I've tried hundreds of products to help me manage my ADHD and these nine made the biggest difference in my life so far.
And no, I'm not sponsored by any of those companies.
Living with ADHD means everyday tasks like staying organized, managing time, regulating emotions can feel extremely overwhelming.
And with endless options available out there, it's so easy to get into the trap of shopping addiction and always seek more and more.
It has become more important than ever to design a life that supports you instead of fighting against yourself.
Some of these products are definitely investments, but even a small improvement in your life makes them worth it.
I think they will repay themselves many times over with the benefits that they bring to your life.
Also, before we get into this, if this style is familiar, it's because i literally copied it from my friend reisu and i got his approval, so we're good.
If you care about tech products and intentional living and productivity, check out his channel as well.
Okay, so let's start with the foundation, which is your body.
I'm a little bit of a supplement addict and i've tried all the supplements that you can ever think of, and there are four supplements that made the biggest difference in my life.
So the first one is L-theanine, especially with coffee.
This is particularly helpful if you don't want to take ADHD medications or they're just not like accessible to you.
So research shows that L-theanine combined with caffeine actually improves sustained attention and reduced impulsivity, specifically in ADHD brains.
It can also help non ADHD brains as well.
But there's an interesting study for ADHD brains and I can definitely say that it really helps my focus when I take L-theanine with a cup of coffee.
The great thing about L-theanine with coffee is that coffee sometimes gives you these like jitters and kind of like makes you uneasy, right?
The way L-theanine works is that it counteracts the effect of caffeine and it promotes calm alertness instead of jittery energy, while enhancing the focus benefit.
Also, what I realized is that when I only rely on coffee, there's definitely this like afternoon sluggishness that comes with it.
But when I take L-theanine with coffee I get way more smooth, sustained energy for two to three hours.
So I usually take L-theanine with coffee whenever I need like a deep focus, calm sessions.
And the second supplement group that I take is GABA and St.
John's Wort.
I don't take them every day, but they're great for impulse control.
So GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that calms overactive neural firing.
And for ADHD brains that are constantly in fight or flight mode.
This then pulsing the impulsive do it now response.
I actually like taking Gabba before like going to loud restaurants or social events, because loud environments and a lot of people around me just like irritates me and makes me a little bit of an angry person.
And oftentimes I would like leave all the social events, but when I take Gabba or St.
John's board, I'm way calmer and I can actually enjoy the dinner without this like uneasy feeling that is inside of me.
That is like bothering all the lights and sounds and people.
I also used to take it like when I was studying for school, because when I was prepping for my medical school, you know, I had to study a lot and I would literally cry every studying session.
So every study session, I would take like GABA and St.
John's Wort and it would calm me down and I was able to focus way more without getting frustrated so much.
So the third supplement that I like is actually the melatonin and I use it to fix my sleep cycle.
About 75% of people with ADHD have delayed sleep phase disorder.
So our circadian rhythm is shifted about like an hour and a half later than neurotypical people.
So melatonin onset happens later and core temperature drops later, which makes everything delayed.
What melatonin essentially does is that it resets the cycle and sends the signals to your brain that you have to like go to sleep now.
If you would let me, I would naturally like sleep at 4am and wake up at like 11pm every single day.
And that is obviously not really good in terms of social life and also getting daylight in.
But when I started taking three milligrams of melatonin around like 10pm or so, within two weeks I could fall asleep way earlier, like around midnight.
Also, my sleep quality improved significantly and I actually felt rested and my focus during the day was like 10 times better.
To be honest, for fixing bad sleep...
I think melatonin is one of the best tools out there.
So the next one is loop earplugs.
They're essentially just an earplug, but more fashionable.
What I particularly like about this is that I'm very sensitive to noise.
And I'm not only talking about loud environments, but I'm also talking about the sound of the wind, or even the sound of water.
Like for example, the sound of waves and stuff like that.
So whenever I go out, or even during the day, there's so much noise that is irritating me and distracting my focus.
