LATE BLOOMERS - THE ADHD HACKERS: 10 unhinged hacks that actually work for your brain

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are sharing the ADHD hacks that actually work — not the "just set an alarm" nonsense, the real ones. Ten tried and tested strategies pulled straight from their actual life together.From setting timers in seconds instead of minutes, to the lesser of two evils trick, body doubling, and why buying a nice water bottle is genuinely a productivity hack — this one is packed. Rox also admits she still doesn't notice when Rich is using the hacks on her. Which honestly says it all.If your brain makes every task feel like a mountain, this episode is for you.20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

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An out-of-this-world smoothie. Just in time for the new Supergirl movie. Discover your power and channel your inner superhero. Fly into your local Zhu Booster and experience it for yourself today. And see Supergirl, only in theaters June 26. Are you tired of ADHD advice that just doesn't work for your brain? Us too. Today, we are talking ADHD hacks that are unhinged, but that will actually work for your brain.

Let's get into it. Welcome to Late Bloomers, where we are getting our lives together. brought to you by our incredible sponsor, Loop Earplugs. I really like the idea of this episode because too many times it's, It's like, why don't you leave earlier? Why don't you just set an alarm? And it's like, and it must be really frustrating to hear, right? It is so, it's like, do you not think I have tried that?

Do you not think I have tried everything? I sometimes think it's just a little passive aggressive. It's people who don't believe the struggle. Like, surely you could just do this. Well, someone that says just leave earlier is, I feel inferring. that you're doing it on purpose. Yeah. So, of course, you're late.

You left late. Why don't you just stop being late? Yeah. Why don't you just stop being disorganized? Okay, we've got 10 hacks today, which is quite exciting. And that actually work. This is kind of a combination taken from how you get me to do things. Actually, I think this is probably all.

Yeah, okay. This is all how rich gets me to, live. Yeah. These are tried and tested. This is from lived experience. And tested. Okay. Who's going to go first? I'll go first if I'm. Okay. You can go first. Okay. So number one is set times, not tasks. So let me explain. If I said to you, babe, I'm going out or I'm doing some washing, do you mind tidying the kitchen? I know you will be like, that feels like an overwhelming task. All of my soul is just, drained out of my body. I don't want to do it. I'm going to reject this. You'd have this executive dysfunction. You'd have PDA kicking. You would have all sorts of things going on.

So just being asked or told what to do just doesn't work. If I said, babe, I've got a challenge for you. I'm going to set a timer for five minutes to do the kitchen or 300 seconds to make the bed. All of a sudden it becomes a little bit of fun, a little bit challenging. And also, you'll surprise yourself how much you can actually get done in, say, five minutes. This one is complete genius. And it pretty much works every time for me. And I think as well it's to do with time blindness. So time blindness in ADHD means that we often underestimate how long something's going to take.

So if I'm getting ready, I underestimate. If I'm having fun, doing a hobby, I underestimate. But it also affects tasks that we hate. Task that we hate, we overestimate how long they're going to take. So to do a kitchen tidy, in my mind it feels like an hour's job. When in reality it's five to ten minutes. So when you say to me, will you just tidy the kitchen for five minutes and then you're done? And I'm like, what, even if it's not finished?

Yeah. For some reason that removes the blockage of how overwhelming it is, I start going. And lo and behold, you can clean, pretty much any room in five to ten minutes. That's what I've learned. As long as you're not full messy mode, doom room, which can take hours, a kind of general week's worth of mess, if you've got ten minutes, you'll get through it.

And that I just find mind-blowing. Well, the other thing that it does as well is it sort of triggers a sense of urgency. So if a timer starts and it's like counting down and the seconds are going, you're like, oh my God, let me get on and do it, see how much I can get done. The other way you can also do it if you don't want to set a timer is like tidy up for the length of two songs that you get to choose. Again, absolutely genius and works. You can kind of use both those strategies. Do you just want to do a five minute or do you want to do two times your favorite song?

And by the way, ADHD is get obsessed with songs and love listening to the same song over and over and over and over again. Yeah, so when it was Lincoln Park emptiness machine for me, all I wanted was for you to listen to that song with me and enjoy it in the same level that I enjoyed it. But you don't have the same brain as me, so it doesn't work like that. But you would say, I'll listen to it with you if we're cleaning. So you're like accessing this dopamine.

I also just have to talk about the 300 seconds hat because that changed my life in a way it shouldn't have done. when you figured out, I figured out. I didn't figure this out. But like you stop saying to me, we're leaving in five minutes and said we're leaving in 300 seconds. And the difference between those things in my mind,

like I'm so numb to five minutes, I'll be five minutes, you're in five minutes. It's like anywhere between 15 and an hour. Five minutes just means not now to you. Five minutes just means not now. 300 seconds means there's a timer ticking, I need to get up, get going. So yeah, just finding ways to use time to work with time blindness.

