Browse topics
Losing thoughts / interrupting
You're afraid you'll forget, so you cut others off; an uncaptured thought 'eats' your working memory for a week.
Behind interrupting and distraction often sits weaker working memory — the fear of losing a thought. The fix isn’t ‘try harder’ but to externalise: write it down instead of holding it in your head.
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Methods that help
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Mindfulness in movement (and 20 star jumps on a bad day)
The two best-evidenced ADHD interventions are mindfulness and exercise. Still mindfulness is very hard with ADHD — do it in active form (mindful running, dancing, music). Even 20 star jumps on a bad-weather day shifts the whole day's trajectory.
A · strong evidence 1 source -
The 2-minute rule + one inbox
If it takes ≤2 min — do it now. Everything else goes into ONE place (notebook/card), or the thought 'eats' your working memory for a week.
B · good 1 source -
You don't have to read the whole book (close the unhelpful story)
When your brain spins a distressing narrative (e.g. rumination before sleep), you don't have to finish it. Notice it as 'a story you're telling yourself', ask one question — 'is this story helping me?' — and if not, deliberately drop it. You're the author of this book, so you can close it halfway.
B · good 1 source -
Here-and-now anchor (Barkley's 4 questions)
When you lose your sense of self and scatter, use a simple mindfulness based on Russell Barkley's executive-function model: who am I, where am I, what am I doing, how long have I got.
C · weak / preliminary 1 source -
Rule of threes (max three categories)
Don't overwhelm working memory with more than three categories. Tidying: 'keep / throw / not sure'. Clothes: three baskets (wash / re-wear / put away). Ideas: 'now / soon / later'.
C · weak / preliminary 1 source -
Write it down instead of interrupting
While someone speaks to the end, WRITE DOWN your questions instead of cutting in. Half will turn out moot — the speaker answers them anyway.
C · weak / preliminary 1 source -
Find the function of the emotion, then name it
Instead of treating emotions as enemies, ask what each one is protecting you from (e.g. resentment held you back from shouting at your boss). Pair it with 'name it to tame it': labelling the feeling (a feelings wheel helps) calms the amygdala.
D · none / theory 3 sources -
Steer the attention drift, don't fight it
When focus slips during sex, don't force yourself to 'stay present' — deliberately steer the drift toward arousing things (a hot memory, a fantasy). Then the drift doesn't kill the pleasure and you can still finish.
D · none / theory 1 source
Why this happens
Usually several mechanisms stack at once. Click to understand which one is yours.
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Weak working memory
A thought you don't write down vanishes — and the brain 'guards' it at the cost of attention, driving interrupting and distraction.
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Tidal dopamine and noradrenaline (not low, dysregulated)
In ADHD dopamine and noradrenaline aren't simply low — they're dysregulated like a tide: sometimes out (scattered, unfocused, flat), sometimes rushing in (hyperfocus, hyper-energy). How you are in half an hour can be totally different.