Most of the ADHD tools I’ve tried didn’t stay. This is about the eight that did.
Not because they were the most sophisticated or most recommended. Because they fit how my brain actually works, not how it’s supposed to work. There are no app subscriptions on this list. No complicated setups. A few of them are almost embarrassingly simple.
Here’s what I kept.
The ADHD tool graveyard
You probably have one. Maybe it’s a drawer. Maybe it’s an app folder full of things you opened twice. The Bullet Journal started in January and abandoned in February. The productivity system that made complete sense in theory and zero sense on a Thursday afternoon when your brain wouldn’t start.
The graveyard isn’t evidence you’re bad at this. It’s evidence that most tools aren’t designed for the version of you that shows up when things are hard: tired, overstimulated, already behind.
The tools that stayed in my life share a pattern. They’re there before I need them. They don’t require me to be in a functional headspace to set them up or remember to use them. The activation cost is low enough for a bad day, not just a good one.
That’s the real filter. Not “does this work in theory?” but “does this work when I’m at 40%?”
The 8 ADHD tools that actually stayed
1. The brain dump, before any planning.
Everything out of my head and onto paper before I try to organize anything. Not categorized, not prioritized. Just out. It takes five minutes and it changes everything about how the planning goes after. (More on that here.)
2. A hard cap on the task list.
Five things. Not ten, not fifteen. Five tasks for the day, and everything else goes on a separate list I don’t look at until tomorrow. The feeling of finishing five things is completely different from the feeling of not finishing fifteen. One is satisfaction. The other is familiar.
3. The Dopamine Menu.
A pre-made list of things that activate my brain when I’m frozen. Not social media, not default behavior, but options I’ve chosen in advance. The key word is pre-made. When I’m frozen, I can’t generate ideas. With a menu that already exists, I can just pick. It takes ten minutes to build once and it helps every time. (What a Dopamine Menu is and how to make one.)
4. Body doubling.
Working alongside another person, in person, on a call, even silently over video. Something about having another human present makes it easier to start. It’s not about accountability or someone checking on you. It’s about the environment feeling less empty. Not everyone finds this useful, but many people with ADHD describe it as surprisingly effective. (The longer version on body doubling.)
5. Habit stacking.
Attaching new things to things I already do. Not building routines from scratch, but piggybacking onto anchors that already exist. Coffee → five minutes of planning. Finishing lunch → one voice memo. Starting from zero is hard. Starting from an existing habit is much less so. (Habit stacking for ADHD brains.)
6. An energy check before planning.
Before writing a single task, I ask: what kind of week is this, high energy, medium, or recovery? The answer changes what actually goes on the list. This was the last one I added and the most underrated. Planning for the week I’m actually having, not the week I hoped I’d have, is the difference between a plan that works and one that just produces shame. (The full post on the ADHD energy check.)
7. A weekly reset.
Sunday or Monday, not a big overhaul, just 15 minutes. Review what didn’t happen. Decide if it moves forward or gets dropped. Clear the mental pile so unfinished things stop accumulating invisibly in the background. Without this, the backlog grows in my head even when it’s not on paper. (A starting point for the ADHD Sunday reset.)
8. An undated planner.
This was the quiet one. The shift from dated to undated removed something I hadn’t named: the shame of the gap weeks. The weeks I didn’t use the planner were visible in a dated planner: empty pages, a record of absence. Undated means there are no gap weeks. You start again whenever you’re ready, and the planner doesn’t know you were gone.
What they have in common
None of them require me to be doing well to use them.
The tools that didn’t stay (the complex apps, the elaborate systems, the color-coded everything) worked when I was motivated and curious and had the energy to maintain them. The problem is that version of me doesn’t need much help. The version of me at 40% does.
Every tool on this list works at 40%. That’s why it stayed.
There’s also no streak logic here. No gamification that punishes stopping. All eight of these are designed to be picked up and put down without penalty. That’s deliberate, and it’s the only reason they survived.
Short Version
- Most ADHD tools don’t stick because they require you to be functional to use them.
- The ones that stay are visible, low-friction, and forgiving when you stop and start.
- Brain dump first, before any planning, not alongside it.
- Five tasks max. Everything else is invisible until tomorrow.
- Dopamine Menu pre-made, energy check before the task list, weekly reset to clear the pile.
- Undated, so stopping is never permanent and there’s no paper evidence of the hard weeks.
Most of these are already in one place
Most planners weren’t built with this list in mind. They have the same layout every week regardless of your energy, no space for a brain dump before the planning starts, and a task format that holds 25 things whether or not that’s realistic.
The Flowers ADHD Planner has a Brain Dump page built into every monthly spread, a Dopamine Menu spread on pages 8–9, a Weekly Energy Check section before the task list, a 5-line to-do block, and a dedicated Rest Day section. The habit tracker is in there too. None of it needs to be remembered. It’s already on the page when you open it.
Undated. Soft-cover. Start any week, pause any week, come back without the gap.
Designed in Europe. Made for brains that don’t fit neat boxes.
Pink Lobster Creatives is run by Liesbeth, a surface pattern designer building the tools she wished she’d had 10 years ago. Everything here comes from lived experience rather than a medical qualification. Nothing on this blog is a substitute for advice from your doctor, therapist, or ADHD coach. Strategies that work for one person with ADHD may not work for another. If something resonates, take it. If it doesn’t, leave it.
Related reads:
Brain Dump vs. To-Do List: Which One Your ADHD Brain Actually Needs
ADHD Energy Check: Plan for the Week You’re Actually Having
Body Doubling for ADHD
ADHD All-or-Nothing Planning (And How to Break It)
Leave a Reply