9x9 ToDo System for ADHD
Thursday, August 20, 2026
I’ve known for a while that if I don’t write something down, it’ll never get done. The problem was that once I’d written something in my little pocket notebook, or my big, easy-open TK desk notebook, or added it to my phone reminders list, I would still forget about it.
My girlfriend jokes that I will eat all the chocolate in the house, unless she puts it somewhere I won’t see it. Then I forget it exists. It doesn’t even need to be hidden, just left out of sight.
One trick that other folks use with some success is to check their notes at certain times. Say, 9am before starting work, and maybe before leaving the office in case you have sone shopping to do on the way home.
That doesn’t work for me. I will either forget to check, or if I have an alarm set to remind me to check, I’ll ignore it momentarily, and it will drop out of my mind.
Even writing in a notebook feels like I’m committing something to paper that I will never see again.
The solution turns out to be as easy as leaving my todos out where I can see them. For me, that means writing notes on little 9x9cm squares of paper from a memo block sat on my desk. I noticed that having them scattered around the desktop constantly put them into my consciousness. Just like leaving a bar of chocolate on the desk, I can’t forget about them until I have done something about it.
The other part of this is that I am pretty obsessed about keeping a tidy desk. Having scraps of paper scattered all over my workspace is annoying, and slightly distracting. But this combination of mess-aversion and paper scraps turns out to be surprisingly useful. Just like crossing items off a to-do list motivates some folks to complete their tasks, for me it’s keeping the desk tidy. I don’t constantly scan the papers, but once in a while the messiness gets to me enough that I will check them out, and usually do one of the tasks.
Once a paper is done with, I can shred it.
I toyed with the idea of getting some desktop business-card holders to hold my paper squares, but that would be as bad as hiding them away in a drawer. It’s the being-on-the-desk-in-front-of-me part that does the magic.
On the go
So what about when I’m not at my desk? When I’m out walking, or just in another room. What if I need to jot down a shopping list when I’m in the kitchen?
I’m working on this part. One option could be to have paper and pen in every room. Those little memo blocks are small and neat enough to keep everywhere, and any other household member can enjoy the same convenience whenever they need to make a note.
But outside? Right now I’m using Marco Arment’s new app, Unforgetful, a reminders app for people with ADHD or similar neurological spiciness. It never loses a reminder, repeating alerts on a schedule, but still managing to never be stressful or annoying. Mentally, I find it very similar to my scraps-of-paper method. You get reminded often, but there’s no pressure to actually do anything, which helps if you’re autistic too.
Ideally I would dictate all my reminders into my watch and they’d show up in Unforgetful, but Siri doesn’t work on my old watch any more. So I’m still struggling for an answer to the out-and-about problem. This is a big one, too, as I have my best ideas when I’m not at a desk. Being able to just tap your watch and record a reminder is so useful for a person that can’t remember tasks that I’m committed to fixing this problem.
Ongoing.