Pause and reflect

Is there a more valuable and rewarding task or activity that you could be doing right now.

ADHD Coaching

Clients see real wins in weeks - focus develops, goals stick, success grows

ADHD Contemplation
Written by
Andrew Lewis
ADHD Business Coach with 16,000+ hours of ADHD coaching experience

Taking a moment with ADHD is hard

No matter whether you are inattentive or hyperactive, adults with ADHD are always in motion. Whether physically or mentally we are always busy, engaged, seldom ever reflecting. We move from one activity to the next without much conscious thought. This is part of the reason why we fail to call our friends, makes plans, do the chores – we are always actively seeking the next interesting activity, thought, conversation or task – we don’t pause!

Auto-pilot

There is much to be gained from pausing. But you must learn to self observe and notice your transitions first. Watch yourself as you move from one task to the next. How many transitions take place like you’re on autopilot?

Thankfully you can break out of your ADHD auto-pilot and it’s quite simple. It does mean paying attention though. Try to pay attention to your many transitions through the day. When you leave the house in the morning, when you start your email, when you take a coffee, when you ignore the time and stay an extra hour, when you pass over your expenses for email. Each is a transition demands an earlier decision – “what shall I do next”. There are hundreds of transitions in your normal day and hundreds of decisions too.

Pause and reflect

Once your awareness grows of these transitions, you can choose to pause, to defer the next task, and to reflect on your choices. The longer you reflect, the more criteria you can consider. When you consider the next task, ask is this task in my best interests, would another task better serve me. Reflect on options, on the future, on goals and requirements before you make the next impulsive ADHD transition.

Try pausing and reflecting, maybe there is a more valuable, rewarding and beneficial task or activity that you could be doing right now.

Share this post

Andrew Lewis is an Adult ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over 16,000 hours of experience in coaching over 600 adults with ADHD. Andrew helps entrepreneurs and creatives with ADHD thrive and achieve wellbeing and is always happy to have a free chat to discuss coaching. Andrew ran a major ADHD support group and even an ADHD diagnostic clinic for a while. Andrew is an adult ADHD Coach backed with business expertise from a twenty years career in software, from roles in programming, through marketing, sales at IBM, then to running a few software start-ups.

Read more about Andrew

Facebook . Instagram . X . LinkedIn . YouTube - Pinterest

Sixty second dishwasher empty
Soon after my ADHD diagnosis and saw my aversion to doing dishes in a new light
When will AI do my tax return
I am still waiting on robots to do the dishes and AI to do all of my admin
Is Elon Musk ADHD A coach's view
Elon Musk certainly shows quirky, maverick, rebellious ADHD traits at times
The whooshing sound of ADHD deadlines
Deadlines can help but a coach can help you find lasting ways to be on task with no deadline in sight
Stephen Pinker on genetic inheritance
Great talk on genetic influences from Steven Pinker
ADHD Intuition
For many their intuition is often accurate, insightful, intelligent and sometimes surprising
Three tools for ADHD
Simple planning without a diary or to-do list
Jonathon Mooney ADHD reframed
A great presentation on how education focuses on the wrong skills
EFT for ADHD
We don't inhibit our ADHD emotions, so life is usually a roller coaster
Pat on your ADHD Back
As self-critical, problem solvers our ADHD focus tends towards faults and problems. Recognise your successes.
Access to Work funded ADHD coaching
The UK government supports adults with disabilities at work, this includes fully funding ADHD coaching
Gratitude's amazing effects
Gratitude proven as effective as anti-depressants in lifting your mood
Association of Coaching
SimplyWellbeing ADHD Coaching logo
Copyright © 2025 SimplyWellbeing

Website designed, written and created by Andrew Lewis, using Wordpress and Oxygen

49 Station Road, Polegate, East Sussex, BN26 6EA, United Kingdom

Association of Coaching
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram