Bonus: Fall Back Into Routines Part 1

I don’t know about you, but August can leave my ADHD brain feeling untethered.

Part of me grasps at the relative freedom of the warm summer months…

While another part geeks out over back-to-school supplies, eager for more regular rhythms.

I know it’s time to pivot…but I’m fighting myself to make it happen.

Over the years, I’ve discovered that relying on simple routines is one of the best strategies to ease this transition period.

And I can’t wait to share my special 4-part bonus series with you, which explores exactly that.

Each day from August 5-8, I’m releasing a new podcast podcast episode about creating and sticking to routines with an ADHD brain.

They’re packed with actionable strategies and tips to help build routines that work for you.

Learn the first key strategy below (or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.)

Then, be sure to tap the little follow or subscribe button on your podcast player so you don’t miss the remaining three tips.

By the end of this week, you’ll have the foundations of a solid routine to help ease any big transitions this season.

Also, don’t delay! Because this is a bonus series, it won’t stick around forever. Be sure to watch or listen to the trainings before they disappear on August 20th.

Listen to the episode below, stream it on your favorite podcasting app here, or watch the YouTube video. Prefer to read? No problem! Keep scrolling for the full blog post.

https://youtu.be/nPg1prnNgfo

Prefer to read? No problem! Keep scrolling for a summary of the key takeaways.

Before we jump in, check out my latest group coaching program – I’d love to see you there!

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Disclosure info here.

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Bonus: Fall Back Into Routines Part 1 (Transcript)

Hey, everybody; welcome back to the podcast. Today marks the kickoff of a special bonus series of podcast episodes, which I cannot wait to share with you over the upcoming days. This is a four-part series, with one new episode released each day over the next four days.

This series takes a deep dive into sticking with routines when we have an ADHD brain. Now, I was inspired to create this series at this particular point in time because it’s currently August, which is frankly a little bit hard for me to wrap my head around. But when we hit August and September, this time period tends to mark some pretty big transition points for a lot of us.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, many kids and teachers are headed back to school. Many corporate jobs are shifting from potentially a more relaxed summer schedule into a fuller, busier work week. And for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, you may be gearing up for spring break or have your eye on summer vacation, which is just around the corner.

Honestly, whatever season you’re navigating, whenever we are in these periods of transition, they can leave the ADHD brain feeling a bit untethered. The shift from one type of routine, or lack of routine, into something new, can really leave the brain feeling overwhelmed or confused. For lack of a better description, everything just seems harder. It’s like we’ve changed the level of our day-to-day from normal to difficult mode, you know?

The Power of Routine

That is really where the power of routine can come in. As we will talk about over the next several days, having a solid routine in place can really help us to ease this challenge because we’re able to offload some of the executive functions with which our ADHD brains often struggle. When we can automate certain tasks and implement reliable systems, we can, in turn, reduce that cognitive load a little bit. We can free up some of that mental energy for more demanding activities, more demanding tasks, or the new things that we’re navigating.

This not only helps in ensuring a smoother, bigger-picture transition between seasons, but it can also help set a stronger foundation for the rest of the year. With all of that said, make sure that you have subscribed to or followed the podcast. You can press the little plus button in the corner of your app or click the subscribe button if you are watching on YouTube. That way, you make sure you won’t miss any of these episodes, especially because, as bonuses, they’re only available through Monday, August 19th.

Taking Action

All right, so let’s take action on these strategies. Let’s talk about the top three reasons why we often struggle to establish and stick with our routines and also what we can do about it. What can we do to set ourselves up for success with routines that actually work for your ADHD brain? Today, we are kicking things off by exploring the first big block, which is fantasy planning and unrealistic expectations. So, let’s dive into the training.

Hey there, welcome. My name is Paula Engebretson. I am an ADHD coach and the host of the I’m Busy Being Awesome podcast. Today, we are here to talk about a topic that I think hits close to home for many of us: sticking with a routine when we have an ADHD brain.

Now, I know routines might seem kind of boring. Plus, a lot of us don’t have a very good relationship with routines generally since we’ve tended to struggle with them for most of our lives. But I am telling you, routines are truly game changers, especially for those of us with ADHD brains, because they give us that relative structure and stability that our brains crave by allowing us to offload some of our executive functions.

In other words, when we can lock in routines that are actually supportive for us, ones that we actually want to use, it allows us to do the important things that we know we want to do while still having the brainpower to focus on more demanding projects and goals. We have that capacity because we managed to turn all of the different steps within that routine into a more or less automated sequence, so we don’t have to think about it so much.

