ADHD support
Task starter kit for the job you keep putting off
A seven-step checklist that gets a dreaded task from "I can't face it" to ten minutes of real work, plus two small habits that make starting routine.
What’s inside
Get unstuck on one task· 7 items
Name the task in one plain sentence, starting with a verb
Write what "done enough" looks like for today
Write the first step so small it takes under two minutes
Clear only the space and tabs that step needs
Start a 10-minute focus block on that first step
Park any stray thought in the inbox instead of following it
Note where you stopped, so the next start is easier
Habits
Give one dreaded task ten minutes
- When
- After lunch
- Then
- Open the task and read its title out loud.
3 times a weekAt 13:30
Rewrite a stuck task's first step until it feels easy
- When
- When I skip past the same task a third time
- Then
- Type one smaller step into the task's notes.
Whenever it fits
Why it starts so small
Avoidance is usually about the start, not the work. The checklist spends four of its seven steps before any work happens: a plain name, a finish line for today, a first step under two minutes, and a clear desk. By the time the timer runs, there is nothing left to decide.
Ten minutes is short enough that saying yes costs almost nothing. The focus timer helps here: type the first step into Right now, just this:, and when a stray thought shows up, press Park it to send it to the inbox without leaving the session. If the session is linked to the task, the minutes you spent are added to it, so you can see that the task moved even when it is far from done.
Adapting the kit
- Some tasks need a warm-up of a different kind: a phone call might start with “write the first sentence I will say”.
- If ten minutes always turns into forty, keep it. If it never does, try five.
- The after-lunch habit is set to three times a week. Change it to Every day in a heavy season, or to Whenever it fits when things are calm.
An honest tip
The kit does not make the task pleasant. It makes it begun. Expect the first block to feel clumsy, and judge the day by whether you started, not by how much got done. Press I’m done when the block ends if you need to: that is still a finished session.