When 3 = Infinity: Overwhelming the ADHD Brain

Whether you have ADHD or not, estimating the time and resources needed to do something can be a difficult task. Neurotypical people usually have a more consistent understanding of time, but other folks, particularly those with ADHD, these estimates can be fluid and overwhelming.

One helpful frame is to consider 3 (or whatever number feels realistic for you) as infinity. If anything is more than 2 steps, this can be overwhelming for the brain and feel like an insurmountable task for some people.

For example, in order to put away a jacket, one person might see this as a one-step task:

1. Put away the jacket.

For others, it might look like this:

1. Unzip the jacket

2. Put it on a clothes hanger

3. Hang it up

For other people, this might feel more like:

1. Unzip it

2. Find a clothes hanger

3. Put it on the clothes hanger

4. Find a spot in the closet for it

5. Hang it up

And so on and so forth. Three steps might as well be an infinite amount of steps, making this feel like a much larger task than it might feel like for others. The jacket might end up on the floor or hung up on a chair because of this.

How do we navigate this?

One option is to consider alternate and more accessible ways we can complete the task. For example, getting a coat rack instead of putting jackets away in the closet. Maybe we put the jackets in a basket instead of hanging them up. Maybe we reward ourselves for putting away the jacket so it's easier to complete more tasks. And so on, using other coping skills we've learned for executing tasks.

Three = infinity is a great way to communicate with others on why certain tasks feel insurmountable and difficult to begin. Consider how that number might differ for different tasks, as well as during more or less stressful times, and be curious about how you can move forward when something feels like infinity.