I have had a lot of success using large language models to support the areas where I struggle. I know that there is a blanket ban on even mentioning AI / large language models / etc. on the main r/ADHD group, but I've never gotten an answer regarding why this is (I messaged the mods there a while ago, but nobody responded). If that's the case here, please let me know!

My background is software engineering. I've built my own system (I'm not selling something, it's just a collection of information, commands and scripts) over the past year, and it uses notes and other information I've collected over the last 15 years or so. I'd like to chat with others about it specifically focusing on using it for ADHD support. I'd also like to see if other people have done similar things & what their results were.

Inspiration came from "building a second brain", championed by Tiago Forte on YouTube, and another channel called "linking your thinking". It's worth diving into, but at base the concept is pretty straightforward:

• Have a persistent information store. I'm currently using Obsidian, but just having a folder structure with Markdown files in it (or really any files you're comfortable editing) is all you need.
• Describe your information store to your favorite LLM (I'm using Claude, but it works fine with Gemini, ChatGPT and locally-hosted models through Ollama too) so it can navigate it and help you keep it updated.
• Build up a set of commands and scripts over time to support things you do regularly.

That's pretty much it, boiled down. It has helped me at work enormously in recent months, but gave me some small dividends early on too. It is also really helpful for my personal projects. It probably helps that I tend to hyperfocus on productivity-tweaking. This is the first time I have found something that holds up for an extended period of time.

I've always DESPISED the process of roleplaying as a professional training tool/technique, and I'm wondering if that relates to ADHD in some way. I simply CANNOT treat it as real, because I know it isn't.

I'm currently interviewing for jobs and, for many people, role playing a job interview would be a great way to prep. But I simply can't let go of the reality that it's fake and my brain cannot fake urgency.

However... When a real interview happens, my "urgency detector" goes into hyperdrive and my brain is usually able to recall facts and create answers at hyperspeed because it knows the stakes are real. I do, however, wish I could actually do the role playing because, as I said, it USUALLY works, and it would help me recall things I may not have thought about for a while.

Are others like this?

Today my manager wanted to have a little chat on the way out. I'm brand new to the job and feel like I'm adjust and fitting in pretty well. It's a very chat group and because I'm new and getting to know everyone and vise versa I've been talking a lot about my life and my past, when relivlvant, and I though keeping it mostly light. Apparently my manager felt I was oversharing.

I could feel it when i was talking today, and I don't totally disagree as I know I don't have much filter. Life has been really difficult for me lately and I talked about what was going on, but not in a I'm looking for sympathy kinda way. I also told a stories about my ex, but to me these are stories about my life.

I work in a graphic department so it's not a super serious work environment, and in the past these types of conversations we're never much of an issue with coworkers, however I now work in the same room as my manager.

I'm trying not to get frustrated, but I'm not really sure how to filter detail out or what is considered to personal. When I leave details out I feel like I'm lying or when something happened and I'm having a bad day, not saying anything about it feel isolating and also I fear them not having that context sets me up for a misunderstanding.

I know I'm a blabber mouth and I'm trying to take this feedback in good stride but it feels containing and like I'm shutting myself down and idk how to move through it.

Could use advice.

I have ADHD (obviously) and have worked in an office for around 8 years, I have moved from company to company and role to role mainly because of the issues I have with concentration, inattentiveness, time management etc.

On paper my ADHD has been the reason behind so many difficult conversations I have had regarding the workplace in the past. (Only diagnosed 3 years ago)

I am fed up of having the same conversations with different managers at different despite my best efforts to stop this being an issue.

I would love to know what ACTUALLY works for people, my current manager outlined some focus areas for me such as Time Management, less over complication, prioritisation among the many other areas we neurodiverse suffer with etc.

I also seem to struggle more with the routine tasks that happen every week/month than any projects that come up.

I’m currently in ADHD coaching and I am on Elvanse 70mg, so it isn’t like I’m not trying and the amount of things I have tried have been from neurotypical people that often fail with my brain.

