So you negotiated that work from home solution that sounded like it was going to ease all your commuting, distraction, over-stimulation woes, and now it’s 9 am on Monday morning and your boss expects you to be working.

But- ADHD.

So, instead, you are cleaning the bathroom floor, rewatching the entire season of This Is Us on Hulu, and obsessively scrolling TikTok.

What's an ADHD brain to do?

First, let’s acknowledge that working from home is hard. It has some amazing benefits that work great for your brain- but let’s face it- for a brain that is driven by external accountability- working from home offers some huge challenges too. So, take a moment, acknowledge that and give yourself credit for not just throwing your hands up and sinking into a puddle of despair.

This is hard, and you can do hard things.

Once you have acknowledged the intrinsic struggle you‘re facing, and you‘ve given yourself kudos for facing it- it's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work on making this work-from-home thing really work for your brain. Here are the:

5 steps to being productive when working from home.

Step 1: Create a workspace

I know- you’re at home, and you have so many comfy spots- what's the fun of working from home if you can't do so in your bed, surrounded by pillows with your laptop perched on your lap? (I mean that's how they got their name, right?)

I hear you- the call of the bed, the couch, or the easy chair in the corner is loud and strong. But you know why they’re appealing? Because that’s where your brain (and body) go to chill out. That space is designed for relaxation, and your brain is used to doing a whole lot of nothing whenever it's there.

Our brains are highly environmentally dependent- that means that the actions we do and the things that we learn in any given space are best recalled in that space. In fact, in 1975 researchers in England tasked a bunch of students with learning a series of word pairs while in scuba suits at the bottom of a pool. Half of the students were then tested on those pairs on dry land while the other half were tested at the bottom of the pool again- guess which group remembered the most pairs? Yup!

The ones back at the bottom of the pool.

Because our brains remember things best when they are surrounded by the things that surrounded it when it was learning. So creating a space in your house to do work- that cues your brain- "yes, I’m at home, but right now I'm supposed to be working." Look for a space that is:

Quiet

Keeping out as much external noise distractions as possible is essential to remain focused. If quiet is not a possibility, then some high-quality noise-canceling headphones will substitute nicely (or less high-quality earplugs will do the trick, as well.)

Free from visual distractions

Did your quick drive to organize your closet, once and for all, result in an explosion of clothes without any resulting order? That's ok. But make sure it isn't visible from your workspace- there’s nothing like a big, essential but utterly boring work project staring you in the face to make finishing that closet organization seem like a great idea.

Comfortable

Your workspace should be comfortable. Not, lazy-boy kind of comfortable, but somewhere you can sit for several hours without pain. So grab that old desk chair or, better yet, your old yoga ball, and roll it on over so your body can sustain some extra effort.

Step 2: Distraction Management

Next, you need to manage all the other external distractions- your phone being the biggest one. Every time you resist the urge to do something, you are using energy from those precious executive functioning stores, and you don't get that energy back.

Make a plan and avoid the distractions ahead of time, so you don't have to keep resisting it (or getting sucked into a wormhole of youtube videos) all day. There are a bunch of tools to do this. The most low-tech (but often most effective) version for your phone is just to put it on silent in another room. On your computer, apps like freedom can shut down individual apps or sites during particular hours.

Take a moment, make a list of all the things that tend to distract you when you are working- what are the things that cue you to be distracted? (alerts, browser tabs, kids screaming, boredom, etc.") What are ways that you can avoid the temptation or the cue to be distracted by them? Next, draft a distraction management plan and place it beside your computer at your workstation. (Click here for a free downloadable workspace creation and distraction management plan)

Step 3: Schedules and Structure

I know… I said the two most dreaded S-words in the English language.

I'm not saying you need to stick to the 9-5 routine you had in the office. I'm not even saying you need to sit at your workstation for 8 hours (in fact- please don't).

What I am suggesting is that you figure out what type of schedule works best for you and try your hardest to hold to it- that will provide your brain some structure and regularity which will allow it to stop spinning and hopefully start working.

So, ask yourself a couple of questions:

What times in your day have you been most productive before?
What times of day do you have the most energy?
What times of day are you the most creative?
What other responsibilities are you going to have?
Are you trading off childcare with your spouse?
When will you be taking care of yourself?

Create an optimal schedule for yourself, taking those answers into account. But be reasonable- you will not sit for 8 hours straight. Try for one good stretch at the beginning of your day and one more towards the middle/ end of your day. (What a good stretch is depends on you and your brain and the task at hand.) But I often recommend starting with 2 cycles of 45 minutes with a 10 minute (screen-free) break in between. See how that goes and adjust up or down as you need to.

Step 4: Ask for deadlines or other forms of accountability

ADHD brains only get into action when the pressure is on. Being at home is not going to give you much pressure unless you start to manufacture it. But we all know that just telling yourself that something needs to be done before it actually does isn’t going to work. So, ask your boss for a deadline, ask a respected mentor to read a paper at a specific time, or set up an accountability buddy to check in with about what you’re doing each day. By putting that extra layer of accountability you can build up the pressure that gets your brain moving.

Step 5: Get outside

The isolation of working from home can wear at your well-being just as quickly as the lack of structure can wear on your executive functioning.

So, get out. Go for a walk, a run, a bike ride, a swim- whatever form of outdoor motion you like- do it. Do it every single day. Feel the fresh air in your lungs, the wind in your hair, and the cool breeze on your skin. Remind yourself that the world is still turning and whatever work (or procrastination) drama might be unfolding on zoom is just a small piece of your life.

Not only with a dose of nature do wonders for your mental well-being, but studies show that 20 minutes in green space improves focus and concentration. So getting your body moving outside can serve double duty for you.

Want to create that ideal work from home space that finally works for your brain?

Download the FREE distraction-busting workspace plan here!