Giving patients simple tools to solve some of their problems can be very helpful. Here’s one simple but effective idea that I have used for some of my patients—and for myself.
A couple I met with were arguing about the husband’s constant procrastination of household tasks. Patients with ADHD whom I treat are invariably overwhelmed with the dozens of miscellaneous things that they need to get done.
What I am referring to is not daily habits to be built (for example, exercise) or tasks that involve external deadlines (for example, having a paper due next Tuesday). I am talking about things that have to be done sometime, but don’t have to be done at any particular time. Things that need to be done and for which the end result is desired by the person, but that are not intrinsically fun to do. Change the light bulbs that have gone out. Return some items to the store. Identify clothes that don’t fit them anymore and put them in a box to give away. Sort through the pile of paper on their desk. You get the idea. We all have many such pending tasks, so this technique is as much for us as for our patients.
In her excellent book, Better than Before, author Gretchen Rubin suggested a simple method to get such miscellaneous tasks done—a Power Hour. The idea is that because such miscellaneous tasks don’t have a specific time when we need to do them, we must schedule them. Schedule a one-hour block of time—a Power Hour—which the person dedicates to doing some of these miscellaneous tasks. It is a way of scheduling things that are not intrinsically on a schedule. Doing this even once or twice a week can put a big dent in pending miscellaneous tasks.
I have some suggestions for modifying the Power Hour:
1. Ask the person to start with only 30-minute Power “Hours.” Taking small steps is always better.
2. Ask them to set a timer for the allocated time because, in my view, the reason this method works so well is because the procrastinator’s mind likes the idea that the time is delimited to only one hour. When the hour is over, the person is “off the hook” and can do something else.
Both my patients and I have found the Power Hour idea to be very helpful. I hope you will try it yourself and recommend it to some of your patients. Please do let us know how it goes.
By Gretchen Rubin
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