ADHD, Work, and Why Routine Matters
So, work… Hands up those of you that hate working full time?
Now, hands up those of you that hate the commute more than the work itself?
What about those who quite like the social aspect of work but hate the monotony of it all?
Yeah, I get it. Driving the same roads at the same time day after day, week after week. It’s the same with trains and buses — same faces, same change points. My God, it’s all so depressing.
Thing is, that’s one way to look at it. The other is that you can be on autopilot for a big part of your working day and not have to think about it too much.
Your Brain Needs Stimulation
Your brain needs stimulation more than anything else. Working gives your brain that stimulation — stimulation that could otherwise be turned into negative thoughts.
We’ve all been there. If we don’t have something meaningful to do, our motivation collapses into self-pity and the boredom and restlessness give our minds time to start attacking us.
I don’t know about you, boys and girls, but my mind is fantastic at focusing on the negative aspects of my life and feeding me back all the mistakes I’ve made if I don’t have anything to do. I think that contributes massively to our addictive personalities.
You know, we have to keep busy, otherwise we’ll talk ourselves to death.
The Benefit of Routine
Let’s talk about the other aspect of work — routine. The bit we probably hate the most is also the most beneficial.
As I already said, not having to think about things reduces your overall decision fatigue over the course of the day. It also helps balance out your dopamine throughout the day.
You’ve also got the additional benefit that smaller actions build up over time. Your morning routine can be used to bolt on other tasks — a morning checklist, an admin slot, an evening wind-down list — making you slowly but surely more reliable and consistent without too much effort.
Or so that’s the theory.
Structure Creates Calm
There are a couple of other things that daily routine and work can help with. It creates a calmness in your mind. We don’t thrive on chaos, even though from the outside it might look like that.
We are chaos, and anything that can be done to reduce that chaos has got to be a good thing, right?
Last but not least, it can help keep overwhelm at bay.
Scaffolding, Not a Prison
Think of work and the routines that work forces you to create as scaffolding to help you live a smoother, less stressful life.
There is a limit to this though. Too much routine can be debilitating to us, so we always have to be aware of that sneaking up on us and ruining our day.
That’s it for today. Check back next Friday for a look into sleep and mornings.
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