The Cowtown Chronicles

Those of you who know me well know that I’ve been struggling with Attention Deficit Disorder my whole life. I’ve always known that something was not quite right — that I just couldn’t “buckle down” or focus like it seemed everyone around me could. Eventually it got to the point where (I realize now) it nearly cost me a couple of jobs, because I couldn’t stay focused on the task at hand, or I said or did really impulsive and stupid things at the most perfectly wrong moment.

I’m medicated now (Thank you, Concerta!), and things are a lot better, but I’m still lacking on the self-discipline front. I’ve finally realized that the only way around this is to practice, and to exercise my discipline like I would any other skill or muscle.

To that end, I’m ending part of my reliance on technology, in the form of my daily planner and journal. Since today was 25% discount day for faculty and staff at the TCU bookstore, I went and grabbed myself a Moleskine 18 Month Soft-Cover Weekly Planner. I’ve gotten a lot better at adding my appointments and reminders in to iCal for sync to my iPhone, but I can’t shake the feeling that those feel like crutches. Without the discipline to regularly and faithfully check a planner, how can I build the discipline to do anything else?

Okay, you got me. Really the “analog in ’09″ thing is an excuse to buy a beautiful and well-made piece of technology, which just happens to be made of acid-free paper and leather. I’m serious about the transition to written schedules and notes, though.