🧟 Zombie Schedules

How to function when you feel aimless

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash

Have you ever heard of a zombie schedule? I was first introduced to the concept of “zombie mode” in a blog post on the official Bullet Journal website.

A zombie schedule is a schedule you write for yourself that has the bare bones of what you need to do on a given day for the times in life when you feel dead inside.

Here’s an picture of the author’s zombie schedule:

from @plannersimplicity, the author of the aforementioned blog post

I have found this concept surprisingly helpful. As a rebel¹ with ADHD, I don’t exactly like to be told what to do. But there are definitely days (and seasons) when I’ve found it hard to do anything, and because I have a family, I can’t actually do nothing.

When you’re a parent—especially of young children—there are things in life you just have to do, whether it be nursing or feeding a baby, changing diapers, making them breakfast (and lunch and dinner and snacks, so many snacks), putting them to bed, etc. I was in the thick of it for at least ten consecutive years, and the zombie schedule (I used the strategy before knowing what it’s called) helped me survive. 

A zombie schedule is a schedule you can trust that—when you’re doing everything on it—you’re going to be okay. It can be as detailed or as bare as you think will serve you.

The following example is from almost three years ago, when my littles were 3, 6, & 8). You’ll see that I went into insane detail of the morning routine because it’s a time of the day when I’m easily derailed by my children’s various needs/questions. The schedule gives me an external principle for why I’m doing what I’m doing, which can be hard to remember in the face of some insistent whining/complaining/“brilliant ideas”.

I print and put zombie schedules inside pocket protectors so I can use/reuse them with dry-erase markers.

I relied heavily on this kind of detailed schedule in the early days of my ADHD diagnosis. Now, it’s not an every day thing. I hadn’t actually used it for a couple years. But a couple of weeks ago when I felt the weather shift affecting my mood, I thought about zombie schedules again, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it lined up around Halloween.

A zombie schedule gives me a must-do² list, guiding me to exactly what I should be I doing at that moment, so I don’t have to tax my decision-making muscles, or even address my emotions.³

Zombie schedules are kindnesses we can give ourselves.

I prefer an analog version because I easily get distracted on my phone (plus it gives me anxiety), but I could see digital versions working for many people.

I drafted up these examples on my phone for you:

Examples of zombie schedules in Notes or Google Docs

tl;dr

A zombie schedule:

• is a schedule you write yourself that tells you what you should be doing

• can help with ADHD paralysis/anxiety

• can help parents with ADHD manage multiple kids’ schedules

• serves you on days when you’re feeling in a funk or “out of it”

• could be useful when you’re on vacation or otherwise off-routine and it’s hard to remember what you’re supposed to do because you don’t have your usual triggers/prompts

• may need to be modified for different types of days⁴

A zombie schedule works because:

• you are making decisions ahead of time, outside of the heat of the moment

• checking things off a list provides a dopamine hit

• when everything crucial is written down and you do those things, you are FREE to do other things without worrying the house will burn down, your children will starve, you’ll lose your job, you’ll forget to pick up your children from school, etc. 

What do you think?

I’m not sure if this strategy will resonate with everyone, but I can say that why it works for me is because I write these lists myself. And I’m also allowed to ignore them.

What about you? Have you ever used a zombie schedule? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Closing randomness

🏠 Recent Clutterbug podcast episodes I’ve found helpful: #242 on the concept of zoning your home; #244 on motivation

🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour: fun money podcast with Rachel Cruze (Dave Ramsey’s daughter) and George Kamel

🗓️ Shameless plug for my quarterly planning calendar printable on Etsy! (The link includes a 20% off for readers with the promo code LISADHD.)

💿 I forget how much I love this album.

🌳 Does anyone else do food prep in the great outdoors? I have been tooling around with treating my back deck as a “wet kitchen” (I think this is an Asian concept) to get away from the noise and to get fresh air. I made IP white chicken chili entirely outside one day!

🗳️ “For us, lots of executive dysfunctions stand between us and a completed ballot.”

🎧 A Spotify playlist I made for when I’m sketching or doing watercolor:

1. to use Gretchen Rubin’s terminology

2. If you are a youngest sibling, you’ll know what I mean when I say Younger Sibling Syndrome, where you just wander around following other people who seem to know what they are doing. The zombie schedule is that older brother or sister telling you what you should be doing right now.

3. Disclaimer: If you think you might have depression, I recommend seeking professional help. The information in this post, including, but not limited to, text, graphics, and images are for informational purposes only. No material in this publication is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

4. When I had one child in preschool M-W and two in elementary M-F, I had schedules for M-W that differed from Th-F. I also had schedules for 2-hour late start days, and no-school days.