Why smart professionals still stall at work | Lynne Edris (ACG, productivity & ADHD coach, ADHD Support Talk podcast co-host)
The real reason your best systems stop working
It's 4:47pm. The project you swore you'd touch today is still sitting in the tab you opened at 9am. You worked all day, but the one thing that actually mattered is exactly where it was this morning.
Lynne Edris is a Productivity & ADHD Coach and co-host of the award-winning ADHD Support Talk podcast. For more than 20 years, she’s helped overwhelmed professionals close the gap between what they intend to do and what actually gets done. You can take her free Productivity Breakthrough Quiz to uncover what’s really getting in your way.
Inside this guest post, Lynne breaks down why your best systems stop working at work, what's actually going on in the moment you stall, and how to tell the difference between a tools problem and something deeper.
You close your laptop, but you don’t really leave work. Because now it’s in your head. “I didn’t get to X.” “I should have done Y.” “So-and-so is going to ask me about Z tomorrow.”
So you’re home, but not really present. And if you’re like most professionals I’ve worked with over the last 20+ years, that’s where it starts to wear on you. Because you know you’re capable.
Here’s what I want you to understand. This usually isn’t a discipline issue. You’re probably trying to solve the wrong problem. And when the problem isn’t where you think it is, no solution will stick.
The real reason you’re not following through
Most people assume they need more focus, more motivation, or a better system. Sometimes those things help, for a while. But not all follow-through problems are the same.
They fall into two categories. External and Internal.
External causes are the structural things: an ineffective task or project management system, a calendar that doesn’t reflect reality, poor processes for planning and adjusting your time, environmental interruptions, lack of support. External problems need external solutions. Better systems, better tools, better strategies designed for the way you work.
