Time Blocking and Other ADHD Strategies You Might Be Avoiding

By Lisa Miller

Let's start with the truth nobody puts on a motivational poster: ADHD is complicated. And sometimes inconvenient. 

The challenges are real: managing time, planning, prioritizing, initiating tasks you'd rather not do, staying focused long enough to finish what you started, blah blah blah. You know the list. You've probably been handed it by a therapist, a doctor, or a well-meaning person who just discovered productivity hacks.

But here's what doesn't get enough airtime–the superpowers. Hyperfocus. A turbo-charged brain that makes connections other people miss. The ability to see solutions nobody else sees. And when the stars align–getting an absolutely absurd amount of stuff done (sometimes in a very short window of time).

The problem is when the two butt heads.

Because here's what happens. The superpowers convince you that you can do it all. And sometimes you can! But sometimes (often) you cannot. Because there are only 24 hours in a day and only one of you. And magical thinking, however delightful, does not bend the space-time continuum.

This is where time blocking comes in. Time blocking (the practice of scheduling specific tasks into specific windows of time) is annoying for exactly the reason it works. It forces us to be realistic. When we actually map out how long things take, we come face to face with the uncomfortable math of our own life. Suddenly the ambitious to-do list doesn't fit. Suddenly we have to choose (or even–gasp–give up something). Suddenly the magical thinking has nowhere to hide.

And the thing we often don’t talk about is that estimating how long things take is a skill. It doesn't come naturally, especially for ADHD brains, which are famously optimistic about time and time blind. It requires practice, repetition, and a willingness to be wrong before you start getting it right.

So why do we avoid it? Well, for starters, it’s mundane, and it forces us to be reasonable. That’s no fun. Avoiding the thing that will help us is one of the most human things there is. It's our brain doing exactly what brains are wired to do: steer away from discomfort and toward ease. 

For ADHD brains especially, the irony runs deep. The very strategies that would reduce overwhelm (timers, to-do lists, schedules, etc.) can feel overwhelming to implement. Sitting down to plan feels less productive than just doing the thing. Scheduling feels restrictive. So we avoid it, and then wonder why we're spiraling. 

If this is you, you are not alone. Help is just a free consultation away!