Calendar Strategies That Reduce ADHD Overwhelm

Episode Summary

If using a calendar feels more frustrating than helpful with ADHD, this episode is for you. You’ll learn practical strategies to make your calendar support your energy, priorities, and follow-through. From weekly reviews to color coding, you’ll get doable ideas you can test without overhauling your whole life.

What You’ll Learn About Using A Calendar With ADHD

• Why task lists and calendars need separate roles to reduce overwhelm
• How to block time in a way that protects your energy and priorities
• What a weekly review really looks like — and how it helps.
• How to include buffer times in your calendar to lower your stress.
• How visual cues like color-coding and icons can make your calendar easier to follow

Transcript: ADHD Calendar Strategies

 (00:00):

Are you looking for strategies so you can actually use your calendar effectively? If you are, you’re in the right place. This is part two of a two-part series on ADHD and calendars. And if you haven’t listened to part one yet, that episode dives into the emotional and practical challenges of using calendars with ADHD. But what you’ll hear today aren’t rules. They’re just starting points. So please try what resonates, tweak what makes sense for you, and skip anything that doesn’t land.

You’ve tuned into Scattered, Focus, Done, a podcast for ADHD adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to be able to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m glad you decided to join me today on this journey to re-imagining productivity with ADHD so you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.

What Is an ADHD Calendar and How Do You Use It?

(01:07):

Last week, we looked at some of the reasons calendars can feel like they’re working against you, from decision fatigue to missed reminders. Today we’re going to build on that. I’ll walk you through practical strategies that can help you reshape how you use your calendar. So it supports you instead of stressing you out. Let’s get into it. Like I mentioned earlier, these aren’t rules. You’re not here to follow a rigid system.

You’re here to find what resonates, so please take whatever is useful, and that’s how you’re going to build a calendar system that really works for you. Here’s what a calendar system might look like that supports you. First, use your calendar for time management, not task management. Many adults with ADHD put tasks in their calendar, not because they’re truly scheduled, but as a way to remember them and as a hope that that’ll be the nudge that gets them to do them.

(02:13):

The problem, though, once the day passes, those entries often disappear from view, and without a reliable place to hold them, tasks can easily get lost. Instead, your tasks should live in one central place, like a digital task manager or a paper planner. So they don’t slip through the cracks. Task management is its own challenge, one that I’ve talked about before and I’m sure I’ll talk about again. For now, just know that your calendar should hold what needs to happen on a specific day and time, which may include appointments, meetings, or even a time block task, like “call the doctor 2:00 PM.”

But not every to-do you’re hoping to get done. One of the ways you can use your calendar is to protect your time from others. Of course, protecting your time isn’t always easy, especially in workplaces where shared calendars are seemingly the norm. It can feel uncomfortable to block off time that isn’t for a formal meeting.

Why a Calendar Doesn’t Work as a Task List for ADHD Adults

(03:25):

You might even worry that setting aside time for yourself will come across as well, selfish, or unproductive, even if that’s the only way to get your real work done. And it’s not just a scheduling problem. For many of my clients, the hesitation runs deeper. There’s a quiet pull to be always available, to keep proving you’re responsive to avoid being seen as well, difficult. If that’s part of what gets in your way, it’s worth naming.

But blocking off time to do your actual work isn’t a luxury. It’s not something to sneak in between everyone else’s needs. It’s a legitimate use of your calendar and a boundary that can help you stay focused, deliver on your responsibilities, and reduce the exhaustion that comes from constant context switching. One way to start doing this is by creating recurring focus blocks, especially during times when you’re likely to be at your best for deep work.

(04:32):

You may also want to block time for admin work, project preparation, or anything else that tends to get crowded out. When it’s on your calendar ,it’s easier to protect and easier to take seriously. You can also use your calendar to reduce prep stress by adding key info directly to the event, like the location, Zoom link, phone number, agenda, or short checklist. That way you’re not scrambling later with, where’s that link or what did I say I’d bring? Of course, you might intend to add this info and then forget. That’s totally common. One small fix, add it as soon as you create the event, even if you don’t have every detail yet, include what you do know, and you might add notes like still need to confirm agenda, so it stays on your radar. Just ask yourself, what would future me need to show up ready?

