Cognitive tricks marketers with ADHD should know.
Procrastination and marketing go together like coffee and anxiety. Add ADHD into the mix and suddenly you’re not just procrastinating, you’re procrastinating professionally. You’ve got half-finished campaign drafts, 14 sticky notes, three “urgent” reminders from Slack, and somehow you’re still deep-diving into YouTube videos about how crayons are made.
Sound familiar? Excellent. Welcome to the club.
Procrastination is the ADHD marketer’s arch-nemesis. But here’s the kicker: you can outsmart it. Not by sheer willpower (ha!) but with cognitive tricks that make your brain think work is fun, urgent, or at least less painful than doomscrolling.
So let’s break down the tricks, with sarcasm included, because if we can’t laugh at our chaos, what’s the point?
Why ADHD Marketers Procrastinate
ADHD brains aren’t lazy. They’re just wired differently:
- Time blindness: Everything is either “urgent right now” or “doesn’t exist until the last second.”
- Dopamine hunger: Tasks without novelty or instant reward? Boring. Goodbye.
- Overwhelm: Big projects feel impossible, so you avoid them until panic kicks in.
- Perfectionism: If you can’t do it perfectly, why start at all?
Understanding why you procrastinate is step one. Step two: trick yourself into doing the damn thing.
ADHD-Friendly Cognitive Tricks to Beat Procrastination
1. The 5-Minute Rule
Tell yourself: “I’ll just do this for five minutes.” ADHD brains hate starting, but once you begin, momentum takes over.
It’s basically Jedi mind-tricking yourself: “I’m not working; I’m just… dabbling.” Next thing you know, you’ve written half the campaign proposal.
2. Gamify Everything
Normal brains: “Just complete the task.”
ADHD brains: “BORING.”
Solution: make it a game.
- Time yourself: how many subject lines can you write in 10 minutes?
- Reward points: finish a section, earn a snack.
- Compete with yourself: yesterday’s productivity vs. today’s.
Yes, it’s childish. But so is doomscrolling TikTok at 2 a.m. Choose your childishness wisely.
3. Micro-Tasking (aka Trick Your Brain Into Progress)
“Write a sales page” is terrifying. “Write a headline” is doable. Break projects into micro-tasks so tiny your brain can’t say no.
Examples:
- Open the doc.
- Write one sentence.
- Add bullet points.
Boom, progress disguised as baby steps.
4. The Power of Public Accountability
ADHD brains care more about disappointing others than disappointing ourselves (thanks, rejection sensitivity). Use it.
Tell a colleague, post on LinkedIn, or Slack your team: “Drafting the ad copy by 3 p.m.” Suddenly, you’ve manufactured urgency.
5. Make the Task Novel (But Not Stupid)
Novelty fuels ADHD brains. Switch tools, change locations, or use a different format.
- Write ad copy with voice notes.
- Draft emails in a café.
- Use coloured sticky notes for brainstorming.
Just don’t go so far that “new method” becomes the procrastination itself. (Looking at you, three-hour Notion template binge.)
6. Deadline Theatre
If panic is your motivator, create artificial deadlines. Tell your brain the blog is due today, even if it’s actually next week.
Pro tip: set a meeting to review your work before the real deadline. Instant urgency. Future-you will hate Present-you, but it works.
7. Body Doubling (aka Adult Supervised Work Time)
Work alongside someone else, coworker, friend, or virtual “study with me” YouTuber. ADHD brains behave better when someone’s watching.
Because apparently, we’re all just toddlers who need babysitters to finish a task.
8. Temptation Bundling
Pair a boring task with something fun. Example: only listen to your favourite playlist while writing reports. Or only eat your fancy snacks during campaign planning.
Your brain will associate the task with dopamine. Pavlov would be proud.
9. Visual Progress = Instant Motivation
Track your work visually: checklists, progress bars, sticky notes you get to rip off dramatically. ADHD brains love visible progress because it feels like winning.
(And let’s be honest, ripping paper is way more satisfying than clicking “archive.”)
10. Forgive Yourself for Past Procrastination
Procrastination shame keeps ADHDers stuck. Newsflash: you’ve procrastinated before, you’ll do it again. It doesn’t mean you’re broken.
Confidence hack: every time you catch yourself procrastinating, say, “Okay, that’s cute. Now back to work.” Treat it like a speed bump, not a roadblock.
Real-World ADHD Marketing Scenarios
- Scenario 1: You have a client presentation tomorrow. Instead of working, you clean your entire flat. ADHD guilt spiral begins.
- Scenario 2: You set a 5-minute timer, brain dump the first draft, and bribe yourself with pizza. By the time the panic hits, you’ve already got 80% done.
The difference isn’t willpower. It’s cognitive hacks.
Reality Check
No, you’re not going to magically stop procrastinating forever. This isn’t a Disney movie where one productivity hack makes you a new person. You’ll still binge Netflix the night before a deadline sometimes.
But here’s the thing: you don’t need to eliminate procrastination. You just need to manage it well enough that your campaigns launch, your clients are happy, and you don’t collapse from stress.
Think of it as controlled chaos.
Quick Cheatsheet: ADHD Procrastination Busters
- 5-minute rule: trick yourself into starting.
- Gamify: tasks = points, snacks = prizes.
- Micro-tasking: break it down or break down yourself.
- Accountability: public shame works.
- Novelty: new method, same task.
- Artificial deadlines: panic now, relax later.
- Body doubling: adult work babysitting.
- Temptation bundling: tasks + treats.
- Visual progress: dopamine in checklist form.
- Forgive yourself: shame is wasted energy.
Procrastination isn’t laziness, it’s an ADHD brain looking for dopamine and avoiding overwhelm. As a marketer, you can either let procrastination run your career (and your stress levels), or you can outsmart it with hacks that make your brain think work is fun.
So stop waiting for “the perfect time.” Set a timer, bribe yourself with snacks, and remember: you don’t need to want to do the task. You just need to trick your brain into starting.
The rest will follow, usually in a caffeine-fuelled burst at 11:59 p.m.
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