Adult ADHD · 5:52
Practical strategies for adult ADHD
Body doubling, activity coupling, timers, reminders and device boundaries, with support for testing and adapting strategies.
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0:00The point of implementation
In therapy, I find that people often already know what is helpful. They know that getting outside, finishing the laundry or putting the phone away would improve the day. The difficulty is implementing it. Once you try, you meet tiredness, boredom, uncertainty, a task with too many parts, or the familiar voice telling you that you will fail again. I want your reasons for change in your words. What are you trying to make possible: an evening with a friend, a manageable home, or a morning that begins with less rushing? A useful strategy has to work at that point in your life.
0:40A benefit you can picture
It can help to imagine a specific outcome, such as arriving at the appointment without searching for your keys. Then identify the first action that would bring it closer. One recent experiment found that deliberate future imagining improved diary-recorded everyday intentions in adults with ADHD. That is early evidence, and the practical work still includes making the next step possible. One way to do that is coupling activities: folding laundry while watching a favourite programme, or listening to an audiobook while exercising. You can also arrange a sequence: after a defined work block, go for a walk.
1:20Make the pairing useful
Doing the enjoyable activity alongside the useful one is called temptation bundling. Exercise studies in general adults found that audiobook pairings could improve gym attendance, although benefits varied and declined in one study. A reward afterwards is a different arrangement. Adult ADHD reward experiments also improved selected performances, with other outcomes unchanged. Clinically, I ask whether the pairing helps this task. Television may work beside folding clothes and compete with writing a report. If an episode becomes an afternoon and the clothes remain on the sofa, change the arrangement. A walk can be a proper break: take needed rest even when work is unfinished.
2:08Work beside somebody
Body doubling means having another person present while you do a task. They can work on something else, sit quietly nearby or join by video. Sometimes the contribution is that somebody is there and knows you are beginning. People using it describe help with starting, staying with the activity and feeling less overwhelmed. The research includes a community survey and a small virtual-reality experiment; the experiment improved efficiency and perceived focus, while objective accuracy did not significantly improve. I use it as an option to try with the person. Agree on the task, the time and whether quiet companionship or a brief check-in helps.
2:52Make time visible
Time blindness describes losing track of time, underestimating an activity or never turning a plan for later into action. Bring time outside the mind: a visible clock, a countdown, or an estimate checked against actual duration. A Pomodoro timer gives work and rest a defined structure. About twenty-five minutes is a conventional starting point; ten minutes may help you begin, and another activity may need a longer stretch. Student break experiments have produced different results, so we adjust. Decide what you will work on, what the break contains and how you will return. Notice whether the timer supports the activity or repeatedly interrupts useful concentration.
3:38Rehearse a real transition
A chosen transition can need practice. You might struggle to stop, or stop easily and find returning much harder. Before a walk, write one sentence about where you have reached and the next action on your return. Save the document and put your shoes by the door. When you come back, read that sentence before opening anything else. I use this as rehearsal for the real transition, with its materials and cues. Adult switching studies show task-dependent differences; this practice has not been shown to produce general cognitive-flexibility gains. We are making leaving and returning more workable in an actual day.
4:19Let systems carry some remembering
Use a calendar you actually look at. Enter appointments when they are made and set a reminder for the action: “Leave home at nine ten,” rather than an alert when the appointment starts. Give keys, glasses and the wallet a home where you put them down. A locating tag can help find belongings. These are practical adaptations. A reminder also needs an available action. An ADHD study of text reminders found some engagement benefits without reliable overall improvements in completion or practice. If an alert arrives during a meeting, or the task is still undefined, work on what happens after the cue.
5:01Change the arrangement and continue
Devices are part of the system. I often recommend deleting social media apps altogether, or moving them to a computer so access becomes deliberate. App restrictions or a simpler phone can create a boundary while preserving useful calendars and reminders. A general-adult trial found attention and wellbeing benefits from blocking mobile internet; it did not test ADHD treatment. The first arrangement will often need changing. A timer stops helping, or the week changes. With an OT, therapist, coach or friend, examine what happened before calling yourself lazy. Shorten the task, move the cue or add support. Take ownership of the next adjustment, with patience and kindness enough to keep trying.