editing with adhd
Living as a neurodivergent individual has its daily challenges, but working and editing is a whole different ball game. Whether you have hyperactive, inattentive, or combined type ADHD, there are countless ways your workday can be delayed or derailed. Here are some solutions we hope will prove as helpful to readers as they’ve been to us. That said, everyone’s brain is different, and what works for one person may not necessarily be another’s cup of tea. You know yourself best! Above all, remember to be gentle with yourself.
how to approach work with inattentive adhd: meaghan steeves’s perspective
Neurodivergent folks can face a number of internal struggles while managing their work.
Challenges with short-term memory can lead to imposter syndrome and a feeling of dread where you don’t know what you’re doing and you wonder why everything seems so easy for everyone else. And it’s not always easy to stay engaged and keep your attention from wandering, particularly if the content you’re editing isn’t as stimulating for your brain or you’ve been working for a long period of time. This is where task-switching, timers, and breaks come in especially handy.
Short-term memory
While editors with ADHD can commit a lot to memory over time, sometimes it feels like new information is slipping through a sieve, with no way to know what will or won’t stick to our brains. I almost took another full-scale grammar course two years after my first because I was worried I’d forgotten so much that I was incompetent to help others. Now I know it’s not so much about knowing everything in the world as knowing where to find it. Style guides, the internet, and networking spaces like the Editors Tea Club Slack group are my go-tos when I have a question or need a reminder about something editing-related.
There are other times where I’ve gotten distracted mid-thought or -task, and then I can’t remember where I was in my work before the interruption. I’ve learned to stop, take a deep breath, and mentally retrace my steps. It doesn’t always work, but I’ve come to accept it as something that just happens, and I know that the work will still get done.
Staying organized
A lot of ADHDers are calendar-trying veterans, drawn to shiny new organizational objects that, within a week or two, become yet another abandoned planner as we try (and fail) to use them consistently. (I just sold my pretty pink Filofax after finally acknowledging—after four years—that I would never use it.) It can take years of trial and error to find the right form of planner for you—print or digital? Which brand? Dated or undated? Which layout? It can be quite a process!
But I’m confident that with patience, anyone can find a system that serves them. The bullet journal method, for example, popularized by Ryder Carroll, has seen major traction in the last five years, appealing to so many because you can create your own layout and make it as detailed or minimal as you want. Some might find the task of making a planner from scratch daunting, but there are countless online templates and tutorials to help you get started.
I’ve been using a physical monthly planner for six years to keep track of important dates. This year, I discovered the magic of weekly at-a-glance and daily to-do list notepads. They’ve been a huge game-changer, especially because the variations in my schedule mean I don’t need them every single week.
Staying on task
Task-switching keeps your brain bouncing around before you can get so tired of the task at hand that it becomes a tedious slog. If I have a lot of emails open, tabs to be read, or admin to get through, I love to take a couple hours to do fifteen-minute bursts of each thing. It may sound strange, but I’ve made more progress this way than by saying something like “I’m going to take the whole day to clear this out.” When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I’ve found it helpful to break my large tasks into manageable bites so I stay motivated and focused.
These smaller work chunks are made all the more effective by timers. There are many apps and methods for tracking your time, but I’ve grown fond of the Pomodoro Technique. I have a visual timer that shows in red how much time is left so that my eyes can dart over quickly for a general sense of how much time remains. It keeps me focused because I know I won’t get sucked into a task to the point where I lose track of time and neglect other time-sensitive tasks for that day. At a recent Renegade Coffee Chat, folks held up their visual timers—the Editors Tea Club’s own Erin Servais has a stoplight-style model that impressed many of us.
Finally, breaks are essential to minimize burnout and keep your energy from being drained. The Freelancers Tea Break (hosted by Emma Cossey, a fellow ADHDer!), is a podcast I started listening to during the pandemic, and I loved the concept of getting up to make yourself a cup of tea and listening to this helpful soundbite. It fed my need for knowledge, but it also offered a little mid-morning break so I could think about my business. Stepping away briefly can be a great reset for your brains and bodies, whether that means fixing lunch, doing a light tidy, taking a nap, or going for a walk.
tackling the hyperactivity: jess stampe’s perspective
ADHD can vary so much from person to person that it’s hard to say whether what works for one person will work for another. For example, I don’t struggle as much with the attention side of ADHD, but I have to work to manage my hyperactivity. If I sit still for too long, I get an itch under my skin to shift, wiggle, or stand up as I work. Housework and I are friends, but editing?
