Like many people with ADHD, I have a particular double-edged challenge:
- I get easily overwhelmed by big projects that I know will take a lot of time.
- Once I start working on something, I like to immerse in it until it is complete.
This often results in cycles of avoidance and hyperfocus that can lead to burnout. We often procrastinate doing things when we know they will take more time than we can allot to it.
On the other hand, once we start, we tend to keep going until we finish, even if it requires an all-nighter. As I’ve gotten older, those all-nighters are less sustainable.
Solution: Create “Work Packets”
As a productivity coach who helps clients navigate procrastination and resistance, I’m always testing solutions in my own work and life projects.
One solution I’ve come up with to address this double-edged challenge is to find ways to divide my bigger projects into “Work Packets.”
What’s a Work Packet?
A Work Packet is a clearly-defined, containable unit of work. It feels complete on its own, even if it’s one piece of a bigger project.
The key element that defines a “packet” is that it is a completable task that offers a natural stopping point for a break within a larger project.
This strategy works particularly well for preparing a big meal, like Thanksgiving dinner, or even part of a meal, like a dish.
Work Packets in the Context of Cooking
In the context of cooking, a “packet” can be:
- one complete dish for the meal;
- partial meal prep, such as a part of a dish that you will later combine with the other parts; or
- mis-en-place prep.
Example of a Thanksgiving Dish Chunked Into Work Packets
Making vegetable stuffing from scratch, while “easy,” actually has a lot of parts to the process. Each of these parts is its own “work packet.”
- cutting the bread into cubes
- drying out the bread in the oven
- chopping vegetables
- sautéing vegetables
- preparing the stuffing
- baking the stuffing
I can do each of these tasks in their own session or combine them in one session, depending on my scheduling constraints.
If I don’t have time to chop all the vegetables in one work session, I might further chunk it down to prep one specific vegetable at a time.
After each stage, I can clean up the kitchen and turn to a different task.
Benefits of Work Packets
Chunking the work into smaller packets, helps alleviate many challenges that can plague people with ADHD when it comes to planning and execution.
(1) Easier Planning
People with ADHD often have trouble planning because we have trouble estimating how long things will take. It’s easier to anticipate how long a small, discrete task will take. Once you know how long something will take, it’s easier to schedule it.
(2) Less Procrastination
Keeping the tasks simple and discrete means there’s a lower hurdle to get started.
(3) Completion Dopamine Boost
Completing a task gives us a boost of dopamine. By breaking the work up into smaller tasks, we get a dopamine boost at each stage on the journey.
(4) Lower Energy and Focus Requirements
By breaking up the bigger project into smaller tasks, we can keep our focus requirements manageable. Each work packet also requires less energy than doing the whole project at once.
(5) Momentum For the Next Stage
Each time you complete a specific task related to the bigger project, you have given yourself a head start on the next phase of the process. This also makes it easier to get back to what you were doing.
Work Packets Help You Find More Calm
By chunking down your cooking into packets, you can approach the holiday prep feeling more calm and less overwhelmed. When you prep each dish in stages, you’ll lower resistance to starting and start each new session with built-in momentum from what you’ve already completed.
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