Big hack. Oh, it's me. Yeah. Oh, this one. Like, this works every single time. And it's so simple. It's just called the lesser of two evils. So this might be rich speaking to me, it might be me speaking to me.

Rather than trying to do one task, you give yourself a choice or your partner or parent gives you a choice between a few tasks and allows you to choose. The ADHD brain will naturally avoid whatever it perceives as the most challenging, the most demotivating. the hardest task. You'll pick the easiest. If you've got three, you're going to pick the easiest. The one that you perceive as the easiest, which might not actually be the easiest, because you could be like,

do you want to unload the dishwasher or come up with a new app idea for ADHD? I'll do be. It's not actually easiest. But what that looks like is, say if Rich was to come and say to me, do you want to unload the dishwasher? my immediate bodily reaction is like oh no shut down not now and now I need to do it because I'm in a partnership

yeah go do it soon it's not a pleasant experience for either of us but when he comes up to me and says babe a couple of things I'd love to do as a team one of us needs to fold all the laundry and one needs to unload the dishwasher because I want to avoid doing the laundry I'll be like I'll do the dishwasher you'd be like shotgun dishwasher and then suddenly suddenly I'm doing the dishwasher. I feel like I've avoided something. I've won. It's really strange, but it just giving me a choice seems to work so well.

I'm almost embarrassed by how well it works. Well, you just touched on it then. It feels like you've won. You feel like, like picture the scene, you are unloading the dictionary, dishwasher and you feel like you've got a victory. Yeah. That is a win-win in my book. Like I've avoided, it happened the other day.

I couldn't believe this. How lucky I was. We were cleaning the kitchen. You said, can we do clean the kitchen before bed? I was like, okay. And there was so many dirty plates and cut. Like we'd left it far too long. And I was like feeling overwhelmed, a bit scared, but like willing to do it.

And you went, I'll do all of this. Can you just tidy the table, the surfaces and the sofa? I was like, absolutely. And put away all of the stuff that doesn't belong there, which was all of your like really random things. Clothes and earpies, yeah. But I was so happy to do the rest of the kitchen because you were doing what I saw as the worst task.

And then I was just doing the rest of it like, wow, this is brilliant. I'm avoiding that. So we'll avoid anything, even if it means doing something. Do you know how long that took, by the way? Go on. Eight minutes. Wow. Yeah.

And it was and it was carnage. Yeah. Right. So number three, for me, touch the task. So a good example of this would be cleaning your teeth. You have always struggled with that, doing it in any force or semblance of a routine. So change the task from cleaning your teeth to touching your toothbrush. and all of a sudden it's like, well, here now, might as well.

Why? Why does it work? I have no idea. But that works with showering and you're washing your hair. It works with putting clothes away. Like you all often just say, I'm going to go and pack the laundry away. Could you just do this like one t-shirt? I'm like, yeah, you do the one t-shirt and then like, well, I'm here.

And then it's like, might as well. I'm not going to walk downstairs. So it's just having the mindset, it totally takes away your ability to make any task overwhelming. Like my brain can turn any task, however simple, into something overwhelming by imagining all of the steps, all of the energy it's going to take. And then that puts me in a state of kind of like paralysis. Just touch the touch.

task, go and just touch that mug, touch the plate, hang up one t-shirt, touch the toothbrush. When you're there, I guess what you realize is that actually step one is always the hardest. Yeah, and it, I don't know, it triggers some sort of momentum, doesn't it? Like, once you touch it, it's like, well, I might as well do the next one. Yeah, you're sort of on your feet and then you just fall like this reluctant domino into the next one. Yeah. I love it so much. Okay.

This is slightly controversial. And I kind of need to disclaimer this before I say this. I call this dog training. I don't feel comfortable telling others to dog train themselves or their ADHDs. But I learn from having my beautiful Rocket Doug from the last two years that me and Rocket have a similarity. Rocket doesn't like to sit in his place or like do as he's told or he'll walk, but he will always do it if his favourite treat is at the end.

