Blog · Analog Planning

How to Stay Organized Without Apps: Analog Planning for ADHD

For a long time I thought that more applications, more systems, more technology was the correct answer to solve some of these issues, but in reality it was just having the right practices, the right habits that helped me understand and process that anxiety and symptoms of ADHD that come with forgetfulness, with time blindness.

Luis Duque, PE · September 26, 2026 · 7 min read

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The short answer

It was a combination of practices and habits that really made me go from someone that is distracted, not being able to focus, forgetful, to someone that is able to get a lot done in the day job.

I don't know if this is specific for someone with ADHD, but these systems are going to help you even if you don't have the underlying symptoms and challenges that come with ADHD.

Why paper

Having an engineering brain and an ADHD brain comes with just a hum of a little bit of anxiety and always overthinking things and not being able to process the information once it comes my way.

I transfer all my knowledge and my capture systems and tasks just back to paper. Sometimes it's just a paper notebook, but always trying to have a pen and some paper handy to be able to process that information and get it out of the brain and onto the paper.

When you start seeing your information out of your brain and onto paper, you start being able to actually acknowledge the task, the problems, the issues and start maybe working towards that.

Habit 1: The brain dump

Everything has a cognitive load. When you're talking about ADHD and anxiety, our working memory is often just overloaded with many things, thoughts, problems that need to be solved, and all of that. Anxiety really steals time, making every task feel sometimes urgent and immediate.

One of the best things to really get over the challenge of that constant high cognitive load is just a brain dump. Sometimes getting stuff out of the mind, getting stuff onto paper has been the best way to really overcome these challenges.

You take a piece of paper, it can be a loose paper, or it could be a notebook, it could be something else. What you do is simply write down all the things that are happening, some of the things that are stressing you out, some of the things that you may need to work on, and that way you can get it out of your brain and onto paper.

That's going to start relieving some of that internal anxiety, internal challenges that you may be facing. That's really the first step, and one of the best ways to just empty your hard drive, if you will.

Habit 2: The priority matrix

One of the things that you're going to start realizing once you start doing your brain dump is that a lot of those are open loops of things that you need to do, things that you may need to accomplish. And the issue with that is that you're keeping all of that in your brain.

One of my favorite techniques is the Eisenhower matrix, prioritization matrix. They have many different names, but most tasks really fall into four different categories.

### Urgent and important: the firefighting quadrant

These are the tasks that need to be done immediately or there are consequences. They're urgent, they're important, you need to take care of those as soon as possible.

### Important but not urgent: the strategic quadrant

There are tasks that are important but not urgent. These tasks sometimes can be a little more strategic. This is my strategic quadrant.

I could maybe delay them a little bit to get more of the firefighting fire drills done before I move on to the tasks that are still important but they're not urgent. They don't have a quick timeline, they don't have a necessarily quick turnaround.

### Urgent but not important: distractions

These sometimes can be called simply distractions. One of the biggest challenges with ADHD and anxiety is that sometimes I feel like maybe cleaning my desk is urgent, but is it really important right now?

Maybe I have a project, a task, something that needs to be done much more quickly, but I'm doing other work that may seem urgent, but it is really not important.

You can also just delegate some of those tasks. Maybe you can find someone to delegate it at work, in your personal life, maybe you hire someone to do some of that work.

### Neither: noise

The last quadrant is just noise. These are the tasks that really are not urgent or not important and really should just be discarded.

### What the matrix does

When you map this brain dump into this matrix, you are starting to see this structure that is going to help you decide where you need to put your energy, where you need to use your limited resources.

Obviously this is not a new concept. This is a very important aspect of managing anxiety and managing ADHD, and it helps me understand which of the tasks are very urgent and very important. Those are the ones I need to get done today. This allows me to get through my task list just a little bit easier.

Habit 3: The sensory reset

Another thing that really helps with ADHD, at least in my case, is just having a sensory reset. It's the concept of grounding.

Whenever I'm feeling extra anxious, extra worried, maybe it's just struggling to get through the day, just going out for a walk, using stationery has been a great way to manage some of the symptoms.

When you have a pen and you open it and you look at the nib and you feel how scratchy it is on the paper sometimes, how smooth it is sometimes, those different sensations, how when you write, you can actually feel and hear the pages being impregnated with the pigments. Those are the things that really help me a lot.

As someone that struggles with ADHD, just having that sense of grounding, the smell of a notebook, the feeling of paper, flipping pages, all that tactile information is super satisfying. It just helps me ground myself when I'm anxious and have something that I can actually feel and touch and do something with, rather than just having to stare at a computer and do nothing but that.

Habit 4: The weekly review

The last practice is something that I personally have stayed fairly consistent over the last maybe 2 years now. It's just having a weekly reset.

This is a place where you're not only reviewing for the previous week, what were the tasks that were done. That's why I like doing everything on paper. I can see exactly what was done, exactly how that task went from idea to just having a concept to getting it done. I like seeing how I cross out the tasks, how all of that comes together.

This is also the space to look at any habits I've been tracking, how was my week in terms of the workouts, in terms of the work, in terms of the different things that I want to be tracking. Again, for someone with ADHD, just the time blindness sometimes can be a struggle.

And while I may skip a few weeks of tracking or a few weeks of just doing the review, I always come back to it. Controlling the things that are important and you're able to control, it's something that I value quite a bit.

What this will not do

ADHD and anxiety and all of this is not something that you just do one time and then you're done with everything. It's something that you got to work on every single day.

It's something that you start learning to deal with when you are developing your habits, your systems, your process, and it allows you to, again, manage the symptoms, overcome the challenges, and ultimately just live a happier life in general.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you stay organized with ADHD without using apps?

For a long time I thought that more applications, more systems, more technology was the correct answer, but in reality it was just having the right practices, the right habits.

What is a brain dump and how do you do it?

You take a piece of paper, and what you do is simply write down all the things that are happening, some of the things that are stressing you out, some of the things that you may need to work on.

How does the Eisenhower matrix help with ADHD?

Most tasks really fall into four different categories. When you map this brain dump into this matrix, you are starting to see this structure that is going to help you decide where you need to put your energy.

What if I skip my weekly review for a few weeks?

While I may skip a few weeks of tracking or a few weeks of just doing the review, I always come back to it.