ADHD Hacks for Women
ADHD focus sessions · Focus

Build a focus session in four parts

A session works better with a beginning and an end.

The short version: try one today

Need to focus right now? Start a body doubling session in Priori and work alongside someone. (We make it. It's free to download.)

Sitting down 'to work for a bit' is how you end up three hours later with nothing done and a vague headache. There was no start, so you never really began. There was no finish, so you never got to feel done.

ADHD focus sessions go better when they have edges. This one has four parts and takes about half an hour: a minute to set the goal, twenty-five to work, two to leave a note, and a short break. The bookends take three minutes in total and they carry most of the weight.

Part one: one minute to write the goal

Before the timer starts, write down what this session is for. One line, on paper or at the top of your document. 'Answer the four emails flagged yesterday.' 'Write 200 words of the introduction.' 'Fill in the expenses form.'

This minute saves you ten. Without it you spend the first chunk of the session deciding what to do, which is a different and more tiring kind of thinking. With it, the deciding is finished and you only have to follow instructions from yourself.

If you cannot think of a goal that fits in 25 minutes, pick the first small piece. If even that feels impossible, the problem may be starting, and task initiation covers that in more detail.

Part two: twenty-five minutes of work

Start the timer and work on the goal. Only the goal. When another thought barges in, such as remembering you never texted your mum back, write it on a scrap of paper and return to the line you wrote.

You will drift. Everyone does. The session is still working as long as you keep coming back. The written goal is what makes coming back possible, because you do not have to reconstruct what you were doing.

Twenty-five minutes is a default and you can change it. Shorter on rough days, longer if you are flying. The adjusted Pomodoro guide has ideas for finding your length.

Part three: two minutes to note where you stopped

This is the part everyone wants to skip, and it is the most useful one. When the timer goes, take two minutes and write:

ADHD working memory is leaky. Right now you know exactly where you are in the task. In an hour, that will be gone, and tomorrow you would have to reread everything to find your place. The note is a bookmark. It turns the next session's first minute from 'where was I' into 'oh, that'.

It also gives the session a proper ending. You get a small click of completion even if the bigger task is nowhere near finished.

Part four: a break, then choosing whether to run more ADHD focus sessions

Stand up. Get water, stretch, look at something further away than a screen. Give it about five minutes and try to keep your phone out of it.

Then decide. If you have another one in you, write a new goal and go again. If you are done, you are done, and your note is waiting for next time.

Here is how it looks in real life. It is your second month in a new job and your inbox has 140 unread messages. You write 'Clear everything from last week that needs a reply'. You do 25 minutes and get through eleven. Your note says 'Stopped at the email from finance, need the invoice number from Priya'. Tomorrow you open the note and ask Priya. No dread, no rereading.

One session will not fix the inbox. A few of them, each with a clear start and a breadcrumb at the end, usually make a visible dent.

Quick questions

How long should a focus session be for ADHD?

Twenty-five minutes of work is a common starting point, with a minute before to set a goal and a couple after to note where you stopped. Adjust the work block up or down until you find a length you are willing to start.

How do you structure a focus session?

Give it a beginning, a middle and an end. Write one goal, work on only that for a set time, jot down where you stopped and what comes next, then take a short break away from your phone.