131 ADHD Life Hacks That Actually Work (From Real People with ADHD)

Tired of ADHD advice written by people who clearly don't have ADHD? So were we. That's why we collected 131 battle-tested strategies from 700+ Reddit comments by actual ADHD adults.

You know the feeling: you're reading an article titled "10 Productivity Tips for ADHD" and by tip #3 you're thinking, "This person has absolutely no idea what ADHD is actually like."

They'll tell you to "just use a planner" or "set better goals" or "try harder to focus." As if you hadn't thought of that. As if ADHD were just a minor inconvenience solved by buying the right notebook.

This article is different.

These tips come from real people with ADHD, sharing what actually works in their daily lives. Not theory. Not "best practices." Real tactics from people in the trenches.

We read through 700+ comments and collected 131 strategies covering everything from memory and time blindness to cleaning, sleep, relationships, work, and emotional regulation.

Some will work for you. Many won't. That's fine. ADHD is personal. Find what clicks, ignore the rest.

Table of Contents

• General Life Tips
• Cleaning & Organization
• Memory & Forgetting
• Time Blindness
• Fighting Distractions
• Getting Things Done
• Emotional Regulation
• Sleep & Waking Up
• Relationships & Social
• Work & Career
• School & Learning
• Executive Function
• Nutrition & Medication

General Life Tips

Pack things the day before so you don't forget. Future you will thank present you.

Avoid alcohol. It causes brain fog, interacts poorly with ADHD meds, and can even mimic ADHD symptoms in non-ADHD people.

Do cardio before tasks that require sitting. Exercise helps your brain focus. Even 10 minutes makes a difference.

Use text-to-speech generators to help you read webpages and books. Your eyes get tired, your ears don't.

Keep things at eye level, especially notes and to-do lists. Out of sight = out of mind = forgotten forever.

Be stupidly early to places just in case you forget something. Build in buffer time for your brain's inevitable chaos.

Stretch once in a while. Your body holds tension from executive dysfunction stress.

Take deep breaths when you feel overwhelmed. Sounds simple, works anyway.

Take a cold shower in the morning or turn it cold for 30-60 seconds at the end. Wakes you up, gets your blood flowing, and forces you out of the shower.

Get a therapist if you can. ADHD affects everything. Having professional support helps.

If you aren't diagnosed: Actually get diagnosed. Stop wondering if you have ADHD. Get tested. Build a treatment plan. You'll still feel like an impostor afterward—that's normal.

Buy a whiteboard to sketch out things when your mind starts going into overdrive. External brain = less mental clutter.

People are in such a rush these days. You can't expect to become a superhuman overnight. Focus on sustainability first and enjoy the journey.

Cleaning & Organization

Have a designated spot for every single item. Put it in the same place every time. No exceptions.

Have a "misc" basket in each room. If you're truly unable to put something away, put it in the basket. Once a week, empty all baskets at once.

Whenever you lose something that you "put away," start keeping it in the first place you looked for it. Your brain knows where things should be, even if you don't consciously.

Remember there are only 5 things when cleaning: Trash, Laundry, Dishes, Things that have a place, Things that don't have a place. That's it. Less overwhelming.

If you're moving from one room to another, take the item with you that needs to go there. It's already on your way and it's one less thing cluttering your room.

If you can afford it: Get a cleaning person. It takes them 3 hours to do what takes you 3 weeks. While they're there, use them as an accountability buddy and sort out your misc tasks like paying bills.

Embrace chaos when cleaning. Let your brain get distracted. Cleaning dishes and spot some trash? Go clean that, then get back to dishes. Fighting distraction during cleaning wastes more energy than just following it.

Have a dedicated playlist for cleaning. High tempo songs help keep you moving.

Do chores before you go to bed. You have to go to bed at some point—habit-chain cleaning into that non-negotiable routine.

Memory & Forgetting

Park in the same place every time when you go to a common place. You won't forget where you parked that way.

Keep a spare house key in your car and one outside your house. You will lock yourself out. It's not if, it's when.

