Hey friend,

You know the sort of day I mean: you sit down, determined to get some work done, and the next thing you know your brain has usurped control of your limbs. You look up at the clock and realise that three hours have passed and you’re no closer to anything you were intending to do. If you have ADHD, this could be a fairly normal experience for you. It’s certainly been that way for me. Easy? No. But it can get better. The problem is, focus is hard for everybody. It’s just that for those of us with ADHD, it can feel like trying to catch a firefly in a tornado.

Staying present when it matters is difficult, but not impossible. It just requires a little game-planning, a pinch of self-insight and (I’ll admit) some patience. It’s been my challenge, too, but I’ve picked up a few tricks along the way. It’s time to up our games with some tactics for on-point presentness.

Embrace the Power of Routine

Let’s start with routines. Routines might sound dull (and I thought they were, until I discovered their benefits). But when you structure your day, you take away a lot of the worry from your brain. You’re not having to ask yourself: what am I supposed to do next? You’ve already decided.

Start small. Create a habitual morning routine that provides a predictable start to the working day. This doesn’t have to be a greasy-jacketed drill sergeant – just something simple and regular. Make the bed. Make the coffee. Do some gentle stretches. Stick to it. Then, eventually, your brain can calibrate itself, something like ‘Okay, we are getting ready to focus now.’

Tip: Pair the behaviour you want to make routine with something else you love, such as a podcast or music you can’t get enough of that will put you in the right frame of mind to do it. Make it a point to look forward to your routine.

Break It Down: The Magic of Microtasks

One of the biggest focus-suckers for ADHD is the overwhelm of big tasks. Ever looked at a project and thought to yourself: ‘Oh my gosh. There’s no way I am going to be able to get this done.’ That overwhelm is a surefire way to torpedo your focus before you ever even had the chance to get going.

The hack? Desegment it. Take, for instance, this massive daunting task of yours; slice it up into mind-numbingly small actionable items. They must be so tiny that it almost seems ridiculous to think that doing them would ever lead to completion of the task. Even tiny and easy tasks feel daunting, so if you can break tasks down far enough you’ll be able to start on something. Starting is often the hardest part of any endeavour.

For example, instead of "Write report," your tasks might look like:

Open laptop and create a new document.

Write the title.

Jot down three key points.

Each step is little, feasible, and keeps you forging ahead. Sooner than you knew it, you’ll be stuck in the project.

Time Blocking: Your Secret Weapon

With time blocking, you literally trick your brain into staying focused by allotting chunks of time for different activities throughout your day. The idea is to devote each block to one thing and one thing only. No multitasking.

Pick a big, daunting task – an assignment that you don’t want to think about. You can’t go traipsing around all day because you have papers to grade, so instead, plan blocks of time: 10 a.m to 11 a.m, write notes; 1 p.m to 2 p.m, outline.

The rule: Stick to the blocks. When the time is up, move on to the next thing, even if you didn’t quite finish that thing. This limits burnout for each thing, and gives your brain some variety to work on over the course of the day.

Oh, and don’t forget time out! The brain needs time out if you’re overfocusing.

Pomodoro Technique: Mastering Short Bursts of Focus

If you don’t like the thought of it taking a lot of time, how about the Pomodoro Technique, which is a popular one – for a reason, might I add? Here’s how it works: you work for 25 minutes and then you take a 5-minute break. After four rounds of that, you take a longer break (between 15 and 30 minutes).

But why is it so effective? It’s about those bursts of attention. You know that you have to focus only for 25 minutes, which is much more doable than staring down an hour or two of work. And the thought of a quick break can encourage you to keep going.

Countless Pomodoro timers are available online or on your phone; give it a try and see how much more you manage in those little bursts of focused energy.

Eliminate Distractions (Or at Least Minimize Them)

You’ve been there too – you’re working, and next thing you know you’re on to some social media or YouTube binge. Distraction is the enemy of focus for sure. People with ADHD are especially sensitive to this.

The hard part: cutting out distractions requires a fair bit of self-awareness, plus some planning. So, first: figure out your biggest distractions. Your phone? The web? Ambient sound?

Put your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ or out of sight while you work; if you are at your computer, apps such as Focus@Will or Cold Turkey will block distraction sites during a work session.

A third suggestion: develop a dedicated focus workspace. If it’s possible, find a place where you work and don’t do anything else — no lying on the couch, no TV watching, just work. If you can enter this space and do only work, then, every time you enter this space, your brain goes into focus mode.

