ADHD: Executive Functioning and Task Initiation
Today I want to talk about executive functioning, especially the part that has to do with actually getting started on goals when you live with ADHD. Task initiation is one of the most common executive functioning challenges I see, even for people who know how to plan, organize, and make beautiful to-do lists. You may already be familiar with tools like SMART goals, breaking tasks into steps, and writing things down; what often needs to change is how simple and ADHD-friendly those tools are. Let’s look at how to simplify your goals, make a few key modifications, and then practice them consistently so your brain has a real chance to build new habits.
Simplifying Your Goals
One thing we know from brain science is that it often takes about three weeks of practicing a new routine before it starts to feel more automatic. If you stop before your brain has had time to adjust, it will be much harder to come back to that routine later, and you’ve probably seen that play out in your own life. So as we talk about SMART goals, I want you to think about small changes you can stick with for at least those first three weeks.
SMART GOALS: Specific and Measureable
The S in SMART stands for Specific, and with ADHD your goals usually need to be even more specific than you think.
Instead of saying, “I’m going to write a book, and I’ll have a draft of the introduction finished by the end of this week,” you might break that down into something much smaller and clearer. For example: “One day this week, I’m going to sit down and write for at least 10 minutes.” That’s just one example; you can adjust the numbers so they feel realistic for you. Then we look at whether that goal is Achievable for you right now.
SMART GOALS: Achievable and Realistic
To decide if a goal is achievable, start by asking yourself why you’re setting it and what you’re actually trying to accomplish.
How does this goal fit with what you truly want for yourself? If it’s something you don’t care about at all, it will be very hard to find any motivation to follow through. Sometimes you have to intentionally build in motivation for tasks you don’t naturally want to do by connecting them to something that does matter to you, or by clearly naming your “why” for doing it.
SMART GOALS: Time-Bound
SMART goals are also time-bound, which means there’s a clear deadline or time frame. There needs to be a specific day and, ideally, a time you plan to work on the task or have it completed, especially when you’re just starting to practice goal setting and consistency.
Those time estimates and the number of steps involved may change as you learn more about the task, and that’s okay. It can help to start with something very small, like doing a task one day a week, and then gradually adding more days as it becomes easier. For example, I used to avoid making my bed, and now I’ve been doing it every single morning for a couple of years.
I started by choosing just Sundays. Once that felt steady for a couple of weeks, I added Saturdays. After two or three weeks of success with weekends, I added another day, and then another. Early on, I even set a reminder so I’d know when it was time to make the bed. Now I get up and do it automatically, often before I even notice I’m doing it. That’s the power of breaking a goal down and giving your brain enough repetition to turn it into a habit.
Setting Goals
Going back to our writing example, you might start with a goal like, “I’ll write for 10 minutes,” and then simply notice what happens. You could repeat that 10-minute goal the following week, and the week after that, focusing more on consistency than on how much you produce at first.
It can also be helpful to create a short “starter routine” that you do right before a task you tend to avoid. For example, when I arrive at my office, I put my things down in the same place, make sure my keys are in the front pocket of my bag so I don’t lose them, tidy up quickly by vacuuming or dusting, and then I grab my coffee and an energy drink.
Many of us like to have two drinks going at once, right?
After that little routine, my brain knows it’s time to start work. When you’re setting specific goals for yourself, think not only about what you’re going to do, but also what small routine might help you shift into “work mode.”
Mindfulness
In addition to deciding what you’re going to do, it often helps to decide when. You might choose a consistent time of day for your goal—like writing in the morning before you check your phone—or you might decide each morning exactly when it will fit into your day, as long as you keep the number of days consistent at first. This is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness simply means paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, without judgment.
So let’s say it’s day two and you don’t write. Then day three passes and you still don’t write. A week goes by, and then another, and the 10-minute writing session just isn’t happening. Instead of beating yourself up, you can use mindfulness to gently ask, “What got in the way?” and really look at that, without judging yourself.
If strong emotions come up—maybe shame, frustration, or a sense of failure—give yourself permission to step back and regulate first. It’s usually not the best time to rewrite your goals while you’re in the middle of that emotional wave. You might say, “I’ll come back and reevaluate this later,” take a short break, and return when you feel more grounded so you can calmly ask, “What needs to be adjusted here?”
For many people, the hardest part is simply starting. Sitting here with my laptop between sessions, I sometimes have a choice: I could get a snack, wander the halls and chat with colleagues, or sit down and do paperwork—which is not my favorite task.
Building Better Habits
When I’m trying to build better habits around those non-preferred tasks, I focus on choosing the thing I don’t really want to do, even though part of my brain is saying, “You can always do this later.” One strategy that helps is shrinking the first step way down.
Sometimes my only goal is, “I’m going to sit at my desk and open the app I need to use.” It may sound almost too small, but for many people with ADHD, tiny, doable steps like that are exactly what make it possible to get started.
Once that first step feels manageable, the next step might be, “I’m going to start typing and see how long I can stay with it before I get distracted.” If I notice that I look away after two or three minutes, that tells me something important about my baseline. If I can’t stay focused for five minutes yet, I’m not going to set a goal of working for five minutes straight, even just one day a week—I might start with three.
Remember that Achievable means achievable for you, not what other people think you should be doing. Getting a baseline measurement is especially helpful for tasks you’ve never done before. For instance, I’m working on a book and creating an index of supplemental supports to go with it.
One day I was body-doubling with someone else who was working on their book, and I set a goal to document five of those supports in a very specific format within an hour. It sounded like a good SMART goal, and I truly believed I could do it. I worked the full hour without taking breaks and still only finished three and a half. It wasn’t about distraction—I simply hadn’t realized how long each entry would take. That experience gave me a baseline: at first, I could realistically complete about three entries per hour, and with practice I gradually worked up to four as I became more familiar with the process.
The Big Takeaway
Effective goal setting with ADHD means making your goals very specific, basing them on your real baseline, and giving your brain enough consistent repetition—often at least a few weeks—to turn new routines into habits. Task initiation is a core part of executive functioning, and it can be especially challenging when you live with ADHD, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. At Monarch Counseling in Westerville, Ohio, we support people in building ADHD-friendly systems, practicing mindfulness, and creating changes that actually stick.