Oh my God. And we realized that I work the same way. If my favourite treat is at the end of it's not sitting or heel walking, but like being in the kitchen, doing a load of admin work. stuff writing a chapter of a book if there is a treat waiting for me I will like do the task I call it dog training rewards based rewards based training yeah let's lose the training I think because I think that it just rewards based systems maybe just not as catchy as dog training but sure I did this with you yesterday so we had a filming day and

I know because of stuff coming up that we're not going to have time to do it in the future. So we needed to record more videos than I knew you would be willing to participate in. But I was like, why don't we, if we achieve this, why don't we treat ourselves and go out for dinner and to a restaurant that you like? And you were like, yeah, that's a great idea. Come on, let's go. And we got through them so quickly. What blows my mind is that I know all of these hacks, but I still miss when you're using them on a daily basis.

So I didn't realize you said we could go to dinner so we could get through 14 videos. Yeah, but that's the beauty of it, right? So it doesn't matter, even if when you do know that I'm doing it and it still works, we're not talking about manipulating. We're talking about you doing the things ultimately that you would want to be able to do. Yeah, and it can be as simple as if you go through and do that work email, I'll go and get you a cabaret's cream egg. It can be that level or it can be if you finish all your chapters of the book, we'll go to a spa hotel on Friday. Like it kind of the training and the treats change depending on the size of the task.

Oh, and it can be big picture as well. it can be like, if it's massive stuff, it can be holidays or garden refurbishments. Oh, yeah. Or it can be a crunchy bar. Like, it works on all scales. Yeah, it really, really does. You just have to try and match the reward to the task that you're trying to do. Yeah, so we can't say, like, let's go on holiday if you send an email.

Oh, it's a shame because I'd have a zero inbox. I also think, you know, we know ADHD brains struggle with their own reward, which is dopamine. Finishing a task is meant to come with a lot of satisfaction and dopamine. We don't have that. That's why we struggle to start and feel motivated. So you're kind of hacking your brain by saying there will be dopamine at the end and actually allowing us to access almost normal functionality. So it's really cool. Number five, body double everything.

So this is something we obviously found out about maybe a few years ago. And I don't know why it works. I don't know what the science is behind it. But if I'm sitting near you or if you're folding laundry and I'm sitting on the bed, I'm just like in your presence, you get things done. It's as simple as simple as that. And it doesn't matter. It could be the worst task.

Folding laundry, tidying a kitchen, cleaning the bedroom, hanging up all of the clothes. If we're together, I can do it. I do not understand. And I really think we should understand because we've built an entire business around body doubling. and I still don't know why it works. Like we have an app or dubby that is the body doubling app. There's eight live sessions every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week with hosts all over the world. And you just log on, you join a team, team laundry, team kitchen, and you just body double with you and 100 or 200 other ADHDs.

And by the way, it works for all of them as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The feedback in the reviews is like, I don't know why it works, but this has changed my life. So like, even little things, it doesn't have to be housework. We've got people saying I can clean my teeth every day now because there's toothbrush club every day at this time in this session. So I join it. I just, I would love to know why it works. If I was, if I was trying to think of the emotion, right, of like what happens.

Because I can only really clean when we joined Dubby's, like, me. cleaning now is like when there's a next dubby. Yeah, I know. She were like, babe, there's a dubby in half an hour. Sure we join it? And so what happens? So first of all, there's a set start time. The session is starting.

So that means I'm starting with everyone else. I don't know why that really helps to like break up the complete mess of where I could begin on my day. It's like a time stamp. I then join. I kind of see the friendly host, kind of wave. It's shame reduction

because there's 200 other people on there cleaning kitchens. So I'm like, oh, we're all in it together. Maybe some accountability because I'm like on camera. So I wouldn't want to just sit doing nothing. I'm like, oh, I better get up and do it.

There's a working to-do list. so I get to write clean kitchen, then tick it off and then there's a celebration. I don't know. It just... It works. It just works, doesn't it? Yeah. Okay, before I get onto my next one, a very quick word from our sponsor.

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All you have to do is go to the show notes and click on the link there or go to our social media biographies and click the link there for 20% off loop earplugs. Okay, next up, this is a big one and it does kind of mean like admitting defeat it is pre pre pre prepped meals now that could be as simple as microwave meals or pre done oven meals or it could be if you're having carrot or potato they're pre-peel pre-cut so you're just getting rid of as many steps as you possibly can.

So just to clarify a couple of things on this. What we're not saying, because I've never seen this before, what we're not saying is you are pre-prepping this. You are just buying the convenience version of said things. This isn't like fitness bro meal prep. I'd do that for one week and then it'd all go moldy and have to throw it away. This is pay the ADHD tax. Yeah, okay.

