The Big Ideas to Remember

TL;DR

If you forget every individual hack, keep these eight ideas. They’re the whole philosophy: stop fighting your brain, and build a life that works with how it actually functions.

The eight ideas

1. Let your environment do the remembering. Your memory isn’t reliable — stop expecting it to be. Use alarms, notes, visible storage, physical setups. If you can’t see it, you’ll forget it. If it’s not scheduled, it won’t happen.

2. Done beats perfect, every time. A half-cleaned kitchen beats a dirty one. A mediocre email sent beats a perfect one never written. Stop waiting for perfect conditions — just do it imperfectly.

3. Work with your brain, not against it. Your brain isn’t broken; it’s different. Find systems that fit how you actually function, not how you “should” function by everyone else’s standards.

4. Small wins create momentum. Don’t wait until you feel motivated — create motivation through tiny actions. Start with the dumbest small step. One win leads to another.

5. You’re not lazy. Struggling with “simple” tasks isn’t a character flaw; it’s how your brain is wired. Treat yourself the way you’d treat a friend who was struggling.

6. What works for other people might not work for you. And what works for you might look weird to everyone else. That’s fine. If it works, it works — don’t let anyone make you feel bad about your workarounds.

7. Shame makes everything worse. Beating yourself up doesn’t make you function better — it deepens the paralysis. Self-compassion isn’t weakness; it’s a practical tool for getting unstuck.

8. Accommodate yourself without apology. Paper plates, bins instead of folding, alarms every 30 minutes, working in coffee shops — these aren’t signs of failure. They’re adaptations that help you function. Use them proudly.

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All of this works because it was figured out by people with ADHD, for people with ADHD. Take what helps, skip what doesn’t, and keep experimenting until you find your own formula.

Where to go next

Helpful resources

Online communities

• Reddit: r/ADHD, r/adhdwomen, r/ADHD_Programmers
• Discord: many ADHD servers for body doubling and support

YouTube

• How to ADHD (Jessica McCabe) — research-backed and excellent
• “Study With Me” videos for body doubling

Podcasts

• ADHD reWired
• Hacking Your ADHD

Books

• How to Keep House While Drowning — KC Davis
• Driven to Distraction — Edward Hallowell

Apps & tools

• Focusmate, FLOWN, Flow Club — virtual body doubling
• Tiimo — visual schedules
• Goblin.tools — free AI that breaks tasks into tiny steps
• Time Timer — visual countdown timers
• A brown noise app, or YouTube