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These free printable ADHD worksheets are designed to help kids and adults with ADHD manage their symptoms, set goals, and improve their daily functioning. Download and print them today to start managing ADHD more effectively!
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Break it down into the smallest possible task,” but for people with ADHD, that’s easier said than done. The advice sounds simple, yet breaking a task into manageable steps can be a significant hurdle for ADHD children and adults who struggle with task initiation and executive dysfunction.
This blog post explores strategies to start tasks effectively for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and introduces our free printable ADHD worksheets that genuinely help!
And if you enjoy these free goal-setting worksheets, you'll also love our free ADHD daily planner template!
Our free printable worksheets are for personal use only; however, you are welcome to use them for educational purposes or as therapy worksheets for clients by sharing the direct link to this post, or by printing the worksheets with our website URL intact at the bottom of each page.
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Why Big Tasks Overwhelm ADHD Brains
For someone with ADHD, processing a large, looming goal like organizing a cluttered garage or completing a book report can seem impossible. ADHD brains typically handle smaller, immediate tasks more efficiently because they require less future-oriented planning (aka an overwhelming cloud of doom).
Imagine you're faced with folding a mountain of laundry that's taken over your bedroom. Daunting? Absolutely. Now consider folding just two socks. That sounds manageable, right?
This is the daily reality for someone with ADHD—a large task can cause a mental freeze, but small, quick tasks feel like mini-quests that we might win. And if you fold just two pieces of laundry 50 times, by the end of the day, all of your laundry will be folded. That’s definitely a win in our book.
Even better, once we begin a task we've been dreading, we often find the momentum to power through it.
ADHD Top Tip
For parents of children struggling with homework due to ADHD, try this: Ask your child to answer only ONE or two questions, then take a short break before continuing to the next question.
The Challenge of Large Goals: The "Now" and "Not Now" Perspective
People with ADHD often experience time differently, which can be described as "time blindness." This affects our ability to prioritize tasks that aren't immediately pressing.
We struggle with time management because we operate in the "now" or the "not now," making long-term projects feel unimportant. Our internal alarm bells don’t ring unless we have immediate deadlines. This leaves us scrambling when time runs out, like trying to clean the house when we’ve already heard the doorbell ring with guests arriving.
"Now" tasks are urgent or highly engaging tasks that demand immediate attention due to immediate consequences (like a project due tomorrow) or our immediate interest (like a video game).
"Not Now" tasks appear less urgent because their due date is at some point in the future. They don't provide immediate rewards or consequences, making them easy to postpone, even if they are important.
Our free ADHD worksheets will help you recognize these hurdles.
Our Solution: Free Printable ADHD Goal-Setting Worksheets
To help manage these challenges, we've created a series of free printable worksheets in PDF format for goal setting and task breakdown. These are great tools for adults with ADHD and ADHD students.
Page 1: Goal Planning Worksheet
Start by writing out your goal, identifying possible obstacles, and strategizing solutions.
Break Down Goals: Whether your goal is to write a book or clean your garage, divide it into smaller, actionable steps. For a book, this might mean writing one chapter at a time; for the garage, it could be cleaning one shelf or filling one bin to donate.
ADHD Top Tip
Create Due Dates: Set deadlines for each mini-goal. These deadlines help transform "not now" tasks into "now" tasks by giving them a sense of urgency. This helps us maintain momentum and track progress.
Page 2 & 3: The Stair-Step Worksheets
When larger tasks still seem daunting, our stair-step technique worksheet on page 2 helps divide these into even smaller daily goals:
Weekly Breakdown:
If your weekly goal is to write a chapter of your book in a week, set a daily goal to write a few sentences each day. Using our free worksheets helps turn these daily goals into routines.
Daily Goals:
Break down your daily goal into even smaller goals. Incorporate breaks to maintain focus and reduce overwhelm. Mini-breaks could include physical activity like a quick walk, making a cup of tea (like an L-Theanine Green Tea), watching one video on TikTok, etc. These tiny goals help us prevent task avoidance.
ADHD Top Tip
Make it Task-Based Instead of Time-Based. People with ADHD often struggle with time-based management systems. Once we start on something, we really want to finish it. That's why a goal like "work for 30 minutes" may leave us feeling unsatisfied if we don't finish our task at hand. Our worksheets encourage a task-based approach instead.
For example, an achievable task could be "research topic on ONE website."
Completing these tasks can boost mental health and overall quality of life for individuals with ADHD. Achieving goals, even small ones, provides a sense of accomplishment and a hit of dopamine. This can improve our behavior and executive functioning over time!
Other ADHD resources you'll love:
We hope you find these ADHD worksheets helpful in managing your goals and tasks! If you do, please support us by commenting, following us on Pinterest or Instagram, or sharing a link to our website. Thank you for your support!
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ItsTomboy says
I must have something attached to my ADHD like OCD or depression, because I can't imagine doing a work sheet this detailed with no lines in every box. I feel weird writing freely and I haven't doodled since school, I should doodle more huh, focus, ok back, I also have objects covering every surface of my house including every seat, to do a sheet for every task to clean this house broken down like that, I'd be spending a long time doing "paperwork" and that is not the ADHD way friends lol. Anywho, I didn't download this one but I love the other ones with the lines on them. Thank you for helping me get my life together.
Honestly ADHD team says
Thanks for your comment and rating! :). I think you are right that adding lines to this goal sheet printable would be a good idea for those that prefer a less doodly-approach! We'll work on that for the next version. 🙂
Daphne says
As someone who has ADHD and has to put together a massive project...this is so intuitive and helpful. Thank you guys so so much.
Honestly ADHD team says
Yay, so glad it was helpful! We are working on some more like this that we will be adding to our free printable collection soon.
Tracey Graham says
Thank you for sharing easy to implement useful and functional worksheets and tools!
Honestly ADHD team says
We're so happy these have been helpful! 🙂