Episode #58: 4 ADHD Planning Tools and Systems To Organize Your Time

As someone with ADHD and AuDHD, sticking to a planning system to stay organized always felt challenging. So, today I want to share the planning tools that I actually use because they fit the way my brain genuinely operates, and not because they’re cute (they’re not), but because they fit the way my brain genuinely operates.

In episode 58, I’m going over:

• Time tracking that helps you understand your day
• Themed days to batch related tasks
• The index card system that helps me stay organized and on top of it all
• How I use Apple Notes and notebooks together

Listen below, stream it on your favorite podcasting app, or scroll to access the full blog post.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Disclosure info here.

Why Typical Planning Tools Don’t Stick for ADHD Brains

I’ve spent my life in a haze of planners, spreadsheets, and apps.

I started with a Franklin Covey binder and graduated through Excel, PalmPilots, BlackBerries, Asana, Notion, and ClickUp.

I loved the idea of organization, but I could never make any of it stick.

I’d get a dopamine rush writing a 50-page to-do list, then immediately ignore it.

Half the things I tackled weren’t due for weeks, and the things actually due, I didn’t do. I was great at planning and terrible at following my own plan.

Most tools assume your brain loves notifications, deadlines, and linear thinking. But for me, notifications feel like someone yelling from another room.

So I stopped trying to force my brain into a template and started building systems that bend to me instead.

4 ADHD Planning Tips & Tools That Actually Work

These four time management and planning methods became the backbone of my daily life.

They build on one another… Awareness leads to structure, which leads to calm, which finally leads to me actually following through. And the more I follow through, the more I follow through. It becomes addictive.

1. Time Tracking That Builds Awareness

Before I could plan, I had to see how long tasks actually took. Why? Because for years, I just guessed.

• If I were about to record an episode, I’d estimate it to take around 90 minutes.
• However, when I tracked how long it actually took, it could end up at about 4.5 hours.

Whoopsie.

What I do now:

• I use an analog timer (a little pink one that only goes up to 60 minutes).
• I set it and work
• Then I jot down how long things truly take
• Over time, I have built a “realistic-time database” that helps me plan without lying to myself.

If digital time tracking feels easier, a few popular apps are toggl and Memtime.

Time Tracking Benefits for ADHD & AuDHD Brains:

1. Build time awareness – ADHD brains experience time blindness (difficulty sensing how long things actually take).
   • So, tracking time helps calibrate that internal clock and rebuild trust in personal time estimates.
2. Prevent overwhelm and shame spirals – Seeing concrete numbers replaces guilt with actual data.
   • When tasks take longer than expected, you now have hard evidence that you’re not the problem. That self-compassion actually reduces emotional load.
3. Create realistic planning – Over time, a personal log becomes a “database of reality,” showing patterns of effort, energy, and timing.
   • That helps with more accurate scheduling and fewer last-minute crashes.
4. Improve transitions – Tracking start and stop times trains the brain to notice beginnings and endings.
   • This is essential for task switching and breaking hyperfocus gently instead of abruptly.
5. Strengthen self-trust – Time tracking turns abstract effort into proof of consistency.
   • Seeing work completed—even if it took longer—builds motivation and confidence in future follow-through.

2. Day Theming To Batch Tasks

When I first tried time-blocking, I copied YouTube influencers who had created their own color spectrum for their Google calendar.

I thought that “Turquoise and Clay” would make me productive. Nope. As pretty as it looked, I never once consulted my calendar.  

So I created work themes for different days of the week to help me batch similar tasks, without boxing me in. This is known as ‘day theming’.

This is how my week looks:

• Monday: CEO hours. I hold meetings, take notes, then actually schedule “after-meeting time” to organize those notes instead of letting them pile up.
• Tuesday: Idea Capture & Research. Anything that needs big-picture thinking or background work.
• Wednesday: Writing & Scripting. Creative production time.
• Friday: Catch-Up Day. Whatever I didn’t finish.

I still schedule daily basics — an hour each for life admin, social media, and Patreon community work — but that’s it.

