8 Strategies ADHD Adults Use to Make Executing Easier

When you have ADHD, starting and executing can be difficult, no doubt. But these are also skills that can be learned. Though it takes time. Are you ready for the ride? It will be a combination of strategies and skills that you build. So, you can get unstuck and back on track faster when you’re having a hard time getting started and following through.

Know Your Why

While certainly not the only strategy, it is important to know why accomplishing a task is important to you. At the same time, it is true that for many adults with ADHD, you may still have a hard time starting a task, even if it is important, if it is not intrinsically interesting to you. So, in the moment when you are deciding whether to tackle it or not, you may say to yourself, “I don’t wanna…” And, when you give in to this feeling, you don’t start, of course.

So, one way to avoid going down this slippery slope is to know your why — reward. One example is that of one of my former clients, a professor who wanted to be better at following through on his administrative tasks, such as emails. His reason — reward was that he wanted his colleagues to see him as a professional.

Knowing your why, as I mentioned above, is just not enough for ADHD adults. You also need to remember that you need to do that task at the moment of choice. This is not easy for adults with ADHD who have working memory challenges. You may also not remember the reward for choosing to do a task that is not intrinsically interesting, but important to you.

You need to use some strategy, a mechanism for remembering your reward. For example, in my client’s case, he wrote “admin time – be a pro” on his calendar. The “be a pro” meant to be a professional. He was surprised that he honored this weekly recurring time block. In part, he was able to follow through because he remembered his why and the motivation to do his admin work.

Think of a task you resist. Can you think of why you may choose to do it, even if it is not interesting to you?

IDENTIFY THE RIGHT NEXT ACTION STEP

After recognizing your why and using a strategy to remember it, you may need to identify the dependencies involved in completing the task. Because sometimes you can’t do the task on your list because it is dependent on completing another task first. When this happens, you may see the task on your list and then say to yourself, “I’ll do that after I do…”

For example, what happens when you have on your task list “take in the bike for a tune-up,” but you don’t know where to take it? You probably tell yourself, “I need to find a place to take it.” But you don’t look for a place and instead stay stuck for a while. Until you put that task, finding a place, on your list first.

The key is to make sure the task is specific, small enough and doable. In the above example, the original task isn’t doable because he didn’t have a place to take the bike. To make sure you have the right next action on your task list, ask yourself, “Is there something I need to do before tackling this task?”

Prepare to Start

In addition to knowing the next right action step, you need to have what you need to start. Otherwise, again, you might procrastinate. That may mean making prepping to start as a separate task. For example, that might mean on Monday collecting all related documents and emails so you can start on the main task, writing a report on Tuesday.

If you don’t do this, you might get frustrated when you begin to work on the report on Tuesday because you’ll have to scramble to find all the material before you can start. You’ll find the time is ticking, as you are thinking, “I’ve got to get this report done!” The key to avoiding this frustration is to think about what you need to have before you get started on the main task. And do that step first.

Is there anything on your list right now that you need to prepare for in order to be ready to start your main task when the time rolls around?

Anticipate and Prepare for Potential Distractions and Interruptions

Of course, regardless of how well you prepare to start, you may still encounter distractions and interruptions. 

While you can’t anticipate all of these, you may still be able to minimize the occurrences of these by, for example:

• Using an application, such as RescueTime, to minimize surfing the internet when you intend to do something else.
• Wearing noise-canceling headphones so noise is not such a distraction.
• Sitting somewhere else in the office where there is less noise

Also, interruptions from other people might be a challenge for you. To minimize these:

• Say to your colleague when she pops into your office, “I really would like to discuss this with you, but I need to get this report done. Could we talk later this afternoon at 3 or 4?
• Set aside 2 to 3 times a day to answer emails that are not urgent.
• Review the in-house messaging app, such as Slack, once an hour.
• Likewise, review your text once an hour.

In doing the above, you can take more control over when and how you respond so that you can have fewer interruptions, be more productive and still be a team player. Nice, right?

The key is to prepare as much as possible in advance for any potential distractions or interruptions.

Plan a Time to Do Other “Urgent” Work

One of the most common distractions for adults with ADHD is the feeling of needing to do other work that feels urgent. In the moment when you intend to do one task, you may think to yourself, “I should be doing XYZ.” Then the pull of this task might become so great that you decide to do that instead of what you originally intended to do. 

One way to address this is to decide when you’re going to do the work that feels urgent. So, in the moment of choice, you can be confident there is another time you will tend to what feels urgent right now. Then say to yourself about the work that you originally intended to do, “I’m doing this and not that!” So, you can focus and do well at what you choose to do in the moment.

Be Willing to Withstand Some Discomfort

When a task is easy to do and your interest is high, you encounter little friction. You likely can jump right in and start. You might even end up hyperfocusing on that task.

But there are tasks you resist doing because of your discomfort. You feel uncomfortable because you’re not interested, it feels too enormous, or you’re just not sure how to do the task. Whatever the reason, you want to avoid doing the task. 

Then you go down a slippery slope, beginning with the thought, “I don’t feel like doing this right now.” This is likely followed by the thought of, “I’ll do it later.” But you really don’t mean later. You just mean not now! You have no idea when later is, right? But if you don’t feel like doing it now, you likely won’t feel like doing it later, either.

Because the discomfort won’t go away, and you will likely continue to feel the stress of what you “should be doing.” So, you’re substituting one uncomfortable situation for another. That is, whether you do the task or don’t do the task, you will feel uncomfortable.

To remedy this, identify what is making it uncomfortable to start and address that issue. So you make it easier to start. And, also, be willing to withstand that discomfort to do this.

Use a Warm-up Routine

As you know, transitions — starting, stopping and task switching — are difficult for ADHD adults to manage. A warm-up routine can help make starting easier so you can begin and follow through on your most important work. To summarize, the steps are:

• Start with a super easy task.
• Include physical movement.
• Rinse and repeat.

Ready to create your own warm-up routine? For a more in-depth explanation of each of these steps, check out Motivation Is Not the Key to Success If You Have ADHD.

Manage Your Negative Self-Talk and Cultivate Helpful Self-Talk

Sometimes your when you use self-talk like the examples below, you can be hindered from starting and executing, as you may procrastinate:

• “I must be perfect!”
• “I have to…”
• “I should…”
• “I must finish…”
• “This is too big and important!”

Changing this self-talk will help you initiate and follow through on your important work. You can check out, ADHD & 5 Ways You Can Use Self-talk to Stop Procrastinating to see how to do this.

How ADHD Adults Start and Execute on Their Important Work Checklist

When you are stuck, refer to the list below for questions you can ask yourself to help get going on a task you are resisting.

• What is the value — reward — for doing this task?
• Is there a task I need to do before this one that would make it easier for me to execute on this one?
• Do I have everything I need to get started?
• What can I do to minimize the distractions and interruptions I can anticipate?
• Is there is other work I’m worrying about completing? Do I know when I can tackle it?
• What will help me to withstand discomfort with tasks I might avoid?
• Am I using a warm-up routine consistently?
• Am I using self-talk that is helping me to execute?

Do you have other strategies that help you get started? Please send them my way!