how to succeed with adhd

📅 11/23/2025••📚 15 m

to the surprise of absolutely nobody, I happen to have ADHD. I got diagnosed back in 2022 and have used medication on and off. I've made the decision to stop taking medication after 2023 (although I have since tried it again) and have been trying to create habits that not only let me survive, but also help me thrive.

the thing with ADHD is that there is no single "fix" for it. medication does not "fix" ADHD. although ADHD in and of itself (definitionally) is described as having a hormonal imbalance in certain areas of the brain, ADHD in practice is a cocktail. it's made up of your habits, your mental (and physical!) health, the consequences of the your environment you grew up in, the people that have been around you, your hobbies, your likes & dislikes, and so much more.

the rules & tricks I share in this post should help you, whether you have ADHD or not. let's get into it.

*side notes: AI was not used in the writing of this blog post. there may have been things I've forgotten to mention - or advice I shared that might not necessarily apply to your life - as I'm speaking solely from personal experience. I'm not a medical professional and I do not claim to be. I use the term 'stimulants' broadly, it can refer to anything ranging from caffeine, to nicotine, to prescription stimulant medication.

rules, tricks & hacks to succeed with ADHD

mental

write EVERYTHING down (have side quests): you want to learn something? you want to do something? write it down. pen & paper works. apple notes, obsidian or notion also work. just make sure you have them written down somewhere that you read/visit often, and preferably always have them in the same place. these are your side quests. everything that you want to do is essentially a side quest. there are some rules to follow when creating a side quest, the most important one being that you have to also write down what about the task/quest makes you excited. when you're sitting there reading your "side_quests.md" document, the entry "make a blog" will NOT get you moving, while "make a blog. the buttons on it should have rounded corners & vertical linear gradients. there should be a shiny share button on the top right (...)" has a better chance! prompt yourself as if you were ChatGPT. by storing everything that you ever want to do, you make it easier to actually start the work & keep score of what you've done & what's left to do. am I essentially reinventing a todo list from first principles? yes. is it better than a traditional one? also yes.
have a main quest: this is the most important one. you should ALWAYS have ONE goal that you're ultimately striving towards. this goal can be something as specific as "buying a 3 bedroom house in Istanbul", or as broad as "living a happy life where you're financially independent", but it is essential that you have a main quest. it is also essential that you find ways to tie your side quests back to the main quest. you have to practice thinking in a specific way: "I'm <writing a thesis> right now because <my grades will be important in the future> when <I'm applying for a job> which I'll be doing because <I want to help my family>." <- this is a good example of how you should* think when doing anything. you should always find a way to tie your actions back to the main quest. *writing the thesis right now -> better grades later -> helps with employment -> pays money -> I can help my family.
know that guilt is a perfectly useless emotion: if you feel like you did something wrong, do something about it. correct it. guilt will NOT help you. it will keep you stuck where you are. don't feel guilty because you weren't productive today or you got some bad grades, but do whatever you can to turn that around. keep moving towards the main quest.
know that the time will pass anyway: picture this:
```
- you have an assignment that's gonna take 3 hours to do. 
- you don't want to do it.
- 3 hours from now, the assignment will either be finished or not.
- it's boring and useless, and you'd rather watch YouTube than do it. let's say that's the alternative.
```
but in reality, there is no alternative. they are both the same because the time will pass anyway. in both cases, you lose the same 3 hours. you're going to lose the 3 hours anyway. you might as well get it out of the way before you have more stuff to do and it's impossible to do it.
remember that there's a point throughout the project/task where it costs more to NOT do it: if you're coding some app and you're already halfway there, you have probably talked to people about it (maybe not, doesn't matter) and some good planning went into it. you spent hours planning and hours executing the plan. you run into some bug, or maybe you just don't want to work on it anymore because you're not obligated to do it. if you stop now, it will have cost you MORE to NOT continue doing it. it will HURT. it will hurt BAD. and it should! the trick is to do enough of the work where it will cost you more to not finish it. this will motivate you to do it, or maybe you'll end up hating yourself. that's also very possible. to avoid hating yourself, you have to finish the task.
create positive feedback loops (1) (raising the bar): a great example (possibly very unhealthy) is that if you become really productive, the people around you start having higher expectations of you and you don't want to risk disappointing them. so you end up in a situation where you have to force yourself to be productive, and you can't survive otherwise. yeah sounds very unhealthy actually but I never claimed it was healthy to be fair. once you convince people you're good, you have to keep it up. this, in some cases, is point blank the only reason why I do something. only to raise expectations. if you fail or don't live up to expectations, you will feel horrible. in order to avoid feeling horrible you have to lock in.

