When Laura joined our 90-day program Optimize Your ADHD Brain, she had recently opened up the second location of her restaurant.
She felt really good about how she led her teams and provided for customers, but she struggled greatly with consistency.

Every time she tried something new; it didn’t last longer than 2 weeks (I mean, 2 weeks was a long time😉)
Whether it was going to the gym or posting on social media, doing the work consistently was a challenge.

The best advice she’s been given till then, was “You’ve got to be consistent to see results.”
Uhm, yeah, she knew it, but she was struggling with HOW to be consistent.

By understanding what the real problem was, we were able to make being consistent something that happened naturally.
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While you are doing any task, you (without even realizing it!) are using your 28 thinking skills.

When the thinking skills you need to use are strong, doing the task happens easily.
If the thinking skill you need to use is weak, doing the task will be a challenge.

The struggle that Laura had, came from a weak thinking skill of understanding time.

While many people struggle with consistency, the reason as to WHY they struggle with consistency may be very different.
For example, in episode 500, we got to see how the reason why Julie struggled with consistency was because of micro-decisions that were there along the way. 

However, the reason why Laura was struggling with consistency was because of a completely different reason.

For her, it came down to *thinking* she was going to have time to do it all and then last-minute realizing something’s got to give.
So plans on going to the gym and posting on LinkedIn and calling her mom, but before she knows it’s 10:00 to late to call her mom and she’ll post on LinkedIn tomorrow.

It’s not that she doesn’t want to it, it’s that her understanding of time is weak

3 things we did to help Laura get better at understanding time so she could get better at being consistent:

1) Time Tasks
Part of Laura’s problem was that she didn’t know how long it actually took her to do her tasks.
She’d say she’ll post on LinkedIn later, thinking it would only take 5 minutes but between writing copy that will connect with her clients, finding a good picture and adding a good CTA, it took more like 25 minutes.
I had Laura time all the tasks she did often, especially the ones she wanted to be more consistent with.
Now she knows it takes about 25 minutes to post on LinkedIn and she could use that information according.

2) Time Blocking All Tasks
It’s so easy to get caught up in the tasks that pop up all day.
If we’re not being proactive, we’ll end up putting out fires all day long and not focus on what we want to focus on.
Laura started time-blocking all her tasks. Especially the ones she wants to be consistent with.
When is she going to the gym?
And when is posting on LinkedIn? It gets scheduled into the calendar.

Part of this is implementing thing ‘No negotiations’ rule.
Once she decides that she’s doing something, she’s going to find a way to make it happen.
No negotiation.
None of the I’m not in the mood or I’m too tired.
You already decided you’re doing it, so you go and do it.

3) Massive Monthly Calendar
I had Laura hang up the big monthly calendars for the year ahead in her office.
By seeing the months visually, Laura had an easier time understanding what was coming up and tasks/appointments fell out in relationship to each other and was able to plan more efficiently.

BONUS
​I also had Laura look at the tasks she wanted to do consistently and see if there was a way she could arrange her tasks so it was more likely it was going to happen.
For example, instead of posting in real time, scheduling out her LinkedIn posts.
Or if she wanted to make sure she was calling her mom twice a week, doing it during her twice-week carpool pickups etc.

ST Rappaport, Brain Engineer for ADHDish Business Owners