This “day theming” method helps me:

• Balance predictability and freedom
• Have the right amount of structure without triggering rebellion >> Some days the themes bend, and that’s fine — the point is that they bend with me.

3. The Index Card System

This planning tool of mine started accidentally.

One day, I found a stack of blank note cards while decluttering, and I almost donated them. Then I heard a quiet voice say, “Use these”.

So I did.

How it Works:

I use different-sized cards for different projects.

• 5 × 7 cards are my “operations manuals.” Each card is a category for my personal and work life. Example: Life Admin, Research, Podcast, Creative Writing, Strategy, etc.
  • I then write a list of everything that could fall under each category on the back of each card.
    
• 4 × 6 cards hold my weekly tasks for each category.
  
• 3 × 5 cards are my daily plans.
  • I write one or two realistic tasks on the back and add a tiny sticker for the time each might take — 20, 30, 60 minutes.

How I Use Them:

I keep the day’s cards in front of me, flip them as I go, and when they’re done, they’re done. Everything else stays “out of sight, out of mind.”

It’s satisfying and scientific. Writing by hand improves memory and focus. It is actually neuroscience!

If you like exploring other versions of this idea, check out Mike Sturm’s Today System, the Meishi method, or this Better Humans article. They all use cards as small, visual “units of focus.”

Why it works for me: The cards externalize everything. I can see what I’m carrying mentally, move them around, and feel my priorities shift without angsting.

My ADHD loves that freedom.

4. Apple Notes + Notebooks That Actually Get Used

After years of chasing the “perfect” productivity app, I came back to the simplest one: Apple Notes.

I’d abandoned it, even though it always worked for me, because I didn’t have the self-trust to understand that I don’t have to use Notion or Todoist like the productivity experts.  

So, I used them. And all of my information felt far away, buried in folders and subtasks.

Notes are immediate. It’s already open on my phone and laptop, it syncs instantly, and it feels easy.

How I use it:

• Smart Folders organize everything by hashtag (#podcast, #research, #ideas).
• My “Idea Capture” note is always pinned for quick brain dumps.
• Once a day, I file new notes where they belong.

Paired with paper, it’s my perfect two-part process.

I Keep 3 Paper Notebooks

These are dedicated to the following categories:

1. Life Admin
2. Big projects like the podcast or courses
3. Messy creative brainstorming.

Once a week, I flip through them, migrate anything important, and mark pages I’ve processed. An the bonus is that I’ve also found a way to make it cute!

My go-to is an Appointed notebook with a Le Pen marker — because if you love your tools, you’ll actually use them. (Use code JENKIRKMAN at checkout for 15% off!)

One More Thing: Make Time for Rest

For years, I thought rest was something you earned after being productive. Now I know it’s part of the system itself.

When you allow yourself to rest, you refuel the focus that makes these systems possible.

I like to rest by:

• Taking short walks
• Stretching
• Lie down with a weighted eye mask for fifteen minutes (this is the mask I have – 15% off!)
• Coloring in an adult coloring book

These moments of rest reset my brain faster than forcing myself through another block of work.

And when that inner critic pipes up and says,“This is dumb”, I tell it to shut up. Self-talk matters. You can’t bully yourself into productivity.

Key Takeaway: Build the System That Fits You

You don’t need to fit your brain into someone else’s planner. You need a system that works for your specific needs.

1. Start with awareness through time tracking.
2. Add structure with flexible time buckets.
3. Ground yourself with tactile tools like index cards and notebooks.
4. Capture ideas in a space that feels intuitive, not intimidating.

And most importantly, treat yourself like a partner in the process, not an obstacle to overcome. You want to achieve kindness rather than control.

Next Steps: Continued Reading

Four Thousand Weeks

Time Management for Mortals

New York Times Best Seller, Oliver Burkeman.

Tools for constructing a meaningful life, showing that many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we can do things differently.

GET 20% OFF!

Sources:

• ADHD Time Mgmt Tips – Exceptional Individuals
• Time Trackers For ADHD – Reddit
• Benefits of Time Tracking – Timing Blog
• Understanding The Science of Time – Ari Tuckman Video