ADHD people: are you organized, routinized, punctual?

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I understand that ADHD is experienced differently for everyone, but am wondering if it is common/likely for anyone to have ADHD and still be organized, routinized, and punctual. My goal is to see if I can more confidently rule out ADHD in myself.

I've always been an organized and punctual person, but I can get absent-minded when I'm hyperfocusing on something.

I'm not diagnosed so can't answer.

I have all the textbook markers of ADHD but like you am not sure "yea" or "nay". Everyone considers me organized (with information); my house is a mess. When I focus on something or impose my own rules, I am very organized, punctual etc. Otherwise, all bets are off. Showed up after a class by accident? Did that last week. Left the frozen fish sticks out all day by accident? Did that this week. When I had medical woes I tracked a spreadsheet of over 1,000 lines for payments and credits, but now that I'm not focused on the issue, making a single payment throws me for a huge loop. I use sticky notes at work and home to keep me mostly on track.

During my ASD evaluation, ADHD was not mentioned. I was on-time (I'm an aggressive driver), sat very still (except when I knocked my tea cup off the table - swing!) and was focused (staring and stilted conversation). My health insurance's 2nd opinion service suggested I consider ADHD also.

I score 43 out of 58. https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/adhd-quiz

Thanks for your input!

I just took that survey; my score was 23/58, "ADHD Possible".

I have ADHD, and am very organized and good with routines. I am punctual to appointments/meetings but not with deadlines. I have issues with organization when I'm stressed out though.

I'm diagnosed with combined-type ADHD, and also Autism Level 2.

I'm always punctual and I have a lot of routines, which is my autistic personality. I'm hypervigilant about being on time and I can have a panic attack or meltdown if someone else is making me late for an appointment or deadline.

Regarding organisation: It depends. In general I'm a hot mess and quite scattered, but everything that I need to complete does get finished on time. I live in organised chaos, if that makes sense.

I'm on ADHD stimulants and they've helped quite a bit since I got the dose right, at New Year.

I'm waiting for an ADHD assessment.

I'm normally very punctual but that's because I plan journeys to the nth degree including delay recovery time.

I can also be very organised with work or things at home, but I do find it exhausting. I can only stay focussed on one or two things at a time, and at the cost of everything else becoming increasingly disorganised. I hate having too many things 'active' at the same time, and being repeatedly switched between tasks ruins my plans and my motivation and makes me pretty stressed and sometimes quite angry.

I prevaricate really badly, particularly when anxious. The more urgent something is, the less I'll be able to concentrate on it.

I get a lot of things done when they fall to 2nd or 3rd on the list and I end up doing them to avoid task no.1.

I'm constantly scared that I've overlooked or forgotten something important. My memory is also poor unless we're talking about one of my special interests - with those I can remember all sorts of obscure trivia, but run-of-the-mill information doesn't stick.

To clarify: what I mean is that one explanation/theory is that I have ADHD. I'm very forgetful of things if I don't make some kind of external note of them. I can become distracted pretty easily depending on my mood and what the distraction is. Sometimes I feel--for lack of a better description--hyperactive/impulsive. Sometimes I even feel as if I'd been drinking; my inhibitions are lowered and I'm more likely to say nonsensical or weird things. Especially after a social event where I was physically exposed to people for an extended period, which is emotionally draining even hours afterward when I'm trying to unwind in my room at home, and replaying/ruminating on what transpired at the event.

So my goal is to try to differentiate between possible ADHD, autism, OCD, CPTSD, social anxiety, while also trying to make sense of the idea that these can co-exist. Each of the above also have varying degrees of likelihood. Based on self-reflection, polling other people, and years of meta-cognition/self awareness, among other things, I would assign OCD, CPTSD, and social anxiety the highest likelihood. I've experienced the symptoms of these conditions most consistently.

I was never suspected of having ADHD or Autism as a child. In the 90s, elementary school teachers were just starting to become more vigilant and aware of these conditions. I never had an issue with talking out of turn or butting into conversations. I actually remember in second grade there was this girl named Lauren Miller in my class, and she expressed all the hallmark signs of ADHD. The teacher would always be annoyed with her, and eventually Lauren was made to sit near the teacher so that the teacher can ensure she stays on track. I remember one day, our teacher sent Lauren on an errand to another second grade class, where that teacher instructed her to stay there for a few minutes. While this was happening, my teacher started to cry. I don't remember her exact words, but she told us that Lauren has ADHD which is why she behaves the way she does, and that she can't help it, etc, so we should try to be more patient and understanding with her.

