How to Build Habits with ADHD That Actually Stick (The 4 Laws)

Let's face it. Habits are tough to stick with, especially when you have ADHD. But it's not as hard as it might initially seem. There are frameworks that make it 10x easier.

Here's how I "hacked" my ADHD brain using The Four Laws of Behavior Change to either build good habits or break bad ones. This isn't theory—these are strategies I've actually used and that have transformed how I function daily.

Why Traditional Habit Advice Fails for ADHD

Before we dive into what works, let's talk about why most habit advice is useless for ADHD brains.

Research on ADHD and habit formation shows that adults with ADHD require significantly more repetitions to form automatic behaviors compared to neurotypical adults. While neurotypical brains might automate a behavior after 60-90 repetitions, ADHD brains might need 200-300 or more.

Traditional advice assumes you can:

• Rely on memory to remember to do the habit
• Generate motivation through willpower
• Maintain consistency despite variable capacity
• Feel naturally rewarded by completing routine tasks

But ADHD impairs all of these abilities. Your working memory is unreliable. Your dopamine system doesn't generate reward feelings for boring tasks. Your executive function fluctuates daily.

So you need a different approach—one that works WITH your ADHD neurology, not against it. Understanding why ADHD makes routines so hard helps you see why traditional methods fail.

The Four Laws for Building Good Habits with ADHD

Here's how I used the Four Laws to build the habit of journaling every night before bed. I'll break down each law and show you exactly how to apply it to YOUR ADHD brain.

1. Make it Obvious

Don't rely on memory—ADHD doesn't play nice with that.

I put my journal where I couldn't miss it—right next to my bed, or sometimes even in the cupboard with my toothbrush. The more obvious the cue, the better.

The ADHD hack: Visual cues work because your ADHD brain is reactive to what's in front of it. Out of sight truly means out of mind for us. If you want to journal, put the journal on your pillow. If you want to take vitamins, put them next to your coffee maker. Make the cue so obvious you literally can't avoid it.

2. Make it Attractive

Pair your habit with something you want to do.

I only ever allowed myself to drink a lovely camomile tea (or something I enjoyed in the evening) while I journaled. As long as it gives you a bit of dopamine, you're good to go.

The ADHD hack: Your brain needs immediate dopamine to initiate behavior. Neurotypical people can delay gratification—you can't, at least not reliably. So stack your boring habit with something that provides instant reward. Journal while drinking your favorite beverage. Do stretches while watching a show you love. The dopamine from the enjoyable activity bleeds over to the habit, making it more likely you'll stick with it.

3. Make it Easy

ADHD brains love convenience. Make the habit as frictionless as possible.

My goal was to write for at least 60 seconds each night. Sometimes I write just one sentence, but most of the time I ended up writing more. It's so much easier to keep up momentum when it's simple to get started.

The ADHD hack: Start absurdly small. Not small—absurdly small. 60 seconds of journaling. One push-up. Two minutes of reading. The smaller the habit, the less resistance your brain generates. Once you start, momentum often carries you further than the minimum. But even if it doesn't, you still completed the habit. That's a win.

This is where understanding why your brain resists tasks becomes crucial—the easier you make it, the less resistance you face.

4. Make it Satisfying

ADHDers especially crave instant rewards.

Check off a box, give yourself a gold star, or set up a reward system (I allowed myself to watch 1 YouTube video before bed) right after journaling. The trick is to make the completion of the task feel good.

The ADHD hack: Your brain won't generate the satisfaction signal automatically for routine habits. You have to create it artificially. Visual tracking (like crossing off a calendar) provides immediate satisfaction. Reward systems work. Even just telling yourself "Good job, I did the thing" helps. The satisfaction needs to be immediate and tangible, not some vague sense of accomplishment three months from now.

The Four Laws for Breaking Bad Habits with ADHD

And here's how I use them to break the bad habit of mindlessly checking my phone every 5 minutes. The laws work in reverse—you want to make the bad habit hard to do and unrewarding.

1. Make it Invisible

Out of sight, out of mind.

I always put my phone on DND and in another room. ADHDers are highly reactive to visual cues—so make the distraction disappear. (By the way, you can allow phone calls in your phone's DND settings so you don't miss any calls or emergencies.)

The ADHD hack: Your impulsivity makes resisting visible temptations nearly impossible. Don't fight it—remove the temptation entirely. Can't see it? Can't be tempted by it. This is why "just have willpower" doesn't work for ADHD. Willpower is a limited resource you don't have enough of. Environmental design is unlimited.

2. Make it Unattractive

Find ways to associate the bad habit with something negative.

For instance, every time I get distracted by my phone, I give myself a sharp pinch on the hand. Tie it to something you don't enjoy.

The ADHD hack: Your brain seeks dopamine constantly. If you can make the bad habit provide negative sensory feedback instead, you create an aversion. The pinch works because it's immediate and unpleasant. You can also reframe the habit mentally—every time you reach for your phone, remind yourself "This is stealing my focus and making me less effective." The negative association helps over time.

3. Make it Difficult

I've added all the following barriers: Use long passwords, install app blockers (like Opal), log out of apps, and turned on grayscale mode to make my phone visually less appealing. The harder it is to get to, the less likely you are to mindlessly reach for it.

The ADHD hack: Friction is your friend when breaking bad habits. Each barrier you add gives your prefrontal cortex a moment to catch up to your impulse. By the time you've typed that long password and navigated past the app blocker, your conscious brain has had time to ask "Do I really need to do this right now?" Often, the answer is no, and you can redirect.

4. Make it Unsatisfying

Get some accountability.

Tell a friend or partner or someone close that you want them to monitor your usage. We don't like disappointing people—use that to your advantage.

The ADHD hack: Your internal accountability is unreliable. External accountability works because disappointing others feels worse than disappointing yourself. Share your screen time with someone you respect. Have them check in weekly. The social pressure provides the motivation your brain won't generate internally. It's not weakness—it's working with your neurology.

Universal Laws, ADHD-Specific Application

These laws are universal and work for almost every habit you can think of.

Whether it's building a new routine or kicking a bad one, the key is finding ways to make it work with your ADHD brain, not against it.

The difference between success and failure isn't your willpower or discipline. It's whether you're using strategies designed for your actual neurology. When you stop fighting your ADHD and start accommodating it, habits become possible.

**Claudia by Neuro** can help you implement these laws by providing the external structure and reminders your ADHD brain needs. The Routines area helps you design your own stack of habits into a routine, making it way easier to create a chain of positive habits. When you have external support handling the remembering and the tracking, you can focus your limited executive function on actually doing the habit.

Hit reply and let me know what habits you're trying to build right now... and what's worked for you.

Start With One Habit

Don't try to overhaul your entire life at once. Pick ONE habit you want to build or break. Apply these four laws specifically to that habit. Give it 30 days of consistent effort (which, for ADHD brains, might mean 30 attempts with multiple restarts—that's normal and okay).

Once that habit starts feeling more automatic, add another. Build slowly. The compound effect of multiple small habits working together is far more powerful than trying to implement ten habits at once and abandoning all of them within a week.

Your ADHD brain can absolutely build lasting habits. It just needs the right framework—one that acknowledges your limitations while leveraging your strengths. The Four Laws, adapted for ADHD, provide exactly that.

By Josh Budd | Founder @ Neuro Notion