I'm a Neurodivergent Psychologist & These 5 Things Get My ADHD Brain Into Gear

Motivation is commonly a struggle for people with ADHD. We hear teachers, parents, employers, and others call us “lazy” as a result. It is true that many people with ADHD have issues with procrastination, fail to start or complete tasks, and struggle to self-motivate. We tend to internalize these negative messages, wearing on our self-esteem.

No one set of tricks will work for everyone. It is important to try different things and choose the best tactics for you in your environment. That being said, here are five tips that have helped me as a psychologist who has ADHD.

Reinforcement Schedules

Dopamine is the brain chemical that causes us to feel various positive experiences, including pleasure, satisfaction, and achievement. When we complete a task and feel good about it, that's the dopamine surging through your brain.

People with ADHD tend to process dopamine differently than those without ADHD—while neurotypical brains often experience motivation as a result of dopamine, many of those with ADHD have disruptions in our dopamine pathways that interfere with this process. As a result, someone with ADHD might not experience the same dopamine effects when accomplishing non-preferred tasks or when we have to put in a lot of effort to achieve the desired outcome.

Have you wondered why you just can’t motivate yourself like other people can? Wondered why you can’t make yourself just Do The Task already? If you have ADHD, this may be the reason. Your brain is not providing automatic rewards.

So, when we have tasks to complete, it can help to set up our own reward system or reinforcement schedule. Then, we can identify specific achievement points in the task so that rewards come relatively frequently (for example, when writing a paper, we can earn a reward each time we write a certain number of words).

Choose rewards that you find motivating, and remember that you can change them at any time you don't feel motivated by them anymore. Since an ADHD brain craves novelty, it might lose interest in a reward we wanted in the past—that's okay! The important thing is that it motivates us now.

Dueling Projects

This is a strategy I came up with when I first became an author. Writing a book is not easy and takes a long time, and the dopamine of finishing a task is so far away, especially when you first get started. It can feel impossible even to start working on a large project, one that you know will take months to complete. In addition, since ADHD brain craves novelty, any topic will start to feel boring over a long enough period of time, and focus becomes more difficult.

My solution is always to have two projects in progress at a time. When one topic starts to feel boring, I can switch to the other project and make progress. When that topic starts to get boring, I switch back, and the first topic feels novel again.

Scheduling That Works for You

People with ADHD tend to have difficult relationships with sleep and are at higher risk for sleep disorders than the rest of the population; however, it's theorized that this may be due in part to a difference in circadian rhythm for those with ADHD. Standard work schedules in the U.S. are typically 9 to 5, emphasizing starting work early in the morning and being productive during daytime hours.

An ADHD diagnosis entitles you to workplace accommodations, so you can talk to your employer about changing your work schedule to fit your needs. You can also shift your sleep schedule based on your own natural rhythm.

In addition, some people with ADHD require specific, set schedules to stay on top of things, but others do better with ever-changing schedules. Determine what fits your needs and motivates your brain, and implement that.

Lean Into Your Interests

It is much easier to focus on something that we enjoy. This is true for everyone, but even more so for us with ADHD.

What are your interests and preferred tasks? What do you enjoy doing? How can you incorporate those tasks into your day or into other tasks that you tend to avoid or struggle with? If you can make a task more interesting by tying it into something else that you truly enjoy, that can make the less-preferred task more desirable.

Outsourcing

Some tasks are not enjoyable, and we will not look forward to them regardless of how we frame them, break them down, or reward ourselves for completing them. Everything we do takes energy, and non-preferred tasks take even more energy because we have to overcome our reluctance to start or keep going. The more undesirable the task is, the harder it will be to start and continue.

For example, I struggle with keeping my home clean. There are so many tasks I would rather do than vacuum my living room, so I use a cleaning service that comes twice per month and does that for me. That frees up my energy for other tasks that do not drain me in the same way. I've spoken with other ADHDers who use services for things like laundry, meal prep, and other daily tasks that cause a lot of difficulties.

Even if something is not technically impossible for you, it is okay to seek support or outsource the task to professionals if it's within your means. You deserve to access the support you need. If you can afford these services, there is no shame in using them.

Everyone’s brain motivates in its own way, and those with ADHD tend to have particular difficulty starting and following through on tasks. Finding the motivation techniques and schedule that work for you can make important tasks manageable.