ADHD focus and planning: 6 practical tips that work
Living with ADHD can make focusing and daily tasks stressful. Here, we'll introduce practical, evidence-based ways to help improve attention.
If you live with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you’ll know how frustrating it can feel to struggle with focus. If you often find your attention slipping away, managing daily tasks and responsibilities can become highly stressful.
Understanding your own behavioural patterns can help you manage them more effectively and start working with your brain, rather than against it.
You might sit down to work on something at work, for example, only to realise some time later that you’ve been scrolling or reorganising your desk instead.
It’s not that people with ADHD can’t focus at all, however. You may also focus deeply on some tasks for hours on end, then struggle to switch attention when it’s time to move on or take a break.
These challenges aren’t a reflection of laziness or lack of willpower; they’re symptoms of how the ADHD brain works. ADHD affects executive functioning, the brain’s system for planning, prioritising and sustaining attention.
It also impacts dopamine regulation, which means your brain might struggle to find motivation for tasks that don’t feel rewarding.
In this article, we’ll explore practical, evidence-based strategies to help improve focus and manage daily tasks.
What is ADHD brain fog?
‘Brain fog’ isn’t an official medical term, but many people with ADHD use it to describe a feeling of mental cloudiness or fatigue. When your mind is constantly switching between thoughts or fighting distractions, it can drain mental energy, leaving you feeling spaced out or detached. It’s your brain’s way of signalling that it’s overloaded or struggling to prioritise what to focus on.
The good news is that brain fog is manageable. You might find it helpful to introduce gentle structure into your day, make time for deep rest, stay hydrated, and engage in regular movement.
If you’d like to understand more about how ADHD differs from other neurotypes, read our guide on neurodiversity vs neurotypical.
What is ADHD task paralysis?
Task paralysis is the feeling of knowing exactly what you need to do, but being unable to start. You might stare at an overflowing inbox or a messy kitchen while feeling frozen, even though you want to take action and complete the task.
This often stems from:
- Overwhelm: you might recognise thoughts such as ‘there’s too much to do; I don’t know where to start’
- Decision fatigue: choice paralysis can create issues with settling on an approach, or deciding which task to do first
- Perfectionism: this might bring up familiar feelings of ‘if I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t start at all’
- Emotional dysregulation: unmanageable feelings of shame, guilt or anxiety arising from the stress of the situation
Again, task paralysis doesn’t arise due to laziness. Your brain is simply trying to protect you from experiencing the discomfort of overwhelm, or of failing to complete the task to a high enough standard. This can be connected to rejection-sensitive dysphoria, too.
To overcome task paralysis, you can try:
- Shrinking the task: separate it into micro-steps so small they feel doable
- Setting gentle external cues: use a timer or music playlist to create a sense of momentum
- Connecting with your breath: take a minute or two to notice your breath’s natural flow as it moves through you, to bring you back into your body and out of the overthinking mind
- Focusing on completion, rather than perfection: the phrase ‘done is better than perfect’ can be helpful to remember
These strategies work best when they feel kind and achievable, not punishing or rigid.
ADHD brain vs ‘normal’ brain: what’s the difference?
Everyone’s brain filters, prioritises and processes information differently. But ADHD brains have unique patterns in how they handle attention, motivation and emotion, which can prove difficult.
See an overview comparison in the table below.
How to focus and manage your time with ADHD
Even with the best intentions, staying organised with ADHD can feel like trying to hit a moving target. Traditional productivity methods often don’t work because they rely on consistent motivation, which is something the ADHD brain doesn’t always provide.
The key is to build systems that work with your attention patterns, not against them.
We’ve summarised practical strategies you can use right away, to help develop focus in a way that works with ADHD brains.
Productivity tips for ADHD
1. Build flexibility into your day
Rigid schedules can backfire. Instead, allow extra transition time between tasks and accept that focus naturally ebbs and flows, without berating yourself.
2. Use visual tools
Planners, wall calendars, or colour-coded digital apps help make time feel more visible. Try breaking your day into blocks, with clear start and end times.
3. Try the five-minute rule
If starting feels impossible, commit to just five minutes. Once you begin, the reward centre in your brain is activated and momentum often follows.
4. Pair less interesting tasks with stimulation
Listen to upbeat music, podcasts, or body-doubling videos while tackling work you find more tedious or repetitive. This makes tasks feel more engaging.
5. Externalise reminders
Don’t rely solely on your memory to get things done; use any resources at your disposal. Sticky notes, calendar alerts, alarms, and voice reminders can all help to reduce your mental load.
6. Reward progress, not perfection
Small wins count. Acknowledge the effort you’ve put in, rather than waiting until the end outcome to celebrate yourself. This reinforces your motivation in an ADHD-friendly way.
7. Breaking down tasks into subtasks
Focusing on one step at a time will reduce the amount of task-related overwhelm you’ll feel. It mitigates information overload, and with more opportunities for a dopamine reward, you’ll be motivated to keep progressing towards completion.
8. Eisenhower matrix
This matrix helps you understand how to prioritise tasks according to urgency and importance. Rather than feeling pressured to do everything at once, setting and failing to meet unrealistic deadlines, you can make more informed decisions around time management.
9. Change your environment
Creating a calm area to work in can make a huge difference in focus levels. Many people can focus better without visual clutter or sensory overload from noise and movement. Others are better able to focus in an environment with people around them, where they know they won’t be interrupted (such as in a cafe, wearing headphones). Others feel motivated by seeing nature around them. It’s about finding the environment that works for you.
