How to Be More Efficient When You Feel Overwhelmed

How to Be More Efficient When You Feel Overwhelmed

If you've ever found yourself trying to hack your way through a task, trying to be more efficient, searching for the fastest, easiest route, only to create more chaos for yourself… you're not alone.

As an executive function & ADHD coach, I see this pattern show up constantly:

You want to save time, so you take shortcuts. But those shortcuts often lead to more work, more overwhelm, and more decision fatigue. 

What you’ll learn in this blog: 

• Why chasing efficiency can backfire (especially with ADHD)
  

• The difference between actual efficiency and avoiding discomfort
  

• 5  reflection questions to ask before taking a “shortcut”
  

• How to be more efficient with time without overwhelming yourself

The Problem with “Being More Efficient”

If you're neurodivergent or struggle with executive functioning, you may experience chronic overwhelm related to being late, rushing to get things done at the last minute, or losing track of details. It puts your brain into hustle mode which is uncomfortable, so your brain looks for shortcuts to make up for lost time. The fastest way. The easiest fix. The one-click solution.

But here’s the catch: Sometimes those shortcuts create more work for future you.

Quick Story: The Lake Incident

Over the weekend, I was on dog duty at the lake with my two dogs and my parents’ dog. One of the toys floated out a bit from the dock. I didn’t want to change into my bathing suit, ask for help, or find a stick to reach it because those all would take extra time and energy. So I stepped down onto the ladder and reached as far as I possibly could. 

It was just out of reach and I fell fully clothed. Soaked from the waist down. And guess what? I still had to change, still had to get help, and still had to reset everything, all while dripping wet.

The shortcut wasn’t so efficient after all.

Why This Matters for Your Brain

Your brain often confuses saving timewith avoiding discomfort. That discomfort might be:

• Taking more steps
  

• Asking for help
  

• Starting something boring or repetitive
  

• Not knowing where to begin

This can lead to ADHD paralysis, where you’re stuck researching, planning, and optimizing but not actually doing the thing.

5 Reflection Questions to Coach Yourself

If you're wondering how to take action when you feel stuck, here are five questions to help you pause and reflect before jumping into the "efficient" option:

1. Am I focusing on efficiency to avoid discomfort or because it’s truly the best path forward?There's a difference between saving time and avoiding a hard feeling.
   

2. What is the cost of this shortcut for future me?
   Will this save me time now, but create more work or stress later?
   

3. Who is putting pressure on me to be efficient?
   Is this internal pressure from perfectionism or is it actually necessary?
   

4. What would this look like if it were sustainable instead of just fast?
   Fast isn’t always better—especially if you have to redo it.
   

5. Am I resisting a small effort now that could prevent a bigger mess later?
   Sometimes a small task feels huge, but it’s the key to easing future overwhelm.

Executive Functioning Tips for Effective Efficiency  

1. Build in pauses.
   Before you jump into a task, take a few seconds to ask, what will make the biggest impact for me right now?
   

2. Check in with future you.
   Will this choice make life easier or harder tomorrow?
   

3. Redefine efficiency.
   Efficiency doesn’t mean doing it the fastest. It means doing it in a way that supports both current you and future you.
   

4. Set up your space to make the next step visible.
   Visual cues and intentional setups reduce the mental effort of getting started.
   

5. Accept that upfront effort is sometimes the most efficient option.
   That five-minute workday wrap-up might feel like “extra work,” but it gives future you a running start.
   

Final Thoughts on Being More Efficient

Being efficient isn’t about shortcuts. It’s about sustainability, clarity, and ease especially for ADHD brains. So the next time you feel stuck or overwhelmed, remember: pausing to check in with yourself might feel slower, but it can save you time, energy, and frustration in the long run.

Looking for more resources to help you get unstuck & take action in a sustainable way? 