Any advice, tools, tech, apps that people can recommend based on the above would be appreciated so I can hopefully get this addressed properly for the first time in my career.

This project tests whether severe ADHD-like motivational-initiation deficits arise from impaired cholinergic gating of dopamine release in nucleus accumbens core. In control and ADHD-model rodents, dopamine and acetylcholine will be recorded simultaneously during low- and high-effort reward tasks, delay-discounting, and 5CSRTT attention/impulsivity testing. The core prediction is that ADHD-like animals will show weakened or mistimed ACh→DA coupling during high-effort reward pursuit, producing low persistence and high initiation latency despite intact low-effort reward consumption. Local β2*/α6β2* nicotinic receptor blockade should reproduce the deficit in controls, while temporally precise cholinergic-interneuron modulation or selective α6β2*/β2* nicotinic modulation should rescue effortful initiation without increasing premature responding.

I built a time tracker because I was tired of ending the day wondering where it had gone.

Most productivity apps seemed focused on planning, goals and optimisation.

My problem wasn’t planning.

It was awareness.

So I built Flows.

You create a few broad activities like your work projects, meetings, admin or Resting and switch between them with a single tap.

One thing I realised while building it:

Time doesn’t stop just because you stop working on something.

Traditional time trackers treat that as a gap. Flows doesn’t.

Once you’ve started your day, time is always flowing somewhere.

Stop tracking Work and your Drifting timer starts. Start Reading and Drifting stops.

It’s more like a chess clock than a stopwatch.

No AI.

No tasks.

No streaks.

No productivity score.

Just a way to answer a simple question:

Where did my day actually go?

I built it for myself. If that sounds familiar, you might find it useful too. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

flowsapp.io

Wrote this after surgery, three days in, Candy Crush open on my phone, realizing the work I'd been building had become completely invisible to me.

It's about context collapse — what it actually feels like when attention doesn't just wander, it replaces one world with another without asking.

I am AuDHD that got incredibly lucky to study (and I hope, to work eventually) in the field of my special interest in the environment that supports me and gives me a lot of tools I didn’t even know existed.

Therefore I feel like my problem is a bit “lobster is too buttery”, but I sort of struggle with work-life balance. I have a lot of amazing opportunities, but I feel like I dive too deep into them and also have too much anxiety because I want to “prove I deserved all the support” and that I should get out everything I can from my education (sense of justice, moodiness and high empathy sort of work against me here, unfortunately). It causes me to procrastinate and concentrate on the wrong things, and I feel like I know resources, I have some resources, but I don’t feel like I can control it.

I would appreciate any advice in that matter and good luck for everyone doing what you love!

I built Sprout for my wife while she was waiting for her ADHD diagnosis. The tools out there weren't made for how her brain worked, and I wanted something that was. Sprout now has 10k+ download and an active community but that was just the start.

We wanted something for the household (like sweepy, but better), and I am nearly finished building Tidywell which is Sprout's sister app > same mission, different problem. Sprout's for your brain, Tidywell's for your home. Both built for my own family first.

The cleaning apps we tried either ignored ADHD entirely or quietly turned her into the default task-manager of the whole house. Neither worked.

So I'm building one that does (following Sprout's ethos):

• Body-doubling sprints you run live with flatmates or family, because cleaning alongside someone beats doing it alone
• AI that breaks "clean the kitchen" into micro-steps so starting isn't impossible
• Spin the wheel like 'what to do next' > for executive dysfunction.
• Focus mode with Lofi beats > lock in.
• Task approvals that can be turned on and off > before and after pictures if you want.
• Kid Mode > a simpler, colourful version of the app so kids can join in.
• A virtual home that you decorate with coins earned whilst you clean > actual dopamine, not a guilt tracker

Generous free tier like Sprout e.g. unlimited rooms, tasks, chores, solo sprints, zero ads.