The Challenge of Keeping Up with Routines

Now, despite how impactful a routine can be, keeping up with routines is not necessarily a walk in the park for our ADHD brains. As I alluded to, ADHD has a major impact on our executive functions, and because of that, it makes forming habits and routines a little trickier.

That’s exactly what we’re diving into over the next three days. We’re talking about the top three reasons we struggle to establish and stick with our routines and also what we can do about it. When we understand these blocks and build awareness of what’s actually in the way, then we can figure out the proper supports to establish our routines sustainably while also freeing up our minds to focus on other things.

So, let’s dive in today with the first big block to locking in our routines: the trap of fantasy planning and unrealistic expectations.

Fantasy Planning and Unrealistic Expectations

Now, if you’re anything like me, you probably know this trap well, and at the same time, part of you may want to turn off this video and not admit to it. But here’s the deal. So many of us get excited by the idea of a morning routine, an evening routine, a shutdown routine, or opening and closing duties—whatever you want to call them.

We get so excited by them that we sit down, super stoked, to map them out. Or, maybe we don’t map them out at all; we just think about them for a while in our minds. Whether we write them down or we just think them through, these routines are almost always incredibly elaborate, luxurious routines with, frankly, very little grasp of reality when it comes to how much time we actually need to stick with said routine.

We tell ourselves things like, “Okay, I’m going to start small. I just want a quote-unquote simple morning routine,” and then we proceed to include in this routine: working out, taking a shower, walking the dog, making breakfast from scratch, meditating, journaling, getting sunlight in the eyes, and catching up on a few emails—all before the kids wake up and the mad rush begins to get them to school.

When we’re planning this out, it feels incredible. Believe me, I get it. I am saying it with this big grin on my face because I know this so well. But also, we’re living in fantasyland. And then reality hits when it comes time to actually follow this routine, and it literally doesn’t fit because what I laid out was a three-hour routine, and most of us try and squeeze that three-hour routine into a 30-minute window.

Reality Check

And then we beat ourselves up when it doesn’t happen. We tell ourselves, “Oh, I knew I just couldn’t follow through. I knew I was just terrible at routines. I’m so unreliable. I’m just not committed enough. I just don’t have enough willpower.” No, no, that’s literally not it at all. What happened is that time blindness got in the way and we created a fantasy routine for this fantasy amount of time.

This routine that literally zero humans in the world could get done because it’s a three-hour routine that we’re trying to do in 30 minutes. Yours might show up a slightly different way, okay? Maybe you have created a routine and you did leave yourself enough time. Maybe you’ve done some work on your time blindness and you’ve extended the time, you have enough time, but you actually created this fantasy routine for a fantasy version of yourself when the real version of yourself does not really want to do any of it.

I’ve been here too. So we tell ourselves, “Okay, no, I’m absolutely going to get up really early and I’m going to do yoga and meditate and I’m going to make this green smoothie I found on Pinterest and I’m going to journal. It’s going to be this really calm, zen morning. I know that’s going to feel really good. I’m going to do it every morning.”

And then we look at this plan and we’re actually honest with ourselves. And the truth is that, “Oh, hold on. I hate yoga and meditation is just not a reality when I have three kids under the age of five running around, and, oh wait, I also have this super hypersensitive taste palette and green smoothies are gross.”

Look, you are a busy, awesome human. You are absolutely capable of establishing routines and rhythms that work for you. But in order to do that—and I say this with so much love and so much compassion because I know it so well, I know the allure so well—we must first ground ourselves in reality. We must work with the time that we have and choose routines that we genuinely want to do. Not just something someone on Instagram or Pinterest said works for them.

Your Challenge for Today

So, on this first day, my initial challenge for you is to think about one routine in your life—either one that you want to establish, one that you’ve tried to establish, or one that you’re kind of working with right now—and do a loving reality check.

What’s the actual timeline we’re working with right now? Is it equal to the amount of time you actually have? And then, are you doing things you genuinely want to do?

Make some space for yourself to reflect on that. Then, be on the lookout for the second sneaky thing that’s blocking you from your routines.

All right, my friends, that’s going to do it for us in this episode. To ensure you don’t miss the next sneaky trap keeping you from sticking with your routines, be sure to tap the follow or subscribe button wherever you’re listening to this episode so you can catch us back here tomorrow.

Also, if you know someone else who would love to take this challenge with you if you know someone who would love to ease this season of transition by establishing some supportive habits in their lives, would you be a rock star and share this episode with them? Send it to them in a text message or snap a screenshot and share it on your Instagram stories.

Whatever you do, please know that I so appreciate your willingness to help get these strategies to even more busy, awesome brains who need them. Until tomorrow, keep being awesome. I’ll talk with you soon.