Get the ADHD Action Plan Private Podcast

• Full Episode Transcript

  Sarah Lovell (00:02.872)

  Today we're talking about the pressure to be efficient and how it can totally backfire. If you have ever tried to take the quick, easy route or spent way too much time and energy trying to figure out how to do something so efficiently that you ended up creating way more work for yourself, this episode is for you. We're unpacking why your brain chases efficiency.

  how that can actually drain your executive functioning and what to do instead so future you doesn't have to clean up the mess.

  Sarah Lovell (00:46.841)

  What?

  Sarah Lovell (00:51.928)

  So in an effort to be efficient this past weekend, I ended up falling into a lake fully clothed. And I want to back up, paint a picture, and kind of share how this all happened. But before I do, this relates to efficiency. Everyone wants to be more efficient. Coaching clients ask me this all the time. How can I do things faster, more accurate?

  what's the easiest path. But oftentimes when you're focusing really heavily on trying to do it the most efficient way or the perfect way, it ends up being the least efficient way to do it. And my lake story is going to help you see this in what is now a comical series of events. So this past weekend, I was spending time with my family and the dogs at the lake.

  and I was on dog duty. Everyone was kind of like unpacking, getting settled, doing other things. So I was watching three dogs, my two dogs and my parents' dog. And I was like camp counselor mode with these dogs. I was playing fetch. They were all running in the water. I had three different dog toys going because each of them has a different level of adventurous or interest in swimming. And so I

  I loved, I loved this. was having a lot of fun. And it was really nice because I was like fully mindful, like fully present in this moment of like playing with the dogs. But in the chaos of trying to keep track of three dogs, one of the dog toys started like floating away from the dock. And you know, I did the thing of like trying to get the dogs to see it and like, you know, throw it over there, it's over there, but none of them were going for it. And

  I was in a cotton dress cover-up on the dock playing with the dogs and I was like, okay, well, it's not that far from the dock right now. Like if I just step onto the ladder and hold on and reach out, it's about a full stretch length from the dock. And in that moment I was like, yep, this is the best way to do this. I don't want to waste any time. I don't want to waste any energy. I got this.

  Sarah Lovell (03:15.64)

  Turns out I did not have it. It was a little, it was like a centimeter further than my reach. And I got into this like momentum swing and I couldn't catch myself. And I stepped off of the ladder and was basically soaked from the waist down, which was funny and comical and I didn't get hurt. It wasn't a big deal. But I had this like aha moment of like, my gosh, this is like perfect physical.

  comical example of trying to be efficient. I tried to save myself a few minutes and ended up making way more work for myself. So my brain calculated like, oh, okay, I could quickly change into my bathing suit. I could go ask someone for help. I could try harder to get the dogs to get it. I could have gone and grabbed a stick and reached for it. Right? There were lots of things that I could have done, but they all took.

  extra time and extra energy. And my brain was like, no, no, take the shortcut, take the path of least resistance, do what my brain thought was the most efficient thing. And yeah, if I hadn't fallen into the lake, then it would have been, it would have been the most efficient way to do it. But this is a great example of if I had taken a few extra seconds or even minutes.

  to do any of those things, it would have saved future me time, energy, and effort. So it turns out the most efficient thing was not me trying to save time in the moment. The most efficient thing would have been going to get changed, asking for help, or doing it differently. And I still had to then do all of those things because I was soaking wet.

  I needed to change, right? So I still had to go get changed. I still had to go ask someone to come watch the dogs. And I was uncomfortable for a good chunk of time. Like nothing worse than being a soaking wet cotton dress. So funny story, it all worked out, right? But the reason I'm sharing it is because trying to be the most efficient or getting caught up in all or nothing thinking or perfectionistic thinking about efficiency.