Like spend a bit more to get the thing that's already pre-done. Wherever you can remove a step, you are going to make doing it a tiny bit easier. So I'll go through phases of wanting to home-cook everything and cook everybody meals and like, act like, this is good woman doing good mum things, good time. It lasts two weeks. Yeah. And it all goes away and I'm back to Maccas. but when there is stuff in the fridge that makes it easier to access,

the likelihood of cooking goes up. And honestly, micro meals is just a saving grace. Well, a good example of this as well, if it's not a microwave meal. There's like this Mexican bowl thing that you like doing at the moment. And one thing that I've noticed is it involves chicken. Now, if you had to cook a raw chicken breast as part of this meal, it just wouldn't happen. So you buy already cooked chicken breasts.

So my Mexican bowls are like a really good example of this. It's pre-cooked, pre-spiced chicken. So I literally just have to put it in a bowl. Re-fried beans out of a can, jalapinos out of a little glass pot, Uncle Ben's microwave rice, bit of cheese, pre-grated, sour cream,

guacamole, it probably takes me five minutes to put that bowl together. Wouldn't even take that long. With cooking it in the microwave which is like two minutes. Yeah, okay.

And I've got what feels like a whole foods, sort of healthy meal. So I think it's about dropping the perfectionistic need to do everything the right way and do it yourself and sacrifice the time.

Just go, no. What is the laziest, way I can possibly get this thing done and do that. Do it the lazy way. What doesn't count though, because you used to advocate for this. What doesn't count is just lumps of cheese because they're all ready to eat. I used to say one step meals and I would be like just eat a hunk of cheese out of the fridge and you're like, that's not a meal. But so many ADHD is like when you go away when you're not in the house, I revert back to feral mode. Like I'm eating cheese, pepperami, peanut butter out the pot. Like, I can't, I can't seem to get past one step. That's okay.

Okay. Up next, lockboxes. Oh my God, it's huge. So we've got a lockbox by the door. And a bit of a story behind this, like Rocks loses keys. She's lost keys. all of her life, she's been locked out of her house, multiple occasions. And we thought, like, what can we do to stop Rocks losing things? And the answer is nothing. Rox is going to lose stuff. So the lockbox on the front door with a code means you don't even ever have to think about taking a key.

It's just always there. And it's game-changing, right? So you never think about a key anymore. You just leave the house. It like what people have on their Airbnbs a lot, but I have that for my own home because I cannot keep a key. I remember in our last house,

I bought a bright pink key and started wearing it around my neck. That worked for a few days. And then I lost that as well. I took the necklace off and lost that. Like the lockbox is full. proof and thank God because I am a fool. It has been full tested. It just removes one element of stress and shame. What? Is the phrase actually foolproof? I always thought it was full proof,

as in F-U-L. Is it supposed to be fool-proof? What's the... Is this a joke you being serious? No, I'm being serious. It's fool-proof. It's not full-proof plan. Like, that's the phrase full-proof. It's not full. Oh my God. That's ruined my day. No, it's okay. Oh, I understand because autistic, literal thinking has gone. It's fully proofed.

Is that how you're understanding it? Well, I didn't really deep it, but it was like I just thought it was full proof. Full proof. Matt's our editor is laughing at me in the boat down. That's okay. We can have a giggle. We love you. It's not full proof.

Oh, my God. Maybe I obviously have never seen it written down. I'm pretty sure I have written it full proof before somewhere. I love the fact that the word foolproof isn't even full proof. Well, it is if you write it down properly. Yeah, don't know about that. Anyway, it's full, F-O-O-L proof. All right.

Because I am a thought. So yes, lockboxes. I also just think there's like a bigger hack in there, which is stop trying to like, not lose things and always assume that you will. Always assume ADHD will win. You'll always lose the thing. So let's work from that basis.

Well, we won't go into it, but like lockboxes is one example. The other thing that we sort of very early on said that you weren't really allowed really expensive wallets or really expensive sunglasses. It's a shame, but you're going to lose them. So unfortunately, I broke my own rule and bought a pair of like Charlie XX sunglasses last summer because I was like, rat summer. It was a vibe.

And then I lost them a couple of the weeks ago on a train, heartbreaking. But yeah, just go cheap on the things that you might lose. Also, do you need to carry a wallet? Do you need your ID? Do you need your passport? Do you need your driving license? Do you need your bank card? It's better anyway.

to buy cheap because then means you can buy more. So like the whole phrase is buy once or buy, what is it? Buy nice or buy twice. But you would rather buy twice or three or four or five or six. Yeah. Buy. Simple. Simple.

It needs to rhyme anyway. Let us know, guys, in the comments. For normal people it's buy nice or buy twice. For ADHD as it's buy cheap or... And buy loads. I don't know. Okay, this is a lovely slider into my next one. Are you ready? This is, oh no, I don't think you're going to like me saying this, make boring tasks more expensive.