Keep important items in visible and convenient locations. Example: Take pills when you eat? Keep your bottle beside your table where you eat.

Get a Tile or AirTag. Bluetooth GPS trackers are a game changer for ADHD people who lose keys and wallets.

Tape your most often made recipes to the inside of your kitchen cabinet doors. You'll forget quantities. Keep them visible.

Three point check when you close the front door: Phone, wallet, keys. Every single time.

Use voice assistants. "Remind me to do X tomorrow at Y time." Your brain will forget—let technology remember.

If you need to remember to bring something the next day, place it right in front of the exit door so you HAVE to touch it before you leave. If it's in the fridge, put a sticky note on the door handle.

Buy multiple items you use often. Setup multiple chargers at work and home. Buy 10 different lip balms so you can always find one when you need it.

Have convenient, labeled spaces for things. It's hard to forget your phone when you ALWAYS put it beside your charger. (Use a cheap labelmaker!)

Have rules for placement of important things. It's too hard to do it for everything, so pick the 5 most important items and make rules for those.

Create a second brain for yourself. Use Notion, Obsidian, or any note-taking system that works for you. Your brain is for thinking, not storage.

If you want to remember something, put an object out-of-place whilst thinking about what you want to remember. Your brain notices disrupted patterns.

Count your steps as you walk into a new room. It'll help you remember why you entered. It gives you something to focus on but not so much that you get distracted.

Use a bowl to throw your keys, badges, and wallet into when you get home. That way you can't leave without ALL the stuff you need.

ALWAYS have a bag with essentials. Keys, charger, papers, even toothbrush. Going out? Don't search for everything—just search for the bag.

Make a calendar entry for every scheduled thing religiously. Make the entry immediately while making the appointment. Parties, birthdays, dates, finals, med refills, trash night—everything.

Time Blindness

Set your phone clock 10-15 minutes fast on purpose. Your brain will adapt, but it still helps.

Put appointments in your calendar 10-20 minutes earlier than the actual appointment. Built-in buffer for inevitable lateness.

A schedule is only as good as the alarms and info you put in. Set multiple alarms, not just one.

Set timers for activities you hyperfocus on, BUT set the timer for X minutes less than the task takes. Give yourself time to wrap up whatever you're working on. Use a watch rather than your phone to avoid distraction.

Download an app that chimes every half hour during your awake time. Keeps you aware of how much time has passed.

Track your time. Every morning, write out a to-do list by hand and track the time taken for each task. Write down the time whenever you take a break or switch tasks.

Fighting Distractions

Disable all notifications except essential apps (Texting, Voicemail, Calendar). Everything else is a distraction factory.

Use website blockers for distracting websites. Cold Turkey, Freedom, and News Feed removers for social media work well.

Get good noise-cancelling headphones + non-distracting music/audio. Game changer for focus.

If you can't stop yourself from answering that text/email/IM right away but don't actually have time, tell the person you'll respond when you get a minute. Acknowledge, then return to work.

Your brain focuses better after some exercise. Cardio works best.

Stop scrolling right now and go buy noise-cancelling headphones. A good headset + brown noise or music is essential if you have ADHD. Thank me later when your life changes.

If headphones aren't in your budget: Brown noise + earphones will get you 80% of the way there.

Getting Things Done

Put a widget from your to-do list app on your home screen (Android) so it's the first thing you see.

Break tasks down into as many smaller tasks as you need for it to feel manageable. Keep breaking it down until your brain doesn't panic.

Learn to plan around transitions. It's easier to start things if you chain them with another task that is ending.

Use the Pomodoro technique. Having a break to look forward to makes starting easier.

Remember that something is better than nothing. If you only get 26% of a task done, that's further than if you never started. Do little bits of every task rather than procrastinating.

Attach numbers to events. Example: Going to bed (3) = Brush, Floss, Mouthwash. Your brain likes concrete sequences.

Lie to yourself. "I'll just unload one dish from the dishwasher." Once you start, you'll at least unload a few, maybe clean the whole kitchen. Starting is everything.

