The Motivation Struggle: How People with ADHD Can Make the Most of It

We all struggle with motivation sometimes, whether it’s doing the laundry or going to the gym. But when you have ADHD, the motivation struggle reaches a new level of difficulty. It goes beyond doing the laundry or working out; it branches into maintaining personal hygiene, upholding work and social obligations, and even paying bills.

Often, this gets people with ADHD mislabeled as “lazy,” when in reality, there’s much more going on under the surface.

Why Do People with ADHD Struggle to Find Motivation?

ADHD is characterized by abnormally low levels of dopamine in the brain. Without an adequate amount of dopamine being produced, people with ADHD struggle to recognize rewards and seek out rewarding opportunities. This presents a lack of motivation. Because the brain struggles to recognize rewards (and thus produce dopamine), the body lacks the motivation to perform tasks.

On top of low dopamine levels, it’s common for people with ADHD to struggle with feeling overwhelmed easily. Compared to their peers, people with ADHD face much more distraction, and coupled with a lack of motivation, they may resort to giving up because it all becomes too overwhelming.

How People with ADHD Can Hack Their Motivation

So how can people with ADHD get around a motivation block?

Get in Motion

One factor that plays into motivation for people with ADHD is decision paralysis. Not only do they not have the energy, but they don’t know where to start. There are seemingly so many options. As a result, many people with ADHD find themselves lying on the couch, frozen and overwhelmed, instead of getting up to do tasks they know they need to do.

One way to get around this is to start by doing something you want—something you’ll feel rewarded by. It could be partaking in your recent hyper-fixation or eating a food you enjoy. Once you’re up and engaged in something else, transferring that energy into “non-rewarding” tasks like doing the laundry becomes much easier. For people with ADHD, the law of inertia applies: an object in motion stays in motion. At the same time, an object at rest stays at rest unless energy is expended on putting it in motion.

Limit Your To-Do List

To avoid feeling overwhelmed and even more unmotivated, shrink your to-do list. Instead of leaving it open-ended, try writing down a to-do list of tasks on a post-it note or a calendar and stop when you run out of space. Since it’s a smaller space, you’ll write down fewer to-dos at once, making it feel much more manageable.

You could write down tasks and place them in a bowl. Then, choose a couple of tasks to complete each day. This also adds an element of gamification (more on that below).

Gamify Tasks

Another hack people with ADHD can find motivation is by gamifying tasks. This means adding game-like elements or rewards to otherwise ordinary chores or tasks. Because an ADHD brain seeks novelty (since it releases dopamine), gamifying tasks can help provide that much-needed dopamine release.

Perhaps you assign points to various tasks. When you accrue enough points, you treat yourself to some sort of reward, like your favorite food or something off your Amazon wishlist. Maybe you challenge yourself by trying to complete a quick task in the time it takes to listen to a song you like.

Work with Your Brain, Not Against It

It’s hard for a neurodivergent person to function in a neurotypical world. A therapist can help you talk through your struggles and identify which coping mechanisms might work well for you. Instead of forcing a square peg through a round hole, try creating adaptations that allow you to work with your unique patterns.

Remember, just because you’re different doesn’t mean you’re defective!

To learn more about how therapy can help with ADHD, please reach out to us.

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