ADHD TIPS that actually work for ARTISTS 

immediately considered procrastinating on watching this video

Something I do (that I didn't realize until somebody put words to it) is what I call "time and place." As people with adhd, we don't feel time, right? For me, time isn't time, time is a place. And our environment and routines can tell us what "time" we are in. Have you ever been working hard, you're really feeling the groove listening to a playlist, podcast, stream, etc? But when that playlist ends, you can't focus anymore, and picking another playlist just doesn't get you in the same productive groove. That's because your brain connected that playlist with "the working place", and when it ends, you're no longer in that place. It sounds mumbo jumbo I'm sure, but if this sounds familiar to you, try this. When it's time for me to work/play/whatever, I change something about my environment that is always in my view. For example, I sit at my work desk, and I put down a blue sticky note just out of my working zone. It's not in the way, but I can always see it, and I start working on my task. When it's time to switch tasks, I put down a different color sticky note, then transition to the next task. Think of it like commuting to work - that's a transition period - and once you get to your job it's now "time to work." Except this is much simpler than a full blown commute. I still have the typical adhd hangups with task switching, like sometimes it feels impossible to switch that sticky note. 😂 But I find it's much less distracting than getting up, searching for a new podcast/playlist, then getting completely distracted and my day vanishes. You can also have fun with it! If you have little trinkets or figurines you like, put them in your workspace and switch those out with different items rather than sticky notes. This has helped me as a wfa artist, and I hope it can help someone else out there too. Forgive me for rambling on, the meds kicked in. 💀

I've tried body doubling soooo many times, not only can I not focus when I'm in the room with someone else, I ruin THEIR focus too. 😅 Coffee shops just turn the inside of my brain to pure chaos. Trying to focus while I'm in any public place feels like screaming static in my brain. I'm better off using an accountability partner. Telling someone what work I'm planning to do, then going to do that work, then reporting back what work I got done.

This is a perfect example of how diverse neurodiversity actually is. I'm autistic and the ADHD accessibility feature of the pretty loud music makes it very hard for me to focus on your voice, plus your speech tempo is at the upper limit of what I can follow. So what some neurodivergents need to acdess this is the exact thing that makes this impossible for me to access :)))))) (It's okay, this video isn't for me, anyways, I just find it funny. I just wish, creators who explicitly address Autistics would stop using background music or upload a version without it -.-)

love the timing. "why do I feel moody..oh right my meds I need to take those." 30 seconds later "..take ur meds."

"Focus is a muscle" writing this down so I don't forget- awesome advice!

Love seeing videos from smaller creators pop up

I LOVE that this was recommended to me. If nothing else, this makes me feel seen and not to be so hard on myself. Thank you.

I'm a hyper-focused artist, especially when I'm writing and creating thumbnails/layouts for pages for my creator-owned stuff (I'm a comic book artist). But when I'm working for some clients... Man, I have super ADHD and it takes me 5 times longer to finish anything. I stop every 5 minutes to do something else, losing concentration with the slightest distraction. But when I work on my own projects, I can sit and not move for hours, totally focused on my tasks. I never stay in the zone when working for others (I try my best, even winning awards), but I just don't enter the Flow State. NEVER! But my own projects? Man, I'm a Zen master with total focus and immersion in the Flow State, being as creative as possible. Sometimes, I think ADHD is just our spirit and mind screaming at things we don't like to do and are forced to do.

As a diagnosed but untreated ADHD creative, I'm really glad RU-vid recommended this to me today :) thank you!

Thank you!!! I don't have a creative job, but I do a lot of creative projects on the side. Also, hearing how you've improved really gives me some hope that I can improve too!

thank you for this

My focus progressively decreases when moving from thumbnails week to rough week and then cleanup week. Creative decisions are my fuel, so I absolutely love thumbnails, Im ok with roughs but I hate cleanup. Cleanup week feels absolutely boring. It feels like switching to a completely different job, one that I don’t like and feel tempted to procrastinate.

Keeping up with supplies and keeping them organized in some easy way to use then is my biggest frustration.

very useful vid, definitely going to have to check out that focusmate site and the noise canceling headphones. I also find having like, weekly meetups with other creative friends to talk about what we've done since we've last met up and what progress weve made on projects helps me, it gives me a "i need to have this done by x day" deadline that i can work towards, since i have a hard time with long term goals or holding myself accountable. the pomdoro timer helps me personally, but only if i don't stick to it religiously, it helps when i find myself zoning out/getting distracted mid tasks to be like "ok i only have like 15 minutes left before i can take a break, i can make those count" when its gotten me into the flow i need i tend to work longer, but give myself leeway on the break times to get out my restless energy/briefly do whatever random thing i thought of while working. i use it more as a guideline to keep myself on track rather than a strict thing. also morning exercise, hate it but it does help burn off my restless energy so i dont get the "i need to pace" impulse in the middle of working. this comment got kinda long oops 😅

I’ve never heard of Focus Mate before! Body doubling helps me a lot but I usually get distracted when I try to do it with my friends so this sounds really helpful. Also for folks that find the music distracting, I put the volume down and watched the video with captions and it wasn’t too bad.

omg hi sia!! this randomly popped up on my recommended videos, how cool to see you're being picked up by the algorithm!! :D This is also a really useful video and I'll definitely try to keep these in mind as a fellow ADHD-er haha

Thanks for this! So may of our habits overlap! I'm undiagnosed but the brown noise thing 100% helps and I do the same thing when I have mundane stuff. Put on something with dialogue (but low impact) and just let it run in the back vs when I really have to laser focus and it's just noise or a lo-fi beat. Great video as always! Especially the giving ourselves some grace part ^^

Love this video, thank you for the tips !

Actually useful and actionable advice. I have been doing some of it already but there are new aspects and tips I will try out. Thanks a ton :)

I really liked all your advice and tips. I think it works for everyone to have good routines that would help make the day feel less stressful. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for this ❤❤

I appreciate the tips at the top of the video ❤

super helpful - gonna try these tips asap

I found this very helpful.

Thank You!

"speed up this video" _comes from another video with sped up setting_ ...I think I'm right here.

Thank you 😊

I followed your rec to speed up the video to keep me engaged. But (at least for me) it didn‘t work with the constant background music. It speeds up, almost comically so, and overlays your voice. Apart from that: enjoyed your video.

This was super useful, thank you! One thing on the video if you accept criticism - the music's volume is about the same as your voice so it's difficult to focus on what you are saying. I think the music is actually unnecessary, it might be just me but I found it to be distracting.

Your video is great but the background music compete with your voice , al least for me is harder to focus , but I did finish the video :) , thank you for sharing .

im taking a stimulant xenidate xl methylphenidate but I am looking into fast-release as it gives me insane sleep issues 😂

we are the artists of the world us adhd girls ❤

doing my uni final project i am struggling so much please help me 😢

switches from 1.75x to 1.5x cause video said so

What if your not medicated or diagnosed but have the symptoms

Great content. The music is annoying 😢

you reminded me to take my meds 😂whoops

The 40 herz music: Huberman has a whole episode about music and focus. He links the studies on his website. So thankfully better than a placebo.

I'm 45 seconds in and I don't think I'll even finish your video. The background music is extremely distracting and that annoying beep at the beginning already aggravated me. It might be helpful to consider that many of us with ADHD also have auditory processing disorder and sensory processing disorder. Loud unexpected noises make me angry and additional background noise makes it difficult to hear what you're saying.

i got distracted and missed like 3min of the video

Immediatly drawn off by this generalizations. There's not one adhd, there's not one type of artists. Just another video for self diagnosted tiktok adhd people 😢