How I deal with ADHD paralysis (aka our nemesis)

ADHD paralysis can (literally) make me cry and is the reason I went to get diagnosed as an adult. Here’s what I’ve learned and how I’ve dealt with it. For me, I’ve noticed that my ADHD paralysis is often related to a few things. 1. When I feel like I ruined my morning I love having morning routines and getting things done very early in the day, but if I go to sleep late or spend too much time on my phone as soon as I wake up, my brain tries to trick me into thinking that I already ruined the day because now I have a late start. 2. When a task, even if easy or very “doable,” is emotionally charged. For me, this happens with things like reminding clients about payments or opening tasks I didn’t do on time. Opening them feels like a reminder that I “failed,” so avoiding them becomes my way of “protecting” my peace (LIES, because it only gets worse 🙃). 3. When I feel like I have so many things to do, but my brain is scattered. I don’t even really know what the tasks are. It’s just my brain going like “OMG SO MANY THINGS!!” “I’M RUNNING OUT OF TIME!” 😵‍💫 Here are a couple of things I do. They’re not a definitive solution, but still worth a try. 1. I still do my morning routine, even if it’s late. Sometimes it’s in the middle of the day (or even late in the afternoon lol) and just a shorter version. This helps me feel like I closed a loop and builds momentum. It kind of feels like a second morning 😌 2. I journal I let the thoughts flow and write literally everything that’s going through my mind in that moment, even as my thoughts jump around. My journal pages make no sense and probably aren’t even legible, but I don’t plan on reading them again so it’s fine 😂 Paper works best for me. It helps my mind settle down a bit. Good for my nervous system I guess. Other times, I write specifically about the task I’m avoiding and try to understand why I’m avoiding it. Finding the root of that fear takes away some of its power. 3. I use ChatGPT as a venting and brain dump tool I use the dictation function and just let everything out: thoughts, feelings, every task in my mental to do list, even the ones I remember on the go. I also mention things I’ve already done that day. Sometimes all you need is a machine telling you that you’re being too harsh on yourself and that you’ve actually done a lot 😮‍💨 It also helps me understand the feelings behind a task, why my brain is lying, and then organize and prioritize. 4. I break intimidating tasks into ridiculously small steps I plan on doing only the first step, like opening the software or website I need. Most of the time, that’s enough to build momentum. If not, or if there’s not enough time to keep going, I still take it as a win. Alex: 1. Fear: 0 😌 If one task turns into a list of 10 steps, I estimate how long each step will take. This helps a lot with time blindness. I usually realize that what I thought was a one hour task is actually a three hour task once I acknowledge all the steps. Making these lists also helps me see how much work I actually do and give myself more credit. 5. Gamify everything This goes along with the previous one. I set timers for that 10 step list and try to beat the clock. If I beat it, the win motivates me to keep going. If the clock beats me, I “recalibrate” my estimates and keep the timers going. This helps me get better at estimating time too. When I clean, I do this with music. I start a song and say “I have until this song ends to wash the dishes.” When the song ends, it’s a hard stop and I move to a different area. Then when the next song ends, I can go back. This keeps me engaged and prevents me from suddenly reorganizing my entire pantry 😂 Lastly, there are days when none of this works. On those days, the only thing left to do is be kind to yourself. Trying was the win, and you can try again tomorrow. I also try to avoid going to bed late hoping I’ll magically be productive, because that rarely happens. I usually just end up doomscrolling. When I go to bed early, most of the time I’m way more productive the next day. I didn’t mean to write an essay, but here we are. (fyi I totally wrote this because I was avoiding work so watch me go put this into practice right now 😂😂) Anyways, would love to hear you guy’s experience with adhd paralysis and know what strategies have worked for you!! Hope you have an amazing productive/restorative weekend 🫶🏼