A Five-Step Problem-Solving Worksheet for ADHD Decision Fatigue

The car insurance renewal has been on the counter for three weeks. The question of whether to switch phone plans has been open since the spring. You have four tabs of apartment listings and no opinion. None of these is hard. All of them are undecided, and the pile of undecided things is why you are tired at 10 a.m.

This problem-solving worksheet for ADHD is a five-step structure borrowed from CBT programs for adult ADHD, where it is one of the core skills. It exists because ADHD does not just make decisions harder; it makes the open decisions pile up, and the pile is what exhausts you. Twenty minutes with this sheet closes one. Do it a few times and the pile stops growing.

Why decisions pile up with ADHD, and why that is exhausting

Three things conspire. Working memory holds fewer options at once, so comparing four phone plans in your head feels like juggling. Every open decision stays open in the background, like a browser tab, costing a little attention all day. And the fear of choosing wrong, which many adults with ADHD carry from years of being told they chose wrong, makes not deciding feel safer than deciding.

So the decision waits for a better moment, and the better moment never arrives, and eventually the decision is made by default: the renewal auto-pays, the listing is gone, the deadline passes. Default decisions are usually the worst ones and they come with a side of shame. Our post on ADHD and decision-making covers the mechanism. The worksheet is the workaround: it takes the decision out of your head, puts it on paper, and gives it an ending.

Steps one and two: define the problem, list every option without judging

Step one: write the problem in one sentence, with a deadline. Not the feeling, the problem. The feeling is I am overwhelmed by money stuff. The problem is My car insurance renews on the 28th at 2,400 dollars, up 500 from last year, and I need to decide what to do by the 21st. If you cannot write it in one sentence, you have two problems; pick one.

Step two: list every option, with no judging. This is the step ADHD brains skip, because the first option that arrives feels like the only one. Set a timer for five minutes and write down everything, including the bad ones and the silly ones. Two rules: no crossing anything out during the five minutes, and the list must include do nothing and ask someone who knows, because both are real options and both are easy to forget. Aim for at least five.

Steps three and four: pros and cons fast, then pick good enough

Step three: one pro, one con, one score, per option. Two minutes per option, with the timer running. The pro is the best thing about it, the con is the worst, and the score is a number from 1 to 5 for how realistic it is for you to actually do this month. Not in theory. You. This month. The score is the part that matters; it is where the option that sounds best and the option you would actually do get separated.

Step four: pick the good-enough option. Not the best one. The best one is a trap, because it requires certainty you cannot have and research you will not finish. Good enough means a reasonable pro, a con you can live with, and a score of 3 or higher. If two options tie, use a tiebreaker: the one that is cheapest to reverse, or the one that is fastest to start. Then write the decision as a first physical action with a time attached. Not Shop around; Call the insurer on Thursday at 7 p.m. and ask for the renewal discount.

Step five: a date to review, not re-decide

This is the step that stops the decision from reopening in your head at 2 a.m. Write a review date in your calendar, two to four weeks out, with one question attached: did this work well enough? Between now and that date, the decision is closed. If the urge to re-decide shows up, and it will, the answer is It is on the calendar for the 14th. You are allowed to notice new information and write it down for the review. You are not allowed to reopen the file.

On the review date, one of three things is true. It worked well enough, so you close it for good. It worked partly, so you adjust the action and set a new review date. Or it did not work, in which case you go back to step two with better information, which is not failure; it is the worksheet doing its job.

A filled-in example, and the blank worksheet

Here is the insurance renewal, worked through the way it would look on the page.

1. Problem. Car insurance renews on the 28th at 2,400 dollars, up 500. Decide by the 21st.
2. Options. Renew as is. Call the current insurer and ask what discounts I am missing. Get three online quotes. Ask a broker to shop it. Raise the deductible to lower the premium. Drop collision coverage on a 12-year-old car. Do nothing and let it auto-renew. Ask my brother-in-law who just switched.
3. Pros, cons, scores. Renew as is: no effort; 500 dollars more; 5. Call insurer: 15 minutes, might save a bit; a hold queue; 4. Three online quotes: real comparison; an hour of forms I will abandon; 2. Broker: they do the work; need to find one; 3. Raise deductible: cheaper now; bigger bill if I crash; 4. Drop collision: much cheaper; no cover on my own car; 3. Do nothing: zero effort; same as renew but with guilt; 5. Ask brother-in-law: one text; his situation is not mine; 5.
4. Decision. Good enough is the combination that scores high and costs little: text the brother-in-law tonight, call the insurer Thursday at 7 p.m. and ask about discounts and a higher deductible. If that gets under 2,100, renew. If not, ask the brother-in-law for his broker's name.
5. Review. Calendar, the 22nd, 7 p.m. Did the call happen and what was the number?

The blank worksheet is just those five headings on one page: Problem and deadline. Every option. Pro, con, score. Decision as a first action with a time. Review date and question. Write them on an index card and keep it where the undecided things live, which for most of us is the kitchen counter. If you are in Ontario and want to practise this with someone rather than alone, this is one of the skills worked through in CBT and ADHD coaching at Finding Focus. For deciding which problem to run through the sheet first, our post on prioritising tasks effectively is the companion.