Are You Using the Wrong Fuel for Your ADHD Brain? (Introducing the Solve-It Grid)

Aug 18

If I had to guess, you’re the type of person who can write an entire essay the night before it’s due, while your laundry piles up for months on end. No judgement here, I know what it feels like to look at that finished paper while wearing my last clean outfit thinking “why could I do this and not the dang laundry?”

For years, I thought I was just lazy or lacked willpower. Once I learned I had ADHD it all began to make sense. I was dealing with executive dysfunction, and trying to fuel my brain with the wrong things.

Understanding how the ADHD brain gets motivated is your key to getting out of the cycle of chronic procrastination, burnout and guilt. To help visualize this, I love using Tamara Rosier’s Solve-It Grid.

What is the Solve-It Grid?

The Solve-It grid is a tool developed by Dr. Tamara Rosier, author of Your Brain’s Not Broken.‍ ‍It helps us categorize tasks by asking two questions:

Is it fun?
Is it stimulating?

Illustrating the four quadrants of the solve it grid. Stimulation is on the Y axis and fun is on the x axis.

This creates four quadrants that help us understand ADHD energy levels and how we interact with our tasks.

Breaking Down the Four Quadrants

1. The Red Zone (Fires)

This is where you would put anything you’re panicked over, last minute tasks, or emergencies. It’s where all the results of our procrastination would go. As we know, urgency is one of the motivating factors for ADHD brains. We think this is the fuel our brains need, because it is effective in getting us to start and finish something. The issue here is that always putting out fires get exhausting pretty quickly, and leads us sliding into the blue zone.

2. The Yellow Zone (Meh)

Think of all the boring tasks that are endlessly piling up on your to-do list. Laundry, going through your emails, sorting papers… yawn. There is zero dopamine to be found in this corner. Without anything motivating us to attend to these tasks, they end up rotting until they turn into a big ole’ fire. Then, we can finally attend to it.

3. The Blue Zone (Locked Door)

Once you’ve been completely burnt out by fighting all your red zone tasks, and/or you’re overwhelmed by everything that has piled up in the yellow zone, your brain is looking or some low effort comfort. That’s where it finds the blue zone AKA the locked door. It’s called the locked door quadrant because once you get into it, it’s very hard to get out. This would be things like doom scrolling on social media or watching random youtube videos. It provides you with a bit of feel good entertainment that doesn’t take a lot of effort to start (which is the hardest part, after all). But it doesn’t provide the deep rest or meaningful restoration we really need.

4. The Green Zone (Recharge)

This is where we truly want to be! Engaging with our favourite hobbies, creative projects, moving around, playing or learning about our latest hyperfixation. This is the brain fuel we want to be relying on. A common misconception is that these things should be the reward for after you finish your work. But fun is fuel. This is how you power up your brain to be able to get through the hard and the boring things.

The ADHD Cycle You’re Tired of Explained

If you’re struggling with ADHD and executive function, I think I have an idea of what your average day looks like.

You stare at your long to-do list that’s filled with boring things you’d really rather not do.
Unable to start anything and feeling overwhelmed, you find yourself doom scrolling on your phone without realizing that you even started.
The boring tasks go ignored for hours until midday hits and you realized you haven’t got anything done. Now they’ve exploded into red zone fires.
You exhaust yourself putting out all those fires, collapse and go back into some numbing blue zone activity, meaning you never get around to something in the green zone that would actually fill up your cup.

A Better Brain Fueling Strategy

Start your day in the green. Before you sit down to study or head to class, start with a short activity that would be in the green zone. A few examples include 15 minutes of sketching or dancing to your favourite song. Fuel up your dopamine reserves so that you have something to draw from when trying to get through the boring stuff.

Pair some fun with your yellow zone activities. I promise it’s not cheating. You’re allowed to listen to music, put on a podcast or set up a body doubling session with a friend if it makes it feel easier.

Know what your blue zone doors are. Just being more aware of what they are is the first step in helping ourselves avoid them. We can then add friction to getting to it, while decreasing friction around what we should be doing. For example, using focus mode on your phone (adding friction) and leaving your textbook on your desk for easy access (decreasing friction).

It’s Time to Take Control

Understanding your brain is just the first step. Learning how to create sustainable systems built around how you work is where life finally get’s easier.

At New Bloom ADHD Coaching, we specialize in helping young adults and post-secondary students with ADHD stop relying on the panic-fueled motivation of procrastination. We work with you 1:1 to create personalized strategies unique to you so you can thrive at school without getting burnt out.