How To Simplify Transitions As An ADHD Adult

Curious about how to simplify and embrace time transitions between tasks as an adult with ADHD? As someone with ADHD, at the end of the day, how often do you find yourself…

  • Staring at your unfinished to-do list
  • Completely overwhelmed
  • Wondering where on earth the day went

All-too-often? You’re not alone; this was the story of my life for years.

Woman at laptopfrustrated

With every two things I’d checked off the list, seven new tasks seemed to appear.

Time slipped through the cracks, and I could never get ahead.

When I was diagnosed in 2016, things shifted a bit because I learned what worked best for my brain, and I began putting in supports to help:

  • Reduce the demand on my executive functions
  • Streamline my workflow
  • Focus on the projects and tasks that mattered most

Unfortunately, there was one sneaky area that often evaded those supports: transition time.

That’s exactly what we’re talking about in episode 241. 

So if you find yourself feeling stuck or unable to get ahead – even when you’re “doing all the things – you’re in the right place. 

https://youtu.be/etpXa4Ciaig

You can listen to the episode above or stream it on your favorite podcasting app here.

Prefer to read? No problem! Keep scrolling for the entire podcast transcript.

In Episode #241, You Will Discover

  • The often-overlooked challenge of transition time in ADHD.
  • How the obstacle of transitions shifts
  • Tips to simplify transition time for ADHD Adults
    • Ease cognitive demands, streamline workflows, and embrace transition time for greater effectiveness and efficiency

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Episode #241 How To Simplify Transitions As An ADHD Adult (Transcript)

How to simplify task transitions as an ADHD Adult

Welcome to episode 241 of the podcast. How are you? 

Today we’re diving into a critical component of the ADHD experience that I completely overlooked when I first had my diagnosis… taking time for transitions in between tasks.

It took me several years to really understand the impact of this obstacle. 

To put it into context, I first want to share what it looked like for me, and then we’ll dive into the key component and what we can do to support ourselves with it.

With that in mind, let me ask you this: 

At the end of the day, how often do you find yourself…

  • Staring at your unfinished to-do list
  • Completely overwhelmed
  • Wondering where on earth the day went

Maybe you think you should have gotten more done. Maybe you’re overwhelmed thinking about all that’s left to do, and you’re wondering why you didn’t get as much done as you’d planned to do that morning. It’s all right there on the schedule. It all fits.

In fact, you’ve even been thinking about the time blindness component that I’m always talking about and you intentionally left yourself extra time to complete some of the tasks.

But for whatever reason, you’re still only about halfway through the list. It doesn’t add up. What on earth gives?!

If this is happening to you all too often, please know that I see you. Believe me, I get it. 

My Personal Struggles with Transition Time

This was the story of my life for years. 

Even after I found the effective strategies that worked for my brain and I was better able to stay focused on my tasks and move through the overwhelm of something being too big and learning how to make a supportive plan, I’d still be constantly behind my plans.

It seemed as if every two things I’d checked off the list, seven new tasks appeared, and I felt like I was drowning. Time kept slipping through the cracks, and I could never get ahead. I was so frustrated.

As I mentioned, this was especially frustrating for me when I was undiagnosed. At that time, I didn’t realize that I needed different ways to work with my brain. So, I kept shooting myself and questioning why I couldn’t just use the traditional productivity methods. 

I kept buying new planners and trying different productivity approaches that promised to revolutionize my output and make me so much more efficient.

Usually, sooner rather than later, I’d find that it wasn’t supportive at all, and I’d blame myself because I wasn’t “trying hard enough” or I didn’t have enough willpower. And I’d be off on the next hunt for the productivity solution that would “fix me.”

Now I have a sneaking suspicion I am not the only one who has a similar story to this. 

It’s Frustrating Feeling Like You’re Constantly Behind

A lot of people within our busy-being-awesome community have truly remarkable brains. 

We challenge ourselves. 

We go all in. 

We make things happen. 

We’re determined. 

We’re resilient. 

What’s more, we have something to show for it. 

Usually, we’ve created some success for ourselves in one or two areas of our lives.

The challenge is that – when we don’t have the proper tools and supports in place. We often force ourselves to work at least 10 times as hard as everyone else. 

As we explored in my episode on the ADHD burnout cycle, this constant overdoing and overworking really takes a toll.

Several months ago…

I emailed my list sharing a powerful observation that one of my new clients mentioned to me when we just started working together. 

She was reflecting on her work, what she’s created in her life, and where she was in her career, and she said, “I’m sick of living a one-dimensional life.” 

She’d created incredible success in her career, but it came at a steep cost. To create and maintain that success, she had to focus the majority of her time and attention on one dimension of work, so not surprisingly, it left her feeling burnt out, exhausted, and questioning whether she even wanted to stay in this career that she’d worked so hard to create. 

I think it is a familiar experience for many of us in the busy awesome community – especially prior to getting a diagnosis and getting the support our brains need.

After getting my ADHD diagnosis… 

I personally started feeling like things finally made more sense. But that wasn’t an immediate experience. 

After working with hundreds of ADHD brains over the years, one thing that I know to be true is that everyone has a different experience with the diagnosis process. We all have different emotional responses. 