Use Your Hyperfocus for Good

And not talked about enough is another ADHD superpower: hyperfocus. You can zone in on something and hours can speed past you and you get so much done. Hyperfocus can be a double-edged sword (I’m talking to you, video-game binge!), but you can use it.

The trick is to leverage our hyperfocus when working on things that matter. To do this, we need to set up our environment and routine in such a way that hyperfocus can happen. This means getting rid of distracting elements, starting with small tasks to develop momentum, and working on something that is at least a little bit interesting.

When you get there, simply sit with hyperfocus. Ride that wave all the way home. By all means, pay attention to the clock – have some alarm or way to check in with yourself so you don’t drift off into Neverland too long – but, for the moment, don’t try to shift gears.

Move Your Body, Move Your Mind

Notice how you feel like you are in a fog when you sit still for too long. You are in a fog because your body is telling you that you need to move. Movement is a game-changer for focus – particularly for those of us with ADHD.

You don’t have to go to the gym, either: just moving a bit here and there during the day can be quite helpful. Take a five-minute stretch break at your desk, go for a walk, or even do a quick dance around the room. Moving your body that way improves your blood flow, engages your brain and can get you back on track.

If stuck on a problem or task, ‘walk it out’ – break the cycle by walking away and then moving around.

Fuel Your Focus

For a moment, let’s talk about food. Any thing you ingest (or deingest) is going to affect how well you can focus. Haven’t tried to work while hungry? You’ll hardly go hungry.

Eating about every four hours provides steady and stable energy levels to your brain. Try to eat foods that contain protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates (such as nuts, eggs, whole grains, and veggies). It’s tempting to grab a donut, cookie or candy but these foods give you a quick jolt of energy which is followed by a crash.

Oh, and drink some water! When that afternoon sluggishness hits, it might not be a focus problem. It could be your brain saying ‘Hydrate, you idiot.’ Keep a water bottle close and take sips throughout the day.

Use Tools That Work for You

It’s true that tools are your friend in the ADHD world – the to-do list app, the reminder system, the sticky notes.

Try a bunch of productivity apps until something sticks – be it a task manager (Todoist), an ADHD-friendly task manager (TickTick), or perhaps a bullet journal, in which you can scribble to-dos and ideas in ways that make sense to you.

A popular way to do this is to use the technique of time tracking – track your days with an app that will show you where your time is spent. Spend more time on the things that help you focus and less time on the things that don’t.

Practice Self-Compassion

Here’s one: be gentle. ADHD makes it harder to focus and, just like everyone else, there will be days when work feels like you are pushing a boulder up a steep hill. It is so easy to get frustrated or down on yourself when you are working hard and not getting what you want.

But the compassion part is critical. Recognise that focus is a muscle – the more you build it, the more it will grow. If you happen to have a bad day, that’s OK; tomorrow, pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes and try again. There are bound to be some ups and downs. That’s part of life. Progress is not always linear and that’s totally fine.

Learn to enjoy the small victories, and realise that any step in the right direction, no matter how little progress it seems to make, is still a step in the right direction.

Find Your Flow with Mindfulness

Mindfulness sounds woo-woo, I know. Just try it – even I am amazed at how quickly it can quiet the ADHD mind and settle me on the Focus Bus.

Begin with just a few minutes daily. Perhaps it’s as simple as sitting quietly, focusing when your thoughts wander – and they will wander – bringing your attention back to the task. When you do that over and over again, week by week, you’ll discover that it gets easier and easier to rein in your thoughts and bring them back to the job at hand.

It is something you can do throughout the day, whether through meditation or by doing things like eating or walking. You simply need to pay attention to the activity during that period. Mindfulness means that the brain is engaged in a task, and it enhances one’s ability to focus over time.

Conclusion: Progress Over Perfection

So the bottom line with ADHD is, do what works. There isn’t any one thing that works for all of us. It’s okay to experiment with what you can, and to tweak as you go. And it’s okay to look for progress, not perfection.

Focus is a practice. Like all practices, some days you nail it and some days not. That’s just the way it is.

So, cut yourself some slack, keep experimenting with your tactics, and let me repeat: you can do this. Maintaining flow at the moment of truth is possible – if you’re patient, and equipped with the right tools.

Take care of yourself, and keep making progress, one small step at a time.

ADHD and Focus: How to Stay in the Zone When It Matters