  Sarah Lovell (05:42.008)

  can actually waste time, energy, and your executive functioning capacity. And so a lot of my clients struggle with chasing efficiency because they never feel efficient. If you are someone who is neurodivergent, if you have ADHD, autism, anxiety, anything that impacts your executive functioning to a higher level or to a more chronic level,

  you can probably relate to this feeling that many of my clients have. They're always rushing at the last minute. They're losing their keys or important documents. They're forgetting important dates, facts, information. And so they feel like they feel like they're in this chronic catch up mode. Like I'm never caught up. There's always something. I'm always in this like hustle response. And so

  because that is an extremely uncomfortable feeling, their brain looks for helpful shortcuts to save time and energy in the moment, which ends up taking even more time and energy down the road. So I'm not saying, like, don't ever, I'm not saying like, don't try to be efficient. That's not what I'm saying. But I think it's like, what I'm gonna talk about in this episode is taking a pause to reflect.

  on what is going to make the most impact for you in the moment and for future you. And so that's the goal. The goal of this episode is to save you time and energy for current you and future you. And sometimes that means that what the most efficient thing is actually putting more time and energy and work upfront to save future you that time, energy and effort.

  And so I'll share a couple of client examples of like how I've talked this through with, with coaching clients. Um, so I work with a lot of really amazing business owners and as a business owner myself, I love chatting with, um, people who are growing a side hustle or have fully launched or in our self-employed and, uh, a common theme comes up with business owners of trying to streamline everything in your business.

  Sarah Lovell (08:06.134)

  and trying to make everything like the most efficient thing possible, right? And I think this can show up even if you're not self-employed, but like, as we get into this head space of like, well, what does the perfect day look like? What would the perfect schedule look like, right? That is a form of like looking for efficiency. If you're somebody who works in, you know, you have autonomy over picking out what tech you're using in your business,

  Like what is the most efficient tech stack? I was talking about this with a colleague the other day. Like, I combine Calendly and Stripe or do I use Acuity because it can do the scheduling and the payment, right? Or do I go with Dubsado, which in theory does everything. So we can get into this like efficiency trap with technology where it's like, and I think that is kind of like.

  we're being wired now to be like, how can you do it the most efficient way with technology support? But it can also pop up in like, if you're someone who ever gets stuck in research mode, where you're like, okay, I need to find the best method. I need the most efficient tool. I need the optimal procedure. I need the highest rated insert, whatever the thing is that you're researching or buying or wanting to use. And research is great.

  But when you get stuck in this like efficiency loop or perfectionism loop, it can actually keep you from taking action on the thing. And being trying to be overly efficient can keep you from starting the thing that you want to do, whether it's launching, growing your business, a particular project, whatever it might be, responding to an email, write something as simple as a daily task. Efficiency can keep you stuck.

  if you get into that, it needs to be the best, it needs to be the most optimal, it needs to save me the most time, and then it actually ends up costing you time. But this doesn't just show up in work life either. This shows up in daily life, our weekly chores. I was talking about this with a client a couple weeks ago, specifically around laundry. I talk about laundry and chores all the time with clients because they never end.

  Sarah Lovell (10:23.418)

  and they require all of your executive functioning skills and they're often very repetitive and boring. So if you're someone who has ADHD, they can be like physically painful. I've had clients describe laundry as like, is like mentally and physically painful and exhausting. So you're not alone if you experience that. But if your brain is experiencing discomfort, it wants to avoid that. And so it searches for efficiency.

  It searches for a shortcut. It searches for how to cut down the time and energy that you're putting into it in the current moment, which means future you has a lot of laundry to catch up on. No shame, no guilt. That is very, very common. But I was talking with a client who she's been getting into a good flow and system with her laundry. And she noticed though, she was like, I bring my clean laundry. I put it back in the hamper.

  And then I take it to the living room, but then it stays in the living room. And so we did a little exploring of like, why are you bringing it to the living room? Are you wanting to fold it there? What's going on? And she was like, no, I autopilot to the living room to fold it there because it's the closest to the laundry. Like it's not for her. wasn't about watching TV or anything like that.

  It was just kind of like an autopilot of like, I can fold my laundry in the living room because it's so close to the laundry room. Well, she realized the path of least resistance was actually creating more work for future her because she would fold it in the living room, but then be like, I don't want to bring it to the bedroom. I don't want to put it away. And so she was like, if I just cut out that

  going and doing it in the living room. Like if I just took it straight to the bedroom and folded it there and put it away in one fell swoop for her, this was a system that she identified would be helpful for her. That's not saying this will work for everybody. But she was like, the effort is easy once I start, which is true. It's hard to get started. But she said it's mentally exhausting to get started again and convince her to come convince herself to come back to it again.

