71: How to Find Balance with ADHD All-or-Nothing Thinking

You either clean the whole house in one rampage or leave your clothes on the floor for a week. You go hard at the gym for a week, eat one cookie, and write off the whole month. You wait for a six-hour window to work on that project, and when it doesn't come, no progress happens at all. If you're an adult with ADHD who's tired of hearing that all-or-nothing thinking is just how your brain works, this episode is for you.

I break down why ADHD all-or-nothing thinking is a dysregulation pattern, not a personality trait, and how it can shift once you understand what's actually driving it. Your nervous system swings you from one extreme to the other because the middle feels risky to a primal part of you. I cover what ADHD all-or-nothing thinking looks like across cleaning, work, fitness, and food, how the ADHD binge-restrict cycle is the same swing as going hard at the gym then quitting for a month, why ADHD perfectionism and avoidance are the same pattern dressed differently, what the ADHD burnout cycle does to your momentum, and how to identify one place you're pulling to the extreme this week so you can start softening it.

00:00 – Why ADHD All-or-Nothing Thinking Isn't Who You Are

03:25 – What Dysregulation Looks Like in Your Behavior

05:43 – The Pendulum Swing and Why It Kills Momentum

07:27 – All-or-Nothing With Food and Exercise

17:23 – Finding the Middle Ground With Perfectionism

22:36 – One Place to Soften the Swing This Week

Building habits with ADHD lives in the middle of the pendulum. Join my free call on August 5th, Is the Purpose of Life to Check Off To-Do Lists Till I Die?, to go deeper into what life can look like when you're not stuck rushing through it. https://www.jennafree.com/adhdcall

Check out the show notes and other resources at https://jennafree.com/blog/find-balance-with-adhd-all-or-nothing-thinking

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