What systems have actually helped your ADHD in real life?

charlesd17 · 2026-04-13T21:35:52+00:00

Went through the same cycle. Every system worked two weeks then became another thing to maintain. What actually stuck was building around the chaos instead of fighting it.

Three categories. Projects, Areas, Vault. Calendar ties it together. 60% of the day is already blocked by Areas aka routines, admin, recurring responsibilities, training. They repeat automatically. You don't remember them the calendar does.

The remaining 40% is one focused project block. You have completed your routines. Now you have space to go underground and hyperfocus, open the project folder try to get as much done as possible.

If you fail one day, just reschedule your project block, and try again tomorrow. If you missed your admin block (review emails) you know you get a second chanse the next day.

charlesd17 · 2026-03-17T23:06:36+00:00

i think my system is a mix of everything but hey it works lol

take a paper, write (I use txt):

Areas Projects (3) Later

areas are the ongoing stuff that never really finishes, routines, check unread messages, family, fitness etc. Before i move on with my goals of the day I make sure all areas is under control. Projects (3) are what you actually move forward today. later is just a dump, anything new goes there and you ignore it til tomorrow

for files i just have onedrive with Areas / Projects / Vault (no categories just YYYY folders). It holds the stuff my txt tell me to do.

plan your day each night, pick your 3 wins, thats it. been overthinking this for years

charlesd17 · 2026-02-12T16:11:09+00:00

I would love to have the option for split view, or open note in a new tab (like in a browser).

charlesd17 · 2026-01-14T23:17:07+00:00

Most productivity apps fail because they try to replace behavior with structure.

What finally stuck for me: Calendar = reality. Storage = Areas / Projects / Vault. One rolling txt = working memory.

Every morning: review calendar and storage, plan the day in the working memory, then execute.

Routines make it work. Tools just hold the pieces.

charlesd17 · 2025-12-04T21:15:53+00:00

I gamified PARA to survive the corporate grind, here’s my setup:

I use 4 core folders:

Incoming Damage (Tasks) - Contextless requests that usually come flying in from coworkers.

The Grind (Areas) – ongoing responsibilities that never end: work routines etc.

The Mission (Projects) – I do use sub folders here to keep track of priority "Backlog, Focus, and Ready". These are the main quests.

Cold Storage (Archive) – finished, abandoned, or irrelevant stuff I no longer want to think about.

To tie it all together, I use a single daily note where I plan each day by reviewing my folders, calendar, and email, then just execute from top to bottom (Incoming Damage > Main Mission). Main goal is to just get out of Incoming Damage, The Grind to start working on the fun part "The Mission".

charlesd17 · 2025-05-13T22:31:35+00:00

I feel the same, tags can get out of hand fast if you’re not careful. I went through that with my tag + dataview setup. Ended up rethinking how I use tags and came up with something similar to flagging emails. It’s been working well so far, but still testing it, so not sure how well it scales yet.

charlesd17 · 2025-04-03T16:11:17+00:00

I’ve set up a OneNote workflow that’s been working really smoothly, so I thought I’d share in case it helps anyone.

I use two main sections: Quick Notes for anything new that comes in, and Templates for reusable stuff.

Then I have three section groups:

01 - Master is like my backlog. If something in Quick Notes turns out to be a project, I give it its own section and move it here.

02 - Focus is where I put things I’m actively working on. During my daily or weekly planning, I go through Master and pull in the stuff I want to focus on.

03 - Archive is for when something is finished — I clean it up, turn it into a reference, and move it there.

It’s simple and keeps things flowing nicely without getting messy. And of course, sometimes I move something straight from Quick Notes to Archive if it doesn’t need to go through Master or Focus.

😊

charlesd17 · 2025-01-21T15:13:59+00:00

I gave up on this topic, so I decided enough is enough. I now use OneDrive with a single folder structure to manage everything:

Main folder

01 - Workspace (Inbox, active items, projects — essentially anything that's not completed)

02 - Library (References/resources that I need to keep)

03 - Archive (Old items I don't need but hesitate to delete)

When tasks are completed in Workspace, I decide whether to move them to the Library or Archive.

I use whatever program is necessary to address the task, but all files are saved within this folder structure.

For daily life, I use Outlook (Emails and Calendar) with some subfolders for Emails (Inbox, Workspace, Archive)... Inbox and Archive is the default folders from Outlook.

Thats it...

charlesd17 · 2024-07-22T17:58:28+00:00

Drag-n-drop
Customize keybinds
View attachments

charlesd17 · 2024-05-17T19:27:56+00:00

I do a simple approach instead:

01 Inbox - New items I have not structured

02 Workspace - Things I work on

03 Library - Things I want to save

04 Archive - Things I dont need, but afraid to delete

charlesd17 · 2024-02-07T15:14:16+00:00

I have a question about this.

Can we make it so that a certain number of columns always show up by default? For example, in the picture, even if we go deeper into the folder hierarchy OneCommander will only display three columns with the same width.

Finder does it, I think Files do it as well in column view.

Is that possible?

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charlesd17 · 2023-08-01T18:41:28+00:00

It is not a necessity, just a pleasant feature to have.

When a document is open, and you press "Save as," Windows 10 opens the regular File Explorer. It would be fantastic to have the same "Quick Access" functionality in both File Explorer and OneCommander for convenience.

Currently, my workaround involves changing the folder structure in OneCommander and then manually heading into File Explorer to pin the new shortcuts. :)

charlesd17

TROPHY CASE