01/31/2026
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
They said, Just get a planner.
And Professor Barkley bless him is somewhere sighing deeply because that is not how executive functioning works…
ADHD is not a vibes problem, It is not motivation problem.
It is not a “try harder” situation.
It is a brain that can’t consistently start, stop, organise, prioritise, remember, or regulate time
and somehow I’m meant to fix that
with a notebook from WHSmith.
I have listened to Russell Barkley.
I have receipts…
This is an executive functioning disorder.
Which means I know what to do.
I just can’t bloody do it on demand.
I don’t lack information.
I lack a reliable “go” button.
They say, “Write a list.”
Great.
Now I have a list of things I am still not doing…
They say, “Set a routine.”
I had one. It was beautiful.
It lasted until something happened,
Which things tend to do.
They say, “If it mattered, you’d remember.”
It matters so much I think about it at 3am
while my brain replays every mistake I’ve ever made like a greatest hits album.
If Barkley were here, he wouldn’t tell me to buy a planner.
He’d say…
Externalise the brain…
Because mine cannot be trusted to hold time, tasks, or reality.
Make consequences immediate.
Because “future me” is a stranger I do not know or respect.
Stop moralising neurological failure.
Because I am not lazy I am neurologically delayed in self-regulation.
Which is academic speak for
my brain ghosts me when I need it most…
ADHD is knowing the deadline.
Caring about the deadline,
Panicking about the deadline,
Still not starting the thing until the adrenaline hits like a bus.
ADHD is being told your whole life that you’re wasted potential,
when actually you’re running life on hard mode
with no instructions and everyone’s yelling,
“Why can’t you just be normal?”
So no.
I do not need a planner…
•I need
•understanding
•external scaffolding
•less shame
•systems that don’t rely on memory and willpower and maybe Professor Barkley popping round to slap the word “motivation” out of people’s mouths.
Anyway.
I forgot what I was doing…
But I remembered this poem.
Which, frankly, is very ADHD of me.
Michaela 😂🩷
Thanks for all your brilliant work Dr Russell Barkley!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
