I have ADHD, which means I'm either a productivity guru's dream or their worst nightmare, depending on the day. I LOVE productivity systems. I love the promise of organization. I love the fantasy of finally having my life together.
So I tried everything. Literally everything.
And I failed at every single one.
"I wasn't failing at productivity. I was succeeding at the wrong goal: building systems instead of doing things."
The Productivity App Graveyard
Let me show you the carnage. These are apps I genuinely tried, set up, and abandoned:
đź’€ Apps I Tried (And Why They Failed) đź’€
And honestly? I could list 30 more. Every time a new productivity app launched with the promise of "finally, the one that works," I was there. First adopter. Early access. Paid premium.
None of them worked for more than a few weeks.
The Pattern I Finally Recognized
Here's what happened with EVERY productivity app:
Week 1: The Honeymoon
"This is it! This is THE system! Look how organized I am! I'm color-coding! I'm using tags! I feel like a functional adult!"
Week 2-3: The Cracks
"Wait, does this task go in 'Work' or 'Personal' or 'Long-term'? Should I add a due date? What priority? Maybe I should reorganize my entire system first..."
Week 4: The Abandonment
"I haven't opened it in four days. There are 92 overdue tasks. This list is now a monument to my failure. I hate looking at it. I'm downloading a different app."
The Real Problem:
Every app required EXECUTIVE FUNCTION to capture tasks. I had to decide where things go, how to categorize them, what priority to assign. But if I had executive function to spare, I wouldn't need the app in the first place.
I was trying to use organizational tools while my brain was in disorganized mode. That's like trying to use a calculator while someone's shaking your hand.
The Moment I Realized I Was Doing It Wrong
Six months ago, I had a thought I needed to capture: "Email Sarah about the Q3 budget, also need to reschedule dentist, and buy dog food before Thursday."
I opened Notion. Stared at my elaborate dashboard. Couldn't remember which database this should go in. Closed Notion. Opened Todoist. Couldn't decide if these were three tasks or one. Started typing. Got distracted. Closed phone.
Forgot all three things within 10 minutes.
That's when I realized: I was spending more energy organizing tasks than actually doing them.
The productivity system had become the obstacle to productivity.
What Actually Works (For My ADHD Brain)
Out of desperation, I tried something radical: I stopped trying to organize my thoughts BEFORE capturing them.
I just started talking into my phone. Everything. No organization. No decisions. Just verbal brain dumping.
"Email Sarah about Q3 budget also reschedule dentist also buy dog food before Thursday also I think I need to reply to that text from mom also..."
Five seconds. Done. Captured.
Then—and this is the magic part—it automatically organized itself. No decisions required. No categories to choose. No priorities to assign. Just dump and done.
Why Voice Dumping Succeeds Where Apps Failed
Zero friction capture: Thought → Voice → Captured. That's it. No "where does this go?" No "what category?" Just talk.
No organizational overhead: I don't maintain a system. I don't clean up old tasks. I don't reorganize. The system works FOR me instead of me working FOR the system.
Matches my brain speed: ADHD thoughts move FAST. Speaking keeps up. Typing and categorizing don't.
No mounting guilt: Traditional todo apps become monuments to failure. Overdue tasks pile up. I avoid opening them. Voice dumps don't judge me.
Works in any context: Driving. Shower. Walking. Anywhere I have thoughts is now capture-ready. Apps required me to sit down and focus. That's exactly when ADHD brains don't cooperate.
"The best productivity system is the one you actually use. Not the prettiest one. Not the most featured one. The one you'll still be using in three months."
What My "System" Looks Like Now
It's embarrassingly simple:
- Thought happens
- Hit button, talk
- Done
That's it. No steps 4-17 about organizing, prioritizing, or categorizing. Because those steps are where I always failed.
The "system" does the organization. My job is just to capture the thought before it evaporates.
What I Actually Get Done Now
Since I stopped trying to be productive the "right" way and started just dumping thoughts:
- I complete about 70% of tasks vs 30% before (rough estimate, but it FEELS dramatically different)
- I don't have guilt about unopened productivity apps
- I don't spend weekends "reorganizing my system"
- I capture ideas while driving, walking, showering—places where apps don't work
- I don't lose brilliant ideas because I couldn't decide which Notion database they belong in
- My brain trusts that thoughts will be captured, so it stops looping
I'm not more disciplined than I was six months ago. I'm not better at organizing. I just removed all the friction between thought and capture.
The Productivity App Trap
If you have ADHD and you keep downloading new productivity apps hoping one will finally work, I have news for you: it's not you. It's the apps.
Apps are built for neurotypical brains that can:
- Remember to check the app
- Decide categories before capturing
- Maintain complex systems
- Handle mounting overdue tasks without shutting down
- Organize thoughts BEFORE externalizing them
If that's not your brain (it's not mine), you need something different. Something that works WITH your brain, not against it.
You don't need more features. You need less friction.
You don't need better organization. You need to externalize thoughts faster than they disappear.
You don't need another app. You need to stop using apps the way they think you should use them.
Permission to Quit the System
If you have 14 productivity apps on your phone and you're not "productively" using any of them, you're not broken. The apps just aren't designed for how your brain works.
If you've ever spent an entire Saturday building the perfect Notion workspace and then never opened it again, you're not lazy. You just got trapped in the productivity theater.
If you keep starting over with new apps hoping THIS one will finally make you functional, stop. The app isn't the problem. The approach is.
I ditched 47 productivity apps and found something simpler. Turns out, the solution wasn't a better app. It was less app.