Thankfully, I’ve found a few helpful tools to curb my hyperactivity while editing.
Embrace the movement
One of the beautiful things to come out of Covid were upgrades in work-from-home setups. We saw the rise of standing desks, treadmill desks, bike desks … essentially, a lot of desks that aren’t the traditional flat top and fixed chair that can be the bane of someone struggling with ADHD.
How do you want to move when you’re working? Are you someone who wants to walk it out, shake side to side, or do short bursts of exercise between tasks? Once you have a good feel for how your body wants to move while you’re editing, lean into that feeling and find tools to help you move that way while working.
I happen to be a “get short bursts of energy out during meetings and difficult projects” person, so I bought myself an under-desk cycling machine. There are also under-desk ellipticals and mini steppers.
For strengthening, you can grab some resistance bands or hand grippers. Another option is a balance ball chair, which helps your core and posture.
If you have a desk that can convert to standing, you have the option to use a treadmill or do some quick squats while you work.
Have the proper seating
For some people, your baseline energy level might be lower—more of a squirm than an “I need to get out of this chair now.” This is when having a versatile chair will be your savior.
Yoga balls and other active sitting chairs like wobble stools or kneeling chairs fall somewhere in between proper seating and a desk exercise machine. With a yoga ball, you can bounce, shift, and even stretch out your back between long tasks at work, which will help you reduce restlessness and hyperactivity. As a bonus, they engage your core and encourage better posture.
I have a kneeling chair that lets me sit with my feet up or down or kneeling. I can prop up just one leg if I want to. This helps me get that squirmy feeling out. I also have a wide chair that I can sit cross-legged in if I want something different.
Swivel and rocking chairs provide the flexibility to move around easily, which can be helpful for people who find it challenging to sit still (like me). The repetitive movement can help with concentration and relaxation.
If you have a standing desk, a high stool offers the flexibility to switch between sitting and standing positions. It allows movement while providing a supported seated option when needed.
Last, it’s a bit out of the ordinary, but I swear by my portable desk. It’s one of my favorite things that I own. I can move all over my house, from my couch to my bed, or even to the floor. It helps me get comfortable wherever I want to work and move my body into positions that just aren’t possible in a standard chair.
Set the scene
Don’t ignore your other senses just because your muscles feel like they’re going into overdrive. Music can help you slow down when you’re feeling too amped up or pick you up when your attention starts to drift.
Spotify has quite a few playlists for instrumental music. I get a lot of successful editing done while listening to piano covers of pop music, but I dig deep into dubstep when I am trying to hammer out a particularly mind-numbing task. When outside influences (say, the sounds of the library where I sometimes work) try to impede my concentration, I love putting on a brown noise playlist.
A sound that also helps me focus is the clacking of my keyboard. I sprang for a typewriter keyboard a few years back and I get immense satisfaction from hearing the keys hit every time I work on a paper. For you, it may be that switching to a keyboard with absolutely no sound is the only way you can get work done.
Helpful Resources
The National Institute of Mental Health outlines the definition, signs and symptoms, and risk factors of ADHD.
Mental Health America has an online test to self-screen for possible ADHD if you struggle with attention, hyperactivity, or both.
The National Resource Center on ADHD (NRC), a program of Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), has the latest evidence-based information on ADHD. They have courses, webinars, and infographics that will help you navigate living and working with ADHD.
The Attention Deficit Disorder Association has a resource section of their site called ADD @ Work with resources for both in-office and at-home workers.
Meaghan Steeves is a copy editor and writer based in Nova Scotia. She loves her small dog and spends her free time reading, baking, and watching true crime documentaries. You can find her on her website or on Instagram at @choicewordsedit.
Jess Stampe is the Treasurer and Fundraising Task Force Coordinator of the Editor’s Tea Club, as well as a member of ACES, PEN, and the EFA. She is a nonfiction editor with over a decade of experience working on books, dissertations, theses, and marketing materials at Just Ask Jess. She specializes in developmental/structural editing, proofreading, formatting, fact-checking, and citations in APA and Chicago style. She graduated with a BA in Communications and a minor in Creative Writing from the University of Wyoming. Jess grew up in southern Louisiana, went to college in Wyoming, has a partner from South Dakota, lived in Michigan for a decade, and now calls Colorado her home. She is a voracious reader of fiction—especially historical romance, fantasy, urban fantasy, and young adult fantasy. She also loves to experiment in the kitchen, explore the outdoors, and hoard plants.
