7 ways a whiteboard helps with adult ADHD
Whiteboards…?
Whiteboards?
Whiteboards!!!!!!!!!!!
Whiteboards aren’t pretty or cool. They don’t feature in home decor magazines and they aren’t able to be made perfect. They’re fast to use, messy, and constantly changing. This makes them a great tool to help you to do what you want to do.
I have three whiteboards systems in my life right now:
A daily time map of when my appointments with clients are (big, on wall by desk)
A checklist for the steps of planning my day and week (small, in work shelf)
One to fill in with prompt: ‘Date/One thing I aim to do this week’ (small, on fridge)
What a range! Whiteboards add a layer of visibility within your existing system: they’re good for bringing things to your attention, or for holding information that gets updated and that you need to refer to often.
When I work with clients on systems, planning, and organisation, often the thing that clicks into place and is sustainable involves a whiteboard. That doesn’t mean that just owning a whiteboard is going to help. It has to fill a gap, and you’re going to need to work out what gap it can fill. This blog post is here to help you to do this.
Ways you can use a whiteboard to help ADHD
Here are seven ways you can use a whiteboard to help you manage your life with adult ADHD.
1 Weekly planner
This is a real classic. Once a week you pop in the dates of the days, block out your time commitments, and roughly map out when you intend to do tasks. You could also have a to-do list of aims for the week, or a Remember list for the things that otherwise might fall off your radar. You might add in a section for due dates so you can see what’s coming up in the next month.
For this to work, you need to have the whiteboard in a place where you’ll find yourself looking at it daily. It also requires that you find a way to redo your whiteboard once a week. This can be a boring activity to do alone, so arranging a body doubling session can be helpful.
Half of planning is making choices about what you want to remind your future self of. The other half is having the anchor during the week to remind you of what your brainy planning self thought was important. So don’t overload the system! Pick a few things and see if it helps. And if you don’t look at your whiteboard daily, find a way to support yourself to use at it - like adding a tick to each day you do look at it.
Whiteboards are often used in families as a shared planner, with each person’s time commitments being in a different colour. This helps to keep track of who needs to be got to where at what time. These whiteboards seem to find their natural home on the fridge, alongside the best artworks and a flyer about lawn mowing services.
2 Brain dump, brainstorm, or mind map
I put all these things on the same line because I often use something that’s a mix of all three. When you take all the things that are buzzing around in your head and put them outside your head where you can look at them, it can really help to calm you down. Then that process might evolve into an analysis or solution-finding exercise too.
Sometimes people avoid doing this kind of activity because A4 paper is too small for all their thoughts, or they feel that bigger paper is too wasteful, or a digital brain dump seems hard to ‘see’. Whiteboards are made to be messed up and scrawled on and then wiped clean, so you can feel free to go for it.
If you use your whiteboard for this, you might want to take a photo of it at the end. Then you can turn the photo into action steps. Otherwise you risk feeling so satisfied by your brain dump/storm/map that you don’t feel the need to do anything more.
3 Checklists
Checklists can take away some of the strain and anxiety of trying to remember boring things. You can see two types in the image. The morning routine is especially useful for days when your brain isn’t very forthcoming with instructions. Does anyone else sometimes leave the house without having actually looked at their face to see if there’s food on it?
I might not tick off my morning routine every day, but I absolutely do need to tick off my plan-my-workday checklist. If I didn’t have something to fill in, I sometimes (half the time) decide I’ve planned my day when I’ve actually only glanced at my calendar.
I might completely forget that I usually plan my work day. I might do some of the planning and then suddenly start reading an article online. So when I notice I’ve gone on a little tour, I return to my checklist until all the parts have been ticked.
4 Big project tracker
Lots of people use big whiteboards to keep track of big projects. Their systems develop over time and can be really individualised and hard to understand from the outside…I love it!
This would never work for me because my handwriting is so messy it would hurt me to look at it, which would stop me from looking at it, making it pointless. That’s okay - we’re searching for what works for us at this point with our current needs, and if something doesn’t work, that’s okay.
People use colour-coded whiteboard markers. They draw graphs, add post-it notes, and draw pictures of their ideas. You could draw milestones and colour them in as you get there. This makes your progress visible, and is very motivating. Remember to make the steps between pretty small so you can see yourself make some progress every day or week!
5 The Control Centre
This is a special whiteboard system invented by one of my fabulous clients. This is the photo he sent me of what he does, and he kindly said I could share it here. I find it fascinating, as I can really see how it could help anchor you throughout the day.
The whiteboard has a built-in Time Timer. I guess it’s designed to have the current task written on the whiteboard. But it’s become something bigger and better!
