Guides
Plain, practical writing about what happens after you lose track, and how to return.
Featured · 6 min
ADHD at work: how to stop running on deadline panic
If work only moves the night before a deadline, add earlier points: an earliest problem date, a risk point and a short update before anyone asks.
Read the guideWork and study · 5 min
How to restart work after you have avoided it for daysDo not open the whole task board. Scan the next fourteen days, find who is waiting, pick three commitments and warn the highest-risk person first.
Getting back on track · 4 min
How to make a task easier to resume after interruptionReturning to a task costs more than the task. Leave a three line state note at a fixed place when you stop, and you skip the hardest part of coming back.
Starting tasks · 6 min
ADHD and motivation: why wanting it more is not the leverMotivation is one control surface among many. Reconstruct the last real attempt and change what is visible, how small the start is and what is near.
Money · 4 min
ADHD and money avoidance: the ninety-second checkNot opening the bank app costs more each day. A ninety-second check, balance and the next seven days only, fits a bad day. Administration, not advice.
Work and study · 5 min
ADHD and the email you cannot answer: send a holding messageWhen the perfect reply will not come, silence starts speaking for you. A three-part holding message closes the loop honestly before the reply is ready.
Health and body · 5 min
ADHD and alcohol: noticing your pattern and knowing where help isAdults with ADHD face a higher risk of alcohol problems. How to see your real pattern with UK guidance as the yardstick, and when and where to get help.
Health and body · 5 min
ADHD and exercise on low-capacity daysExercise may help some ADHD symptoms, but it is not a treatment. How to keep a small, restartable movement routine when every exercise plan collapses in a week.
Money · 6 min
ADHD and impulsive spending: put a pause between wanting and payingImpulse buys you regret are common with ADHD symptoms. Add a pause before paying: a 48-hour list, no saved cards on shop apps, and one subscription list.
Home · 5 min
ADHD and losing your keys, phone and wallet: give them one place to landLosing keys, phone and wallet is a listed sign of adult ADHD. Give them one launch zone by the door, store things where you drop them, and keep a search order.
Health and body · 5 min
ADHD and medical appointments: booking, getting there and following upThe GP call you keep postponing, the slot you forget, the follow-up nobody chases. A small routine for each step of a medical appointment, with ADHD in mind.
Work and study · 5 min
ADHD and meetings: how to remember what was agreedIf you leave meetings unsure what you promised, write three lines before you stand up, send a short recap the same day, and put actions in one place you review.
Money · 5 min
ADHD and paperwork: one tray for the mail, one folder for actionsUnopened letters pile up when every envelope asks for a decision. Use one intake tray, one action folder and a short open-and-sort session with a stop.
Health and body · 5 min
ADHD and remembering daily medication: a routine, not willpowerIf you forget whether you took today's ADHD dose, tie it to a fixed daily cue and make taking it leave a mark. Missed-dose questions go to your pharmacist.
Routines · 5 min
ADHD and travel: packing, travel days and getting back into routineTrips break ADHD routines twice, when you leave and when you come home. Pack from one reusable list, run Low Power while away, restart without catching up.
Work and study · 5 min
ADHD at work: how to ask for changes that helpWhat to ask for at work when ADHD makes tasks slip, how to describe the problem and the change, and what to weigh before you decide whether to mention ADHD.
Health and body · 5 min
ADHD hyperfocus and forgetting to eat or drink: a break routineIf hyperfocus means you skip lunch and drink nothing until evening, set one break that interrupts you from outside, with water and food already close.
Time · 5 min
ADHD hyperfocus at work: how to stop on timeHyperfocus at work can run past meetings and handoffs. Set a stop rule before deep work, use an exit alarm that names the next action, and leave a handoff note.
Late diagnosis · 6 min
ADHD in women: coping for years, masking, and a diagnosis that comes lateADHD in women is often missed for decades, partly because hard work and coping strategies hide it. What research says and how to plan for the capacity you have.
Emotions and relationships · 5 min
Keeping friendships when you keep forgetting to replyWith ADHD, a friend's message can sit unanswered for weeks until replying feels impossible. How to answer late without a long apology, and keep friends close.
Planning · 6 min
Now, Next, Later: one way to set priorities with ADHDA full task list stores everything and decides nothing. Work from three views instead: one Now action, up to three Next actions, and Later for the rest.
Late diagnosis · 5 min
Relief, then anger and grief: mixed feelings after an adult ADHD diagnosisAn adult ADHD diagnosis can bring relief, then anger or grief about the years before it. Mixed feelings are widely described and not a sign something is wrong with you.
Home · 5 min
Sharing the household load with a partner when one of you has ADHDWhen one partner has ADHD, the household load can slide onto the other. How to split whole jobs, noticing included, and keep a smaller version for hard weeks.
Work and study · 5 min
Studying at college or university with ADHDWhat research says about ADHD at university, what support to ask the disability office for, and how to make deadlines visible before they become all-nighters.
Emotions and relationships · 5 min
When a short reply from your partner ruins the evening: rejection sensitivity and ADHDA short reply from a partner can feel like rejection and flood the whole evening. What the evidence says about rejection sensitivity and ADHD, and what helps.
Emotions and relationships · 5 min
When it is not only ADHD: anxiety and low mood alongside ADHDAnxiety and low mood often travel with adult ADHD and can look like it. Signs worth raising with a clinician, and how to plan while the picture is unclear.