And I realized that whenever I am in environments that I cannot really control the loudness, I get very tired at the end of the day.
I used to use noise cancelling earphones and they work fine.
But whenever you go out and having a dinner with your friends, for example like how realistic is that you can have your noise cancelling earphones?
Not that much, right?
But with lube, there's so many styles of it and that you can match with your outfit.
And even if you put them on, it kind of like looks like piercings.
And I realized that no one really commented on it and no one really thought that it was rude that I had them on.
Whereas with like earphones, they will be like, oh, are you listening to me?
So I always carry a loop earplugs in my bag.
And whenever it's a little bit loud outside or whenever I'm kind of like feeling overstimulated, I just like put them on.
You can use them on planes.
You can use them in your work environment, even going out with your friends concerts, like at the gym, whatever that is.
I think they're really helpful.
And also they look fashionable and they're not that expensive.
So...
Definitely a must in my opinion.
You can also use them when going to sleep so that you block other people's like snoring noises and stuff like that.
And the great thing about it is that it's not completely blocking the sound.
So you're going to be able to wake up with your alarm clock on.
Personally, it's very easy to use, easy to maintain.
It's a very simple product, but I feel like every ADHD person has to have it in their bag.
Okay, so the third product category is this, which is a Whoop.
A lot of people think that this is a smartwatch, but it's actually not.
It's actually a subscription-based smartband.
I know subscription is kind of like annoying, but it is the best health tracker I have tried so far.
I had Oura Ring as well as Apple Watch, and I tested all of them at the same time.
And in my opinion, Whoop gives the best and accurate data At least for me.
The reason why I like whoop and why I recommend for ADHD people is that oftentimes we have this all or nothing attitude.
And because we're always constantly, I think like running behind our schedule, we think we have to like push through this day and pull an all nighter to finish this thing.
And you know, constantly kind of like being chased by something.
And before i got whoop actually i used to get like sick and i used to catch a call like every month or so because i would pull all nighters and i would try to finish a project.
But after i started to use wool, after i started to see my recovery metrics how my sleep affected my recovery the next day and also how overall stressful i was during that day seeing that data with numbers really allowed me to be more mindful throughout the day and it actually helped me to develop way healthier sleep habits.
Before I was using WHOOP I used to sleep like 9 to 11 hours every day, but I would still feel very tired.
But after I started using it and after you track your habits and you see the overall impact of the individual habits and how they affect your recovery, I started to change my sleep hygiene and the overall habits that I have.
And now my sleep quality is way better and I feel way more rested.
And when you get a good sleep, it's way easier to control your impulses and also maintain your focus.
Does it like make your ADHD disappear or like fix?
Absolutely no.
But I think it's just makes you way better and you perform better.
And also another thing that I like about Whoop is that once I like saw data, I could finally connect cause and effect.
For example, like last night I had two drinks and only got 40 minutes of REM sleep.
Today I can't focus and I'm impulsive as hell.
So before Whoop, I would just like not understand why I was feeling that way.
But after I get, after I got it now I can see like oh yesterday, because I pushed like with my workouts too much, today I need to like take it a little more chill.
So I would arrange my tasks accordingly.
And the another kind of like thing that I like about whoop is that the social game.
You can add friends and you can actually see each other's like recovery scores and how much sleep you got and stuff like that.
And I think that alone kind of like gamifies the whole process like.
My recovery recently is very low because I've been going out so often, but I'm getting messages from my friends like saying that Rudy, what is going on your WHOOP recovery is so bad.
Get rest or something which is really fun and it keeps you accountable to maintain better habits with your friends.
My mom has ADHD and also.
My brother is also diagnosed as well and they both have WHOOP and we're in a group and it's so fun to see.
To be honest,
So definitely.
Sleep and health and overall lifestyle management is extremely important to manage your ADHD symptoms.
If you want to take your health seriously, I think Whoop is a no brainer.
I know it's expensive and it's annoying, but overall, I think it's really worth the investment.
