My ADHD Ins and Outs List for 2026
What are your ADHD Ins and Outs?
Happy New Year ADHDers!
Is it just me who finds the pressure of having to plan and commit to goals this early in the year overwhelming?
So this year, I’m going against the grain.
I am writing an ADHD ‘Ins and Outs’ list instead.
If you don’t feel like creating a list, feel free to use mine. I mean, aren’t we all clumsily adulting with ADHD?
Shall we begin?
ADHD Ins and Outs ✅❌
My ADHD Ins and Outs is simply a list of personal habits and focus areas that are linked to adulting with ADHD.
‼️Disclaimer: ADHD Ins and Outs are in random order for the thrill of it. I may or may not fulfil them all, but you know what they say, God loves a trier!
1. Financial Hygiene💰- IN
Like many people with ADHD, I haven’t had the greatest money habits: impulsive spending, impatience, bad decisions, the list goes on.
I mean, I have an article on BBC News on how much money I have lost due to ADHD tax: BBC article ADHD Tax
So I am making this public commitment to over 13,000 of you to improve my financial acumen and habits. Goodbye ADHD Tax!
Where to start? 💡
➡️ I have deleted my saved cards on websites to prevent myself from making impulsive and whimsical spending decisions.
➡️ To-do list: Create a monthly budget, monitor outgoings, create a savings system, invest outside of my ISA, and learn more.
🙃 It is quite ironic as I completed at least five financial courses at University and did a short stint working in finance. Ha!
2. Social media, Screen Time, Content Consumption 📲 - OUT
Ok, who am I kidding?
I won’t be abandoning social media; we go together like cheese and crackers 🧀
However, I will make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of content I consume. I think we all should.
⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
“We are witnessing people who have never had short attention spans develop shorter attention spans. Unbeknownst to them, aimlessly scrolling, moving from meme to meme, and hyperfixating on reaction videos is causing Brain Rot.” - Rach Idowu | @AdultingADHD
🎯 I think that consuming Brain Rot content, endlessly scrolling and flipping through social media platforms, can exacerbate ADHD symptoms: getting easily distracted, lack of attention to detail, impatience, difficulty focusing, etc.
Where to start? 💡
➡️ Using the Screen Time feature on my iPhone to set time limits for apps. Yes, it has come to this 🤦🏾♀️
➡️ Doing a social media fast now and again, reading more fiction books, and ignoring rage bait content.
Can we do this together for moral support? 🫡
3. Impostor Syndrome 🎭 - OUT
Have you ever:
Felt like you didn’t deserve the recognition you were given for your accomplishments?
Felt like a fraud even though you have the skills and expertise?
Felt like an opportunity is too much for you to handle?
People don’t realise that battling impostor syndrome is rarely a one-time thing.
As we navigate life, new jobs, relationships, and new circumstances, we’ll inevitably experience a level of discomfort or self-doubt.
Where to start? 💡
🎯 Perspective - Focusing more on what could go right and all of the positives.
🎯 Acceptance - Allowing myself to be nervous but setting a ‘time limit’ to sit with it.
🎯 Faith - Believing that all things will work out for my good - Romans 8:38.
🎯 Community - Opening up to people and asking for words of encouragement.
“When it comes to your dreams, you have two choices: pursue them or be haunted by them.”
― Mel Robbins”
4. Adulting With ADHD 🧠 - IN
Is it just me, or has anyone else found themselves overcompensating at times because of their ADHD?
Even though I’m now able to identify my struggles by way of ADHD traits/symptoms, I find myself overanalysing everything I do and don’t do.
This year, this comes to an end. I’m going to take the pressure off and just be me.
| Parting gift 🎁
Look, you’re not a ‘let down’ because you may do things in a way that seems unconventional to the ‘Neurotypical norm’.
A lot of the time, we ADHDers feel like we need to fall in line with the Neurotypical way of doing things, even though our system and method deliver the desired outcome.
We have no choice but to continue adulting with ADHD, and we can do it.
Praying we all have a year filled with happiness, peace and new opportunities!
That’s all from me,
Rach With ADHD!
Lovely article! Thank you! I am à woman in my 60’s. I’ve spent most of my life struggling with stuff that people said should be easy. I realised that my ‘problem’ was ADHD when I read Gabor Mate’s ‘scattered minds’ back in 2018.
Since then things have got better incrementally because I’ve learnt
Not to beat myself up
To hold plans and goals VERY lightly
To appreciate the great things that my ADHD has gifted me: cognitive creativity and a fast mind
To chill the f*** out by naming and shaming my anxiety. Thanking it for its good intentions then putting it firmly in its place at the back of my mind
By learning to self soothe when I feel a paddy coming on. For me that means dancing to very loud music
And breathing deeply when I sense I’m going to spin out.
When my son was still at home, and I was on the verge of a spin I used to ask him’who am I and where do I live?’ His reply was always the same ‘ your name is Harry and you live on the Isle of Weight.’ Which was a total distraction which always refocused me.
I’m still impulsive: I bought 3 Duvet bed sets this month and 3 pairs of adidas trainer and yet another handbag instead of putting money into my savings account, but these things make me happy!
Have a beautiful year and make the best of your ADHD. Handled correctly it can be your best friend 😊
Great post Rach, I'm newly diagnosed at 54 and looking forward to navigating this year with a different approach. Everything you wrote about resonated. I'll use this list and add some of my own too. My top 3 this year, are to be clear about my needs and honour them before those of others, schedule fun to keep the dopamine topped up and so limit those negative forms of self-soothing and maintain a daily practice of nervous system regulation.