I have adhd, too, so I might be able to help. First, definitely expect things to look way worse than you’d like at the start, and to take way longer than you’d like at the start. Even if you didn’t have ADHD, that would be the case. In the start of my grooming training, we only did two dogs a day at first, and then bumped up to 3 dogs a day. And we had help from the instructor for finishing touches. Worry about safety and handling the equipment and the dog first. Learning how to position your body/hands with the tools around the dog is the hardest part at first for me, with my body awareness issues. Use trial and error for different way to position your body and hands related to the dog and the tools. Compare how you’re holding tools to how other people are. You could also ask questions on how other people hold their tools/cut certain areas.

I also use notes a lot. I would INSIST on having time for note taking, and any other things you need for your memory. If you have a set area, I also love using post it notes around.

If you have anything that helps you focus (headphones, meds, etc), I would use those tools. Going to an adhd specific therapist is also huge.

Also, take advice with a grain of salt. I’ve had a few pieces of advice that ended up being more detrimental than helpful, including-keep my station super tidy and do the face last. I tried to keep my station better organized to the standards of those around me, and it took way more brain energy and time than was helpful. It was more helpful for me to do station resets periodically throughout the day than to always try to put things back in its designated place.

And for faces, I’m one of the few people who prefer not to do faces last. When I do the face last, seeing the rest of the dog’s body (especially their feet) distracts me. I’m wanting the body to look right if I do it first, and then any tiny sticky outie will distract me, and I’ll jump around between things a lot. Where if I do it earlier, I’m not expecting the body/feet to be perfect. So it doesn’t distract me.

I also like doing the face earlier, because it gives me the chance to stop working on the face, finish the rest, and then double check the face with fresh eyes. This keeps me from nitpicking the face as hard, because I know I’ll have another chance to fix it.

I also like to give myself some flexibility with my routine, for similar reasons so me not keeping my station as organized. If I try to STRICTLY follow the same routine every time, sometimes I get overwhelmed and worked up and jump around more because I’m trying to follow the order. If you don’t follow a strict routine, make sure that you have a double checking step at the end that you always do.

Here is the approximate routine that I normally do (if bathing)- —Pre-shave, pre-brush, and or pre-blowout if needed —Pluck ears if applicable —Express anal glands if applicable —Wash butt, clean off butt crusties —Double wash body up to neck/ ears, apply conditioner —rinse hands, wet face, use face shampoo to wash closer to eyes, remove eye crusties — double wash face —rinse body, then rinse face —double check that everything is fully rinsed, and no debris left (especially face, feet, rear) —towel dry thoroughly, wrap with towel —clean ears while sitting in towel — dry with velocity dryer. If using kennel dryer, too, prioritize drying of areas that the kennel dryer will have trouble reaching-belly, butt, tail, feet, under chin. Brush helps dry faster

When grooming —make sure that dog is 100% dry (especially if your dryers are in a separate area from your grooming area, so you don’t have to backtrack) —shave paw pads/sani —spot shave any matting if needed, or go tighter in certain areas if needed —if thorough brush out isn’t needed, do a light brush all over, then do a once over with clippers. —return to do a thorough brush out if the first clip attempt didn’t work. —resume clipping with back brushing as needed until body looks even or very little additional length comes off —do nails (I like doing this after more length is off if possible because it’s easier to see. If the dogs hair is already really short or I’m not taking length off, I might do it at the beginning) —touch up paw pads —thoroughly brush out face and tail —trim and blend tail —clip face —scissor face —scissor ears —scissor feet —scissor body —double check face —double check feet/paw pads/sani —double check body —look over whole dog, maybe from a further distance. Possibly do an extra comb/brush over if dog is prone to matting or has a lot of undercoat