So the next item is a visual timer like this one.
The reason why this is so game changing for ADHD is because with ADHD, we have time blindness, which means five minutes and 15 minutes feels the same.
When we hyper focus, time literally disappears.
I'm sure if you have ADHD, you had this like time where you sit down and hyper focus on a thing that you enjoy, like for seven hours, and you realize it's like midnight.
Like, where did the day go?
And when we hate a task, it feels like an eternity, right?
Like even three minutes feels like an eternity.
So our internal sense of time is completely broken.
And this is basically a visual countdown timer.
There's actually an original brand, this one, which is called Time Timer.
But I personally prefer this like knockoff version that I found on Amazon.
The reason is because this is way louder.
Oh, my God, I lost my voice.
So what is good is that basically, as the time passes, this rainbow, or whatever color you choose, shrinks and you can literally see and visualize the time passing.
So studies show children and adults with ADHD have reduced activation in prefrontal cortex during time estimation tasks, where essentially this is the part of the brain that is responsible for tracking time.
And we also have irregularities in dopamine pathways that affect our internal clock.
So basically what it means is that you can do 100 tasks 100 times and you still have no sense of how long it takes.
And visual timers essentially externalize time perception.
They basically give you a concrete representation that your brain can actually process.
Before actually getting this like visual timer, I would tell to myself I'm just gonna rest for five minutes, and then that would turn into three hours.
But now whenever I'm working or even taking a break, I always like carry this around with me.
And even if I'm going to just like a grab a coffee from my kitchen, I just like set it to five minutes.
And it is so loud that it snaps me out of that moment and makes me remember to go back to work.
You might think like oh, just try a regular timer.
But First of all, if it's on my phone, I'm going to like scroll for seven hours.
And second of all, if it's not visual, it just does not register to my brain.
So with this visual, I can clearly see that five minutes is way shorter than 15 minutes.
Therefore, if I set myself like a five minute alarm, it actually feels short.
Does that even make sense?
Kind of like help me with how I see time.
I also use it like for getting ready and also during my workday as well.
I keep a something called work log where I basically log every single hour that I work and I write down what I have done.
I don't really use it like for my personal life, but with time timer I just like set an hour, essentially every single hour, and write down what I've done.
That completely transformed my productivity, because it allowed me to see the patterns that I have throughout the day, what kind of tasks I avoid and when I'm more productive during the day.
And you can also put it to AI and let it analyze and tell you your patterns.
So definitely this is a very, very, very game changer.
I have so many of these at my house.
And I just love it.
I just love it.
You have to get this one.
Okay, so next one is actually an app slash subscription, which is Whisperflow.
It's essentially a voice dictation tool that's insanely accurate.
You can transcribe up to six minutes at a time, and it works across all apps like email WhatsApp, social media or even your notes, like whatever that is.
It works on your computer as well as your phone.
You just like press the shortcut key and you start speaking.
And even if you switch the apps, it keeps recording it.
It transcribes your voice and you can also find all the past like voice memos, like voice transcriptions you've done in the WhisperFlow app.
You can also create notes so that you can categorize all the voice dumps that you made into one specific notebook in WhisperFlow.
It is so good, like I don't even type anymore.
I always voice dictate and if I need to like adjust the grammar, I just like ask AI to do it, or I just like manually organize my thoughts.
Why I personally love it and recommend it for ADHD is because ADHD involves working memory deficits.
Basically, we can only hold two to three things in our mind at once, compared to five to seven for neurotypical people.
And when you're typing, you're using working memory to hold the thought, formulate sentences and physically type, which is a lot right.
By the time you type the first sentence, you've forgotten what you were going to say next.
Like it happens with me all the time.
That's why I mainly use voice memos when talking with other people.
And voice capture is faster than thought loss, which is exactly why it works.
So whenever I'm replying to my emails or whenever I'm like replying to people, I just use Whisperflow, dictate it and edit it and then send it out.