Decide what you're going to do each day beforehand, preferably while your meds are working. Make sure it's only 1 thing.

When you need to transition between tasks, pretend you're talking to a friend who is having issues. Give yourself a nudge and remind yourself it's time to switch. Detach yourself from the task.

When you take breaks, make sure your break isn't too interesting. Otherwise you won't get absorbed in your break. Just clean or do something mundane.

Gamify things. Set a limited time to accomplish something. Example: Brew your coffee and get as many chores done as you can before the coffee is finished.

Write to-do lists as a brain dump, then order them by importance or sequence. Don't pause while writing down tasks.

Don't be afraid to stimulate yourself. Listen to a podcast or music to get yourself to do something.

Reward yourself when you get things done. Positive reinforcement works. You'll feel like getting more things done.

Change your environment. Work from a cafe or library where there are fewer distractions. You'll get more stuff done.

Set a time to do work, and a time to relax. That way you don't feel guilty about relaxing during the time you set aside for yourself.

Change your alarm sounds/timer sounds frequently, but use alarms and timers as much as possible.

Treat timers and alarms like non-negotiable laws. When the timer goes off, doesn't matter what you were doing seconds ago, it's time to go. Half showered, wet hair, one eye done—you're out the door.

Emotional Regulation

Brain dump in a notebook by your bed every night. Get the thoughts out of your head and onto paper.

Don't feel bad about sucking at school or work. You'll get better as you learn more strategies for coping with ADHD. Things get better.

Use writing/journaling as cognitive therapy to defuse emotional history.

Remind yourself that the world won't end if a few things fall behind. It really won't.

Write a reverse to-do list. Write down things you accomplished for the day. You won't feel overwhelmed and it'll make you feel better about what you actually got done.

You're allowed to let things go. Forget irrelevant things and forgive yourself. Ignore the awkward thing you did last week. Life will move on.

Forgive yourself for your limits. You have a neurological condition. Stop comparing yourself to neurotypical standards.

Meditation. Active breaks for people that struggle to take breaks. Use an app like Headspace when starting.

Start working on letting go of shame. It depresses your motivation and only makes things worse. You wouldn't shame someone in a wheelchair for not getting things done—your difficulty is in your brain instead of your legs but it's no less real.

Consider Cognitive Behavioral Therapy + meditation. Professional support for emotional regulation helps.

Sleep & Waking Up

Put your phone on the other side of the room and make your alarm super loud. Gets you out of bed and forces you to turn it off so you don't wake other people up.

If you're having trouble getting out of bed, set a timer for 5 minutes and chuck it across the room. Forces you to get up and turn it off.

Buy 2 bright lamps and 2 timers. Set them to turn on automatically 5-15 minutes before your alarm. The lights help your body know it's daytime.

Change your thermostat so the temperature goes down an hour before bedtime and gets warmer 30 minutes before you wake up. Cooler temperatures help sleep, warmer temperatures help waking.

Use a reminder app for starting your bedtime routine, not just your bedtime. And have a bedtime routine.

Setup meetings/commitments early in the morning. They'll force you to get out of bed.

Relationships & Social

It's okay to be in a room with people and just let people breathe. You don't need to fill the silence.

When having a conversation, repeat every word the person says in your head. It'll help you not drift off as much. It also makes it so you'll interrupt people less.

Try to avoid the word 'but' when faced with a conflict. Instead try to be constructive with the word 'and'.

Work & Career

If you hate your job, make a job switch. It'll help you make positive changes in your life.

Find a job that works WITH your system. If you can't wake up and be functional in the morning, stop trying. Find a job that doesn't need you to wake up in the morning. Stop beating yourself up over things your brain isn't designed for.

Consider self-employment and starting a business. "No matter where I worked or what I did, I was constantly watching the clock, hating every second. On Saturday I worked 27 straight hours to finish a job on time and it was still less painful than working an 8 hour shift as an employee. Those 27 hours disappeared and left me feeling gratified."