Some of us feel:

  • Incredible relief
  • A lot of grief
  • Incredible anger about what could have been or should have been
  • Much more clarity around past events, why things were challenging then, and also why different areas that are seemingly “simple” to one person are so challenging for us now 

Maybe some of you had a similar experience to me where you also felt a lot of uncertainty and doubt around the diagnosis itself. 

It was such a well-worn belief in my mind that what I had was an effort and willpower problem, that it was very challenging for my brain to shift away from that though.

I offer this context as I share my own experience, if you’ve been through the diagnosis process or you are contemplating doing so – you have probably also experienced a wide range of emotions and thoughts about the diagnosis itself. 

Please know that whatever your experience is with the process, you’re doing it exactly right. There is no specific response one should have to getting a diagnosis. And all of us are going to experience it a little bit differently.

For myself, I did feel quite a bit of doubt and skepticism as I questioned whether this could actually be true – that there might be a reason why things felt so much harder for me other than simply needing to try harder and care more. 

However, once I accepted my ADHD diagnosis and accepted myself and the way my brain worked, I felt such tremendous relief. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders because I realized there were so many reasons why these areas of my life that were seemingly so simple for everyone else were such a challenge for me.

Because I am a researcher by nature, I dove into the literature and learned more about how the ADHD brain worked and started redesigning productivity tools and approaches so that they actually worked for me and my brain. 

I began putting in support to help me:

  • Reduce the demand on my executive functions so that I wasn’t so taxed day in and day out. 
  • Have the energy to pursue the work that I genuinely wanted to do because I didn’t drain my battery doing all of the executive function-taxing stuff all day long. 
  • Create systems to streamline my workflow. So I wasn’t creating a bunch of what I talked about in episode 167 all about attention residue
  • Set up my environment and work with my brain so that I could prioritize what matters most and stay focused on the projects and tasks that actually move the needle forward. 

As a throwback to a recent episode, I learned to focus on the 20% that created 80% of my results so much more often.

The Obstacle of Transition Time For ADHD Adults

woman distracted at laptop

With all of that being said, and despite putting all of this powerful scaffolding in place, there was one sneaky area that often evaded those supports. 

There was a missing piece that still had me over-committing and constantly thinking I was behind. This one area really had me feeling like I could never keep up. So what was that sneaky area that kept me so stuck? 

It was transition time, which shows up in so many different ways, and in fact, I think it shows up differently depending on the different stages of your ADHD Journey, which is why I think it evaded me for so long.

The Journey To Understanding Transitions 

Here are the phases I went through when figuring out how to truly understand transition time.

Mislabeling Transition Time

The initial obstacle of transition time is what I frustratingly labeled as procrastination prior to my diagnosis and when I was first developing a deeper understanding of what it means to have an ADHD brain. 

Anytime I was not doing what I had planned to do, I labeled it as procrastination. 

I adopted the identity of someone who procrastinates, and I got so frustrated with myself that I couldn’t “figure it out.” 

Adapting My Processes

I realized that my brain needs an on-ramp to break down the steps of a big project. I realized I couldn’t just put in my schedule on Thursday at 11:00: write article. 

That is simply ineffective. My brain has no idea what to do with that. It is one giant step when in reality, it could be months upon months of work.

I realized what my brain needs in order to break things down and give myself direction. 

But, I Still Felt Challenged

I’d still find myself stuck. 

I didn’t know where the time went. 

I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get all of the items that I had time blocked on my schedule checked off. 

I even left extra time for myself, knowing that my time blindness would be getting in the way. 

What gives? Why was I still so far behind in my schedule by the end of the day? 

So I got more Curious. And I asked myself, 

  • What’s going on? 
  • Do we see any patterns here? 
  • Where is the friction? 

You have the tools, you have the supports, you’re using them. What’s up? 

I realized that even though I was using tools to help me break down big projects into smaller steps, that was not the only time that transitions were still a problem for me. 

It turns out, that transition time tripped me up constantly.

It was incredibly challenging to transition from leading a big group coaching call to outlining my podcast.

I’d break for lunch and feel a lot of resistance to returning to write my newsletter or map out the next workbook I wanted to create…even when all the steps were broken out and I knew what I wanted to do.

I have spent years learning how to slowly drop the judgment of myself and instead shift into curiosity. 

I realized I needed:

  • The steps broken down to support myself into action. 
  • Literal time: to get regulated and shift into a new mode of focus and activation. 

Fully Embracing ADHD Transitions

What I’m saying is true for all human brains. All human brains need transition time. 

As people with ADHD and ADHD tendencies, we likely need even more transition time than some of our neurotypical peers, colleagues, and friends. That is how your brain and my brain are wired.

You are not a robot 

I know this comes as a complete shock and a source of frustration to many. And I say that with a little bit of humor, but also with genuine compassion for each of you who really are frustrated about this. 

We can’t work like robots or computers with no break and no time to transition our emotional and mental state. 

Our nervous system needs time to shift 

The human brain cannot shift instantly from one demanding task to something completely different. We need transition time. 