How to Protect Time on Your Calendar With ADHD

(05:39):

The other thing that will help you be prepared for the next item on your calendar is, whenever possible, leave at least 10 to 15 minutes as a buffer between events. Transitions are hard for ADHD adults because shifting focus takes mental energy. If your calendar is built like Lego bricks, though, stacked back to back with no space in between, it’s no wonder you’re feeling overwhelmed. Of course, I know you can’t always avoid tight scheduling. But when you do have control, add a buffer. One way to do this is by shortening appointments slightly to build in that transition time. A psychiatrist I worked with used to be chronically late to sessions. But once she started having 50-minute appointments instead of 60-minute appointments, she was on time much more often. Nothing’s perfect. You might also leave a midday reset block with no meetings and no decisions to make.

(06:51):

Even just 20 to 30 minutes to pause and regroup can make the rest of your day more doable. And part of what makes those buffer blocks work is knowing they’re there ahead of time. To do this, one of the most helpful habits you can build is setting aside time for a weekly review and planning session. If you want more guidance on how to do such a session, I’ll include a link to my blog post, the ADHD Adults Guide to the Weekly Review, in the show notes on my website. While a full session includes checking your task lists and thinking through how to execute on those tasks. Today we’re just focusing on your calendar. During this session, the planning and review session, you take a real look at your calendar, not just a glance, but a thorough review where you make informed decisions ahead of time.

How Weekly Calendar Reviews Help ADHD Adults Plan Ahead

(07:54):

It’s one of the best ways to reduce friction later on. Here’s what part of that process might look like. This is when you take time to look ahead and plan, not just react to what’s already there. At a minimum, you’re looking at the next week in your calendar. But it can also help to glance a few weeks out to see what’s coming up.

And during that review, your job is to make as many decisions in advance as possible. So as you’re reviewing the week ahead, here are a few things to check for. If there are overlapping meetings, decide which one you’ll attend. If something no longer feels like a fit, decline it. If you need to reschedule something, do that.

Now you might even have things in your calendar you’re unsure about, like that optional Lunch and Learn on Wednesday. This is the time to make those decisions so they don’t hang over you all the next week. And if there are tasks you need to do ahead of a meeting or appointment, make a quick note of those in your task system so they don’t slip through the cracks.

(09:11):

Again, say you need to prep slides for the Thursday meeting, make a note of that in your task list. Now, I know all of this might feel overwhelming to hear at first. Especially if you’re not used to making decisions ahead of time and you’re used to making them on the fly or without much preparation. It’s totally understandable when you hear this to think, “How is this possible for me to do?”

But believe me, this kind of upfront thinking, as I said earlier, is what reduces the friction later in the week, instead of scrambling every morning to figure out your day. You’ll have a plan to fall back on. And this is a skill that you can learn and develop over time.

But the weekly review is not the end of the story. You’ll also want to keep revisiting your calendar, not just once a week, but each morning before you begin your day and then at transition points. So start with a quick morning check-in, take a few minutes to confirm what’s on your calendar still holds unless something truly urgent has come up.

(10:32):

This will help you set your mental GPS for the day. And then, as you move through the day, check your calendar at each transition. That might be after a meeting, after lunch, or when you’re shifting from one kind of work to another. Because believe me, even if you looked at your calendar in the morning, chances are you won’t remember a few hours later. It’s just how the ADHD brain works. You’ll also want to set reminders for any scheduled event.

But, and this is important, earlier I mentioned that you don’t want to keep your task in your calendar. The same goes for reminders for these tasks. You don’t want to use your calendar reminders for tasks like respond to that email from last week, for example. Here’s why. If the reminder goes off and you can’t act on it in that moment because you don’t really need to do it at that moment when the reminder goes off, you’re likely going to ignore it.

And when that happens enough times, you’ll just ignore all of your reminders. They’ll just become annoying background noise. And you won’t even pay attention to the ones that you actually need to pay attention to, like the ones that cue you to be in a particular place at a specific time, like an appointment, a call or a meeting. And one last thing to remember is that your calendar isn’t set in stone. It’s a living document. Rigidity tends to backfire with ADHD. So if something changes, adjust it without judgment, move it with intention. But just don’t delete it and hope for the best.

Why A Rigid Calendar Doesn’t Work for ADHD Adults

(12:38):

This applies also to how much to block off time in your calendar. When I’m working with clients, this question comes up a lot, which is, if it’s something that I don’t have any fixed appointments, should I block time in advance for what I want to do or should I leave things open and decide as the day unfolds for everyone? The answer is different, and as with anything else that we’re talking about today, some trial and error to figure out what works best for you.

I will say many adults with ADHD don’t love highly detailed schedules. So time blocking may feel too rigid, but even if time blocking sounds too rigid to you right now, a little bit of time blocking can still help you protect what really matters. You might decide to add maybe one or two blocks to your day to do focused work if you’re not a big fan of blocking in general.

(13:44):

At the same time, you can leave some breathing room so you can make spontaneous choices. One structure that might help is the 1 3 5 rule, where you pick one big task, three medium tasks, and five small ones for the day. You don’t schedule them. Instead, you select tasks from your list as your day unfolds. I’ll include a link in the show notes on my website so you can explore this model a little bit more.

If you do decide to block off time in your calendar, think about how your energy typically ebbs and flows during the day and try to match the type of task to the kind of energy you tend to have at that time. For example, if you usually feel sluggish around 3:00 PM, that might not be the best time for focused writing, but it could be a fine time for something more routine, like responding to emails or organizing your notes.

Using Color and Visual Cues to Make Your Calendar ADHD-Friendly

(14:53):

That said, sometimes the only way to get through a boring but important task is to do it during your peak energy time. Because if you wait until you’re tired, it may not happen. Again, as with any of these suggestions, you’ll have to experiment to see what works for you when it comes to scheduling on your calendar. Here’s one thing that I really want you to hear. Fun isn’t just a reward. It’s fuel for the ADHD brain. So try blocking out time for breaks, meals, and hobbies before you schedule deep work. It’ll definitely be easier to do this work when you have time. Set aside for fun things.

One last suggestion: make your calendar more visual. The ADHD brain loves patterns, color, and visual anchors. They help you stay grounded in what matters. You might use different colors for different areas, work, social, family, whatever matters to you.

(16:04):

That way it’s not just one long blur of blocks. For example, I use salmon for family, friends, and community, blue for client sessions, and yellow for personal appointments, etc. Some people I’ve worked with also like icons as visual cues. As I’m wrapping up for today, I’m going to say it again, the suggestions I shared aren’t rules. They’re starting points, so try what makes sense for you. Do something different with the things that may be helpful, but not in the way I describe them, and chuck the stuff that doesn’t land for you.

That’s it for now. I’m really glad you joined me. If you’re finding it hard to get a handle on your time or use a calendar in a way that actually works for you, you don’t have to figure it out on your own. I offer one-to-one coaching for adults with ADHD who want practical support with time management, planning, follow-through, and a variety of other topics. You can learn more about how I work at marlacummins.com/coaching. And if you’re curious to learn more, reach out. I’m happy to chat. Until next time, this is Scattered Focus Done Re-Imagining Productivity with ADHD. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m so glad you’re here doing the work.

ADHD Links and Resources

• Learn how to plan better with my Free Guide: 6 Common Planning Mistakes Adults with ADHD Make.
• Learn more about the 1-3-5 Rule to help you plan your day with your ADHD brain in mind.
• Ready for individualized support? Let’s talk about 1-1 ADHD coaching.
• Use my ADHD Adult’s Guide To The Weekly Review to look ahead and feel more grounded.