So if I do have ADHD, it would probably be the inattentive or maybe combined type. But this still doesn't rule out autism! Gah, why can't psychology ever be straightforward.

Can I just please receive a clear, unambiguous, completely conclusive sign from the Heavens or something? Tf, Universe.

I was diagnosed in ADHD.

I'm not very organised. I never used to have a good concept of time but over the years I have learnt to improve my time skills because I get buses a lot.

I have a disorganised mind. I make a mess without realising that I have made a mess until someone tells me. I'm quite happy with dumping a lot of things I use a lot on the couch, where I can see it, because if I put it away in a drawer or a cabinet I forget where I put it. I keep my keys in my purse because if I take my keys out and hang them up I will definitely end up going out without them. My purse is always in the middle of the floor where I can see it. So is my medication.

Does anyone else have trouble making to do lists? I'm often advised to make to do lists to help me stay organised, but I can't even do that. I can't explain why this is so challenging for me but it always ends up useless.

I'm generally punctual, but that's because I don't like holding people up or letting people down. I hate waiting so I hardly ever arrive early to appointments, but I don't arrive late either. I am responsible.

I am hyperactive. I get impulsive, where I have to talk all the time, and I love talking. I love social attention (but not in an annoying attention-seeker way). I'm overexpressive too, and I am restless (short attention span), and I can only hyperfocus on a hobby if I have music on and there's no distractions. Otherwise, I have a terrible attention span, sometimes so terrible that I just go to have a nap because I simply can't sit and focus on anything.

Does anyone else have issues with controlling yourself with cute things? When I was a kid I ruined my favourite teddy bear because he was so cute I couldn't help myself from squeezing him and pulling him about (don't worry, he's still here, just very tattered now). Also I can't always control myself with cute animals. No, I wouldn't hurt animals but I sometimes feel like squeezing them enough to make them react, because I just can't cope with how cute they are. I usually end up just expressing it vocally and squeezing my hands together tightly to ease the urge. I've always been the same. Is this an ADHD behaviour?

I am usually a very punctual person when I have anything official going on, but I am a mix when it comes to being organized. At home I am dissorganized but in a work enviroment where there is a place for everything, I am highlt organized and I work out my own system to do this. I work out my own routines and I am fine unless the routines are changed, and then it all falls to pieces where I can just be standing there not knowing what to do!
The problem is that in my mind I often have difficulties switching off from a workplace so I have difficulty in getting sleep, as I will be going over the day I have just had and I would be planning the next day. This mwans that I am excellent if I am in charge of my own little area but frustrated if I am not, but it also means I can severly burn out quite quickly due to an extreme lack of sleep. My body can be continually exhausted while my mind just can't switch off, and then I am highly vunerable to anxiety and stress related shutdowns where the slightest trigger will trigger them off! It reached the point where I can't risk working again unless I can get myself back to where I was and I know I am fully mentally recovered and able to tackle anything.

I’m not diagnosed with ADHD but I have other traits my only Diagnoses are autism spectrum and emotionally unstable personality disorder. I doubt the latter now are used to think I had it but now that I am diagnosed autistic I doubt I have that, adhd symptoms have been the bane of my life.

Thank you for sharing! Yeah, I think a big part of the reason I prefer to be punctual is because I don't want to waste other people's time. I feel like if I make a reasonable time obligation to someone then I ought to abide it.

Your last paragraph reminds me of the character Lenny from Of Mice and Men lol.

I have no idea who the character is, because we all had to read the book in English class at school but I never took it in or really understood it, you know, due to ADHD!

Reading is not my strong point, but I'm not dyslexic. The teachers thought I might be dyslexic at school but my spelling was too good and words didn't jumble around on the page when I read. But nobody diagnosed me with ADHD. I had to get the diagnosis myself, in adulthood.

Interesting. Yeah, if I am autistic I'd likely be Level 1, and if ADHD I'd likely be inattentive type. I have a strong preference for routine and a predictable structure. I have a low tolerance for unexpected tasks and deviations from structure. I'm unemployed but I hate the weekends because things around me change, like news and TV program schedules, my parents' activities are less predictable, and since it's the weekend it's more likely that we'll have unexpected guests(!).

Joe is nothing like Lenny in “Of Mice and Men.”

Lenny didn’t know his own strength as an adult, and did great harm because of that. He was intellectually disabled and well-meaning.

Joe didn’t know her own strength as a little child. She is not intellectually disabled.

Routinized: yes. Punctual: more than anyone I've ever met. Organized..... [screams wildly while wrestling a tottering heap of junk that may contain my P45 form]