13 Ways to be More Productive When You Have ADHD

Being productive can be a chore in itself when you have ADHD. Here are some legitimate tips to keep your productivity up when your brain just doesn’t seem to want to focus:

1. Take a Break.

That’s right. You heard me. Get up, walk away and take a break. Unlike a normal brain, people with ADHD can’t FORCE our brains to focus on the task at hand and be productive. Instead of helping us be productive, that can cause unneeded stress, anxiety and can even put us in a place of paralysis (when we’re thinking about doing the thing over, and over, and over again, but never dO tHe ThiNg).

The terrible part?

Our brain can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality. So it’s almost like, when in a state of paralysis, we’re doing that task over and over and over again in reality. But it never gets done. So by the end of it, your brain thinks it’s completed that task dozens of times over. What a fun, little purgatory of our own creation!

No need for that. Just get up, and take a few minutes to re-center and start over.

2. Do Something That Refills Your Attention.

Did you know that there are different types of attention? I sure didn’t! I only discovered this recently while talking to my therapist. Well, apparently, there are different types of attention that we use. One of them is called “Voluntary Attention”. This is attention that is focused, conscious and limited. The bad part for an ADHD brain, is we have less Voluntary Attention than your typical brain. And when we’re at an office, and there are distractions or we’re masking our symptoms to try and seem more normal, that takes up a portion of our already limited Voluntary Attention. So what happens when you have no more Voluntary Attention to give? You can refill it! And you can do this with something called “Involuntary Attention”. Involuntary Attention is what happens when you’re attention is grabbed without you even thinking about it. Walks are great for Involuntary Attention. You feel the sun on your skin or a breeze, you hear some birds, you see people and nature. These things capture our attention without us having to think about it and replenish our Voluntary Attention!

But be careful.

There are some things that take up Involuntary Attention that DON’T fill up our Voluntary Attention. A good example of this is video games. Video games are great at engaging our Involuntary Attention but don’t actually replenish our tanks of Voluntary Attention. And please don’t get me wrong! I’m a huge fan of video games. I love ’em (Overwatch is one of my faves), but they don’t help when it comes to getting those reports done. Just something to know and be aware of!

3. Exercise!

Exercise can do wonders for changing your mindset, especially if it triggers your involuntary attention. Like dancing. Or playing a sport that you enjoy. When we’re exercising and don’t even think of it as exercise, that’s the best thing. I used to have a rule in college that whenever I had a test coming up, I would exercise for at least 10-30 minutes beforehand. This helped me laser in my focus a lot and be way more productive!

4. Distractions from your Distractions.

You may look at that title with confusion but it’s a total thing! Sometimes our Involuntary Attention is engaged when we don’t want it to be, and by things that don’t refill our tanks. The best example I can think of is incessant thoughts. Thoughts that consist of worries, ideas, fantasies, or just relentless background chatter. It’s like a 2-year old that keeps asking you questions about strange things, poking you, making god-awful sounds that you can’t possibly ignore, and having the “oh shiny” syndrome with any mildly interesting thing that passes by. You can’t ignore it, no matter how much you want to. The best thing to do here?

Give your 2-year old brain a mini distraction.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it legitimately feels like I have an adult brain and a little kid brain. If I give the kid part of my brain a fun, little distraction, it leaves the grown-up brain alone to get her work done. I use things like repetitive music, fidget toys (I don’t have any cool ones, it’s usually just some random object around me), maybe a show I’ve seen a bajillion times, and know the word of every line of every episode. There’s no mystery in that episode so I can’t get distracted by it. My show? Gilmore Girls. I’ve seen it from beginning to end at least a dozen times. AT LEAST.

Maybe for you, it could be podcasts or audiobooks. Whatever it is, make sure it’s interesting enough to distract your kid brain but not interesting enough to distract your adult brain.

5. Dress the Part.

Have you ever heard of people not taking off their shoes until the day is done? It’s something that (some) people with ADHD experience. Once those shoes are off, our brain turns off (of work mode!). No more chores or work-related stuff for me! No matter how much I stress about it. On the opposite side of that, if you’re finding that you’re having trouble maintaining productivity (especially if you’re remoting in/working from home), try dressing the part!

If those pajamas are jamming your productivity, then it’s time to change out of them and trick your brain into thinking you’re heading into the office. Hack that brain. Sometimes, just pulling a little trick like that will work.

6. Create a Dedicated Work Space.

This is another little trick if you’re working from home. If you find that you’re not able to get the same amount of stuff done as when you’re in the office, then come up with a dedicated workspace. Have a room or a corner that you ALWAYS go to when it’s time to work. This way, your brain knows that when you’re in the space, there’s no room for screwing around.

