Walking Backwards to Arrive on Time
Hi. Welcome back to the ADHD Life Strategies Series. In this post I’m going to talk about two different but related things, both related to time management. In the last post 
I mentioned scheduling tasks. Let’s look at this in a bit more detail. Sometimes tasks are the action steps towards the achievement of a goal. The goal is where you want to arrive. Some people are very good about scheduling due dates for goals. Equally as important is scheduling the start date. You also want to be aware of the different steps and when each one needs to happen.
This works along the same lines for getting to an appointment. If you’re appointment, or the time you need to be at work, etc. is at a specific time—let’s say 9 a.m.—then 9 a.m. is your “goal.” In order to arrive by 9 you want to work backwards. So if it takes 20 minutes of travel, you want to add a cushion of around 5 minutes for traffic issues or parking, and another 5 at the front end for warming up the car, getting settled in and so forth. So that means walking out the door at 8:30. Time your morning ritual, breakfast, dressing, etc. to know how much time each thing takes and what time to get up. It’s a great idea to have clocks in every room and to check yourself frequently. Do you have ways to make sure you “get out the door” on time? Go to the Artful Coaching facebook page and share your best strategies.