  Sarah Lovell (12:44.718)

  So for her, it was more important about streamlining the process at the beginning, doing a little bit of extra work, which was counterintuitive to her. She was like, well, why wouldn't I just bring it to the living room and fold it there? Because it's easy. But even though it was easy, it then ended up being harder to finish the task. And so this is something I'm going to give you some questions that you can ask yourself to help you notice if...

  what you think is efficient actually isn't. And if it's more of like a discomfort tolerance thing of like, this is uncomfortable. And so I'm pushing it off for future me. So I'm gonna give you a few questions that you can ask yourself. So, I just scrolled down and that is the first question. So, here are five reflection questions that you can use to check in with yourself.

  And if you're listening to this podcast, multitasking, and you want to reference these questions, I write out a summary on the blog on my website. So it's executivefunctioningfirst.com slash podcast, but I also will link it in the show notes. Because I know you're busy. I know you're focusing on lots of things right now. So if these questions are like, that's a, I want to save that for later. And you can find it written out on the blog.

  Okay, so the first question that you can check in with yourself on, because you're going to coach yourself. This is me giving you tools to help you coach yourself, is am I focusing on efficiency to avoid discomfort or because it's truly the best path forward? And there's a difference between saving time and avoiding an uncomfortable feeling. And so this is one for, for a lot of us, we don't want to experience discomfort.

  So discomfort might be extra steps, extra work, asking for help. know, perfectionism is popping up, right? Like, are you trying to avoid, are you trying to be efficient to avoid an uncomfortable feeling? And if so, the first thing you gotta do is just name that and notice that for yourself. Another checking question for yourself. What is the cost of this shortcut for future me?

  Sarah Lovell (15:09.986)

  Will it save me time now, but leave me overwhelmed later? Or will it leave you with extra work to do? Right, so your brain is trying to protect current you. Hey, let's save some time. Hey, let's save some energy. But then future you has to pick that up. And so in some situations, it might make total sense to say, yeah, current me cannot handle this right now. I have way too much on my plate. Doing part of it is not even a fit.

  So I am going to pass some of this off to future me. And that's OK. But if you're noticing, like my falling in the lake example, if I had taken a two second pause to be like, what would happen if I fell in right now? I probably would have taken an extra 30 seconds to try to make current me have it be less of an issue, right?

  Another question is, who is putting pressure on me to be efficient? So if you're somebody where perfectionism is popping up or productivity shame is popping up or guilt, checking in with, I who, where is this pressure coming from? Do I need to be as efficient as my brain is telling me? Is this coming from somewhere else? Right? I like this question the most, I think.

  What would this look like if it were sustainable instead of just fast? So fast isn't always better if you have to redo it or recover from it later. So I think I see this a lot where people are like, I just need to get things done quick. I need to catch up. I'm behind. I have things. Life is continuing to throw things at me. I just need to do this quick. I mean, that's exactly why I fell in the lake. I was trying to do it quick.

  But while in that situation, I didn't need a sustainable, I wasn't gonna repeat this process. But if it's something that you're doing repetitively in life, like laundry, what would it look like to come up with a sustainable system rather than something that is a shortcut? Because shortcuts aren't necessarily efficient, right?

  Sarah Lovell (17:32.462)

  Another checking question could be, am I resisting a small effort now that could prevent a bigger mess later? So like putting laundry away in the moment or refolding it tomorrow. And I know that's easier said than done. I know that this is a tricky one. But so it might be, and it's small as in quotes there, because sometimes the small things are the really hard things too.

  So a couple of tips to help you with these reflection questions. I think I have five here. Lucky five. So I talk about this all the time. You need to, you need to, that does not, I wanna reframe that. Can we delete that out?

