Use mental models as decision filters
Pre-built mental models and decision procedures act as external filters that interrupt impulsive decisions and reduce spiralling — instead of trying to suppress an impulse with willpower, give the brain a concrete process to follow, so the pause becomes structural rather than effortful.
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Impulsive decisions and runaway thought loops are hard to stop with willpower, because suppression in the moment is exactly what the ADHD brain struggles with. A more reliable approach is to offload the deliberation onto pre-built scaffolds: stock mental models and explicit decision procedures that you apply as filters before a big decision. Because the model or procedure is decided in advance, the pause is built into the process rather than something you have to summon, which both slows impulsive choices and dampens spiralling. This works with the brain’s tendencies instead of against them. A related reframe comes from systems thinking: once you understand how systems actually work, a system that breaks reads as a design failure, not a personal or moral one — which removes the self-blame ADHDers attach to abandoned systems and makes it easier to re-attempt. Several accessible books carry these tools (mental models, clear-thinking procedures, systems thinking); the point is to acquire a stock of them and apply them as external filters, not to white-knuckle the impulse.