When you have adult ADHD, even simple tasks can require herculean effort. While we all deal with life’s stresses, sleep issues, and other circumstances that occasionally make it more challenging to complete daily routines, for someone who is neurodivergent—has a brain that developed differently from most—that challenge is the norm. And a common culprit is ADHD. Understanding how your ADHD manifests in your mind, body, and daily functioning is key to tailoring ADHD coping skills that work (because you’ll stick with them).
This post guides ADHD adults to the missing puzzle pieces—those faulty assumptions and unrealized insights keeping them beating executive dysfunction. Here, we begin filling in the missing pieces not only by learning fundamental coping skills, but by taking steps to discover, for ourselves, how to select coping skills in alignment with our minds, bodies and needs.
What is ADHD?
ADHD, or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects brain chemistry and structure, influencing how a person perceives and responds to the world around them. Everyone experiences time management challenges, distractibility, or impulsivity at times, but ADHD creates a unique set of “quirks” in brain development.
No two cases are the same—each person’s ADHD is as unique as their personality or the combination of fingerprints, hair color, and eye color that make them who they are. The common thread, however, is an interest-based nervous system, which makes it difficult for those with ADHD to fully invest themselves into tasks that don’t interest them.
ADHD affects “executive function” skills—the cognitive abilities that help us manage daily tasks (e.g., prioritization, emotional regulation, and working memory). These skills rely on neurotransmitters, like dopamine, that ADHD brains struggle to produce in sufficient amounts.
Those with the disorder can find it difficult to stay motivated, and the impacts can be pervasive, drawing criticism from others and resulting in an intense, internalized self-blame, and this stems from an unfair and detrimental perception of how ADHD affects functioning.
In fact, many people are aware of their ADHD, as well as the chronic challenges they face as a result, yet continue to judge and blame themselves at a level so debilitating, they bar themselves from making any meaningful progress.
Can Coping Skills Help a Person Grow Out of ADHD?
While ADHD coping skills offer the tools to reign in even the most disruptive of symptoms, ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It created lasting changes in your brain structure and chemistry from birth—and it’s permanent. However, due to neuroplasticity, the brain’s natural ability to adapt over time, ADHD adults can strengthen their executive function by successfully incorporating coping skills, making common struggles less uncomfortable, less exhausting, and less overwhelming.
10 ADHD Coping Skills (Aka, Executive Function Training for Adults)
After a lifetime of being told “try this” and “do that” but sensing no difference, how can a person with ADHD tell when a coping skill is working? Simple: if a coping skill works, you know it’s working because you feel it helping you to cope. You feel better—more calm, cool and collected, more focused or present, and less restless or overwhelmed.
This is easiest to notice coping skills that work immediately (when they’re suited to the individual’s current needs and done correctly). Others take time, and that’s where you stand to benefit most from an ADHD planner or habit tracker, because once you can see evidence that the coping skill is working, you’ll boost your motivation to stick with it.
Without further ado, here they are:
ADHD Coping Skill #1: Practice Self-Compassion
It’s common for people to underappreciate the role of emotions in managing ADHD, but practicing self-compassion is non-negotiable if you want to see an improvement in symptoms. The chronic executive function challenges in your life aren’t your fault if you didn’t have the skills, tools, or understandings to deal with them. And your relentless self-blame is not only cruel, but it’s eroding every shred of self-confidence or optimism you have about changing.
No self-confidence -> no hope for improvement -> no motivation
It the prospect of changing your habits immediately fills you will dread, you won’t feel good about it, you won’t spend any productive time thinking about it, and ultimately, you won’t change a thing.
Want to make a change? Try out our emotional regulation daily log.
ADHD Coping Skill #2: Prioritize Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise
Sleep, nutrition, and exercise play uniquely important roles in the brain of someone with ADHD. Not only to all people rely on these inputs to stay healthy, but those with ADHD thrive on quality sleep, diets that provide essential nutrients for focus and energy, and regular exercise to regulate their body chemistry. Proper self-care strategies optimize your brain’s abilities to function and cope.
