6 tips for using timers to help adult ADHD
“All right,” I say to myself as I hover halfway betwixt kitchen and hallway: “Ten minutes!” I mooch determinedly to my desk, open an app, set it to 10, grab my Time Timer, set it to 10 as well, and now I sit here, writing to you. Magic!
A surprising ADHD focus tool
Time. What a mystery! I’ve often had the experience where ‘a whole day to do a task’ ends up as a restless kaleidoscope of unsatisfying drifting. So it is with delight that I report that timers are an ADHD support tool that can really work.
Why do I use timers? Because they focus my brain, allow me to get started, and assure me that soon I’ll be able to stop if I want. They create a container that holds my attention, letting me move forward and keeping procrastination at bay.
Here’s some ways to use timers to help adult ADHD.
1. Get started
Timers can help you to get started on a task. Those of us with deep histories of procrastination know how avoidance coats a task with layers of guilt, dread, and a strange mental slipperiness. Setting even a 10-minute timer can allow you to ‘touch the task’ - to gently and briefly engage with the avoided activity, thereby popping the procrastination bubble.
Setting the timer takes almost no effort, so it doesn’t usually trigger avoidance. And then once I can see it going, it acts like a nice clear instruction: get in there and do something on the task for X minutes, whatever you can, it’s not that bad, honestly, I promise. Thanks, brain!
Bonus tip: Are you using the timer to get started? Do you want to keep going if possible? If so, turn off the notifications/alarms for when the timer finishes. You may get immersed in the task and keep going.
2. Make a task more appealing
Timers help the ADHD brain to wake up by adding a sense of urgency. If you have goal to complete within the timeframe, like ‘answer 3 emails’, you’ve just given yourself a cute mini-deadline.
You can even use a timer to add in competition with yourself. Sometimes when I simply couldn't find a way to get myself to wash my hair, I’d set a timer for 5 minutes and race to see if I could have the whole caboodle done in that time. Challenge accepted! (Cue a bathroom floor covered in water, but the hair clean at least.)
The trick here is to make the timeframe (and therefore the action) small enough that your brain doesn’t reject it. Shorter time periods are often more ‘visible’ to ADHD brains, so are easier to get to grips with.
3. Help you get clear
Because a timer is set for a defined period, it encourages you to first choose and define an action that fits that amount of time. This helps you get clear on what you will do in the time, making you more motivated, and rescuing you from Drift.
The Pomodoro technique uses this principle (and has the charming quality of being named after a tomato-shaped kitchen timer).
Body doubling, where you work independently but alongside a buddy, uses this too. At the start, you each declare an action to focus on, and then set the timer. At the end, you check in on how you went. (See Focusmate.com for a brilliant online version with a free option.)
4. Keep going with the task
Timers help me to have a better attitude to the task at hand. The timer is set for a finite amount of work, so it's harder for my brain to argue against doing it. They give me a simple way to encourage myself to keep going just a little longer…but without fearing that it will be Forever.
The timer allows you to choose an amount of time that suits your current state. (For me, this ranges between 10 and 50 minutes, depending on how zoned out or zoned in I am.) And having the timer in front of you sometimes just helps to remind you that you’re in the middle of doing something!
5. Do work on complex tasks
It can be hard to get yourself to work on confusing or complex tasks. If you don’t know the next step, how do you even add it to your to-do list?
A timer can help you move forward on these tasks, by letting you add a time duration for working on the task to your daily plan. For something I don’t know the steps of or can’t complete in one go, I write: “Work on ____ for X minutes”.
So my to-do list will say something like: “Do 30 minutes of research into Tasmanian Devils”. (You’re right, this is a joke - researching Tasmanian Devils is something that will happen anyway, even if I didn’t intend to.)
6. Stop doing stuff
Timers can help you stop doing activities when there is another activity to transition to. I also use timers to limit the amount of time I spend doing something that tends to drift into perfectionism.
Are you using the timer to limit your amount of time spent on the task? Do you definitely want to stop after the set time? In this case, it can help to set an alarm for your finish time, then an alarm 5 minutes afterwards, as a back-up. It may help to then put your phone a little out of arm’s reach, so that you have to stand up to turn off the timer alarm. This helps to break the focus spell.
Note: Perhaps you’ve learnt to deal with your ADHD procrastination by demanding to yourself that you work all day, seeing as you may not get much done. It turns out that a rhythm of work and rest is more effective! You may be able to use the timer to tell yourself when to start and stop. Refreshing yourself is vital, as long as you can get back into the work again when the time is right.
What timers help adult ADHDers?
This is a very brief list of timers that I like or see used often. There are so many more!
Time Timer - this is the little beastie you see in the photo. It counts down from an hour, showing in red how much time remains. I love that I can feel how far through my work time I am.
Forest - this is a phone app (small cost to purchase) where you choose a time to work for and then it grows a tree. I have no idea why this is a good match for my mind! But it is, so that’s great. There are a LOT of great phone apps to help adult ADHD that include timers.
Lots of people use timers on a Fitbit or Apple Watch. It can be set to vibrate silently on the wrist, making it able to be used around other people without disturbing them (or without alerting them to the fact that you use a reminder to prompt you to eat lunch). Some people find the sensory input along with the sound works better for snapping them out of hyperfocus than an alarm on its own. It can prevent them getting stuck in a task that they only want to do a simple version of.
You can even use your kitchen timer as a work timer while cooking. For example, you can set the timer and then do 30 minutes of work while the cake (or whatever) bakes. This is good for the days when I can’t help but go off and do other, more physical, tasks.
If I want to work soon but also want to keep zoning out right now, I book a Focusmate in 20 minutes time. I set an alarm for 5 minutes beforehand, and then luxuriate in putting work off for a while, knowing the motivation will arrive when the session begins.
Doubling up
I am a great believer in double handling when it comes to making things visible to my beautiful busy burbling brain. I currently set the Forest timer on my phone, then I set the Time Timer for the same amount of time. Pushing GO on the phone app is soooooooo easy, then I see it counting down and get motivated. The Time Timer helps settle me into the moment, otherwise I start wondering how much longer to go.
This helps me to start, and gives me a ‘container’ which focuses me in. For example, I can see from my Time Timer that I have chosen to keep going on this writing task for another 5 minutes. That sounds okay! I can do this!
What works for you?
As a person who gets confused by time, it seems strange that timers are a strong and resilient strategy for me. It helped to discover that it’s okay to set timers for such short periods of time. Isn’t that going to make my distractedness worse, I hear you ask? No - because I also know how to Keep Returning. I wander, it’s true, but I keep trying to find the way through to what I want to do. I have lots of paths now. You can too!
How do you like to use timers? Get in touch to let me know - I love to hear what works, and to share successful strategies.