I can almost feel the resistance from some of you as you’re hearing me say this. And I say with so much love, this is one of those situations where you might simply chalk it up to one of those annoying parts about being human. Because your brain needs it. All of our brains need it. 

We all need transition time.

For ADHD brains who struggle with cognitive flexibility and transitions, this transition in and out of different activities and cognitive states is even more challenging. We need more time to shift in and out of what we’re doing. This is how our brains work.

How To Simplify Transitions as an ADHD Adult

The most critical and powerful thing you can do for yourself is to start noticing how this is true and where this is true in your life. And then begin the practice of accepting it.

Here’s the truth. This is some real talk. Are you ready? Upon hearing this information, you now have a few options.

Option A: Fight Against This Concept of Time Transitions

Fight against the fact that your brain needs transition time and tell yourself you should be able to shift more easily.

You can keep shoulding on yourself. You can continue piling more things into your schedule.

Compare yourself to “everyone else,” who seems to shift into this particular activity or project so much easier.

Try to escape that feeling of frustration and irritation, get distracted, and unintentionally spend more time than necessary overall, because now you not only need the transition time, but you also add on the extra time for distraction as you try to escape the resistance and frustration about how our brains work.

Option B: Accept That Your ADHD Brain Needs Time To Transition

Learn how much transition time your unique brain needs in different situations and with different types of activities, and you can allow for that time.

You can plan for that transition time so you have greater control over your day.

Use specific supports and strategies to help make that transition as smooth and seamless as possible.

The Path To Accepting ADHD Transitions

laptop

Learn how to support your ADHD brain knowing that you need to allow for transition time between tasks. 

You can learn how to remove some of that friction so that the transition doesn’t feel as challenging. 

You can learn how to remove some of that resistance and essentially make the on-ramp into whatever work or activity you’re trying to do much smoother.

The choice is yours.

If I had heard this early on in my journey, I may have continued to choose option A. I hadn’t quite accepted my ADHD yet, I was still doubting whether it was true, and part of me still believed that if I just kept pushing and just kept trying, I’d “fix it.” 

I genuinely thought I was the problem and that another planner or strategy could fix me. 

If you are still in that space, I see you. Please know that you are right on track. This is part of the journey, and I encourage you to keep at it. 

Check-in with your ADHD brain every once in a while and ask: 

What if…

  • It’s not me?
  • I don’t need to work harder
  • I simply allowed my brain to work as it does and have the transition time it needs
  • I stopped resisting this and instead put in supports to remove as much friction as possible so I can start doing the work I want to do that much sooner

Ready to Accept and Support Yourself?

  • Accept that your brain is going to need transition time between tasks, 
  • Learn how much time you need between different types of activities and tasks 
  • Find support to help remove that friction and make the process more seamless 

I would love to have you join us in We’re Busy Being Awesome, my small group coaching program for ADHD brains. 

In We’re Busy Being Awesome, I coach you how to:

  • Create space to identify the areas where ADHD symptoms are keeping you stuck. 
  • See the sticking points in how we can increase effectiveness and efficiency
  • Ensure you are focusing on your priorities and the things that are going to move the needle in your life – personally and professionally 
  • Dive in and design the exact supports your brain needs for your ADHD toolkit, helping you focus on your priorities, take action, and check the projects off your list.

Because the group is currently capped at 15 people, you’re not going to slip through the cracks. You won’t get lost in the noise. I am there coaching you every week helping you design and implement the system that works best for you, for your brain, and for your unique season of Life.

As we know, no two ADHD brains are alike. Plus, as humans, we are constantly evolving and changing and entering new seasons in our relationships, situations in our personal lives, and new jobs or career goals. 

Since our ADHD brains struggle with transition and change, having that support throughout these different seasons of life can be incredibly powerful.

Ready To Join Us?!

If you’re ready to identify the support your brain needs, start making those changes, and do so in a supportive space with coaching, encouragement, accountability, and community, I’d love to have you join us in the March cohort of We Are Busy Being Awesome.

I am only offering this program twice this year, and the next time it will be available is in the fall. Should be ready to dive in and make things happen, if you’re busy being awesome, I’d love for you to join us. 👉 Learn More about We’re Busy Being Awesome HERE.

Have a Question? Let’s Connect!

Curious about the program? If you have questions or just want to talk through what’s going on for you to see if we address those areas in the program, I’d love to talk with you.

  • Send me an email paula @ imbusybeingawesome.com or,
  • Head to imbusybeingawesome.com/group and sign up for a time for us to chat. 
  • We will hop on Zoom and talk through any questions you have. It’s a super low-key, low-stress chance for us to connect and make sure the group is a great fit for you this season. And if not, we’ll explore what other next steps you might take.

Are you ready? Let’s do this!

Links From The Podcast


Paula Engebretson - ADHD Coach and Pdacster

About Paula Engebretson

ADHD COACH | PODCASTER

I spent the first 31 years of my life thinking I just needed to “try harder” while dealing with crushing self-doubt, perfectionism and imposter syndrome. Then I was diagnosed with ADHD.

Finally understanding the missing puzzle piece, I discovered how to work with my brain, build upon my strengths, and take back control of my life.

Now I help others with ADHD do the same. Learn more.


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