HOW TO BUILD A SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR YOU (EVEN WITH ADHD) [Text]

A lot of people have messaged me asking me to share resources that I use for my clients during productivity coaching sessions, so I figured I’d just share some here! Let me know if you have any questions.

Start Smaller Than You Think

Most systems fail because they’re too ambitious upfront. You design for your best day, not your average one and definitely not your worst. The key to building consistency is making the floor low, not the ceiling high. If your goal is to write, your daily minimum might just be opening the document and writing one sentence. If it’s working out, it could be putting on gym clothes and doing one set. Momentum is built by keeping the streak alive and not by maxing out effort. Think of it like brushing your teeth. You don’t do it because it’s inspiring. You do it because it’s automatic and small.

Link It to a Trigger

ADHD brains don’t do “free recall” well. Waiting until you remember to do something means it probably won’t happen. Instead, anchor your new task to something you already do without thinking. This is called “habit stacking” or “anchoring.” For example: After making coffee do 5 pushups. After brushing your teeth write 1 line in your journal. After opening your laptop check your calendar. You’re not trying to remember the habit, you’re just trying to set up a reliable cue that makes it happen almost reflexively like brushing your teeth.

Track the Streak

You don’t need some fancy habit tracker. In fact, a lot of people with ADHD burn out on them. But having some visual of progress helps reinforce the pattern. It could be a paper calendar you cross off, a whiteboard tally, a simple phone note with checkmarks. The goal is not to be perfect, but rather to reinforce a sense of identity. That you do this thing. If tracking starts to become stressful, drop it. The habit matters more than the visual.

Make It Non-Negotiable

The decision to do the habit should not happen in the moment. It should be made ahead of time. If you have to re-decide every day, you’ll burn out fast. Instead, make the habit part of your identity. So decide that you don’t miss workouts. Decide you write one sentence a day, no matter what, even on bad days. Precommit to the system so there’s no emotional debate. Over time, this builds trust in yourself, which fuels consistency more than any app ever will.

Have a Fallback Plan

Life will absolutely get in the way. The trick is to define your fallback version in advance. Ask yourself what is the minimum version you can still do if everything goes wrong? Instead of 30 minutes of reading, you can read one paragraph. Instead of a full workout, you can stretch for 2 minutes. Instead of journaling, write one word. When fallback mode is pre-planned, you won’t need to think when you’re drained. You’ll just run the “low-energy protocol” and still protect the streak.

Review & Rebuild Weekly

No system stays perfect forever. What worked when you were excited might fall apart once stress hits. That’s normal. Your system should be treated like software and you should update it regularly. Pick one time per week and ask: What’s working? What’s not? What needs to be removed, simplified, or swapped? You’re not failing if it stops working. You’re only failing if you stop rebuilding. The best systems are flexible, boring, and built for real life and not just perfect days where you want to do a million things.