, benefits, or profits”. Seems pretty straight forward doesn’t it? But that’s not always the case for an ADHD mind where the ideas of productivity are much harder to come by.

So it comes back to this question of how do we define something as being productive. I can think about the countless times where I was asked about if I was “productive” during a day. This is a common check in that most of us might ask of someone when we see them. It’s disguised as the classic, “So, what did you do today?”. I can’t tell you how many times my parents have asked me this, and they still do. But it’s a much more loaded question than most realize.

Let’s start off with an example. For some people, they only consider a day to be productive if they’ve accomplished everything they set out to do. That’s to say every item is checked off of their to-do list and they’re productive both with work and at home. But for us ADHD’ers out there, this idea of productivity may seem overwhelming. I know it does for me!! If we’re told that we weren’t productive enough in a day, it adds another hit to that self-esteem. So I’ve worked over the past several years to help advocate for the ideas that productivity means something different for every person.

When I look back on my days, it’s easy to focus on work first. Did I finish what I needed to do? Did I get part of it done? Was it a wash of a day where I floundered the whole time? I often want to go towards that last idea and put myself down in how productive I might have been. But what I’ve learned is to focus on everything I did complete. For some days, getting out of bed is deemed productive. It may be that you finally took that shower and cleaned up the kitchen dishes. It may look like you closing on that deal you’ve been working on for months. It may mean you finally got outside to take a short 5 minute walk. Being productive can also include our personal days and time. Maybe you finally decided to take a day off and just relax. Many may not see this as being productive, but self-care IS productive in it’s own way.

So in the end, we all must think about our own definition of productivity. And we have to remember that what we think as a productive activity, is not the same for others. Honestly, if you do one think you set out to do in a day, that’s productive!! And remember to not be so hard on yourself and compare your productivity to others. All that matters is that you’re putting that foot forward, no matter how tiny the steps are.

Talk soon y’all,

Kathryn