Understanding Task Paralysis and ADHD
Task paralysis is one of the executive function skills that people with ADHD may struggle with. Task paralysis is when a person struggles to initiate a task and complete it as well as struggling to take the initial step to begin and follow through on a task. This is a cognitive process that people with ADHD process differently from neurotypicals. This is due to a variety of reasons such as a lack of interest in the task, anxiety, or being overwhelmed by not knowing how to begin the task at hand. When a person with ADHD cannot break down the task into more tangible steps, they could freeze causing task paralysis. When this happens the cortisol hormone, which has been defined as our flight or fight hormone, is now initiating a freeze response adding a third aspect to fight or flight which is now known as fight, flight, or freeze.
What is Task Paralysis?
As mentioned above, task paralysis is when a person struggles to initiate and/or complete a task. Task paralysis could occur with one small task, several tasks, or even a big project. If the task at hand does not interest a person with ADHD, the task automatically becomes harder. If a task is something that interests them, they may have no problem following through or even hyper-focusing on it making the outcome even more impressive than they originally thought or needed. This often causes confusion and judgment from others on the outside. Such judgments include that the person may be lazy, selfish, or simply don't care or don't want to help. We must understand as a society it is simply the third result of cortisol, the freeze phase. One may simply not know how to look at the task as manageable or be able to break it down into smaller steps. Some ways to combat task paralysis include gamifying the task or breaking it down into smaller tangible steps are two ways to work around the freeze stage.
ADHD people work better with black-and-white, clear directions. They do well with routines, habits, and daily structure. I will encourage my clients to build a calendar, write to-do lists, and create time blocks to follow daily to complete everything they need to do daily or weekly. Writing a task down is a different processing modality, keeping a calendar helps a person with their scheduling. Trying to keep everything in one's mind can lead to overwhelm, stress, and anxiety. Building scaffolding around the task helps a person to see it differently, and look at it as small steps, versus getting overwhelmed by the larger picture. Maybe they need to verbally process the task, maybe they work better seeing it on paper. We all process information differently with different modalities. Finding which modalities you find easier, could help you be more successful. Unless you try different ways and things to help you process, you won't know which is easier for you. Don’t assume the other ways of processing are not good ideas, if you haven't tried them.
Task Management and Task Paralysis
Another executive function that can overlap task paralysis is time management. A person with ADHD may also struggle with time. These struggles can include the following:
Not fully understand the time needed for the task.
Not knowing if they have enough time
Overguessing and over-analyzing
People with ADHD are great thinkers, and can easily overanalyze everything which can be an asset and a gift at times. On the flip side, if it is not managed, they may be adding their own fuel to the fire and making the task larger and more scary versus easier and doable. Stop and think about different ways to get around the obstacle instead of allowing the obstacle to stand in your way. Finding ways to work around the obstacle is the answer, not allowing the obstacle to stand in our way.
Six Tips For Overcoming Task Paralysis
Tip #1: Brain Dumping
Brain dumping is an exercise of writing everything down at night and in the morning. Making to-do lists for today, the next day, or even the week. Writing things down allows the information to be physically seen which is a different modality of processing. This can help with understanding, learning, and following through.
Tip #2: Keeping a Google Calendar on One's Phone
We all have phones these days and paper calendars have become practically obsolete and because of this, I encourage my clients to use a calendar on their phones. Whenever there is an appointment to make or a meeting or event, it is important to write it down on the calendar immediately. Do not wait to do it later because waiting until later may result in forgetting to do it or even forgetting when it was for. If you are not used to using your calendar, try it out, several times a day for reference and management. It takes weeks to build a habit. This is a great organizational habit to help.
Tip #3: Setting Alarms on Your Phone
Most calendars on your phone have the ability to set alarms as reminders if needed. Setting the alarms on your phone can help you stay on schedule. You can also use the timers apart from your calendar to help you allocate time to do things so you do not get caught up and forget about the time. Many people use wind-up timers around the house, others prefer phone notifications or Alexa reminders. Try them all to find out what works better for you.
Tip #4: Gamifying
Gameifying is an exercise that can help someone trying to complete a task. This allows us to reward ourselves at the end of something that may be a struggle to complete. Many clients of mine will reward themselves with being able to game online as a treat or reward. Another example is rewarding yourself with TV or movie time or anything else you may enjoy. It’s important to only allow yourself this reward once done with the task.
Tip #5: Working With an ADHD coach
As the saying goes two brains are better than one which is why working with an ADHD coach can help immensely. An ADHD coach can help you build rewards, structure, and organization solely based on you and your needs and use what works best for your brain wiring. Not all strategies and tools, may work for all so understanding how your own brain works and coming up with your own scaffolding is a successful way of creating change, getting things done, and moving around the obstacle in front of you.
Tip #6: Self-awareness and Mindfulness
Self-awareness and mindfulness are other practices ADHD coaches find extremely beneficial. Listening to your body, listening to your own inner voice, being aware of how you feel, what are your triggers, what overwhelms you, and so on can help in many ways. Managing your stress and anxiety is step one in this process. If you are stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed you will have a greater challenge working on the executive function skills. Your cortisol goes up and when the cortisol goes up the fight, flight, or freeze takes the upper hand. Managing anxiety can be done through meditation, deep breathing, and taking breaks to unwind and/or decompress helping to lower the cortisol and creating more of a space to work on executive function. To try to work on executive function first versus the anxiety and overwhelm is like changing a car's tire when the car needs gas.
If you would like to learn more about AHDH life coaching please contact me today. You can also find me and follow me on Instagram and Facebook as ADHDcoachJacquie I post articles and educational information on both these sites.
