Heads up: some links in this post are affiliate links. If you sign up through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share tools I use myself.
Using AI as an ADHD accommodation means handing it the parts of the work that drain you before the real work even starts: sorting, scheduling, prioritizing, turning a brain dump into actual tasks. It goes in the toolbox next to everything else that helps you.
I use AI most days at this point. I also had to build rules for myself, because AI is fast, shiny and always available, and those are three things my brain can get very lost in.
So here's what I hand to AI, what else is in my toolbox, and where to start. (The rules get a whole post of their own, because AI can make ADHD worse too.)
Why I needed it: I was spending all my dopamine on the plan
Here's my confession. Planning is my favorite part. A new project, a fresh page, everything mapped out and color-coded. I love it.
And by the time I'd turned that plan into actual tasks, put them in my project management tool, found time on my calendar and figured out what had to go first, the dopamine was gone. I'd done hours of setup and not one second of the execution to see it through.
That setup is executive function work. It's the sorting, sequencing and deciding that neurodivergent brains find harder than others. As I told a room full of people at a Momentum Lab once: struggling with priorities and figuring out what to work on is hard for us. Harder than it is for other people. It is what it is.
So I stopped trying to white-knuckle it and started treating it like any other accommodation. We have this disadvantage, and here's a tool that helps with it.
What I hand to AI
I give AI the work that sits between my brain and the actual task. Here's what that looks like on a normal week:
- 1The manual stuff
I talk instead of type. I dump everything out loud with Wispr Flow (a dictation app), and AI turns that ramble into tasks in ClickUp and time blocked on my calendar. The part that used to eat my morning takes a few minutes.
- 2Prioritizing
When everything feels equally urgent, I ask it to help me sort what goes first. I still make the call. It just gets me unblocked.
- 3A weekly chat
Once a week I sit down and talk through what's coming, what's carrying over and what I'm dreading. It's one running chat for the whole week, so on Wednesday it still remembers what I said on Monday.
- 4A daily list
Each day I get a short list built from that weekly chat and its connections to the other places my tasks live. Short is the point. A list of 27 things is a list I'll avoid.
None of this is fancy. It's the boring middle part of getting things done, and it's exactly the part I used to quit on.
AI is one tool in the box, not the box
This is where I see people go sideways. They find AI, it helps, and suddenly it's supposed to fix everything.
I teach neurodivergent-friendly resources through four buckets:
- Tools
- Systems
- Rhythms
- Rituals
AI is a tool. It sits next to a lot of other things that do jobs AI can't do. Here's some of what else is in my toolbox:
- My Alexa
Okay, I guess I'm cheating because it's also AI, but I use it for quick reminders. You know when you're sitting at your desk and suddenly remember you have to pick someone up in 3 hours? Instead of that derailing me, I just hit her with a quick "Alexa, remind me X at X."
- Whiteboards instead of planners
If I can't see it, it doesn't exist. A whiteboard on the wall stays in my face in a way a closed planner never did.
- Body doubling
Working next to other people gets me started when nothing else will. It's why I host coworking sessions in Capacity Club.
- The social loop
Rather than try and make plans one by one, I have standing appointments with friends so I know we won't go months without seeing each other.
- A phone call for chores
When I need to clean, I call a friend. The chores get done and I get a catch-up.
- The same breakfast every day
Eggs, cheese, tortilla. One fewer decision before 9 a.m. is a feature, not a bug.
- A 90-day map
I plan my quarter around my energy, the finish line I picked, and the roadblocks I can already see coming.
If you took AI away tomorrow, I'd be annoyed. I'd also be fine, because it was never holding the whole thing up.
Where to start
You don't need a whole AI setup. Pick one thing that drains you before the real work starts:
- The brain dump that never becomes a list.
- The calendar you never fill in.
- The "what do I do first" freeze.
Hand AI that one thing for a week. Treat it like an experiment. If it helps, keep it. If it doesn't, it's data. Move on.
