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If someone is in immediate physical danger, call your local emergency number.

And if you're stuck on a task: write down the one thing your hands would touch first, then do only that. It works more often than it has any right to.Start from the beginning · All the crisis lines

Guidance for: It's too big to hold in my head

Make it small enough to be boring

How much time do you actually have?

Under 10 minutesAround an hourOpen-ended

Start here

Set a timer for 8 minutes and dump every part of the task onto a page. Stop when it rings, finished or not.

Working memory is where ADHD tasks go to become monsters. A task you're holding mentally keeps growing, because you re-load the whole thing every time you look at it.

Then, if you have room for it

Externalise it. Paper, notes app, whiteboard — anywhere that isn't your head.
Break it into stretches of time. "15 minutes on it" is finishable; "finish the report" isn't.
Pick the piece you'd choose if someone made you choose in three seconds. Order matters much less than starting.
Your estimate will be wrong. Everyone's is. Add half again and get on with it.

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