If you find traditional productivity methods frustrating or ineffective because of ADHD, you're not alone. Heck, a lot of traditional techniques sound good when you hear them but don't work for people who don't have ADHD either!
The key idea is this: People struggle to stick to schedules that are designed for a different kind of brain than the one you own.
Productivity is not just about discipline, the "grind", or crafting then following a perfect plan. Instead, it's about understanding how your brain works and creating systems tailored to it.
Project Management and Productivity
For a long time I taught project management and productivity in the online entrepreneur space and I got to learn which of my techniques and the common strategies worked the best and for the most people.
Overall, those systems were successful, in that a lot of people had great product launches, got their work back on track, or just failed less often.
But I did have a realisation about the kinds of people who struggled more than most to continuously and consistently implement.
It was people like me! and this was before I got my official ADHD diagnosis.
Why Traditional Time Management Sucks for Differently-Flavoured Minds
The standard productivity advice involves breaking tasks into smaller pieces, prioritising them, setting schedules, and maybe adding some "oh crap!" buffer time.
While these methods might work for some, they will backfire for people with ADHD because:
ADHD brains aren't motivated by neat schedules or abstract long-term goals. Most of us respond more strongly to urgency or novelty.
Breaking projects into smaller tasks can make it hard to keep a grasp of how everything fits together, and why. Especially with complex inter-dependencies versus linear timelines.
Time estimates are often inaccurate, or at least "optimistic", leading to missed deadlines and added stress.
Understanding these challenges is just the first step. The goal isn't to force an ADHD brain into a non-ADHD system, but to adapt your tools and strategies to suit your brain wiring.
Good Versus Bad Days
Unlike the advice from books and courses that you could follow, what I have learned is the system that will work for you longer term, and that you will stick to, needs to be built for you, rather than you fitting to it.
Think about it, do you want to spend a period of time feeling a failure or stupid, with less productivity, because you are trying to force your funky shaped brain to fit into a square peg hole?
Instead I suggest you look back, and from now on monitor, the times when you felt the most motivated and productive. Can you picture it? When you delivered on time, or when you hyper focused. Those moments of inspiration (or panic) that have you checking off tasks.
What stands out about those times?
For me it's usually one or more of ...
Urgency/Deadline: There is a clear date and time, or it is critical that the thing gets delivered right away. Many of us self-sabbotage to put ourselves into the position of last-minute work because that is our go-to way to get things done. At high school I would regularly do my homework on the bus the morning it was meant to be handed in.
Risk/consequence: What will happen if the thing does not get done on time? Even the most novel brained amongst us can often find the energy when the threat is big enough. I don't recommend it as a daily practice, but you can't argue with the results!
Social/personal pressure: Closely related to #2, I have found that when I have to deliver something for someone else it holds me to my promises much more strongly than the many, many things I wanted to do for my own benefit that are shelved waiting for some TLC. My health, for example, is basically effed but I do answer my emails quickly!
Fascination/puzzle solving: The famous thing about ADHD folks is chores get forgotten but give us a new interest and we will go without sleep, personal care, or food until the fascination passes. We are like machines powered by curiosity!
Clarity and Continuity: Understanding what we are meant to do is vital for us to actually do it. The more a project sits as a big, wet, weird ugly cloud in our brains, the more our brains will resist dealing with it. Unfortunately, the breaking down into abstract pieces can make it more unlikely we deal with something, especially if we do not have the why we are doing this part nailed. Very closely related is the problem of task-switching. If we finally get our head in the game then we are ripped away to deal with something else, it makes getting back to that place in our minds even more difficult, and more likely that we will get distracted. This is why I hate open plan offices, especially where there are telephones we are expected to answer promptly.
It is not that we are aiming for "flow on command" or anything like that, plus I am not sure I even would want to be in flow while doing household chores, but if we can at least minimise disruption or the chances for failure, we will be ahead of where we were.
What Works for You?
These ideas above seem to be the most impactful for me, but it is very important you figure out your own list.
Also as you monitor your output, your energy, and your mood, take into account context such as your daily start and sleep schedule, your food intake, what exercise or daylight/fresh air you got recently, and so on.
It's hardly surprising that there are times where we essentially destroy any chance of getting ahead with bad habits. For example the nights we marathon Reacher, go to bed late, doom-scroll until early next morning, get woken by the dog needing a 3:30am pee, and then have to rush out in the car only to realise the tank is out of gas.
Build Habits and Systems
When you know what helps or hinders you, then you can work on the course-correction you need.
For myself, I know that my brain isn't wired the way some of my friends and colleagues are. One of them is working towards getting (back!) to the Olympics, and that is amazing, but that wouldn't work for me. I am a lot more "away-from" than "towards", so I am driven a lot by fear and worry. My systems involve reducing unnecessary stress and anxiety from my life while still achieving what I need to.
Perhaps a big audacious goal does work for you, then good! How will you help make that happen in small, daily ways?
Once you can have systems that work for you, step-by-step, then you will make real improvements. As you zoom out and look back you will see the macro progress those systems in combination create, and hopefully you will feel even more committed to developing, tuning, and implementing them.
I've always found it's easier for me to do things on my own terms and timeline versus when people want me to do stuff for them. I don't know why, but for some reason my brain resists that big time.
Gosh yes, it is like when my wife reminds me to do something my brain says "I was going to do that but now I can't"
Haha yeah, I didn't want to bring my wife into it, but that is totally it! Like if she is out for the morning I have zero problem banging out household chores, but if she has to ask me to dust, I'm dragging my feet and being dramatic the whole time :)