How to Get Stuff Done with ADHD - Part 1: Task Initiation

I'll be straight with you.

There is no secret hack for how to get stuff done with ADHD.

I know, I know, that's what we're all searching for, including me. But the truth of the matter is this: ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disability.

It's pervasive, it's forever, and I know sometimes that sucks, but just because there's no easy one size fits all fix that does NOT mean that there aren't tips, tricks and strategies that we can absolutely use to work with our ADHD brain instead of against it.

So, what are some tips, tricks, and strategies for how to get started on a difficult or boring task when you have ADHD? Let's talk about it.

I want to address a really important point of fact, and that is you are not lazy.

I'm sure that you've been called lazy, and I'm sure you've started to call yourself lazy, but the truth is this, you're not.

In fact, if laziness is a measurement of how hard you're working, you are the opposite of lazy. You are working double time to get half the results.

That's not laziness, that's disability.

I officially give you permission to let go of the lazy label because it's holding you back even more. If beating yourself up worked, it would've worked by now.

So let it go and start practicing some self-compassion and understanding that yes, sometimes things are difficult for you, but that doesn't mean that you are bad. It just means that your brain works differently.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disability, meaning it's a disability that affects the way our brain develops.

One of the biggest ways ADHD affects brain development is it impairs our executive functioning. There are eight executive functions that all come together to help our brain run smoothly, but when you have ADHD, you tend to struggle with all eight of them, including task initiation.

So, is it possible to be productive with ADHD to do the things we want to do?

I think yes. It just looks a little unorthodox.

Here's what I want you to do. Set a timer for three minutes, and pull up a pad of paper, pull up your laptop, whatever, and just start writing. I want you to try to stay focused on the task that you're trying to accomplish and just write whatever thoughts come to mind around that topic.

But if your thoughts wander, let them. The idea is to get the jumble out of your brain and onto the paper. It doesn't really matter what's in the jumble, you just need to write it down so that you can manipulate it with your eyes and your hands, and you can focus on it in a very literal way as opposed to trying to deal with it all in your head.

Then and only then can you start to prioritize.

This is something so many ADHDers struggle with.

Prioritization is one of the eight executive functions that we tend to struggle with and many of us try to prioritize while we're brain dumping.

Did you notice yourself doing it when you did the free write?

You were trying to organize what needed done first and then second and then third, and that just made it more confusing and you started judging yourself and struggling really hard just to write something down.

Yeah, try the free write again, and this time do not try to prioritize. Just write down what your thoughts are.

Once you've done that, then you can start to prioritize.

So how do you start to prioritize? Personally, I really like the idea of just one foot in front of the other, so you start with one step. Don't plan out the whole task because odds are something's going to go awry in the middle, and then your whole list is going to be pointless and you're going to feel like you failed even though you didn't.

Instead, just pick what needs done first.

Little bonus tip: the best place to start for you is the best place to start for you.

It doesn't necessarily mean the most logical place to start, the most efficient place to start or the place other people might start. It's the place that you will actually start.

I know this might feel like, oh my gosh, you're just adding steps to the process, you're making this longer and harder.

But the truth is, when we acknowledge our emotions around the difficulty of starting a task when we have ADHD, we can actually tackle the task more easily.

What do I mean by that? Let's do a thought exercise.

I want you to close your eyes for a second, and I want you to just sit with yourself and acknowledge the emotions that you're having.

When you think about starting this task, do you feel angry, panicked, sad, numb?

What do you feel right now?

Go ahead and open your eyes, and I want you to just take a minute to reflect on that and to acknowledge that emotion.

I want you to move that emotion through your body, through body movement, whatever stimming looks like for you.

Maybe it's playing with a stem toy, maybe it's flapping your hands, maybe it's dancing, maybe it's singing, but I want you to move your body because it will help the emotion flow through instead of getting stuck.

Yeah, maybe that sounds dramatic to someone without ADHD, but if you have ADHD, you know what I'm talking about.

Starting a task is literally painful, and this pain is real. So often we are told to ignore it. We are told that it doesn't count or that it's in our heads, but it's not. The ADHD brain works differently, and part of that includes dealing with more mental pain when it comes to starting boring or difficult tasks, and because this pain is real, your desire to avoid it makes sense that you don't want to do the thing.

Of course, you don't want to do the thing, it's going to hurt, but we know the thing needs done anyway. So what we have the power to do is to choose to face one mental pain in order to avoid another.

So yeah, you could avoid the mental pain of starting this specific task right now, and then you wouldn't be in mental pain right now, but you will be in mental pain in three days when you're facing a deadline that you can no longer meet because you put it off too long.

And I know this is hard for a lot of us to grasp when we have ADHD because our sense of time isn't very linear. It's much more of like now or not now, but because you took the time to be emotionally aware and to do your stimming, I think this step, you're going to be able to look inward and say, no, I don't want to suffer 10 times harder in three days because I didn't want to suffer now. I am going to choose to suffer because I know it will spare me suffering in the long run.

Finally, step six is the most ridiculous step and also probably the most effective. If all of this other stuff feels daunting or frustrating or you just don't have the energy to do it, you can skip ahead to this step and it'll probably still help, but I think the whole process makes it more effective.

Step six is: Take a deep breath from your belly. Shout 1, 2, 3, go. Then shake your whole body, and go do the thing.

Like force your body through the air and do the thing.

I know I told you it was going to be ridiculous, but I am telling you with my whole chest this works.

This works because it manufactures some urgency, which a lot of ADHDers tend to thrive on without you having to have the real urgency of working to a deadline that you're just not going to hit at this point.

I know the strategy might not work perfectly for every ADHDer out there, but I can tell you it has worked somewhat well for me.

Thank you so much for reading, or if blog posts aren't your thing, but you still want to learn more, check out the YouTube version of this post by clicking the video below: