If you live with ADHD, you already know that the hardest parts of a task often aren’t the task itself. The real challenges can come with getting started, stopping when it’s time, or shifting from one thing to another. These challenges are initiation (starting), completion (finishing), and transition time (switching gears). These can take extra energy and feel overwhelming at times. While others may move smoothly from one step to the next, for those with ADHD, it can feel like slamming on the brakes or trying to start a car that just won’t turn over. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone—and there are ways to make these transitions easier and gentler on your mind and energy.

 

Why Transitioning Is Hard with ADHD

People with ADHD struggle with executive function, which is your brain’s system for planning, initiating, organizing, and following through. It can feel overwhelming to start even the smallest of projects because of multiple steps. Ending a task because of hyperfocus can feel impossible. You can feel resistance to switching between tasks and activities. The ADHD brain processes time, urgency, and priorities differently.

 

Strategies for initiation

Make starting a task or project easier with these cues.

• Expect to use an initiation strategy for your hardest tasks and projects. Resistance with emotional regulation, such as feelings of fear or being overwhelmed, prevents you from beginning.
• Use external signals to help you get started. Use a timer to begin any task. Once you start, most likely you will continue on that task.
• Set a transition alarm and a starting alarm. That way you can finish up and prepare for the next action.
• Curate music playlists as a cue to start your efforts. You can set up playlists for a variety of tasks such as organizing, cleaning, and working.
• Start with the ridiculously easy. Lower the barrier to entry with micro-tasks. That can be “Put on Sneakers” instead of “Go for a Run.” Or it can be “Open laptop” instead of “write essay.”
• Know the “why” behind the task. Getting the big picture can help you buy in to the task more fully.

 

Strategies for completion

Wrap up your work more easily.

• Don’t expect your brain to wrap up. Cue your completion.
• Start with external cues. Try alarms or calendar alerts. Place reminders where you’ll see or hear them so they can gently pull you out of your hyperfocus.
• Instead of aiming to “work until it feels done,” define what that endpoint is. That could mean sending the email draft, uploading the file, or cleaning off your desk. A clear, concrete endpoint makes it easier to stop without feeling like you’re leaving things undone.
• Tell someone when you plan to be finished, whether it’s a colleague, friend, or family member. Even a quick check-in text like, “I’m wrapping up by 5:30 today,” can provide the external nudge to actually stop and close out your work.
• Create a wrap-up routine to finish your work. Write a note to yourself to share where you are finishing and the next steps.
• Be mindful of your level of perfectionism. Most likely, it is more important to complete the task or project with 90% perfection. There is a saying, “Done is perfect.”

 

Build in Transition Time

Don’t expect your brain to shift instantly.

• Create written buffer zones in your calendar for meetings that go longer, have heavier travel traffic, and require time to get out of the house.
• Work backwards to create a workflow for a transition. Start with the finish line and work backwards, adding in all the steps to accomplish that task. Include all the transitions between steps.
• Plan a pause. That can be 5 minutes of stretching, a short walk, or straightening your desk.
• A transition routine like closing tabs, writing a to-do list, or changing environments

 

Getting started and wrapping up are two of the most common sticking points for people with ADHD. By breaking tasks into smaller steps, adding external cues, and building simple routines around starting and finishing, you can create smoother beginnings and clearer endings. Progress is about finding strategies that work for your brain and giving yourself credit for every step forward.