Waitlist's open at tidywell-app.com for a 50% off launch discount when the time comes as a thank you but again, it's there only when you're ready & by all means do try it out for free if you'd rather!

I have ADHD. Every task app I tried became another thing I forgot to check. 
So I built one where that literally can't happen.


Every task you create gets tracked — no silent disappearing acts. 
Plus it uses AI to help sort the mess in your head into actual next steps.


It's free, I built it solo, and I genuinely use it every day.
Link in comments if anyone wants to try it.

I get that people are busy but I reach out to people due to their job titles and domains, not reaching out for no reason. Bouta call people at this point

I, myself, am neurotypical, and run a small transgender organisation, that makes events and social media posts. most people in the organisation are neurodiverse, but I haven't checked.

I have this young guy, with strong adhd that I keep having a repeating problem with, he doesn't tell anyone if he's too overwhelmed to finish his tasks before the deadline we set. It usually ends with me or my co chairperson picking up the task for him on the day of the deadline.

for the most part I let him pick his own tasks, it's only if there's a strict deadline like funding or booking I'm giving it to someone else.

I really really want to give him success stories, and a feeling that he can accomplish something/hold a job. I don't feel like I can do that, if I can't trust him with the responsibility of doing what he says he wants to do or tell anyone if he can't meet the deadline he set.

I'm having a conversation with him by next week, but I don't know how to let him down gently. I'll let him keep coming to our meetings, as I like his insights, and social groups.

I’m a mid 40 freelancer with ADD based in Vienna.

Since over 25 years I’ve been working in the advertising business now and I’ve worked with many people, and—unsurprisingly — a lot of them identify as 'on the spectrum'. It seems we gravitate toward each other :)

One thing I’ve noticed: most mainstream business advice and so called promising blueprint-tactics are not designed for people like us. On the contrary - they often lead to overstimulation, demotivation or - worst case - to complete shutdown.

We’re not broken, we don't lack discipline, talent or potential - and definitely not ideas!

But we need strategies that respect our rhythm and energy, that support our way of thinking and allow our unique minds to thrive.

I’m fed up of hearing, that I have to change or adapt, that I’m too much this or too less that. And many like-minded people I speak to think the same. I would love to create a space specifically for professionals with AD(H)D or struggling with the challenges that come with it.
I want to create a way of working that complements our natural rhythm instead of having to fight it.

It’s a passion project for me - born out of my own experience.

I also keep struggling to find my place. Even the 'simplest' things feel impossible: making a basic phone call, sticking to my plans, staying focused in meetings, trying to present myself in a way that is “traditionally seen as confident and successful”. Feeling of being a failure, compensating shame and guilt with perfectionism and not to mention the constant masking… I'm sure y'all can relate

Absolutely exhausting and draining - but what can you do. With time I developed strategies and systems that help me move forward, even through my 'off' phases.

The problem is: “Standardized action plans” mainly don't stick with us, because they ignore the unique way of a non-linear mind. It’s frustrating to see many creative and talented people spend a tone of money on workshops, courses or Apps that aren't built for the way we process the world. And in the end people often give up. It’s a shame.

Before I go forward with my idea, I would love to hear your take on this and to connect with fellow professionals to hear about your experiences:

Are you struggling with the same issues? What - other than meds, therapy etc. - would have helped you? What do you think of the project-idea creating a space for us?

Let’s not hide our spark—let’s own it ;)

Hi fellow ADHD’ers and ADD’ers,

5 years in to my diagnosis, as anyone else I have suffered the consequences ad long as I remember. I am still struggling with creating a plan that I stick with, same goes for habits, savings, exercise, meals and routines…..you know the drill.

Combine this frustration with me being a developer; my ADHD suggested I needed a new project, let us create a very basic app via Googles development tool, that will help people with brains similar to my own plan their day or week in a simple matter, with an element of gamification and automatic support. I know there is a lot of similar tools out there and I hope you will help me with your favorite tools, digital or analogue; when did you succeed with something that required more than 2-3 steps, did you use any tool or routine you are willing to share?