Another kind of like way that I like to use it is when during my morning brain dump.
Essentially, I speak out every like, everything racing through my head every single morning when I sit down to my PC.
And, you know, that can be I need to call this person.
I need to make a dentist appointment.
I need to pay taxes, etc., etc.
Or I'm also like brain dumping the thoughts, the interests that I have.
Like, oh, I want to learn about this thing, that thing, blah, blah, blah.
The tomato in the fridge is about to go bad.
All that kind of like racing thoughts.
I like to dictate with Whisperflow and put that in my brain, dump page on my Notion to get everything out of my head.
Because most of the time I'm overwhelmed with my own thoughts and my mind is so freaking busy.
Before that I tried journaling as well as like typing down my thoughts, but I don't know, they never stick.
And I think it's just a little bit too much friction for me personally.
So I just like to voice dictate everything.
After that, what I do is that I go through a transcript and pull out the tasks that I need to accomplish that day and simply drag and drop to my Kaizen system, which is the daily productivity manager that I use.
I always used to be very lazy at writing down my tasks, putting them, blah, blah, blah.
But with Whisperflow, you can just dictate everything, drag and drop to a task template.
So it has made my productivity literally skyrocket.
And I recommend to everyone Whisperflow.
There's no need to even type anymore, which is crazy.
I'm not sponsored, but I'm going to put a link so that we both get a one month free trial.
OK, I need it.
I need this for my life.
If you're like me, you have racing thoughts all day.
You're constantly losing track of what you need to do.
And every productivity system you've tried either feels too complicated or just doesn't stick or doesn't work with your brain, then I highly suggest you to check out my Kaizen system.
It's a productivity system that I built specifically for ADHD brains in Notion, and they're already over a thousand users.
The reason why this is different from regular productivity system is because the way ADHD brains function is fundamentally different.
For example, instead of scheduling based on time, like time blocking very regular advice, very common advice we actually schedule based on urgency, interest level and your energy level.
Because ADHD brains do not get motivated by time, but we get motivated by urgency, novelty and interest.
And in my favorite part, like in the sprinting method, we basically categorize tasks based on the energy and kind of moods that they require, so that you can pick a task that aligns with your mood right now.
If you particularly have high energy, you can tackle down the more urgent task.
If you're feeling a little bit low in energy, instead of starting with the hardest task and clearing out your day, you can start with easier tasks so that you build the momentum and you keep the flow going.
There are so many features in my Kaizen system that are adjusted for ADHD brains.
So if you're interested, check it out.
The link is in the description below.
Okay, so the next one is probably the cheapest one in this list, and that is labeling stickers.
We have working memory issues, so you can literally not remember where you put things.
And when I ask people about like organization and tidying up your room with that kind of like tips, they always recommend this.
Decide where things go and always put them there.
Amazing, makes sense, but I literally forget where I put that thing.
You know, I forget the place that I decided to put that thing.
So the solution that I found is actually extremely simple, which is labeling everything.
Every single freaking part of your house needs to be labeled.
So when I moved into my new place, my mom and actually I decided where each item belongs and put visible labels on everything with like, their names on it.
So for kitchenware, there are like this protein powders are on this part.
The sauces are gonna be put here and there's a label underneath that says where they belong.
And even like for my clothes, actually.
For my t-shirts, I like to specifically categorize them based on white t-shirt, black t-shirts, thin t-shirts, thick t-shirts, as well as, like my hoodies.
The why it particularly works for ADHD brains is that essentially, like working memory in ADHD is significantly impaired.
We can't hold spatial information. where things are in our head reliably.
Every time you put something away, you're using working memory to remember where does this thing was supposed to go.
And with ADHD, that information simply isn't there.
Even if you've done it like 100 times before in your life, it does not matter.
So external labels remove this need to work on your working memory and they're just like visually there.
Because for ADHD, Out of sight is out of mind.
So if something is not visually written, you're not going to put the thing there.