In the words of its creator, here’s how it works:
I split it into 4 quadrants
Upper left: the ONE thing I’m going to do right NOW
Lower left : bulletpoints of next 3 things I’m going to do soon
Upper right: bulletpoints 3 things I might do later
Lower right: timer for the ONE thing in upper left
I am constantly coming back to the board, updating it throughout the day as my ‘Control Center’ for task execution.
Cool, right?
6 Daily planner for appointments and time blocking
For work, you could have a small whiteboard that has lines and numbers for the hours or half-hours of the workday. You could also section off half of it for a ‘top three to-do today’ list (if you tend to overload your list, you can draw in lines so there are only three gaps). Then each morning, or at the end of work for the next day, you write in any set appointments or meeting times. Now you can see the amount of time that’s left for your other work.
Some people find that time blocking works for them. This is where you choose a focus or task for a chunk of time, and block it out so you don’t try to do other stuff in that time. So you might have types of activity that you fit into your whiteboard daily plan - an hour for emails, a lunch break, deep work time on that big project, or a couple of hours of putting out metaphorical fires. You can write those things small in a corner of the whiteboard, so when you’re planning your day, you know what to consider adding in.
Why are we putting our time commitments on a whiteboard instead of on your physical diary or digital calendar? We’re not. We’re doing it AS WELL as in these other spaces, drawing from what we’ve put in there already. Double handling can be very helpful for time keeping, if you struggle to remember that time exists.
I have my session times, meetings and appointments in my digital calendar. When I plan my week, I write them all out in a paper planner. Then, on a daily basis, I write them all out on my predrawn whiteboard. This isn’t too much! It’s exactly the right amount for my brain to relax and trust that I’ll be in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing.
7 Kanban board
To quote Wikipedia: “A kanban board is one of the tools that can be used to implement kanban to manage work at a personal or organizational level. Kanban boards visually depict work at various stages of a process using cards to represent work items and columns to represent each stage of the process.”
(I have a funny feeling that the various elements of my energetic soul operate together a bit like an organization…where one part of me is often left wondering what the previous part thought they were up to!) ANYWAY here’s a version of the kanban board system updated for ADHD task tracking and motivation.
Instead of the classic To do/Doing/Done (which doesn't do anything for me except make me want to have a lie down), you can include the columns Started! and Nearly finished! This is where we often get stuck, so it's good to mark them.
Started = If I can move something from To do to Started, that is something to celebrate, and is a step of its own.
Nearly finished = I've done all the interesting/challenging bits, and now I need extra strategies to get me through the final steps.
On this whiteboard I've added S.O.S = Seek Out Support = I'm stuck, so this allows me to flag to myself that I need some kind of help with this.
And the exclamation marks add the emotion that helped me be motivated! (Though not enough - this is a whiteboard system that didn’t stick for me, and the whiteboard has happily been repurposed.)
Tips about whiteboards for adult ADHD
The size of the whiteboard matters! Different purposes suit different sizes. For instance, my daily planner is big and is on the wall because I look at it often during the day. My checklists are on a small whiteboard that sits on my work shelf, because I only use it once a day. The one on the fridge is small because I only want to choose one thing to aim to do to declutter the house in any week - a bigger space would tempt me to write more things, which would tempt me to ignore the whiteboard and focus on the fridge.
You can put ‘permanent’ lines on your whiteboard. They act as a prompt when filling in the whiteboard, showing show you what to remember to put in. They also give the whiteboard a visual structure that helps you look in the right place for the information you need. Here’s how:
Use vivid for permanent lines and words (or washi tape would be fun too?)
You can remove vivid by writing over it with a whiteboard marker or wiping it with nail polish remover
Use whiteboard marker to fill in in response to the prompts
Whiteboards work because they stay visible and are able to be changed at any moment without creating waste. Digital systems are great but disappear as soon as the screen darkens. Paper systems are great but get messy as soon as you get an idea or alter your plans. Both digital and paper have a tendency to get muddled when you shift between details and big pictures. I’m not suggesting that the whiteboard replace digital or paper systems. You’re looking for something that will support and improve your existing systems.
Generally if something is working for you, even if only in a limited way, I think it’s good to be very cautious about changing it. A too-radical adjustment may collapse the system entirely and leave you with no way of knowing if you’re meant to be at the dentist’s. (Statistically, if enough people read this post, someone who reads it will realise that yes, they’re actually meant to be at the dentist’s right now! Isn’t that amazing?)
A simple way to use a whiteboard is to use it to escalate a task or action to your current attention. For example, you can have a rule that if something stays in your brain or on your to-do list for more than three days, it triggers the whiteboard! First reassess if it matters, and check that you’re aiming to do the simple rather than the perfect version. Then, if it passes, write the task or action in big beautiful letters on the whiteboard. You can add in strategies like breaking it down into smaller steps, drawing a circle next to each step to tick off, and adding in how you’ll support yourself to do it.