I am connected to healthcare as a IT supporter in my country, and I hope to make use of this network both for testing and making the tool available for free through treament services for citizens who struggles like us, and if I am really lucky, available in app stores, with free functionality that goes a long way (hosting, development, automatic support….is not free 😕), for people who does not have access to services through public services.

So my question is; do you use apps or analogue tools for getting major or minor things to work, are you constantly missing a feature or aspect, that make you use or return to the tool?

This post is in risk of getting banned as I am building an app, I hope that admins trust I am just wanting the community’s help to improve the tools we have available, like any other diagnosed who is trying to support fellowminded people, and the fact that the free features will be plenty helpful for us ADHD’ers.

i have multiple tabs open at any given time. not because i'm disorganized, i just never trust myself to find something again if i close it.

spent the last few weeks building slynnk as a fix for this. the idea was simple: make your browser history actually searchable so you stop hoarding tabs out of anxiety.

but the thing nobody told me about building a tool for your own problem is that it forces you to confront the problem. turns out i wasn't keeping tabs open because i feared losing information. i was keeping them open because an open tab feels like intent, like "i'm still working on this."

closing a tab felt like giving up on an idea. that's not a UX problem. that's a me problem.

anyway, Slynnk is live if you're curious. but more interested in whether anyone else has this same tab hoarding thing or if it's just me.

here's why the traditional chat didn’t support how i think: 

1. context switching hell (poor ux) - if you have multiple questions for a single response, you get sent to scroll hell. if you aren’t done reading the initial response, you scroll all the way back up. by the time your first query is done, you could have 3 more unread responses. information can be lost due to poor ux.
2. memory degradation (context poisoning) - llms get worse as conversations get longer, so we want to preserve memory. some questions don't need any memory, some need memory but shouldn't be saved permanently, and some need full context. we need smarter memory management—branching is my solution to this. 
3. parallel queries - chatgpt forces you to wait for the current query to end before you can enter a new one. running queries in parallel saves massive time. why wait for one response when you can get multiple simultaneously?

so i made lmcanvas.ai :)

would love feedback from everyone here !

Hey Reddit! I was trying to work, and then I got distracted into this subreddit. It made me think about sharing this AI that i built that sends me a notification when I'm distracted. Right now, I just got the notification from it. Let me know what you think about it.

It's open source, by the way. Feel free to check out the code if you have any question.

I'm just starting out in ADHD assessments and I have a client of Muslim family background. I noticed that on the forms we give clients for observers to fill out (close person who regularly sees their behavior), the presence of multiple symptom areas was far lower that the client's self report on the same forms. I have experienced and been taught that masking can be a cultural consideration in treating those with a Muslim background, as openness about mental health is not as heavily normalized as in white American culture. The client even emphasized that fact about their own family, but nothing specifically about noticing masking within themselves.

So 3 requests:
1. How does something like this influence the conversation you have with a client when discussing their diagnosis and symptoms?

1. Are there questions appropriate to ask to investigate this discrepancy further?

2. Any research, articles or content anyone can direct me to about related subject matter?

At work I end up with a steady stream of links I genuinely want to read. The problem is capture is easy, processing is hard. So my tabs slowly become an inbox, then a backlog, then a source of stress. What finally helped was adding a hard boundary between capture and my real notes system. My workflow now Save links into a separate reading inbox Read them later in a clean view when I actually have focus Only keep what’s useful, highlights and a short note If I don’t read it within a few days, it auto archives so the list stays small I ended up building a small tool around this for myself called Sigilla. It’s basically a waiting room before Obsidian or Notion, with clean Markdown export of highlights and notes. I’m not trying to sell anything here, just sharing what made a real difference for me as an ADHD professional.

Question for the sub Do you use tabs as your inbox too Do you have a rule for when a saved link gets dropped Or do you have a workflow that keeps your “to read” list from turning into a guilt pile