Task Paralysis
ADHD task paralysis: break it down instead of "just do it"
"Just do it" rarely works for a goal you've been avoiding. Shrinking it down with the Break It Down feature, until the first step feels almost silly to skip, does.
disclaimer: these posts are not medical advice and provided as information only, with no guarantees
In this post, we'll talk about how to keep making progress toward your goals when things get tough.
We've all heard the expressions: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, Rome wasn't built in a day, and plenty of others in the same spirit. They're all well-meaning, but they rarely help you actually make progress on something you've been sitting on.
Maybe there's a book you've been meaning to write and haven't put down a single word of. Maybe you've been telling yourself you'll start exercising regularly, but haven't gone for so much as a short run in a long time. Maybe it's losing weight, or any other ambitious goal, the kind that tends to generate its own resistance.
And that resistance doesn't stay still. Every time you think about the goal and put it off again, the resistance grows a little, because your brain links the decision to postpone with just how hard the goal feels. One of the worst things people say at this point is just do it, which is really just a recipe for feeling more ashamed that you can't, in fact, just do it.
The short version
The sayings don't help
A journey of a thousand miles, Rome wasn't built in a day — well-meaning, but they rarely help you make progress on something you've been sitting on.
Just do it adds shame
One of the worst things people say is just do it, which is really just a recipe for feeling more ashamed that you can't, in fact, just do it.
Make it silly-small
Shrink the task or the goal down until it feels almost silly how small it is.
Break it again
If the first step still feels too big, turn it into its own task and break it down again. That's what builds momentum.
Make it small enough to be silly
What actually helps is shrinking the task or the goal down until it feels almost silly how small it is. That's exactly what we built the Break It Down feature for.
📸 Screenshot placeholder — a screenshot of the Break It Down feature in the app goes here.
Put in a goal, even a genuinely complex one like the examples above, and press Break It Down. It calls an AI that turns your goal into somewhere between three and five small steps that, together, add up to the whole thing.
If the first step already feels doable, that's where you start. If it still feels too big, take that step, turn it into its own task, and break it down again. Eventually the first step gets so small and so unthreatening that you can actually take it, and that's what builds momentum. Momentum is progress, and progress makes the whole goal feel a lot less daunting.
That's the helper we're building for the Telegram waitlist. You can do the same split on paper today.
Why not try it today? And if you haven't got the Herding Chickens app yet, download it, or sign up for the waiting list if it's not out where you are.
The first version is Telegram for the waitlist. There isn't a store download yet. Join the waitlist if you want a launch email.
Keep reading
- ADHD inner critic: why a two-minute win still counts
- If ADHD stops you from boring tasks, try a 5-minute sprint
- ADHD perfectionism: decide what “done” means first
- ADHD executive dysfunction: the harder route you take to avoid the hard thing
- ADHD time blindness: notice the clock without killing hyperfocus
- Welcome to the Herding Chickens blog
- More on Task Paralysis
Herding Chickens is a productivity app in development, not medical advice, therapy, or an ADHD diagnosis. If you are struggling, talk to a qualified clinician. In the UK, start with the NHS ADHD in adults page.