ADHD habits: make it obvious, make it easy

Habits depend on cues. ADHD brains miss subtle ones.

The short version: try one today

• Put the object in your way.
• Remove every step you can.
• Do it at the same point in your day.

Keep forgetting the new routine? Priori has reminders and streaks to keep it in front of you. (We make it. It's free to download.)

Your yoga mat lives in the cupboard behind the hoover. Your reusable water bottle is in a tote bag from last Tuesday. The floss is in a drawer. Most advice on ADHD habits skips the boring reason none of those ever got going: a habit needs a cue, and the cue has to be loud.

So make the thing obvious and make it easy. Do that, and most of the work is finished before motivation is even involved.

Habits run on cues, and quiet ones get missed

A habit is a behaviour that gets triggered by something. You walk into the kitchen and put the kettle on. You don't decide to. The room does it for you.

Trouble starts when the trigger is subtle. 'I'll stretch in the evenings' relies on you noticing that it's evening and remembering the plan, right when your attention is on dinner, a group chat and a show. With ADHD, attention tends to go to whatever is most interesting or urgent in the moment, and a vague intention is neither.

So stop asking your memory to do the cueing. Put the cue in the physical world, where it can interrupt you.

Put the object in your way

The most reliable cue is an object you physically have to deal with.

• Want to stretch? Leave the mat unrolled on the floor between your bed and the door.
• Want to drink more water? Put a full glass next to your phone charger at night.
• Want to read before bed? Book on the pillow, so you have to pick it up to lie down.
• Need to take a form to work? Put it on top of your shoes.

It might look odd, and flatmates may comment on the mat. That's a fair price. This is the same idea as putting your brain outside your head: the environment does the remembering so you don't have to.

Remove every step you can

Count the steps between you and the habit. Going for a run might be: find leggings, find sports bra, find both trainers, find headphones, charge headphones, choose a playlist. That's six chances to get distracted or give up.

Now cut them. Lay the kit out the night before, or sleep in the leggings if you have to. Keep trainers and headphones in one spot by the door. Have one playlist. The habit should take a single obvious movement to begin.

The same goes for life admin. If you want to note what you spend, pin the note to the top of your notes app. If you want to floss, keep the floss out on the sink next to the toothpaste. A drawer is one step too many.

Give your ADHD habits the same slot in the day

Go by sequence and leave the clock out of it. '7:30am' is fragile, because your wake-up time moves around and time blindness makes the clock a poor cue. 'Right after I put my mug in the sink' travels with you through a lie-in, a late shift or a weekend.

Choose an anchor that already happens every day without effort: making coffee, brushing your teeth, getting home and taking your shoes off. Attach the new habit directly after it. This is called habit stacking, and it pairs well with the object trick. The anchor tells you when, and the object tells you what.

When a habit drops off, look at the setup before you look at yourself. Usually the object got tidied away, an extra step crept in or your day changed shape. Put the mat back on the floor and try again tomorrow. The 2009 University College London habit study found that missing one day did not derail progress, so there's nothing to make up.

Quick questions

Why is it so hard to build habits with ADHD?

Habits depend on noticing a cue and remembering what to do, and ADHD affects both attention and working memory. Subtle cues like a time of day are easy to miss. Loud physical cues and fewer steps make a habit easier to trigger.

What are good habits to start with if you have ADHD?

Start with one that takes under two minutes and has an obvious physical cue, such as drinking a glass of water left by your bed. Pick something that makes the rest of your day slightly easier. One habit at a time is plenty.