Many people with ADHD struggle with consistency, whether its with exercise or other daily practices.
I’m actually great at consistency — with a twist: my consistency depends on variety.
I haven’t missed a daily workout in over 12 years. That’s a remarkable run of consistency. And although I like to follow a certain structure for my workouts, I need variety in them. I can’t do the same thing every day.
I recently received a question from someone who wanted to know more about this.
Here’s the question:
I’d love if you could share how you vary your exercises and workout.
I’m trying to get back to it (it feels sooooo good, but I struggle so much with consistency). Would you mind sharing some tips and tricks? How did you/do you do that? Do you use (or have used) an app? Books? Videos?
The reply to this question is bigger than just listing a few tips and tricks.
Read: 7 Strategies I’ve Used to Workout Daily for 11 Years
It requires addressing issues of motivation, environment, stimulus, energy levels, and — depending on the person — hormone fluctuations.
Creating consistency also requires addressing your relationship with time.
And it requires doing the inner work to look at what resistance gets in the way of consistency.
I cover all of these and more in The Ritual Revolution, my program that helps you create consistency and live with intention.
The short answer to this question is that I do not use books, videos, or apps. I’ll address this below.
Content vs Container
In my coaching and consulting practice, my first point of entry with a client is to clarify the primary issue obstructing them in their goal.
At first glance, the reader is asking about what to do to create variety in workouts:
I’d love if you could share how you vary your exercises and workout. Do you use (or have used) an app? Books? Videos?
But if you look closely, you’ll see that the real issue this person is having is with showing up consistently.
I’m trying to get back to it (it feels sooooo good, but I struggle so much with consistency).
So the reader is implicitly struggling with two distinct issues:
(1) The Contents. What to do.
(2) The Container. Scheduling exercise, finding time, or what I call “Creating Space” to exercise consistently.
Why This Matters
One of the challenges for people with ADHD is that we often conflate and merge issues, then we struggle to untangle the web.
To a neurotypical brain, these issues are separate: figure out the when, show up, then worry about the what.
For ADHD brains, these are one issue: uncertainty about “what to do” or “where to start” results in not creating the space for the doing.
Lack of clarity about contents means we struggle to create a container.
From the outside, it looks like procrastination or delay. In reality, it’s context overload — too many variables at once — which leads to action paralysis.
Prioritizing Content vs Container: Which Comes First?
In some tasks, clarity on the contents is crucial for creating the container. Think about something simple like making soup. You need to know how much soup you’re making to choose the right pot.
But for other tasks or activities, the container comes first.
When it comes to exercise, there are infinite varieties of content to fill the container. In addition, exercise is an activity where the size of the container may dictate the content that fills it.
In other words: the nature of your workout might depend on whether you have 10 minutes or an hour.
When it comes to exercise, creating a consistent container is more important than the contents — at least if you’re just getting started or getting back into it.
This is why books, videos, and apps are red herrings. They distract us with infinite possibilities for what to do, but leave us paralyzed an in overwhelm, and deplete decision bandwidth before you even get started.
Create the Container First
The first place to start is with the structure. Create the container. Block it on your schedule. Make it a non-negotiable.
What you do in the container is less important — at least at first — than establishing the pattern. Show up. Move your body. Don’t over complicate it. Strategic programming toward fitness goals comes after you’ve established the routine.
It’s also why I highly recommend a gym. Because environment and people around you will motivate you to do something once you’re there.
Once you’re in the space, do whatever you enjoy on that day. Variety comes naturally to ADHDers.
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