Prioritizing Tasks Effectively

Discover tips, treatment options, and support strategies from the Finding Focus Care Team

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Last Update: August 10th, 2025 | Estimated Read Time: 8 min

Understanding the Challenge of Task Prioritization in Post-Secondary Life

For students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the transition to college or university can feel like being handed a map with no landmarks. Assignments pile up, extracurricular opportunities compete for attention, and social commitments add to the load. Amid this whirlwind, figuring out which task to tackle first, and which can wait, can feel overwhelming.

Prioritizing tasks is more than a productivity skill; it’s a core part of managing academic success, emotional well-being, and life balance in post-secondary education. For students with ADHD, unique differences in executive functioning, the brain’s management system, can make prioritization especially challenging (Barkley, 2011).

Instead of moving through tasks logically, students may:

• Jump between assignments without finishing them.
  
  
• Spend hours on low-importance tasks while ignoring deadlines.
  
  
• Feel paralysed when faced with multiple competing priorities.
  
  

The good news? Prioritization is a skill that can be learned, practiced, and adapted to suit the way an ADHD brain works.

Why Prioritization Can Be Difficult with ADHD

ADHD impacts the prefrontal cortex, which plays a key role in decision-making, working memory, and impulse control. This means students may have difficulty:

• Estimating how long a task will take.
  
  
• Remembering deadlines without prompts.
  
  
• Filtering out less urgent tasks to focus on the most important.

Research by Brown (2006) highlights that ADHD affects not only attention but also “activation” and “effort”, the ability to start a task and maintain energy for it. This can make even simple decisions, like starting a reading before an essay, feel mentally exhausting.

In a post-secondary setting where structure is minimal and self-management is key, these challenges can compound quickly, leading to missed deadlines, increased stress, and lower grades (Advokat et al., 2011).

The Benefits of Learning to Prioritize

Effective prioritization is like building a personal compass, it guides your academic path and helps avoid unnecessary stress. Students who develop this skill often experience:

• Improved time management: Less scrambling the night before a due date.
  
  
• Reduced overwhelm: A clearer picture of what needs attention now versus later.
  
  
• Better academic outcomes: Timely completion of high-value assignments.
  
  
• Enhanced confidence: Feeling in control of competing demands.

Strategies for Prioritizing Tasks Effectively

The key to prioritization with ADHD is combining structure with flexibility. Here are research-backed and practical approaches:

1. Start with a Brain Dump

Before deciding what’s most important, get every task out of your head and onto paper or a digital tool. This helps reduce mental clutter and supports working memory, which can be a challenge for students with ADHD.

Try this: Write down every assignment, reading, meeting, and personal commitment. Don’t worry about order, just capture it all.

2. Use the “Impact-Deadline Matrix”

Once your list is complete, rank each task by:

• Impact (How much it affects your grades, future opportunities, or well-being).
  
  
• Deadline urgency (When it’s due).

This can help avoid the ADHD trap of focusing only on what’s interesting rather than what’s important.

3. Break Down Big Tasks into Small Wins

Large assignments can feel unmanageable. Breaking them into smaller, actionable steps reduces the mental barrier to starting and helps track progress (Safren et al., 2005).

Example: Instead of “Write history paper,” break it into:

1. Choose topic.
   
   
2. Gather three sources.
   
   
3. Write outline.
   
   
4. Draft introduction.

4. Set “Anchor Deadlines”

ADHD brains respond better to immediate, visible deadlines than distant ones. Create mini-deadlines ahead of the actual due date to maintain momentum.

Example: If your essay is due in two weeks, set a personal due date for your outline in three days and your first draft in one week.

5. Leverage Visual Cues and Timers

Visual schedules, colour-coded planners, and timers can make prioritization more tangible. Research suggests that externalizing time, making it visible, helps individuals with ADHD better manage their workload (Barkley, 2011).

Pro tip: Use a physical wall calendar for big-picture planning and a daily sticky note for the top three priorities each day.

6. Apply the “One-Thing Rule”

When overwhelmed, choose just one high-priority task to complete before moving on. This limits decision fatigue and builds a sense of accomplishment.

7. Plan for Energy, Not Just Time

For students with ADHD, energy fluctuations can be just as important as hours available. Try scheduling the most mentally demanding tasks during peak focus periods, often mid-morning for many people.

Managing the Emotional Side of Prioritization

Prioritization isn’t just a cognitive process, it’s emotional. Feelings of guilt, anxiety, or perfectionism can interfere with task selection.

• Acknowledge emotional barriers: Notice when fear of failure or overwhelm is driving procrastination.
  
  
• Use self-compassion: Recognize that prioritization is a skill in progress, not a test of worth.
  
  
• Celebrate completions: Reward yourself for finishing even small tasks. Positive reinforcement supports motivation.

Tools and Supports for Success

Students don’t have to do this alone. Support options include:

• Academic coaching: Many universities offer ADHD-friendly academic skills programs.
  
  
• Assistive technology: Apps like Trello, Notion, or Microsoft To Do for tracking priorities.
  
  
• Peer accountability: Study groups or “work sprints” with classmates.
  
  
• Counselling services: For managing anxiety that interferes with decision-making.

When to Seek Extra Help

If missed deadlines, incomplete tasks, or high stress levels are becoming a pattern, it may be time to consult with a healthcare professional or campus accessibility services. Supports can include:

• Extended deadlines where appropriate.
  
  
• Reduced course loads for balance.
  
  
• ADHD coaching or therapy for executive functioning skills.

Final Thoughts: Building a Roadmap for Academic Success

In post-secondary life, prioritizing tasks effectively is like learning a new language, especially with ADHD. It takes practice, trial and error, and patience. By externalizing tasks, using visual systems, and aligning work with personal energy patterns, students can navigate their academic journey with greater clarity and less stress.

Prioritization doesn’t mean doing everything at once, it means doing the right things at the right time. For students with ADHD, mastering this skill is a powerful step toward academic success and a more balanced, confident life.

Finding Focus Care Team

We are a group of nurse practitioners, continuous care specialists, creators, and writers, all committed to excellence in patient care and expertise in ADHD. We share content that illuminates aspects of ADHD and broader health care topics. Each article is medically verified and approved by the Finding Focus Care Team. You can contact us at Finding Focus Support if you have any questions!

References

Advokat, C., Lane, S. M., & Luo, C. (2011). College students with and without ADHD: Comparison of self-report of executive functioning. Journal of Attention Disorders, 15(8), 656–666. Link

Barkley, R. A. (2011). Functional impairments in adults with ADHD. In Barkley, R. A. (Ed.), Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (4th ed., pp. 243–255). Guilford Press. Link

Brown, T. E. (2006). Attention deficit disorder: The unfocused mind in children and adults. Yale University Press. Link