Aug 30

Ever been given a big assignment and decided you needed to give yourself an entire week to do it? You cleared your plate and then avoided, procrastinated, “researched” and otherwise wasted 80% of that time before a wall of shame, guilt and dread pushed you into action in the final hour?

Of course you have!

It's a pattern faithfully followed by ADHD brains all over the world, for the simple reason that that's how ADHD brains have been created to function.

It takes a lot of time pressure for an ADHD brain to get a ball rolling (particularly a big ball like a critical project). And so, if you're like many ADHDers, you give yourself extra time. You clear your plate, and you try to do the big important thing for 2, 3, 4 times the amount of time you think it "should" take.

It makes sense. If it takes you more time, you should give yourself more time- right?

Actually, no.

Parkinson's Law

If you give yourself twice the time, you’ll spend twice the time. But you won't spend twice the time working. You’ll spend all that extra time (and probably a little more) in a combination of avoidance, guilt, and shame mixed with a heavy dose of procrastination.

Parkinson's Law with an ADHD brain:

Parkinson's Law is true for all brains, ADHD, or not. But, it plays out in a particular way for the ADHD brain that requires extra attention. The original theory was posited that work will take that long because people will do the bulk of it at the beginning but then not finish it- coming back and perfect it over and over. But that’s not how it really goes, right?!? Not for ADHD brains at least!

ADHD and procrastination — Because the ADHD brain is motivated by external factors (most reliably time), it usually spends most of the beginning of a given time window in a warm-up mode. It's not exactly moving forward on a task, but it's not entirely absorbed in something else, either. It's about a 5-15% effort. Maybe you sort of think of the task, or even open a document or perhaps you just do something else while feeling guilty about not doing the task.

Either way, you are not wholly doing or not doing that task that you intended to be at hand.
Once the time pressure starts to build, however, the brian switches on, and it starts to move. You may even happen upon the combo effect of time pressure and interest and hit the ADHD jackpot of hyperfocus and then you really start flying.

All this would be okay (really, truly, it would be) except that warm-up time when your brain is at 5-15% effort is actually pretty draining. It's just enough effort that you aren’t doing something that you love or that’s fueling you, but it's not so much that you're able to be very productive, either. So you end up feeling bad about yourself and stuck in an old pattern. Which makes it harder to get up to the 90-110% you need at the end of the day to get the work done.

It also just feels terrible.

All that time spent pouring over Pinterest, researching the very best instapot that will solve all your midweek cooking struggles, or scrolling your newsfeed isn't bad in and of itself. In fact, these are all wonderful resources and ways to spend your time. But, when you do them with the guilt and shame of knowing you are supposed to be doing something else? That's when it’s toxic.

The Less Time Solution:

What if, instead of giving ourselves 8 hours, we gave ourselves 4, or 3 or 2? What if instead of a week for the project you gave yourself 1.5 days.

What if instead of spending that other time avoiding and feeling guilty, you intentionally built in so many other things in your life (exercise, socializing, passion activities, rest, and fun) that you really only had 3 hours to do your work? How would you feel? Would you be more or less able to focus when you need to?

I know, it sounds crazy. But there is a reason it works:

Time Pressure.

Your brain is motivated by the time crunch. It's why procrastination is so often our most called upon frenemy. Because the push of a deadline spurs us into action. But the thing about procrastination that doesn't work? The guilt, the shame and the avoidance. So let's skip that and instead fill that time with things that fuel our brain.

Now, hear me when I say: This is not permission to lay on the couch for 21 hours and then try to do work for the last 3. That’s not fueling. In fact, that's a surefire way to feel horrible and still not get anything done.

No. What the Less Time Solution is when done right, is creating very defined, smaller time windows to do your high focus work. Then fill the rest of your time with people, with hobbies, with self-care, and with fun. Filling the rest of your time with the things that will fuel your focus and bring balance to your life will give you the energy you need to turn your brain on when you need it most.

The Power of Doing

This is truly something that takes DOING to really get. It counters so much of the standard ADHD thinking, which usually says: but I can't focus. It takes me forever to do things. I need to give myself a lot of time.

And, the truth is, it may take you longer than you wish it did to do some things. But I am willing to bet that it doesn't take as long as you give yourself.

Try turning the equation on its head this week- give yourself LESS time to do the hard things and give yourself MORE time to fill yourself up. See if this new equation gets you feeling better, moving faster, and getting more done.

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