structural

set new baselines for yourself: even if you struggle with executive dysfunction, there are a number of things that you do daily/weekly/monthly that you absolutely have to do. the trick is to progressively increase that number. you need to integrate more things into your schedule and do those things until that becomes your new normal. this is genuinely one of the best hacks out there as you can quickly increase your executive function baseline. you will be shocked as to how many more things/tasks there are that you can fit in a day/week/month. your "normal" eventually becomes something like: wake up -> wash face -> brush teeth -> have breakfast -> put on deodorant & perfume -> get dressed -> leave for uni/work -> ... -> eat lunch -> ... -> get home -> eat dinner -> check schedule -> check weather -> prepare clothes accordingly -> take a shower -> use face cleanser -> shave face -> brush teeth -> set alarms -> go to bed on time. so when you say you did nothing all day, this will be your 'nothing'. even if you accomplish nothing else, you will still be ready for what tomorrow brings. the trick is to make even your 'nothing' something.
create positive feedback loops (2) (write down accomplishments): every day, at 9pm or so, write down what you've accomplished that day. similarly to the side quests list, these should be kept in the same place, and preferably in a place where you can see them. the list you make should look something like:
```
- 23/11/2025
    - ...
    - studied calculus for 5 hours
- 24/11/2025
    - ...
    - aced calculus
```
it's kind of a given that this list will help you keep track of what you've done and see what you're proud of, but perhaps a more important utility it serves is it can help you create what I like to call a positive feedback loop. it will help you associate actions with results. it's essentially an action -> result list if you think about it. another positive is that if you look at your accomplishments list and see you've been doing really well for the past 4 days or so, you will want to keep that streak going. you will not want to break the streak. and even if you do, it will be because you will be able to see that you've been studying nonstop for the past 6 days and know that you deserve a break. helps in all sorts of ways, really.
structure is all you need: if you don't already use a calendar, you are missing out. and some of this stuff won't even work for you. it's pretty easy to get into it though. look up time blocking, use google calendar + obsidian/apple notes/whatever you can get your hands for planning. create a routine and try to stick with it. use calendar/notes widgets on your home screen. tackle everything one by one. it will genuinely help so much.
find ways to gain momentum: sometimes all you need to do is break the cycle and gain some positive momentum. if the momentum you end up gaining is high enough, you will find it easier to keep going. for me the way to gain momentum was signing up for a bunch of projects/stuff without thinking too much and having to do the stuff afterwards, basically leaving myself no choice. not financial advice.

physical

get good sleep: nothing can replicate the effects of a good night's sleep. even if you're taking stimulants, you will experience worse side effects if you're sleep deprived while on them. even though stimulants can make you feel like you don't need sleep, the reality is that you do. it is propaganda you should NOT fall for. it will catch up to you. try to get 8 hours of sleep every night.
stay hydrated: dehydration can cause you to feel tired, sleepy and in some cases irritable. drink water. hydrate. set up reminders if you forget. this is especially important if you're taking stimulants. stimulants love water. you have to drink more water than usual while you're on them.
get your vitamin levels checked: vitamin D & B vitamins play a big role in supporting neurological function. vitamin B12 deficiency can sometimes mimic some symptoms of ADHD (to be fair, if we're being real, anything can, but this is a big one). vitamin B12 stands out because it's the only water-soluble vitamin that gets stored in the body for years (in the liver, specifically). it's really important that you have enough of it. I personally did not have a vitamin B12 deficiency when I got my blood work done last year, but I still decided to take a vitamin b complex pill (has B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 & B12) daily for months and it still did wonders for me. although B12 gets stored, the other ones don't, so you still have to take those daily, and I definitely felt calmer while taking them. another big one is vitamin D, which is fat-soluble and also gets stored. the absence of vitamin D can potentially cause symptoms of depression if not worse. I had a vitamin D deficiency which I believe I have accounted for since. similarly, taking a vitamin D pill would sometimes straight up lift up my mood, but you have to be careful with how much you take of B12 & D vitamins since they don't get disposed of in the same way that (most) water-soluble vitamins get disposed of in the body.

and finally, don't forget to do things you like. you are NOT ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI, you have NEEDS, you have WANTS. you deserve to have fun. yes, the point of this post is to make the stuff you should/wanna do more fun to do, but don't lose the plot. play games, hang out with your friends (I certainly do!), talk to people. don't forget you're human.