How to WIN at to-do lists - as an ADHD girlie / artist

Recently I talked to my friend about to-do lists. Personally, I LOVE making lists!
Getting a new idea and breaking it down into actionable steps or having a new goal I want to reach in a certain amount of days and planning it all out...

Those things excite me AND help me achieve what I set out to do.

Yet my friend struggled with that very thing. She has trouble with overwhelmingly big tasks, prioritizing doesn't come easy for her, and even when she has a to-do list and small, broken-down actionable steps, her mind just refuses to start the first task.

So I sat down and researched some tips and tricks on how to help a reluctant (possibly ADHD) brain into productivity.

This is not the only way, I am sure there are a million more tricks. These are just the ones I found, and she loved them. So I thought I'd share them with you as well.

Make it a „Quest“ menu instead of calling it a "to-do list" (including side quests and mini adventures)
Use activity verbs to describe each task as an action „call X“ „upload on Instagram“ „write Newsletter“
Brain-dump actions on individual Post-it notes so you can rearrange them more easily
Arrange tasks by priority (A, B, C, …) - is it due today?
Add 3 tasks maximum to a day
Give yourself a sense of choice „What feels easiest right now?“, „What would be most fun to do AND make me feel accomplished?“ - Low-hanging fruit is still fruit
Give yourself a sense of novelty - new post-it note colors, pretty stationary, pens that make you smile, or writing and organizing quests on your iPad instead of handwriting them
make everything feel like a game - race against a timer you set for each task or reward yourself (with a song of your choice, 5min break (stretch, drink a glass of water, watch Tiktok, play candy crush, etc.), or add a star sticker next to your ticked off task after you did a thing)
Use the Pomodoro technique - work 25 minutes, 5-minute break. After 4x 25minutes take a 15-minute break (Put your phone on not disturb or flight mode during those 25minutes) - I personally love Harry Potter Pomodoros on YouTube and get loads done in 2 hours or 4 Pomodoros
If you can't seem to start a specific task, set your timer for 10 minutes. If you wanna stop after 10 minutes and go paint, that's ok. But most likely you'll want to continue working. At least that's how I always feel

If you like these tips, make sure to save them for later, and let me know in the comments which of these you’re going to try first!

Happy list-making,

Julia