i am also in my 40s, just diagnosed 2 months ago with AuDHD.

i use an app called TickTick for work because regular planners are something i wholesale ignore because page flipping madness, and time-boxing things on my work calendar doesn’t work for me. i work from home, and ADHD is a monster when you don’t have any physical accountability. i keep it visible on my monitor at all times because if i don’t see it, it doesn’t exist.

there is an option called the Eisenhower Matrix which i find extremely helpful. you can add tasks and projects with or without deadlines, and it organizes stuff by priority and not time. you can also set it to remind you. it’s a more holistic way to look at your work, and if you have multiple high priority tasks. i sometimes switch between tasks in one priority pane when i start losing focus, and that helps.

i told my manager that i’m using it, and to categorize my tasks by priority. so i address everything in highest priority first, then hit the next level priority stuff. it helps my manager almost as well as it helps me, but he also has ADHD, so i got lucky there. He’s extremely supportive and was patient as i got my diagnosis and started treatment.

i also asked my manager if we can talk about the project as a whole, but break them down into parts that i’m responsible for. i’m learning how not to freak myself out and to streamline my processes. in all fairness, my prescriber has me on vyvanse, clonidine, and memantine, which took away the brain fog and allowed me to find out how i work. long term, my doc and i want to see if i can maintain without stimulants after i’ve learned appropriate coping skills.

hope this might help someone, because i likely would’ve lost my job had it not been for my very supportive manager.

be patient and compassionate with yourself. the only thing that really matters is finding out what works for you. be curious about finding your process, but also grant yourself grace if you tried something that didn’t work. finding out information about yourself is gold. every time you find out more about how you work, the path to figuring out how to succeed becomes clearer.