  Sarah Lovell (18:22.584)

  So the first suggestion that I would make is building in pauses into your life. So this is really hard and this takes lots of practice because we are wired to go, go, go and do things, right? That's what this whole episode is about. That like, we think we're being efficient when in reality we're sometimes just like hustling through. And so before you jump into something,

  Can you take a couple of seconds to just check pause and check in with yourself? And that might be a question like what's going to make the most impact for me, right? That's one of my favorite questions. The second tip would be checking in with future you because your brain is thinking about current you. It is trying to protect current you from experiencing discomfort, from doing extra work.

  from taking extra time on things. so, is, know, that's brains are meant to protect us. But taking a pause to be like, okay, what's gonna make the most impact for me? But also thinking about will this choice make future me? Will it make things easier or harder for future me? And kind of those things out. There's no right or wrong answer either. Sometimes it's okay, right? To be like.

  Nope, future me has to handle this one. But we can't let future you handle everything. That's the caveat. All right. Number three is kind of I'm a huge fan of like redefining words, right? So it might be redefining efficiency as ease and sustainability. So efficient efficiency isn't necessarily about doing it the fastest. It's about doing it in a way that supports both current you and future you.

  And so I'm trying to welcome in more ease and sustainability into my life. And so I welcome you to, to join that too, if that's something that, that feels like a good fit. another quick tip would be setting up your environment to feel efficient. So I'm a huge fan of visual reminders. And so this would be like setting up your space to match kind of what your brain is looking for.

  Sarah Lovell (20:44.974)

  to create some reminders for yourself and to kind of make the lightest lift path so that you can get started on things visible. So for example, my client with the laundry situation, she is focusing on folding it where it goes, not where she lands, because she was landing in the living room, but she didn't want her laundry to live there. But that was what was happening, right? setting up her setting.

  up a space for herself to fold it and put it away in her bedroom and kind of having like a landing pad for that.

  and then finally, this is like a bit of radical acceptance. but accepting that upfront effort is sometimes the most efficient thing. and that's counterintuitive, right? That spending extra time, energy, mental effort, you know, using the executive functioning tools in your toolbox in the moment takes extra time.

  and definitely takes extra energy, but that can be the most efficient thing sometimes to save future you that work. And so an example of this would be at the end of your workday, taking five minutes to wrap up might feel like extra steps in the moment, but it's setting you up for coming in the next day and knowing exactly where you left off or

  leaving yourself a note of these are the things I want to remember from the meeting I had and these are the action steps that I need to take. Right? So it can be as short and simple as a five minute wrap up. So that future you has a map of where to go and has clear starting points. And that can feel like a really heavy lift in the moment. You're like, I have worked a full

  Sarah Lovell (22:45.282)

  day, I do not have extra fuel in the tank for an extra task or like when I'm done at the end of the day, I want to be done at the end of the day. And some days you might be and that's okay. But this could be something where you're basically just giving future you a little bit of a headstart versus future you having to rack your brain of what was talked about in that meeting or what did I say I was going to do or

  what did I do yesterday that I wanted to remember to pick up today or tomorrow, right? So these are just little things, little tweaks that you can start to notice and make as they pop up as with everything I share on this podcast. And whenever I coach clients, I always say like, take what's helpful, leave what isn't an adjust a fit for you. And so I hope this takeaway

  from this episode is basically just to look at where, I'm gonna restart that.

  is just to look at efficiency a little bit differently and to take some time to pause and check in about planning for current you and future you. So I know I shared a lot of thoughts in this episode, a lot of different checking questions and strategies that you can try. So if you want the written out version of this, you can click the link in the show notes.

  or you can read the blog version at executivefunctioningfirst.com slash podcast. And if this episode resonated with you, if you have a friend, a family member, a coworker, a colleague, a neighbor, anybody in your life who you think would connect with the From Stuck to Started podcast, please, please, please share it with them. It means the world to me. My goal is to share free resources, far and wide. So thanks for helping spread the word about the podcast.

  Sarah Lovell (24:45.9)

  Have a great week.