You never forget to make coffee. Now your coffee reminds you to take your vitamins.
The ADHD Habit Builder hooks the stuff you keep forgetting onto things you already do every day. Three taps. Ready in 3 minutes.
Try it right here. Pick, pick, pick, save.
0.0sHint hint π Flowers are nice. An empty sink before anyone asks? That's romance.
New planner. New app. New routine. It works great. For about two and a half days.
That usually gets called a willpower problem. It isn't. Most habit advice runs on two things: remember to do it, then make yourself do it. Those are two of the executive functions ADHD brains find hardest. So the method breaks, and the person gets the blame.
It skips willpower. It hooks the new thing onto something you already do.
Pick your starter move
Something that happens every day anyway. Making coffee. Brushing your teeth. Plugging in your phone.
Pick a two-minute task
The small thing you keep meaning to do. Take your vitamins. Reply to that one text. Start the laundry.
Pick a reward
Something instantly nice. Pet the dog. One funny video. Say βBoom, handled!β out loud.
Coffee's made, so you check your planner, so the first sip is yours. Your coffee does the remembering for you.
Why the reward? ADHD brains run on interest, not importance. Dr. William Dodson calls it the interest-based nervous system. A small hit of βthat was niceβ is what brings you back tomorrow.
Do It Before They Ask
For when you live with someone who ends up being your reminder app.
If you live with a partner, you know the sentences. Half the time you were about to do it. They just got there first. Then it turns into a whole thing, and nobody enjoys that part.
Tap the one you hear most β
- 12 sentences ready to tap, from the trash to βyou never text me back.β
- Hear something that isn't on the list? Type it in and pick when it needs to happen.
- Don't like the version you get? Tap βShow me another version.β
Fewer reminders for you. Less keeping track for them.
Everything in one small app.
Go on, tick them off. It feels good. That's the point.
Eric Whittington. Almost 2 million people follow Eric online because he's funny and honest about ADHD. He's an executive function coach at a mental-health practice, and he has ADHD himself.
My whole routine started with washing my face. That's it. One tiny thing, every day. Everything else got stacked on later.
So start with one. Three minutes from now it's built.
Love from ADHD Ave,
Eric