Science has long known about circadian rhythms and how important these are to mental and physical health. Study after study has shown that people with disrupted circadian rhythms are less likely to get restful sleep which, in turn, means potential health problems. But there is more to the rhythm concept than just sleeping and waking hours.
ADHD and Rhythm
People with ADHD know firsthand how important a daily rhythm is to productivity. A daily rhythm is to productivity what the circadian rhythm is to sleep patterns. Simply put, establishing and maintaining a daily rhythm can help you be more productive by also helping you:
- develop repeatable behaviors
- plan your day more effectively
- implement needed changes more efficiently.
For the record, our high-performance planner was designed with this very thing in mind. It was built with numerous tools to help you organize your thoughts, set your priorities, and maintain accountability. All these things contribute to establishing and maintaining a daily rhythm.
The Daily Rhythm Explained
It is hard to understand daily rhythm as an abstract concept. So to make it easier, think of rhythm in the musical sense. The rhythm of a song is essentially its beat pattern. That pattern is consistent in both tempo and sound.
If you had to simplify this explanation even further, you could say that a musical rhythm is a repeatable sound movement. It is the same sound repeated over and over again, at the same speed and volume.
Now, let's take that explanation and apply it to daily life. There are certain things that we all do day in and day out. There are also certain ways we do those things. Establishing a daily rhythm involves organizing those things into repeatable processes that are consistent from one day to the next.
How a Daily Planner Helps
A daily planner can help establish rhythm in the same way writing music down on paper establishes a musical rhythm. The composer writes things down so that musicians do not have to guess. They can read the music and see the rhythm built in to it.
Likewise, a daily planner takes the guesswork out of regular activities. It creates a plan of repeatable behaviors that can be followed consistently. And when that happens over a length of time, a daily rhythm is established.
Rhythm Improves Production
Now we get to the part where we talk about daily rhythm and production. For many people, including those with ADHD, maintaining the desired level of production is difficult because thoughts are scattered. It is hard to get organized because one is constantly being bombarded by external demands coming in from every direction.
A daily rhythm limits the influence those external demands have. That ultimately helps someone who normally has trouble staying organized keep things on track. Simply put, if those external demands cannot be fit into the daily routine, they are either dismissed or saved for another day.
Add all this together and you wind up with an environment that is much more conducive to productivity. Just know that greater productivity is a byproduct of the daily rhythm, not the sole reason for establishing it.
Check Out Our Daily Planner
We have seen time and again how people with ADHD thrive after establishing a daily rhythm. Anyone can benefit from this. If you have trouble with the daily rhythm, we encourage you to check out our daily planner PDF downloads. They may be just what you need to organize your thoughts and tasks, thereby helping you create a daily rhythm that makes you more productive. What have you got to lose?