Why is this so hard?
You know what needs doing. You care about it. You might even enjoy it once you get going. And you still can’t start, can’t switch, or can’t stay with it. Then comes the second problem: what’s wrong with me?
This page is a practical model for the first problem, so the second one loses some of its grip.
The short version: struggling with something you care about feels like proof that something is wrong with you. It’s more useful to read it as information. The task is asking for mental tools that are less reliable for you, and that gives you something concrete to work with.
What are executive functions?
Executive functions are the mental tools we use, over time, to move toward a goal.
ADHD is an executive function impairment. Impairment doesn’t mean the tools are missing. It means they’re less reliable: they’re there, but harder to reach consistently when you need them.
So when you already know what to do and you want the outcome, the missing piece usually isn’t information or motivation. It’s access to the tools.
There are six of them, in two groups. Three help you regulate yourself. Three help you keep thinking toward the goal.
What are the six executive functions?
Regulate yourself
Self-awareness the mind’s mirror
Seeing yourself from the outside: noticing “I’m avoiding this” or “I’m getting defensive” while it’s happening.
At work: Catching yourself on your fourth pass through Slack while the PR you meant to review sits open in another tab.
Emotional self-regulation the mind’s heart
Changing or turning down an emotion after it shows up on its own.
At work: Reading a blunt code review comment and letting the sting pass before you reply.
Self-restraint the mind’s brake
Overriding an urge instead of acting on it. The urge says “do it”; restraint creates a pause.
At work: Not refactoring the whole module when the ticket asked for one fix.
Think toward a goal
Visual imagery the mind’s eye
Seeing things that aren’t in front of you: the finished task, the future, a consequence.
At work: Picturing the migration done and the old service switched off, clearly enough that it pulls you through the boring middle.
Verbal working memory the mind’s voice
Talking yourself toward a goal: rehearsing steps, reminding yourself why, “first this, then that.”
At work: “Reproduce the bug, write the failing test, then fix it” running in your head while you work.
Playing with information the mind’s playground
Comparing, sequencing, rearranging and testing the pieces you’re holding.
At work: Weighing three designs against each other without writing any of them down.
Planning, organizing, prioritizing and time management aren’t on this list. They’re activities that pull on several of these tools at once, which is part of why they’re so hard to fix with a single technique.
Why do ordinary tasks become so hard?
These six tools work alongside a second level of the brain: the automatic brain. Two levels are operating at once.
Emotions and urges come from here. It pulls toward reward and away from boredom and discomfort. Its question is always some version of what feels better or easier right now?
Self-awareness, emotional regulation and self-restraint manage the automatic response. Visual imagery, verbal working memory and playing with information keep you thinking toward the goal.
Goal-directed thinking is effortful. When a task is vague, complex, tedious, emotionally loaded or full of decisions, the tools have to work harder. That effort can become uncomfortable, especially when the task offers nothing rewarding soon.
Then the automatic brain does its job and looks for relief. Slack, email, a quick look at another ticket, some research that could technically count as work. Not because you care less about the task. Because your brain is trying to get away from the discomfort.
- Task taxes goal-directed thinking
- Effort turns into discomfort
- Automatic brain seeks relief
- Urge to escape
- Easier, more rewarding option
A familiar version: a 2,000-line pull request lands in your review queue. Holding the whole change in your head is heavy work. Twenty minutes later you’re reading an unrelated thread, and the PR is still open.
What is the ADHD catch-22?
The tools you need to manage the problem are the ones the problem is straining.
From the outside this looks like laziness, low motivation or a lack of discipline. The sequence started much earlier, with what the task was asking of you.
Is it a behavior problem or an impairment?
| Behavior | Impairment |
|---|---|
| What you can see: avoiding, scrolling, missing a deadline, abandoning a task. | The underlying condition or cognitive limitation that makes the behavior more likely. |
The shift is from moral judgment to useful observation. Behavior can often be changed. An impairment is something you accommodate, the way you’d add a retry to a flaky network call instead of telling the network to try harder.
From “should” to “will”
One of the heaviest parts of ADHD is the constant layer of should. Once you accept that your brain may need different conditions, the question stops accusing you and starts being practical: what conditions would make this something I will actually do?
| Should | Will |
|---|---|
| I should remember to update the ticket. | What will make it hard to forget? (It’s a checkbox in the PR template now.) |
| I should be able to do this alone. | What support makes it likely I’ll follow through? |
| I should just start. | What ambiguity or friction has to come down far enough that I will start? |
What can you actually do about it?
Once the difficulty stops being evidence against you, you can investigate it. The more useful question is what’s creating the friction, and what can I change?
First, reduce the demand: the Three D’s
Before you make a task easier, check whether it belongs on your plate at all.
Drop
Does this actually need to happen?
Let go of the unnecessary shoulds.
Delegate
Does it need to be done by me?
Use another person, a service, a tool, or shared responsibility.
Do
If it has to be me, what would make it easier?
That’s where the next step comes in.
Reduce the unnecessary demand first. Then engineer the demand that’s left.
Then change the fit: cognitive ergonomics
Cognitive ergonomics means identifying what a task demands of your brain, then changing the task, the environment, the tools or the process so that demand is easier to meet.
| If this is the friction | Try this | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Too much to hold in your head | Write it down, externalize it, keep it visible. | Debugging across four services: keep the hypotheses in a scratch file, not in your head. |
| The task is vague | Define the outcome, then pick the next visible step. | “Improve onboarding performance” becomes “run the profiler on the signup endpoint.” |
| Thinking alone is hard | Talk it through, body-double, or collaborate. | The blank design doc gets easier on a call with a teammate, or narrating it to a rubber duck. |
| Too many decisions | Reduce the choices, pre-decide, or use a default. | A standing default for small library and naming calls, so each one isn’t a fresh debate. |
| Tedious, repetitive or boring | Add structure, stimulation, company, or a shorter interval. | Bumping sixty dependency versions in 25-minute blocks, with music, next to a coworker. |
| Switching makes you lose the thread | Reduce toggling; keep what you need open side by side. | Notifications batched during a refactor, and the ticket, diff and notes on one screen. |
A model isn’t a personal operating manual
The model is general. Your pattern is specific. Understanding executive function can give you a better explanation for what’s been happening. The next layer is learning your own pattern: which kinds of tasks reliably create friction for you, how you tend to escape it, and which accommodations actually help you follow through.
In practice that means running small experiments until you know what works for you. Exploring your own patterns and designing those experiments is what 1:1 coaching with me is for.
Where this comes from
This page relies substantially on Jeff Copper’s Cognitive Ergonomics From the Inside Out (CEFIO), which uses Dr. Russell Barkley’s executive function construct as its model. The six-tool structure, the automatic versus executive-function distinction, behavior versus impairment, the reward, boredom and discomfort framing, and the cognitive ergonomics approach are adapted from CEFIO. The sequencing, the engineering examples and the synthesis are mine. The should-to-will framing and the Three D’s are my reframings of ideas I learned from Jeff Copper. To study the framework directly, start with his CEFIO program.
This is educational material, not medical advice or a diagnostic assessment. — Michael Greenspan
Want to work out your own pattern?
The first conversations are free. We look at where the friction shows up in your work and whether I can help. No pitch, no decision expected.
Not ready for a conversation? A short reflection for engineers with ADHD, once a week. Yours to keep private.