Starting tasks · 4 min
ADHD decision paralysis: stop ranking everything and choose one thingWhen every option asks a question, choosing stalls. Use a short decision order, cut the visible choices to one, and pick when two options are equal.
Getting back on track · 5 min
Why catching up can make returning harderCatch-up plans turn a missed day into a debt, and a debt you cannot face is a debt you avoid. Here is how backlog repayment raises the cost of returning.
ADHD systems · 5 min
How to build an ADHD system that survives a bad weekMost systems work only on a good week. Run a fourteen day abandonment test and a stress test, then lower the cost of coming back before the bad week arrives.
Routines · 5 min
A low-power routine for ADHD bad daysA Low Power routine is the smallest version that protects what matters on a hard day. Learn how to design it, shrink it and know when to stop.
Time · 6 min
ADHD and time blindness: make time visibleTime blindness is an informal phrase, not a diagnosis. Leave-by times, buffers and alarms that name an action make the next transition hard to miss.
Getting back on track · 5 min
ADHD backlog: what to do with the pile you are afraid to openOld messages, overdue tasks, a stack of mail. Do not process it tonight and do not delete it. Quarantine it, label it, and give it one bounded review.
Work and study · 5 min
ADHD burnout recovery: stop running on emergency fuel and use Low PowerDeadline sprints that end in a crash are a pattern, not a flaw. Recover in Low Power, warn people early, and notice when burnout needs professional help.
ADHD systems · 6 min
ADHD executive dysfunction explained: why knowing what to do is not enoughExecutive dysfunction is the gap between knowing what to do and doing it when it matters. A plain explanation, and how to build systems that carry the load.
Overwhelm · 5 min
ADHD overwhelm: Protect, Progress, PolishWhen everything looks important and capacity is low, sort tasks into Protect, Progress and Polish. Protect first, Progress second, Polish waits.
Starting tasks · 5 min
ADHD procrastination is not laziness: the gap between intention and accessPutting things off with ADHD is rarely about not caring. Learn how information, intention and access differ, and what to change instead of trying harder.
Starting tasks · 5 min
ADHD task paralysis: make the first action smaller than the taskWhen a small task feels impossible to start, the start is the problem. Learn to expose hidden steps and use a two-minute contact action with a real stop rule.
ADHD systems · 5 min
Current, Next, Check: a three-line ADHD restart toolWrite three lines when you stop: what is true now, one next action and when you will look again. A state note that makes returning to a task cheaper.
Routines · 6 min
Full Power, Low Power, Restart: a better way to design ADHD routinesA routine with one mode collapses on schedule. Give each system a complete version, a reduced version and a return path, built from what must be protected.
Getting back on track · 5 min
How to get back on track with ADHD without catching up firstFallen off your system? Return in three steps: say what is true now, protect the nearest consequence, and leave a note for tomorrow. No catching up.
Getting back on track · 4 min
How to restart after ignoring something for weeksA closed planner, an unopened account, an unanswered message. Restart with one neutral sentence, one real consequence and a stop rule, not a confession.
Planning · 4 min
The ADHD planner is nine days behind. Do not catch upYou opened the planner and it is nine days stale. Do not backfill it. Write what is true now, protect one consequence and leave a three-line note.
Getting back on track · 5 min
The comeback tax: why returning feels harder than startingA five-minute routine can feel impossible after three missed weeks. The task did not grow. The return got expensive. Here is what is in the bill.
ADHD systems · 6 min
The One Capture Door: stop losing tasks across seven placesCapturing into many places works out the same as capturing into none. Use one intake door, start each item with a verb, and attach a review to a daily cue.
ADHD systems · 5 min
What makes a good ADHD self-help book: six honest checksBefore you buy another ADHD book, check six things: evidence labels, clear limits, no fake proof, composite examples, a bad-day version and a way back.
Overwhelm · 5 min
What to do when everything feels urgent with ADHDWhen every item feels urgent, ask what gets more expensive in the next 24 hours, then apply a fixed rescue order. A way to choose one action and stop.
Planning · 5 min
Why ADHD planners work for two weeks and then disappearPlanners often fail because they have one gear: the full routine or nothing. Learn the three-gear design that gives a planner a small version and a way back.
Shame and avoidance · 4 min
Why shame makes ADHD avoidance worseShame turns a task into a verdict, and avoidance raises the cost of returning. Learn how shame builds the comeback tax and how to lower it without excuses.
Routines · 4 min
Your ADHD routine stopped working. Do this instead of starting overWhen a routine breaks, the fix is rarely a new one. Find the missing gear, build a smaller version, and add a way back before the next bad week.
Reviews
What readers say about the book
I’ve tried planners, routines, apps, reminders, all of it. Most things work for a while and then disappear from my life. This is the first book I’ve read that doesn’t assume the goal is perfect consistency. It actually shows you what to do when the system stops working
Anonymous, verified review on Gumroad The idea that hit me hardest was that the problem isn’t always knowing what to do. Sometimes you know exactly what works and still can’t get back to it. The Restart Protocol made that gap feel practical instead of like another personal failure.
Victoria G., lawyer, mother I thought I needed better discipline. What I actually needed was a system that worked on bad days too. Full Power, Low Power, Restart is simple enough that I can actually remember it when I’m overwhelmed.
Amanda Smith, project manager, banking
What early readers are saying.