ADHD and Habits - lessons from history

How the BBC comedy Motherland explains cognitive load, why our home life can be more draining than work - plus what to do about it. If you've ever watched Motherland and found yourself wincing as much as laughing, this episode is for you. The BBC comedy lands so hard because it shines a painfully bright light on the cognitive load of running a household — and that load hits ADHD brains particularly hard. This isn't really about being a mother. It's about being the "default human" in a household: the one anticipating, monitoring, planning, remembering, and quietly absorbing everyone else's needs alongside your own. Whether you have children or not, if you're the strategic ops manager of your home, this one's for you. What we cover Why Motherland feels so accurate (and so uncomfortable) for ADHD viewers The difference between cognitive load and emotional load, and why both matter How working memory challenges in ADHD turn everyday domestic admin into forefront effort Intrinsic vs extraneous cognitive load — and why your home environment may be making things harder than they need to be The neuroscience of acute stress: why you genuinely can't think clearly at 9pm on a bad Tuesday Allostatic load: the long-term physiological cost of chronic stress, and why it's distinct from burnout-as-feeling Why ADHD adults are more likely to carry decades of accumulated stress before diagnosis Three practical principles for redesigning your home operating system: externalise everything, reduce decisions at high-friction moments, and protect transition time

"The strategy worked. Then it stopped working... and I can't start again." If that sentence hits you in the feels, you are not alone, and you are not failing. In Episode 48, Katherine breaks down the novelty trap: why shiny new productivity systems feel like 'the answer', then collapse and trigger the familiar shame spiral. You'll learn: why urgency, novelty, and external pressure are unstable fuels, why "trick-based" systems often stop working after late diagnosis (hint: it's growth, not regression), and how to build sustainable systems that survive the bad days.

If you have ADHD, stop trying to “try harder”. In this episode, ADHD coach Katherine Sanders explains why environment design beats willpower for ADHD, and how cues, friction and simple if-then plans can make starting and follow-through feel easier without you changing who you are. This Episode is for you if: • You keep setting alarms, making routines, writing lists, and still end up thinking, “What is wrong with me?” • You can know exactly what to do, but your brain does not reliably convert intention into action on demand. • You want practical ADHD-friendly changes you can make to your space and your cues, without relying on motivation or “discipline”. Episode Summary: If you have spent years trying to force yourself to be consistent through willpower, this episode offers a kinder, more accurate lens: the problem is rarely your character. For ADHD brains, the gap between knowing and doing is often about executive function load, decision fatigue, and unreliable internal cueing, especially when stress and tiredness kick in. Katherine unpacks what research suggests about self-control limits, habit cues, and implementation intentions, then turns it into a simple environment-first framework you can use this week. You will learn how to build prompts outside your brain, reduce friction for the actions you want, and increase friction for the actions you regret. This is about intelligent design: building systems that work with the brain you do have. In This Episode: • Why “try harder” advice keeps failing, and why it is not a personal flaw • What research suggests about self-control under load and executive function in ADHD • How habits are driven by stable context cues more than daily motivation • How implementation intentions (if-then planning) reduce in-the-moment decision-making • The Environment-First Setup: cues, visibility, friction, and one tiny plan you can test this week

Loneliness isn't something neurodivergent adults just have to accept. Caroline Maguire — ADHD coach and author of Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults — joins Katherine to talk trust, connection, and why your special interests are actually your greatest friendship asset. THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF... You've always felt like you missed a class on how to make friends — and carry shame about it You have ADHD or are neurodivergent and find friendships exhausting, confusing, or hard to sustain You're a late-diagnosed adult wondering why connection has always felt just slightly out of reach

You can handle a crisis. You can do hard things. So why does "just send the email" feel impossible? In this episode, we name the real culprit, ambiguity, and why it's the hidden barrier behind so much ADHD struggle. Plus practical steps to design around it. THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF... You're high-functioning at work but consistently derailed by tasks that "should" be simple You've assumed you're lazy or inconsistent, but something never quite adds up You're exhausted by tasks that don't have a clear starting point, outcome, or structure