How ADD Planner Can Help You Stay On Track Staying on track can be a big challenge for people with ADD. We'll look at four common reasons we get off track, and how ADD Planner can help with each of them: Getting Distracted Losing Track of Time Hyperfocusing Procrastinating Getting Distracted Everyone with ADD knows how easy it is to get distracted. ADD Planner helps us be mindful of our attention with the On-Track Reminder. Using the On-Track Reminder To Break Through Distractions Often we just need a small reminder to realize we've gotten distracted and to get us back on track. The On-Track Reminder comes up as often as you want with a message you've chosen to help you fight distraction. The On-Track Reminder is easy to configure: Click OK when you're done. Then as often as you like, you'll see a reminder like this: When you click OK on the reminder, ADD Planner pops up so you can see what's on your task list and in your projects. Losing Track of Time It's very common for people with ADD to lose track of time. ADD Planner offers multiple reminders to help you keep track of time - including a built-in 30-minute countdown reminder. Using the 30-minute Countdown Reminder To Keep Track of Time Each reminder in the 30-minute countdown pops up a reminder window and speaks the text of the reminder. To get someplace on time simply drag the "30-minute Countdown Reminder" task from the Project View to the time you need to leave. You'll see and hear the reminders starting 30 minutes before the time you should leave. Hyperfocusing Hyperfocus is what lets you stay up all night and write a brilliant report after procrastinating for weeks on the assignment. It is also what makes it hard to tear yourself away from whatever you're doing when it's time to do something else - like stop surfing the net and go to bed. When you're hyperfocused on the computer, it's easy to ignore the usual reminder windows - you click on them without even noticing. A great way to break hyperfocus is with a "pattern interrupt" - a deliberate big distraction - so you can refocus on something else. ADD Planner lets you do this with automatic program launch. Using Automatic Program Launch To Break Hyperfocus Here's how you configure a reminder to automatically launch a previously created full-screen Word file and speak the text of the reminder. And here's what your screen will look like before ... and after automatic program launch. Procrastinating Procrastination is a big problem for a lot of us with ADD. We know we should get started on that project but somehow we keep putting it off. One reason for this is related to the way the ADD brain works. We're primarily right-brained, "big picture" thinkers. We tend to look at projects as a whole and don't notice the component pieces the way left-brain thinkers do. Some of the effects of thinking about tasks of this way are: The task seems so big you don't know where to start. The task seems easy so you think "No rush - I can do the whole thing in a day!" ADD Planner can help you take "big picture" tasks and break them into manageable pieces with a graphical tool called the Project View. Using the Project View to Combat Procrastination The ADD Planner Project View uses a tree structure that makes it easy to see all the parts of a project. When you lay out everything that's involved in a project, you'll know where to start since some tasks obviously need to be done before others. Also, it's easier to estimate how long a project will take when you see everything that need to be done. Where To Go From Here See how ADD Planner could help you get out the door in the morning. Learn how ADD Planner can help you get places on time. Learn how ADD Planner can help you manage transitions. Learn how ADD Planner can help you break tasks into manageable pieces. Go to the ADD Planner home page.