Why Your Planner Stops Working (And What That Means When You Have ADHD)

Photo by Sarah-Beth Bianchi.

The state of my planner tells me more about my regulation than my productivity. (Don’t worry - this isn’t a post about how using a planner or journal will solve all your ADHD problems.)

When I’m thriving, my planner is effective and up to date. I have the place I need to dump the ideas from my brain so that I can rest assured they won’t fall through the cracks in my working memory. I start my week with a calendar that visualizes the work ahead of me - which helps curb my penchant for optimistically over-scheduling myself.

And then it stops. A Monday comes around, and I miss my scheduled time to set up my planner for the week. Or I start working on it, and get overwhelmed with how many tasks I didn’t complete last week and have to be pushed forward or abandoned.

My first reaction has been disappointment and shame at not being able to maintain a system that I know works well for me. And many times over the years, that spiral has led me to abandon my planner for weeks or months at a time.

But in the past few years, I’ve recognized a similar pattern with my clients. And I’ve learned more about how motivation, task activation, and dysregulation can impact productivity for ADHD professionals. I’ve come to realize that the state of my planner (or yours!) is a symptom, not a cause.

My planner habit tends to drop when other things are piling up. When illness disrupts my flow. When I have unexpected appointments that cause me to abandon scheduled focus time. Or when crunch time hits leading up to a presentation or event, and I have more to get done that I realized. I may use my planner to ensure I’m not missing the critical things, but I’m not spending precious time carefully replanning lower priority tasks when I have a deadline to meet or my energy is already depleted.

I’ve started to replace the idea that a neglected planner is a failed attempt at organization. Instead, I recognize it as a sign to reflect on what is causing the disruption. It’s a signal that a temporary approach is in order, not a total restructuring of an otherwise effective system. So out come the post-it notes and extra calendar reminders to fill the gap.

And then when I get over the bump, I simply continue on. I’ve even given myself permission to reengage with my planner mid-week rather than waiting for a clean start on a Monday.

Do you have a habit or tool that periodically falls apart, even if it tends to serve you well most of the time? What changes if, instead of asking why you can't stick to a system, you ask what was disrupting you when you stopped?