ADHD Coping Skill #3: Identify Personal Warning Signs
People with ADHD tend to have trouble with self-awareness, and this manifests most in missing the warning signs that we feel “off”—whether it’s gradually misplacing important items (like car keys) more often than usual or suddenly finding it impossible to put together a basic to-do list.
While we’ll probably have some warning signs in common, everyone will have their own unique list of personal warning signs, which indicate unmet needs (like sleep, food, or sense of safety). By arming ourselves with that list, we get clued in while we still have the mental resources and before the problems escalate further.
ADHD Coping Skill #4: Give Yourself Room to Move
Whether this is chewing gum, using a standing desk, or taking periodic walking breaks, physical movement helps to stimulate the brain, improving focus, which can be especially useful when working on mentally taxing activities.
ADHD Coping Skill #5: Use an ADHD Planner, Habit Tracker, or App
If your brain doesn’t naturally put thoughts in order or keep track of what comes next, use a physical tool or tools to get the job done.
There are endless executive functioning apps for adults with ADHD (one popular one is the Habitica app, which I haven’t tried), so it’s important to understand that no one of them is guaranteed to work.
We also have a variety of executive function daily planners, like layout A, to support productivity.
Customize a system that works for you by identifying the inconsistencies in your day and finding tools that successfully address them.
ADHD Coping Skill #6: Find a Good Grounding Technique
If you’re in the pit of ADHD emotional regulation turmoil, you need a way to calm down your nervous system and think clearly again. Try exercises like deep breathing to calm down and regain the focus you need to problem solve. Try breathing in fully over the course of three seconds, holding that air for another three seconds, and releasing that air entirely over the next three seconds. If it’s working, you’ll notice.
ADHD Coping Skill #7: Seek Positive Social Interaction
Surrounding yourself with supportive people can make a huge difference. If you have a friend who understands your struggles and doesn’t make you feel judged, their presence while you tackle a mountain of unfolded clothes or a sink full of dirty dishes can ground and motivate you to get through it.
ADHD Coping Skill #8: Establish an Informed Bedtime Routine
Sleep is crucial in managing ADHD, and the best way to encourage low effort, restful sleep is by following a bedtime routine. Unfortunately, following routines is a common Achilles heel for those with ADHD, and for that reason, they must be “informed”—tailored to your individual needs, tendencies, and challenges, along with following evidence-backed best practices for supporting restorative sleep.
In addition, while experts generally recommend sleeping eight hours a day, everyone is different, and you might need more. Do your research and consider consulting a professional if sleep is a common problem for you.
ADHD Coping Skill #9: Adopting a Brain-Boosting Diet
Some nutrients support your brain’s natural ability to focus. Others enhance your mood, energy, etc. At the very least, fuel your brain with a balanced diet to support cognitive function. If you want to reach your full potential, learn about omega-3s, proteins, and complex carbs known to be especially beneficial when you have ADHD and make adjustments to your diet accordingly.
ADHD Coping Skill #10: Commit to a Regular Exercise Routine
Physical activity releases dopamine, that critical neurotransmitter that helps tackle ADHD symptoms. Find an exercise you enjoy and aim for consistency, even if it’s just 30 minutes per day. Once your brain recognizes the link between exercise and feeling good on an unconscious level, you’ll feel the motivation to stick with regular exercise.
Tips for Picking the Most Effective Coping Skills
Every person is unique, and every case of ADHD is unique, so ADHD coping skills aren’t “one-size-fits-all.” They may not even work the same way for a single person over time, just because chewing gum helps you focus on most days doesn’t guarantee it’ll help you focus tomorrow.
Studying yourself is vital and staying optimistic about progress through the inevitable trial-and-error stages of self-awareness is what empowers you to discover insights and achieve more frequent, positive outcomes.
If you still feel hopeless or can’t seem to reach any noticeable change, it may be time to consult a doctor or specialized therapist for the additional support you need. Thanks for reading! If you’d like to learn more about the role of sleep, nutrition, and exercise in managing ADHD, check out our upcoming blog post next week!
More from the ADHD Executive Function Toolkit:
- Free executive functioning worksheets
- Executive planning and EF tips and strategies
- READ: Emotional Dysregulation in ADHD Adults
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