Morning routines, evening routines, exercise routines, self-care routines. Everyone recommends routines as the key to improving your productivity, but do you struggle to stick to routines because of your ADHD? You're not alone. Many adults with ADHD know that routines help with focus and productivity, but their rigidity often feels restrictive or impossible to maintain. The key is building routines that actually work with your ADHD brain.
Research shows that the inattentive type of ADHD is the most common form of ADHD in adults [1]. This is why many individuals with ADHD struggle with time management, organization, and maintaining focus, which can make establishing a consistent routine feel like an uphill battle. Additionally, the desire for novelty and spontaneity, which is common among those with ADHD, can make routines feel boring and restrictive.
With the right approach, you can design a routine that works for you rather than against you. It starts with tailoring your routine to complement your brain's natural tendencies. That way, you can add more structure to your day-to-day while still leaving room for the flexibility and creativity the ADHD brain thrives on.
In this guide, we’ll explore five ADHD-friendly productivity strategies to help you build a routine that actually works for you.
Why ADHD Makes Productivity So Hard and How a Routine Can Help
Ever feel like your brain refuses to cooperate even when you want to be productive? You’re not imagining it. When you have ADHD, you may struggle with distractibility, impulsivity, and difficulty with time management [2]. The lack of structure can worsen these symptoms, leading to procrastination, lower productivity, and more stress and panic.
This is why well-crafted routines can be very helpful. Instead of relying on willpower, routines create structures that let your brain effortlessly glide down a productive track.
Routines make starting tasks easier by reducing decision fatigue, improve time management by creating predictable structure, help you prioritize so the most important tasks don’t get lost, and reduce stress by turning chaos into a clear action plan.
Rigid routines don’t work for ADHD. To make a routine stick, it has to be flexible and designed to work with your brain, not against it. Let’s explore how.
How a Consistent Routine Supports ADHD Productivity
- Separates Deciding from Doing: A routine minimizes decision fatigue and keeps your mind on track.
- Mental Clarity through Task Clarity: Knowing what comes next helps reduce overwhelm and anxiety.
- Facilitates Organization & Planning: Routines introduce structure to your daily schedule, making planning easier.
- Boosts Time Management Skills: Routine building improves your ability to prioritize and complete tasks efficiently.
- Supports Work-Life Balance: A well-planned routine ensures you make time for self-care, work, and other important priorities.
- Reduces Procrastination & Stress: Predictability makes it easier to start tasks without overthinking.
- Builds Momentum & Motivation: Small daily wins create a sense of progress, reinforcing good habits.
A routine allows you to break the busiest days down into smaller, more manageable goals, which is especially helpful if you often feel overwhelmed or scattered. As you achieve these small milestones throughout the day, you may feel a better sense of accomplishment and purpose, creating a positive feedback loop that encourages you to stick with your routine long-term.
Let's explore five practical ADHD-friendly strategies to create a routine that actually sticks.
1. Start with Small, Achievable Goals
Building a productive routine with ADHD begins with small, manageable steps.
Simplify elaborate, ambitious plans into one bite-size action at a time to make them feel less intimidating and easier to achieve. Focusing on one change at a time gives you the dopamine you need to reinforce the routine without overloading yourself.
For example, let's say you feel overwhelmed when you enter the office every morning. You can create a simple routine to make your mornings more manageable. You might start by organizing your desk. As this becomes a routine, you can add another step or two, such as clearing your inbox before reviewing and writing down your most important tasks for the day.
You can also make it a point to celebrate every win, no matter how small—this can help boost your motivation and confidence. If you have a to-do list, each task you check off is a milestone to celebrate. If you manage to stay focused on the task for longer, this is another accomplishment you can acknowledge with a small reward.
💡 ADHD Productivity Tip: Small wins build momentum, making it easier to stick to routines without burnout.
2. Use Visual Cues and Productivity Tools
There's no reason to rely on pure willpower and memory to get you through your day. There are tons of ADHD-friendly tools and resources, many of which are free or affordable, to help you practice your routine and improve your productivity.
Here are some practical ways to incorporate ADHD productivity tools into your daily routine:
- Use visual cues to stay on track: Tools like wall calendars, sticky notes, and color-coded systems provide constant reminders of tasks and deadlines, and you can use them to remind you of routines you are building Additionally, you can also associate the start of a routine with certain items. For example, every time you walk through a door, do 5 pushups or air squats if you are trying to establish a regular exercise habit.
- Leverage technology for better time management: Use Google calendar, ADHD productivity apps and other kinds of digital planners to help you organize tasks, create a visual schedule to follow, set priorities, and stay focused. Makers of technology solutions like us here at Flow Club tend to have studied and baked into their products best practices and methods to facilitate outcomes. If you're looking for the best ADHD apps for productivity, check out this guide on must-have ADHD apps for 2024.
- Join an online accountability group – Working with others can give you the motivation you need to practice your routines. This strategy, known as body doubling, is particularly helpful for adults with ADHD, as it provides external accountability to help you practice the routine you are trying to make stick. Learn more about how body doubling works and why it’s an ADHD productivity hack. some text
- Flow Club is one example of a digital platform that allows you to work alongside other people who want to get things done. Join a session, share what routine you are looking to practice, and let the group support you in practicing your routine.
