Tech Hack Diary

If you have ADHD, you probably know the cycle: new system = shiny dopamine → feels amazing → crashes into reality → abandoned. My tech tools are basically a rotating cast of characters. Here’s how my calendar (and a few other apps) have evolved — and what’s actually working right now.

🖊️ The Laminated Calendar

Back in my analog days, I had a laminated monthly calendar I rewrote every Sunday. Fresh pens, bright colors, the satisfaction of erasing and rewriting. It felt productive and fun… until it didn’t.

The problem? Laminated calendars don’t travel. You can’t take them in the car or check them in the grocery store line. Cute, but deeply impractical.

📱 The Weel App

Then came Weel — my holy grail for almost a year. It turned my day into a colourful pie chart of appointments and tasks. For an ADHD brain, actually seeing time instead of just reading it was game-changing.

But when Apple rolled out the ability to expand the native Calendar widget on my Home Screen, Weel was instantly dead to me. The widget wasn’t as fun, but it gave me a real-time snapshot of my day (including reminders) without needing to open another app — and it saved me a subscription fee.

🍏 The Power of Widgets

This is where I’m at now: leaning into widgets. I’ve expanded my Reminders widget so I can see my top tasks without opening the app. Same with the Weather widget — quick checks at a glance.

It sounds small, but for me, there’s a huge difference between tapping into an app (where I might get distracted and doom scroll somewhere else) versus just glancing at my Home Screen. Less friction = less chance to wander.

⚡ Why This Works (for now)

What I’ve noticed: the less effort it takes to access information, the more likely I am to actually use it. Widgets = less opening, less scrolling, less getting lost in notifications.

Is it boring compared to shiny apps and color-coded pens? Sure. But boring can be brilliant.

✨ The Takeaway

ADHD systems don’t fail — they expire. Each one worked until it didn’t, and that’s okay. Right now, widgets are working for me because they reduce the temptation to drift into distraction. And if/when this stops working, I’ll find the next thing.

That’s not failure. That’s iteration.

Talk soon,
Tara
CEO of Chaos & Co.