How to work through insomnia and ADHD (5 tips)

This is a hyper-specific article, but if you operate similarly to me, it'll be super helpful.

I have pretty severe ADHD, as well as a gnarly case of chronic sleep-onset insomnia, which runs in my family.

Seriously, sometimes people ask me a question, and my brain starts thinking of 9 different variables and replies, and forming them into a quick response is legitimately challenging for me.

"I'm better at writing than I am at speaking!"

My smartwatch tells me I get <6 hours of sleep a night on average, which includes weekends wherein I sleep as late as I can. If you struggle with the same stuff, it's not game over. It's kind of a superpower if you play your cards right.

Here's what works for me:

1. Forgive yourself for not being able to fall asleep

It's easy to get nighttime anxiety thinking about how you're going to be tired and mentally depleted the next day. Remember, you've done this a million times and things have always turned out fine.

While it's frustrating and difficult at the time, you need to have more faith in yourself.

2. Work when it feels right

This means a couple of different things. For starters, if your brain isn't brain-ing, just go do something else. Come back to the hard thing later when you're more recharged.

Also, unironically, sometimes the pressure of procrastinating actually motivates you to be more productive when you come back.

It's also helpful to understand what you're good at when you're tired versus what you're fully capable of when you're well-rested and prioritize each accordingly.

3. Split your work based on brain power

When you're out of it, do the easy things like reporting, editing, and ops work. When you're fully charged, do strategy and writing.

4. Measure productivity on a weekly basis

When you have good days and bad days, measuring productivity daily will drive you insane. Weekly to-do lists, with a mix of easy and tough tasks, will afford you the luxury of working on the best things at the time.

5. Detach yourself from working 9-5

This is easier now in the post-Covid era. Most people I know are generally online and work when it works for them.

If you work in an office like I do, be sure to not miss meetings and shared deadlines, but also give yourself tasks to work on after work if you need to go home and recharge for a bit.

I find that my best work gets done after midnight when there are no distractions.

I hope this helps!

While these all sound cushy, what it actually means is that you might wind up working more than the traditional 40 hours a week—especially if there's a time requirement for being online/in-office. Although some of these hours will be more productive than others.

That being said, you don't really have a choice, unfortunately. These are the cards you were dealt, but if you play them right, you'll be completely fine.

Thanks to Matthew Henry from Unsplash for the cover image