The labeling also revealed that I own actually 15 identical black T-shirts, because I kept buying them, thinking that I didn't have any.
So seeing them all in one, labeled under, and seeing them like piled up, actually allowed me to stop buying black T-shirts.
So, instead of relying memory label every single thing, even like your spoons, force clothing, self-care items, like label every single out in your home and make it visible.
It will make you realize how many of the things that you own in which category.
And it will also help you to not only find things, but also stop buying stuff that you don't need for 20th time, because I'm sure you do.
OK, I know I'm not the only one.
Because why do I have the same lipstick from 30 different brands and they're all same shade?
How is that even possible?
This might sound like a basic hack but, like for ADHD brains, it is necessary and I never thought about it.
So give it a try.
Okay, so the final one is trackers.
Whether that's an AirTag or Android friendly, tracking kind of thing does not matter.
What matters is that you use a tracker.
The reason is because I lose everything, okay?
Keys, wallets, bags.
I forget where I put my suitcases.
I literally leave my bag behind every single time that I go out with my friends that they started to like carry my bag so that I don't forget it there.
So what I do is that I literally attach, like an air tag or UV tag, whatever kind of like a tracker to all my bags, all my keys, all my suitcases and everything that I don't want to lose.
So a lot of people always talk about like the focus part of ADHD, right?
Like, oh, I can't focus.
I must have ADHD.
Like ADHD is not that.
Okay, ADHD is way more complex than that.
And it actually affects every single aspect of our lives.
This is essentially, again, like actually a working memory, remembering stuff.
Like we cannot hold information.
You cannot hold information in your brain that you had a bag when you entered this cafe.
So you forgot it and then you leave it there.
Like it's not that we're careless or we don't value our things.
It's just that we're struggling with it.
Like ADHD, it's an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, disorder.
Okay, it affects your life negatively.
Sorry for crashing out.
So when you have, like this, air tags or whatever trackers, it bypasses this entirely and you don't need to remember where something is, you just track it.
So when you turn on the notifications and when you leave stuff behind and when you have a tracker, it says you know, you left this item in this place, which has helped me so many times to find my wallet and all my IDs, all my credit cards, my personal information in there.
And I just like forget it there.
But with my AirTag, I'm so, I'm so glad that I'm able to like find it.
And also, like I think it prevents like being late to stuff as well, because I used to be late at every single thing because I couldn't find my keys.
I would like try to find them somewhere else and I would forget where they are.
I would get distracted, start to organize my room or something like that.
But, like when you have an air tag, you can just like see where things are and you can just like beep them and just make sure that they're there and you just go.
So I think it really reduced my organization and prep in time as well.
It's a simple solution and I don't think AirTag, or whatever brand it is, matters that much, to be honest.
I have multiple of them and I don't really distinguish them, but they're very helpful.
Attach it to everywhere, okay?
They're really, really worth the investment.
I remember there was a friend of mine that put AirTag to his belt because he always forgot to wear his belt.
So there are many ways to use it, essentially.
Okay, so those are the seven products that drastically helped with my ADHD.
I know some of them are basic and some of them are maybe not expected, but I want you to really try them.
And I swear I'm not sponsored by them, okay?
The only thing that I'm sponsored by is my Kaizen system because I am the one that created it.
You know, if you want to check out my Kaizen system, check out my website, rudyohama.com.
You can join thousands of people with ADHD discussing their lives and using Kaizen system.
And it is an amazing system that helped me to manage my life and manage the way that my brain works and get things done.
So if you're interested, check it out.
If not, it's completely fine.
If you watch this video and if you have ADHD, I'm sure you are struggling with following through your plans.
And the classical advice of just time block, just block your calendar does not really work for you.
And there's a specific reason why it doesn't work for your brain because time blocking is not designed for ADHD brains.
What actually works for ADHD brains is the sprinting method.
I actually talk about this more in detail in this video here.
And I also explain the details about my Kaizen system here as well.
So if you're interested, check this video out next.
