Written in November 2025
One of the more pervasive misconceptions about ADHD is that it is just laziness; yes, people often leave things until the last minute, and may spend time apparently staring into space, but this is just what it looks like from the outside. From the inside it looks like a cliff face that must be scaled without equipment.
Our executive functions – that is to say the cognitive and meta-cognitive skills we use on a daily basis to get things done – are not the same with the ADHD brain as with a non-ADHD brain.
The executive functions include:
- Working memory (ability to hold recent information in short term memory while doing a task)
- Self-assessment (ability to instinctively know how far through a task or project you are)
- Response inhibition (ability to tune out and ignore distractions of all kinds)
- Attention regulation (the ability to access and use the appropriate style of attention for the task at hand, i.e. focused attention, roaming attention etc.)
- Task initiation (ability to start a task on time without prompts)
- Planning and prioritising (ability to break a task down into steps in the right order)
- Time management (ability to effectively use available time for tasks)
- Cognitive flexibility (ability to switch from task to task, or to take different perspectives quickly)
These are all difficult for ADHDers, because the frontal cortex, where these things live, doesn’t develop the same capacity as a non-ADHD brain does. We’re running with a 1-litre engine compared to the 1.6-litre capacity that the average person has.
If we have difficulty with planning, prioritising, organising, managing distractions, time management and task initiation it’s no wonder it looks like laziness or that we can’t be bothered from the outside. What’s going on inside us is like trying to tow a heavy caravan with our little engine, and making zero progress despite wanting to, and knowing we have to.
Additionally, dopamine levels are lower in the ADHD brain (due to a combination of producing less, and our microglia being really effective at getting rid of what we do produce) and we need dopamine for motivation – it’s the reward chemical. Another difference is that we need this to start the task, we can’t wait for the task to finish to get our dopamine fix.
To return to the engine metaphor, not only are we running a lower engine capacity, but we’re also using substandard fuel; running “normal” engine functions is an operation where the odds are stacked against us.
From the outside, all of this can be misinterpreted as laziness, but it’s really not.
Medication can help by regulating the neurotransmitter levels in our brains, and by providing the stimulation (dopamine seeking) that we need to function properly. We can also learn new strategies that work for us, based on our own interests and needs, that can help us navigate these challenges more effectively. Peer support, coaching and social media groups are a great source of guidance for this route.
What doesn’t help is being told to focus, to just get on with it, to not get distracted and so on. If we were able to naturally do that, we wouldn’t have ADHD, but we do!