7. Drown Out the Noise.

Unwelcome noises can be a big distraction in any environment. ESPECIALLY if you have an auditory processing disorder on top of it all (*author of this article raises her hand*). One of the best things you can do is either find a quiet space or buy yourself some noise-canceling headphones. The cord drives me absolutely nuts! I somehow always manage to yank on them and it generates the most unpleasant sound and some serious, anger-inducing sensations on my skull. So I use this pair of headphones and they work great! They’re my favorite so far. I have those and a pair of these bad boys as well.

8. Use the Carrot-Stick Method.

Create a reward system for yourself! I feel like a project-by-project method works best since I tend to be time blind. So I’ll hyperfocus on a thing I need to get done and say to myself:

“When I get X done, I get to go bug my cat.”

Or…

“When I complete X, then I’m going to go pour myself a glass of wine.”

One Carrot-Stick trick I used all the time is when doing dishes. It’s become my dedicated show watching time and it works wonderfully! Dishes are no longer boring but a time I look forward to. I laugh, I cry, I go on a whole wonderful journey with beloved characters while I get those plates, bowls, and cups squeaky clean!

9. Avoid Masking (If You Can).

Masking, or “impression management”, is the process of hiding your normal way of behaving in order to seem like you’re normal and don’t have any sort of disorder.

Why do we do this?

Well, I began masking when I was in elementary school so my classmates wouldn’t make fun of me. Little by little, it kind of just became a habit. Now, I mask every time I’m out of the house or in an environment that I’m not supremely comfortable in.

Masking can have negative side effects too. It can drain our energy and leave us feeling drained and lethargic. Girls can be especially guilty of this since we’re taught at an early age to be mindful of how we present ourselves to the public eye.

If you can, try and have space (maybe a closed office at work or a private room at home) where you can just be you. A place where you can sit how you want, move around, talk/sing to yourself, curse when things get frustrating, fidget, and have the distractions that help you (like music, shows, audiobooks, podcasts, etc.). If this isn’t possible at your place of work currently, ask about what kinds of accommodations they can give you. If you don’t feel comfortable disclosing your personal information like that, then try the headphones I talk about above. The noise-canceling ones I mentioned work wonders for me in my busy office. Then just be sure to be patient with yourself and find small ways to de-mask (take lots “bathroom” breaks and take that time to just move around how you want).

10. Get Yourself a Body Double!

Body doubling is such an effective method for me, personally. In school, when I couldn’t trust myself to focus, I would go to the library, a coffee shop, or get a study group together. Having others around can do wonders for staying on task. It doesn’t even have to be a human body double! I’ll also totally use my cat, Mushu. He’s gotta be the cutest (and sassiest) body double I’ve ever had.

If you don’t have anything alive in the vicinity (that sounds creepy) to use as a body double, you can find communities that have dedicated body doubling groups! I managed to find one Discord group that usually has at least two people in a chatroom called “Body Doubling”. Isn’t that awesome?

Feel free to get creative with it!

11. Build Momentum.

I used to have a boss that would tell me to tackle the most complicated task for the day, first.

Very beginning of the day, get that bad boy outta the way! Then I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore. The most stressful thing would be done and it would be all downhill from there. It worked great for her! So I tried it.

It worked terribly for me.

The problem is, big tasks aren’t just daunting for a person with ADHD. They can be insurmountable. Some of us can’t just tackle things head-on (unless they are of interest to us and we hyperfocus…then…well…sit back and watch us go!).

We gotta build momentum. Completing smaller tasks that give us little hits of dopamine as we go, tends to work much better in my experience. Then, once we’ve got our brain going, we can tackle the giant task.

It’s like being in a game and going into a boss fight with beginner gear, no leveling, and zero health/mana potions. That fight’s probably not gonna go great. So take your time, and build up to it!

12. Lighting Can be Crucial.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some serious, sensory sensitivities.

Tags on clothing that I can’t easily remove get a one-way ticket to the local thrift store, weird noises coming from people’s mouths can make me wanna stuff a sock between their lips, and fluorescent lighting can somehow simultaneously send me into a rage and make me wanna take a nap. I get slangry. Sleepy and angry.

In the same way, having bad lighting can make it so you don’t even want to try to be productive. You’re defeated before you begin. Because of this, I’ve learned that I like very specific lighting around me:

1. Soft Light
2. Natural Light
3. No Light

I can’t stand those super-bright, white lights anywhere near me. They give me a headache. My preference is lots of lamps with soft light.

Or I’ll just open the windows. If it’s nighttime or you’re in a part of the world with bad lighting overall because of weather or location, then try a therapy lamp (meant to mimic natural light and help with mental health).

13. Go Easy On Yourself

Nothing can kill productivity like constantly trying to achieve without ever taking breaks to rest and appreciate the good job(s) that you have done so far.

So let yourself lie back and just enjoy for a bit. Breathe. Nap. Go for a stroll. Let your mind wander. Do something you enjoy.

And if you weren’t able to get it done today, it’s OK. Just try again tomorrow. 🙂