The whiteboard is good in situations where it’s useful to be able to change things without it looking like you’ve failed a homework assignment. This helps you resist the avoidance that can come with perfectionist thoughts.
Other tips:
You can add on post-its, pictures, or important pieces of paper
Try using colours to get your attention
Use different colours for different projects or symbols
Use magnets to mark how many times a week you’ve done something you want to do
Change something on the whiteboard to make it more novel again
If you feel funny about using whiteboards
So, there are some common reservations about whiteboards. One big disadvantage of whiteboards is that they’re pretty ugly. You’ll never open an interior design book and see hanging plants and wooden bowls and four types of off-white and then a whiteboard with my wild handwriting all over it. But if I have to choose between knowing what’s going on or impressing visiting aesthetes, I will defend my whiteboard.
Sometimes people are worried that others will see what’s on the whiteboard and judge them. That’s totally valid, so take a minute to assess the actual consequences you’re risking. If they’re not too bad, you may find it will work to simply use the whiteboard and ride out the discomfort of other people seeing it. It probably won’t last that long, and then you’ll be a little bit more free (and organized).
A lot of people believe that they shouldn’t ‘need’ to use reminder systems, so they won’t let themselves. To these people I say: please work to your strengths! Let the whiteboard carry the burden of remembering, so your magnificent mind can do things that it enjoys and is good at.
Finally, sometimes people resist using whiteboards because planning and actually using systems and being reminded to do stuff can feel yuk and boring. Yes! It often does! However, the feeling of being in the right place at the right time with the right stuff is amazing. It lets you have a more interesting and fun life, and be less stressed. So overall, a win, as long as you can convince yourself that it’s worth doing, and find ways to make it at least bearable.
Experimenting with your ADHD-support whiteboard
A note for enthusiastic over-spenders on new ADHD systems: If you don’t have a whiteboard already, stop! Resist the urge to run out and buy three sizes! All you need to get started right now is whiteboard markers. You can try out some kind of whiteboard system on the side of the fridge. If it works, then you can invest in a whiteboard. And by then you’ll have a sense of what kind of size is most useful for you right now.
Whiteboards are a simple way to try out a new thing without overhauling your entire system. Keep it simple, try it for a few weeks, and see what you actually do. Did you draw in a daily appointment chart and a to-do-list, but only use the whiteboard to scrawl down things that you absolutely cannot forget to find a way to get round to doing?
Well, that’s great. Now you know a good way to use your whiteboard that works for you. Add in a red whiteboard marker, so you can triple-circle the things that are going from ‘urgent’ to ‘on-fire’, and you have something that is actually going to improve your life. And that’s what we’re after.
Here are the experiment steps:
Find an area of your life that’s stressful because of boring complexity or that you feel like your brain can’t ‘see’ clearly
Invent a way that your whiteboard can hold the details and make everything more ‘visible’
Problem-solve how you’re going to check in on and adapt your whiteboard system as often as needed
Check that the system is simple rather than perfect
Put any prompts you need into your other systems or connect whiteboard time with an existing regular activity
Choose a trial timeframe like a month and put a reminder in your calendar to check in then
Try out the system
Other things that help:
If it’s too boring or unhelpful to last for more than three days, try a new experiment
If you use it sometimes and it helps, celebrate the times you use it
You may want an ‘ideal’ version and a ‘better than nothing’ version, to reflect whatever day you’re having, so you keep using it
If it’s going well, take a mental snapshot of the positive emotional consequences of using the system and hold that in your mind for a few seconds - do this as often as you can to convince yourself that it’s useful
Expect your systems and whiteboard to change over time
If something has been on the whiteboard untouched for a month, wipe it off and come up with something new to try
How to turn a successful experiment into an ongoing system:
After the trial finishes, look at your whiteboard and see which bits you actually use and which you don’t really need to continue with, and adapt your whiteboard system
Train yourself to keep using the whiteboard in the way that suits you
If you stop using it for a while, try it again and notice the positive emotional consequences
Your unique ADHD whiteboard support system
Whiteboards are very helpful for adult ADHDers. They can be used in any way you like. This is perfect because we are each unique, and so are our systems. Sometimes we need a way to make a task more visible to our brains, or a way to keep track of ‘whatever the hell is going on around here’. You can try out different things on your whiteboard and see what sticks!
For better or worse, we’re highly likely to stop doing things that aren’t working. So that means if you keep trying things, whatever lasts beyond the two-week novelty phase is probably actually useful. So you don’t need to know right now how to use your whiteboard. Try stuff! This also makes the process more fun and motivating, and keeps you out of the shame/failure spiral if your test didn’t work.
I’d love to hear what you come up with, or what works for you if you already have a whiteboard in your life. Please get in touch and tell me all about it! Bonus points if you include a photo. And if you like this article, I think you’ll enjoy my email newsletter.