When my kids were small I usually walked them to school. It was sometimes a hassle to get three people with ADHD out the door on time but I really liked that I had some exercise built into my day AND that there could be a clear end to the ‘home’ part of my morning and a clear start for my work day.
Now my morning commute is from my breakfast table to my desk upstairs and lately I have found myself wishing for an office a little ways from my house.
Not that I need a separate workspace, what I want is a reason to get moving for a fixed period of time each morning before settling into my workday.
I don’t really need a separate workspace to accomplish that, do I?
I just need to pick a physical activity to represent my morning commute, do it for a fixed amount of time, and then start my workday immediately after that.
But, as always when working around my ADHD, I need to be careful about how I add something into my day. I can’t add something too long or something with a lot of potential for distraction or anything that will complicate my mornings too much.
All of those things are just as likely to wreak havoc on my schedule as they are to help me shape it.
This is partially why the idea of a separate workspace has appeal – I could convince myself that I HAD to walk to get there – but, realistically, I would never actually waste money/time/space to rent a workspace just to make myself get moving.
So, I am experimenting with an alternative approach – getting all of my personal/home morning stuff done and then either taking a 5-10 minute walk “to work” before settling in for my first task of the day.
That might mean walking outside (possibly with the dog but I’m not sure I want to train her to expect a walk at that time) or it may mean an indoor walk of some kind but, either way, I will be ending that walk at my desk with a clear plan for my first task of the day.*
In fact, I started writing this post on Monday morning after a brisk, 5 minute walk next to my desk and it felt pretty good.
Updates as events warrant!
*This is a separate part of my plan to make the start of my work days easier – getting a bit more detailed with my task planning. My right-now brain hates breaking stuff down but my future brain loves when it has been done.
