In Part 1 of my series about ADHD and procrastination, I introduced Dr. Thomas E. Brown’s executive function model for ADHD.

In my last article, I spoke about procrastination and how focus challenges can lead us down a path of avoidance.

The third common EF challenge that Thomas E. Brown discusses in his book, Smart but Stuck, is “Effort.”

He explains effort in terms of “regulating alertness, sustaining effort, and processing speed.”

Regulating Alertness:
Regulating alertness can undoubtedly be tricky when one has a tough time falling asleep on time. This is a common refrain from many ADHDers. Drowsiness, though, may occur during a mundane or sedentary task, even if someone got plenty of sleep the night before. Dr. Brown mentions that this drowsiness can especially appear when one must do a task that requires very little movement, such as writing or reading. Given the situational variability of ADHD, though, if the subject matter is of substantial interest, the ADHDer will not experience this symptom. They may be able to hyperfocus for hours because the task is of interest. If the interest is low, though, they may find it hard to stay alert; try as they might.  

Most individuals I meet do not enjoy dealing with paperwork. They find it monotonous. It also requires a lot of sitting still and reading. Imagine that an individual needs to organize his papers before a friend comes over to help him get a better understanding of his financial situation. This individual may procrastinate on pulling the necessary papers together because he knows that if he waits until the last minute, he will feel sufficient urgency to stay alert while doing the task.  The challenge with this strategy is that the individual risks running out of time and thus having an unproductive meeting with his friend, which will leave them both feeling dissatisfied.

In what other way could this individual raise the alertness without relying on stress? He may do exercise to raise his energy level right before sitting down to the task. Not only will he feel more alert, but he may be able to better focus afterward as well. He can turn on music that energizes him and wakes up his senses. He might sort the papers while slowly walking on a treadmill under his desk. He might race the clock to create some artificial interest. Perhaps he sprints through the task in many lighting rounds. All of these tactics help raise the alertness to get the job done.

Sustaining Effort:
Someone with ADHD may have trouble staying on the course until they reach a goal. In the example above, the individual sits down to organize the papers but has difficulty continuing the monotonous task long enough to complete it. He may abandon the ship sooner than required to complete the task. Without an immediate reward, the individual may procrastinate on returning to the task after a break because his friend is not coming over for another week. The reward of feeling relief after meeting with his friend is too far in the future to make a difference.

In this case, he can set up multiple short sprints of paper sorting. Each session would last as long as he could remain focused. He may raise interest by creating a more immediate reward. Better yet, he may reward himself for each sprint. In this way, he does not have to wait for the distant future reward of feeling that anticipated sense of relief after meeting with his friend.

Processing Speed:
ADHD may affect how quickly one processes information. In an area of low interest, it can take someone much longer to read or write than their neurotypical counterpart. The low interest may not only feel boring but also take quite a bit of time to complete. If the individual who must sort his papers is unaware of this, he may severely underestimate how long the task will take. He risks not having the paperwork project completed before his friend arrives. In this case, he can do himself a favor by tripling or quadrupling his initial time estimate. When he catches himself wanting to procrastinate, his new estimate will reveal less time available than he initially thought he had.  

Does this executive function of effort create a challenge for you? If so, can you pinpoint which three subcategories (regulating alertness, sustaining effort, and processing speed) are present? If so, then go ahead and create multiple strategies so you can sustain your efforts long enough to reach your goals and feel great as a result!

So, you made a fabulous jump into readiness to tackle your project. Excellent! You immediately look at your calendar to block off time for the week. Then, the week stops you in your tracks. You cannot undo any of the commitments in this week’s calendar. You scan the month for the next long weekend. Alas, nothing is coming up. You really want to capitalize on your motivation to start before other projects grab your attention. What to do?

Looking for significant time gaps to devote to decluttering, organizing, and paperwork is logical. The challenge is that those lengthy gaps can be difficult to find, especially during a busy week. If you find a big gap, you may be too tired by the time it rolls around or want to relax after a long week.

Why not try the opposite? Set an alarm for between five and fifteen minutes. Work on that project for no more than fifteen minutes. Your alarm goes off, and you stop.

I typically hear the pushback: “What can I possibly get done in fifteen minutes? This massive project will take me forever if I only devote fifteen minutes at a time.”

The resistance is natural; we absolutely cannot finish most organizing projects in fifteen minutes. So, why bother with such short segments of time that we presuppose will be unsatisfying? Why not look for larger blocks of time?

I am often told that when that large block of time rolls around, it is so intimidating that the project stops before it starts. It is simply too big and scary.

Why would I encourage so many of my clients to employ this strategy if I get so much initial pushback? Simply put, it works. Clients who use this tactic are genuinely shocked at how well it works.

We have already established that waiting for a large time gap does not typically work. You are much more likely to find fifteen or even five minutes of free time in a day. You might surprise yourself with what you can do in those short minutes. Plus, those short minutes add up.

Imagine you find and devote five minutes today, five minutes tomorrow, and ten minutes the rest of the week. By the end of the week, you have worked on your project for sixty minutes! Now, you are sixty minutes closer to your decluttering goal than you would be waiting for a two-hour gap and finding none.

Fifteen minutes a day is one hundred five minutes by the end of the week. That is four hundred twenty minutes by the end of the month. Suddenly, manageable fifteen-minute increments turned into seven hours of accomplishments in one month’s time! Seven hours! Meanwhile, had you waited for that two-hour gap, you would only have managed two hours by the end of the month.

Why else does this strategy work? Fifteen minutes is far less intimidating than hours at a time. This approachability is essential. If a large gap of time feels scary, we will move away from it. You can start with five minutes and work up to fifteen minutes. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. Ripping off the band-aid and exposing yourself to the initial discomfort of decluttering and letting go becomes much easier when you only do it a few minutes at a time.

The most important reason this tactic works is habit. You expose yourself to doing the work by repeating the fifteen-minute practice daily. The more you repeat it, the more natural it will feel. You are practicing decluttering and getting rid of extraneous items daily. With time, it becomes the norm. Eventually, you become anesthetized from the initial discomfort of letting go. You may even start viewing it as a way to care for yourself, like brushing your teeth.

So why not give it a shot this week? Grab some garbage bags and a timer and see how much easier decluttering can feel fifteen minutes at a time!