💡 ADHD Productivity Tip: Externalize motivation with visual cues, usestructured tools that reduce cognitive overload, and join accountability groups like Flow Club that help keep you accountable and feeling supported even on your worst days.
3. Make Your Routines Flexible
When you think of routines on a schedule, you might assume they're rigid and boring. The good news is that you can design routines that embrace flexibility and allow for adjustments based on your preferences and energy levels throughout the day.
Here are some ways to make building routines flexible::
- Prioritize your routines: Identify the most important routine you want to lock down first before moving on to new ones.
- Designate Off Days: If your routine has not yet become a habit and you are still mustering up a lot of motivation to practice it everyday, plan for a day off every X days. For example, make Saturday your unstructure, routine-less day. This lets you look forward to the day off and mixes things up for your ADHD brain.
- Build in buffer time: Time blindness—common in ADHD—can make it hard to estimate how long tasks take. Before you really figure out how long a routine takes, allot more time for you to practice them, and keep track of how long it takes you. Doing this with a timer, in an environment like Flow Club, is one way to figure out how long it really takes. Scheduling buffer time also prevents getting frustrated.
- Review and adjust regularly: At the end of each day or week, assess how your routines are working and make changes. As you go, you might find that a self-care routine is better practiced earlier in the evening because you don’t want to wait until you have no energy and end up neglecting yourself.
- Make room for spontaneity: Research shows that the ADHD brain craves novelty [3]. You can allow space for spontaneity in your routine building process. For instance, you may want to explore new music while practicing your morning routine. You may want to take a different route on your daily 10k steps. Same routines, but keep them dynamic to prevent monotony.
Designing flexible routine helps you respond better to unforeseen events or shifts in priorities and how you are responding to the process.
💡 ADHD Productivity Tip: Build flexibility into your routines by balancing structure with breaks, reflection and spontaneity, making it easier to adopt good habits without feeling boxed in.
4. Variable Rewards to Boost Motivation
Incentives are also a great way to stay motivated and engaged when trying to make your routines stick. Understanding how dopamine affects ADHD is crucial for rewards to work effectively. Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain that plays a key role in motivation, reward, and satisfaction [4]. By planning different rewards that trigger dopamine for completing your routine each day, you can turn what’s become routine (read: boring) into opportunities for enjoyment and new stimulation, making it easier to keep going.
These rewards don't have to be extravagant. They can be as simple as enjoying a treat one day, reading an affirmation the next day, and spending 10 minutes reading a fun book the day after. The key is finding simple pleasures enjoy and linking them to when you successfully complete your routine
💡 ADHD Productivity Tip: Pair breaks with small rewards to boost motivation. A quick treat or a short video can make tasks more engaging and help sustain focus.
5. Review and Adjust Regularly
Building a productive ADHD routine is an ongoing process. Regularly reviewing your routine is essential to ensure it’s working for you and helping you meet your goals.
Take the time to evaluate what’s working well and what needs to be adjusted. You can also schedule regular check-ins to ensure your routine stays in sync with your changing lifestyle and commitments. By making adjustments based on these evaluations, you can keep your routine flexible and effective.
Here are some pointers to keep in mind when reviewing and adjusting your routine:
- Assess your energy levels: Are certain times of the day more productive? Shift your routine to match your natural energy peaks.
- Look for patterns: Are certain routines easier to adopt than others? Consider learning from what makes those routines easier to stick.
- Adjust for life changes: Add new routines or remove old ones based on your evolving responsibilities and priorities.
- Experiment with new strategies: Try different tools and tips to support your routine building.
This willingness to experiment with different approaches helps you discover unexpected ways to improve your routine. It keeps your routine dynamic, interesting, and practical, making it sustainable in the long run.
💡 ADHD Productivity Tip: Regular check-ins help you refine your routine, making small tweaks that add up to big improvements over time.
Flow Club supports ADHDers building productive routines and habits
Remember, building a productive routine with ADHD is a journey of self-discovery and growth. Progress comes from trial and error, finding what works, letting go of what doesn’t, and staying open to change.
If you’re looking for real-time accountability and a supportive community to help build your routines, join us at Flow Club—a virtual coworking space designed to help you stay focused, motivated, and on track. Our members are constantly building new routines and practicing existing ones that are working for them in our sessions.
References
[1] Ayano, G., Tsegay, L., Gizachew, Y., Necho, M., Yohannes, K., Abraha, M., Demelash, S., Anbesaw, T., & Alati, R. (2023). Prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults: Umbrella review of evidence generated across the globe. Psychiatry Research, 328, 115449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115449
[2] de la Peña, I. C., Pan, M. C., Thai, C. G., & Alisso, T. (2020). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Predominantly Inattentive Subtype/Presentation: Research Progress and Translational Studies. Brain sciences, 10(5), 292. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050292
[3] Sethi, A., Voon, V., Critchley, H. D., Cercignani, M., & Harrison, N. A. (2018). A neurocomputational account of reward and novelty processing and effects of psychostimulants in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Brain : a journal of neurology, 141(5), 1545–1557. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awy048
[4] Juárez Olguín, H., Calderón Guzmán, D., Hernández García, E., & Barragán Mejía, G. (2016). The Role of Dopamine and Its Dysfunction as a Consequence of Oxidative Stress. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2016, 9730467. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/9730467
[5] Photo by Prophsee Journals on Unsplash
