The ADHD Planner

Write the tool you’ll use for each type of capture:

• Tasks I need to do: ______________________________

• Reminders tied to a date or time: __________________

• Ideas and “maybe later” thoughts: ___________________

Now choose one default inbox for all three. Write its name here:

__________________________________________________

For the next seven days, use that inbox even if the thought seems too small to record. Tiny tasks are often the ones that disappear first.

Create and Test Your Capture Loop

A useful capture loop has four moves: notice, record, clarify, and return. You notice a commitment or idea. You record it in your inbox. You add just enough detail to recognize it later. Then you return to what you were doing.

The goal isn’t beautiful wording. The goal is a note that tells Future You what the thought meant. “Call Sam” may be useless tomorrow. “Call Sam about Thursday delivery - 555-0148” gives you a fighting chance.

Your Turn: Set up the loop

Use your chosen inbox and complete these steps.

• Collect five real loose thoughts. Look at recent texts, email, paper notes, and anything currently circling your mind. Include at least one task, one date-based reminder, and one idea.

• Write each item in your inbox. Use one line per item. Don’t sort or prioritize yet.

• Add a clear action or reference. Start tasks with a verb, such as “Email,” “Buy,” “Schedule,” or “Check.” Add a person, place, object, or deadline when useful.

• Mark date-based items. Put a calendar symbol, the word “DATE,” or another quick marker beside anything that must happen on a particular day or time.

• Set a capture shortcut. Place the app on your phone’s first screen, pin the note, or keep the notebook beside your keys.

• Run a 60-second test. Close the tool. Reopen it and capture a pretend thought: “Ask Jordan about Tuesday’s invoice.” If you can’t record it in one minute, remove a step.

• Choose three daily review times. Pick moments already connected to your day, such as after breakfast, at lunch, and before shutting down work. Write them below.

• Morning review: _________________________________

• Midday review: __________________________________

• End-of-day review: _______________________________

Worked example

INBOX - Unsorted

Email Pat the updated estimate - before 3 p.m. Thursday

Buy 2-inch pipe fittings - hardware store

DATE: Dentist appointment - Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

Idea: make a checklist for van restocking

Ask Jordan about Tuesday’s invoice - 555-0148

Notice what isn’t here: priority colors, folders, a perfect project plan, or a paragraph explaining each item. The notes are quick, specific, and recognizable.

Apply It: Capture for one full day

For the next 24 hours, capture every task, reminder, and idea in the same inbox. Don’t rely on memory “just this once.” Each time you capture something, add a small mark beside it: T for task, D for date-based reminder, or I for idea.

At the end of the day, count your entries:

• T: ______

• D: ______

• I: ______

• Total: ______

Then check whether each entry can answer this question: “What was I trying to remember?”

What good looks like

• You have one inbox that opens in 10 seconds or less.

• You captured at least five real items.

• Every item uses a separate line.

• Tasks begin with a clear action word.

• Date-based reminders are visibly marked or moved to a calendar.

• Ideas have a place without interrupting today’s work.

• You completed a 60-second test successfully.

• You used the same inbox for 24 hours.

Adapt the System Without Creating More Noise

One inbox is the starting point, not a rule that must fit every situation. Your work, home life, and attention patterns may need different entry points. The trick is to add a variation only when it solves a real problem.

Variation

Use it when

How to adapt the exercise

Phone-first capture

You carry your phone everywhere and often remember tasks while moving

Use a pinned note, lock-screen widget, or voice capture. Test recording an item while walking slowly or wearing work gloves. Review the inbox at lunch and at day’s end.

Paper-first capture

Screens distract you, or you work in places where phones aren’t practical

Keep one small notebook in a fixed location, such as your tool bag or counter. Use one page per day. Photograph or transfer unfinished items during the evening review.

Two-lane capture

Work and personal items collide so badly that one list becomes stressful

Keep one work inbox and one personal inbox. Do not create separate inboxes for every project. Review both at the same three daily times.

Voice capture

Writing is too slow, or ideas arrive while driving or working

Record a short voice memo, then turn it into written text during a scheduled review. Never review or type while driving. Capture only; process later.

Try one variation for three days, not three variations in one afternoon. You’re testing friction, not building a spaceship.

Reflect: Find your failure point

Complete these statements with a specific situation:

• I’m most likely to lose a task when __________________________________.

• My current capture tool becomes annoying when __________________________.

• The fastest capture method for me is ________________ because ________.

• I need a backup method for ___________________________________________.

Now choose one backup. If your phone is your main tool, the backup might be a card in your wallet. If paper is your main tool, the backup might be a pinned phone note. The backup should be available when the main tool isn’t.

Apply It: Test a real context

Choose one situation that regularly causes dropped tasks:

• During a customer conversation

• While changing locations

• At the end of a work shift

• When an idea arrives at night

• While handling a household interruption

Run a five-minute simulation. Create three pretend entries from that situation. Capture each one using your chosen method. Measure the time from thought to saved entry:

• Entry 1: ______ seconds

• Entry 2: ______ seconds

• Entry 3: ______ seconds

If any entry takes longer than 30 seconds, simplify the shortcut or use the voice or paper variation.

Keep the system small enough that you’ll use it on a messy day. A capture system that works only when you’re calm, seated, and fully charged is a decoration.

Check Whether Your Inbox Is Earning Trust

A trusted system isn’t one that looks tidy. It’s one you believe will hold the thought until you can deal with it. You build that trust through repeated capture and predictable review.

Use the questions below after seven days. Answer with specific examples from your inbox, not general impressions.

Reflect

• During the last seven days, what type of item did you capture most often, and where did you capture it?

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

• Which item nearly disappeared because you delayed capturing it? What made the capture difficult?

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

• When did you review your inbox, and how many entries were still unclear afterward?

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

• What single change would make capture faster by at least 10 seconds?

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

• Which items belong in a calendar, task list, or “later” list instead of staying in the inbox?

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

Criteria for success

• You captured items in one consistent inbox on at least five of seven days.

• Your average capture time is 30 seconds or less.

• At least 80 percent of entries make sense when read the next day.

• Date-based reminders are placed on a calendar or clearly marked for calendar entry.

• Your inbox is reviewed at least once each day.

• You identified one friction point and made one concrete adjustment.

• You have a backup capture method for phone, notebook, or access failures.

Your inbox is allowed to be messy. It just can’t be mysterious. When a thought has a clear place to land, your attention gets to come back to the work in front of you. That’s the win: not remembering everything, but no longer needing to hold everything at once.

End of chapter one. 4 more chapters in the full book.