Give yourself credit.

My favorite strategy for managing my self-esteem with ADHD

Getty Images

I’ve gone through many a day wondering how I’ve spent my sixteen waking hours. I lay down in my bed at night feeling ineffective, unproductive, and worthless.

I am never any of those things, chiefly because my worth is not found in what I produce — but I still tend to be being pretty unreasonable about what I’ve accomplished that day and what it means for how I should feel.

Enter — the daily log.

I don’t know when I started practicing the concept of “giving myself credit,” but it’s transformed how I relate to myself and track my progress in life.

“The great victory, which appears so simple today, was the result of a series of small victories that went unnoticed.”― Paulo Coelho

Every day I open a note in notion with the date. Just the creation of the note itself scratches the itch in my brain for productivity and creativity. After opening the new note, I usually begin by entering the time, and whatever it is I’m working on at the moment.