What are some good study habits with ADHD?

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Look into resources online to help deal with focus and executive dysfunction issues. Look for supports in the neurodiversity community (people who have neurological differences such as ADHD) as others like you know better than so-called experts who aren't ADHD themselves, look for pages or groups on Facebook for more help or to hear tips from others.

You would need your doctor for ADHD specific meds, but there are supplements that may help you and that you can get without prescription such as magnesium. Look into bio-hacking in general, essentially this is just a cool sounding name for a means of finding ways of making your body work to optimal performance, things like dietary changes and sleep changes can make a HUGE difference for focus with everyone but for those with neurological differences like ADHD it can be even more significant. Look up "Top 10 Biohacks For Mental Health & Cognitive Function."

Things that helped/help me (mostly with reading but may be useful to you in other ways too):

1. I use a pencil to lightly mark important points in a book (dates, names, etc.) just with underlining or little stars, and I'll then mark the pages with post-it note tabs so it's easy to find in order to refer back to it if I forget anything.

2. It can help to use a bookmark under the line I'm reading so that I'm not distracted by other lines - note: if you find lines blur into each other then this tip helps but you might also find irlen colored filters really helpful too.

3. FIDGET! Do something else...chew gum, use spinners, sit reading while peddling on an exercise bike, squeeze a stress ball, bounce a ball on the wall...stay stimulated and your brain is less likely to go off and lose focus. With ADHD your brain needs a lot more stimulation, if sitting reading isn't enough stimulation to maintain focus then give your brain another mindless activity to focus on too: you're looking for something repetitive that you can do in the background to your reading that's enough to give your brain that extra little bit of stimulation but not enough to distract you. Imagine you brain like a hyperactive toddler, you're providing something fun and distracting to play with in the background so you can focus on getting some work done.

4. I avoid having the TV on so I'm not likely to be distracted - music in the background can help, but it helps for it to be something you're familiar with and not something that's likely to distract you (dance music is fine, see suggestion #3, as long as you're just tapping your feet to the beat and not getting up to dance instead of reading!).

5. Caffeine, it seems sort of counter-productive with ADHD to give you a stimulant but just like ADHD meds it's about increasing brains ability to focus - it doesn't always work like that, sometimes a hyperactive brain just needs stimulation and not to be given a stimulant, but it's worth trying caffeine pills or coffee to see if it helps.

6. Reward reading, if not a big fan of reading then don't allow it to become a chore and make it more fun by turning it into a game (I'm reminded of a photo of a text book with gummy bears placed at the end of each sentence as a treat) or reward yourself with a treat every time you read a book. Make reading positive, don't force yourself to finish a book if you don't have to.

7. Take it in steps - read to the page break and then take a breath, also if your book has chapters then read one chapter at a time and once you're finished a chapter recognize that achievement. Occasionally opt for a break from reading textbooks and opt for a little light reading like a fashion magazine just so it's not all a lot of heavy stuff at once. Breaking down your reading into smaller pieces like that can make it much easier to cope with reading.

8. Take advantage of technology - if any books you can read are available as audiobooks then download and listen both actively to 'read' but also try playing it when you're doing something else so it goes in subconsciously too. If you have access to text online then use page readers: for example MagicScroll Web Reader extension on Chrome.

9. Read to someone else - if you have a friend or family member who is particularly patient and helpful to you then this is an option, otherwise what helps me is just imagining that I'm reading to someone else out loud as this helps me to focus on the individual words I'm reading rather than just scanning them as I would if just reading normally.

10. Take notes - this helped me a lot in school, I'd write a short essay or write detailed notes from what I was reading (so I had to focus on what I was reading, also I was taking information from an abstract like thought to something more real/physical), I'd then copy out notes again but neater and cutting out unnecessary information, I'd keep going until I just had very brief bullet points or I'd find I'd taken it all in so didn't need the notes anymore.

11. Find other ways of learning - some people prefer to learn on the job or with repeating patterns until what they're trying to learn sticks, these sort of methods can work well with ADHD: e.g. you may struggle learning techniques in a book but if allowed to carry them out in role-play could be easier. Find alternatives to reading where possible.

12. Lists and calendars - if you have organization issues then things like bullet journals would be ideal for you...but chances are with ADHD they're just not going to be doable, so look at small things like post-it notes and to-do lists that you can go through one-by-one to get things done. I find visual aids like this really useful, for example I have a chalkboard wall in my kitchen with a rough calendar on, each day I'll put different colored stars for different activities I've gotten done, that visual really helps.

13. Break down the thing - with executive dysfunction you'll see the work you have to do as one great big mission and you'll struggle to see where to start or know what steps to take, so break it down and think about the task one step at a time. Take it ONE STEP AT A TIME, even if it should be a really easy task that you can do without breaking it down.

14. A friend of mine can only work when his work area is tidy, so he knows everything is in its place and there's no distractions. If you struggle with tidying try using Unfuck Your Habitat https://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/ to help with that (generally anything that helps you out with your life, eg. doing chores, will help you study by reducing your overall stress levels too).

15. Stop bullying yourself - your brain basically sucks at recognizing what it needs to do, you say 'I need to do the thing' but your brain just doesn't know how to change that thought into real action, so instead consider when you'd be able to do an activity: consider barriers that are stopping you getting on with things to overcome them, rather than trying to bully yourself into work and feeling guilty if you can't right now. It's a fine balance, but too much pressure on yourself is counter-productive.

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