Attention Deficit

Self Regulation

Barkley's Executive-Function Model

Not a class, a lens, and the science under most of the methods here. It changes what you even try to fix. Four moves follow from one core idea.

The reframe

Doing, not knowing

ADHD is a performance problem, not a knowledge problem. You know what to do; the breakdown happens at the point of performance, the exact moment and place the action is needed.

Rule 1

Externalize information

Don't lean on memory. Put the cue where the action happens, so the right thing is physically in front of you at the moment you need it.

Rule 2

Externalize time

ADHD dulls the internal sense of time. Make time physical, a clock or timer you can see, sitting right in the workspace whenever timing matters.

Rule 3

Externalize motivation

Internal drive is weak for boring tasks. Inject an immediate, even artificial, reward right at the point of performance instead of waiting on a far-off payoff.

Rule 4

Make it immediate

Fast, frequent feedback and environmental cues beat instructions and delayed rewards. Shrink the gap between doing the thing and feeling the consequence.

Russell Barkley, ADHD: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment, 4th ed., Guilford, 2015.
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