Well, you're going to have to elaborate on that. That sounds ridiculous. So, ADHD is love spending money. Yeah, I know. Okay, there's dopamine in buying something that you love. We're like magpies. We have like magpie lens for shiny, sparkly things. So, boring task. You must stay hydrated or else you're going to feel more head foggy and awful than normal. You need to drink water.

That is boring. Buy a water bottle that you love. Brightly coloured neon or with crystals on it. Or like, whatever your vibe is, spend the money. Because the love and the obsession for the aesthetics or the feel of that water bottle will make you want to use it. So I see that for stuff like water. I do see it for water.

I'm like, we haven't put it. So are you telling me that if we buy the most expensive hoover, you would not get bored of hoovering? I would have to be into hoover. Like I would have to find a hoover that sparks my magpie lens. Right. Right now I'm kind of like, no, that wouldn't work. Yeah.

So it needs to be something that you would in. So this works, but if it's like something that you're really into. Yeah, you have to, it would be like buying a load of new mugs. You know, like when I get new mugs from homes, I'm obsessed, then I want to get up and make coffee. Or if I've got a new app that I love using and then I'm going to set an alarm or like whatever it is. Okay. if you spend a bit of money to make it more fun.

I've got like a big one, which did work, and you never believe this would work. I always used to struggle with showers and bathing. And when we moved into this house, I said the only thing I want to spend money on is a nice bathroom with a bath in it. It's like my only request. And it was quite expensive.

It's got like really nice, like beige tiles and kind of fake gold taps and stuff. but it's like, I don't know, it's so calming in there. I bath every day and I have done for two years. That's true. Yeah, okay. Okay. Right, final one. Are you ready?

I'm so ready. So we're gamification. It's a classic. So turn things into a game or competition. So like races can also be. So for laundry, for example, who compare their socks, the quickest? or open, draw, where your socks go, go over the other side of the room and then have a competition as to who can throw the socks into where they go.

Like, just simple stuff like that or race against time. It's basically just like looking after, living with someone with ADHD is like toddler maxing. Make it into a game. Make sure there's a reward. Like, does it feel like living with a toddler living with me? No. Not all the time No

I don't mean that No it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't No okay that's good But yeah make it into a game I don't know why I guess there's fun There's dopamine Like if it's a race or a competition

I'm way more likely to be into it Well you'll want to win I want to win It might be researching something Finding something out You can find the best TV show to watch Who can cook the best dinner Like I did

when I am in my like whole food wife vibe that is often because I'm wanting to like show you that I'm a better cook out of you and see I don't think it's true but I I give it a good go okay and on to the very last one number 10 are you ready I'm ready it's just so good it's so good okay assume always at all times wherever you are or whatever you're doing that you have no memory. That's fairly factual, isn't it, as well? I mean, sometimes I can remember things. But I feel like ADHD people, their memory is so bad that they forget they have a bad memory.

So, for example, every time I change my password, I'm like, I don't need to write it down. There's no way I'll forget that. And every time I do, every account as a different password, I can never remember it. You park the car. There's nowhere I'll forget that. That's my initial. It's always forgotten. You write down everything. You photograph everything. You act as if you are a goldfish with a seven second memory. How are you doing with this one? So I like it. But are you putting it into practice? So, yeah, I'm pretty good now at taking screenshots of what? Yeah, okay.

Taking screenshots of password changes. I'm pretty good at writing down if I commit I'm going to do something, like writing it down in my notes. Like I try not to rely on my memory. Obviously, I still forget why I walked into a room and birthdays and, you know. Okay. I feel like you're judging me a little bit. No, I feel like that maybe this is an early doors one.

This is an early, like maybe it's in testing phase still. Oh, they assume that you have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A seven second memory. Yeah. And by the way, that's also when you meet someone. What's your name? Dave, sorry, I'm really bad with names.

I'm just going to write that down. And then you don't have to have that weird anxiety. Write everything down. Photograph everything. Okay. That is our 10 ADHD hacks, guys. I'm so obsessed. Let us know.

Do you do any of these? Do they work for you? Have you got your own hacks that we need to know about? I would love to hear from the community. I'd love some more hacks, yeah. if you have liked today's episode if you think the hacks are going to help if you already do them like subscribe

comment do all of those things that you know that we love and that really help so we will see you next week see you next week when thirst strikes and your energy begins to fade one hero rises above the rest introducing the superpower smoothie from Zhu Booster

a bright sun-charged burst of mangoes bananas and blue spirulina and out of this world smoothie just in time for the new Supergirl movie discover your power and channel your inner superhero fly into your local Zhu booster and experience it for yourself today and see Supergirl only in theaters june 26th