When promising a timescale to a client, double or triple the amount of time you initially think it will take. Worst case: you finish on deadline and meet expectations. Best case: finish before and exceed expectations.

The moment you know you aren't going to make a deadline, let the client know and give them an overestimate of time for new deadline. People are always understanding and appreciative of quick communication.

Reply to emails and messages when you read them. 99% of the time, days and weeks will go by if you tell yourself you'll reply later.

Be honest about your limitations and own your mistakes. Most people have no idea how much ADHD affects so many things. If you mess up, own it, explain why, and apologize. State how you aim to rectify the situation.

Stop comparing your output and motivation to others. You are not other people. You are you. Trying to jam your freeform, 12-sided shape into the round hole is painful and won't work. You don't need a hole, you need self-acceptance.

ADHD people have a dangerous habit of overcommitting. Sustainability is important—don't overcommit.

School & Learning

Use Active Recall + Spaced Repetition to study for all your exams. Countless people go from C's to straight A's after adopting these methods.

If finding it difficult to start assignments early, ONLY read + annotate the assignment brief early and take a break after that. Your subconscious will process the information and it'll be easier to start later.

It's better to turn in an assignment that is 75% done. It'll drag your grades down less than if you never turned it in.

Print out lectures and powerpoints in advance (ask the teacher for them). You won't need to listen and write at the same time. You can annotate the printed versions instead.

Executive Function

Setup a morning routine + a reset routine. A reset routine is something you do when you're feeling super unfocused. Could be meditation, exercise, journaling, playing music, making tea.

If it takes less than ten minutes to do the task, just do it immediately. Right now. Don't put it on a list.

Have a uniform for work, social, and casual scenarios. Don't mix your work clothes with your casual clothes. Reduces decision fatigue.

If you start to feel frustrated for no reason, eat something and keep yourself hydrated. Low blood sugar affects ADHD brains more.

It's better to half-ass most things than not do them at all. Done is better than perfect.

Set alarms using music rather than default alarm sounds. It'll help you get going. (Music releases norepinephrine in your brain!)

Make yourself kits for common repeated household tasks. Cleaning kit, package mailing kit... Reduces the friction needed to start.

Refine your routine to reduce overall time. Prepare a filled pot of coffee the night before. Anything that reduces morning friction helps.

Set just a few non-negotiable standards for yourself. Pick those that improve your life the most. Example: No phone in bed at night or in the morning. Not even a quick email check.

When trying to get started on a task, write down the steps you've already done and the steps you plan to do next. Helps with spaghetti thoughts.

Drink a big glass of water when you know you're going to have to start something soon. When you inevitably have to pee, start after you wash your hands. You're already up and your brain already had to switch gears. Use it as momentum.

Nutrition & Medication

If you are Vitamin D deficient, take Vitamin D supplements (see a doctor first). It'll help your mood and energy levels.

Eat lots of protein and stay hydrated. ADHD brains need more fuel.

Figure out if you're deficient in anything. Get a food allergy test, figure out deficiencies, and eat a healthy diet.

Track Your Energy, Not Just Your Time

These 131 tips are powerful. But here's the thing: implementing tips requires energy.

You know what happens when you try to do too much at once? You crash. You burn out. You give up on all of it.

This is where MindTrack comes in. Instead of tracking "productivity" or "habits," it tracks energy debt—the actual resource ADHD brains run on.

When you log work, you select intensity. The app calculates how much energy you're spending. It tells you when you're approaching crash territory. It recommends actual recovery time.

Because here's the truth: you can't implement any of these tips if your brain is out of juice.

Start With One

You just read 131 tips. Don't try to implement 131 tips.

Pick one. Just one. Try it for a week.

If it helps, keep it. If it doesn't, pick a different one next week.

ADHD isn't solved overnight. It's managed one small system at a time.

These tips came from real people with ADHD, sharing what actually works. Not theory. Not "best practices." Real strategies from people who live with ADHD every single day.

Find what works for you. Ignore the rest. Build your systems slowly. And remember: you're not broken—your brain just works differently.

Track Your ADHD Energy

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