Create External Deadlines to Help Your Brain Get Started
When you live with ADHD, time can feel slippery. Tasks blur together, deadlines sneak up, and urgency seems to arrive only after it’s already too late. But what if urgency could be scheduled?
Colin gets it. As an entrepreneur with ADHD, he’s learned that waiting for motivation doesn’t work. So instead, he builds urgency into his environment.
“I use tricks like working at a café that closes at 3. That gives me an artificial deadline. If I haven’t made progress by then, I have to pack up and leave. It creates pressure that my brain actually responds to.”
— Colin McIntosh, ADHDifference
These fake deadlines aren’t about lying to yourself. They’re about shifting when urgency kicks in so you have more time to work, more space to problem-solve, and fewer frantic all-nighters.
Why This Strategy Works
ADHD often comes with time blindness – a disconnect between the present moment and future consequences. Without urgency, the ADHD brain struggles to prioritise, initiate tasks, or stay engaged. But as Colin demonstrates, urgency doesn’t have to be real, it just has to feel real.
By using physical environments (like cafés), external commitments (like school pickups), or even closing times as boundaries, you can trigger your brain into action without waiting for inspiration to strike.
This approach is especially effective because it:
- Creates urgency without overwhelm
- Bypasses internal resistance
- Adds natural breaks to the day
- Builds positive pressure instead of shame
When to Use This Strategy
Artificial urgency works best when time feels abstract and motivation is missing. Try this strategy when:
- You delay starting tasks until the last possible minute
You tell yourself there’s still plenty of time until suddenly, there’s not. The adrenaline rush might finally get you going, but the process is exhausting and unsustainable. Creating an earlier, fake deadline can spark action before the panic hits. - You feel like time is slipping away without action
You blink and half the day is gone. Even with good intentions, nothing gets finished. It’s not because you’re lazy, but because the time just disappears. Setting artificial urgency helps anchor your attention to a moment in time and gives it weight. - You struggle to focus without a looming deadline
For many ADHDers, pressure isn’t a problem. It’s the only thing that gets the brain online. But that “now or never” energy doesn’t need to be real. A self-imposed time limit can trigger the same dopamine boost, without the crisis. - You’re working on something open-ended and hard to define
Projects without a clear deadline or outcome (like writing, research, or cleaning) are particularly difficult to start. Fake due dates can give those tasks structure and help you carve out time that might otherwise be lost to decision fatigue. - You feel stuck but don’t know where to begin
When you’re overwhelmed, the brain freezes. A pretend deadline can be the nudge that helps you take the first step because starting is often the hardest part.
How to Practice It Daily
You don’t need a rigid schedule to use this strategy. Try one or two of these simple tweaks:
- Choose a venue with a closing time: Work at a café, library, or shared space that shuts at a set hour.
- Use a hard stop event: Book a call, pick-up, or appointment that forces you to finish before a certain time.
- Set up ‘fake’ meetings with yourself: Block calendar time for deep work — and treat it like a real appointment.
- Tell someone your deadline: External accountability can make even a self-imposed goal feel more real.
- Create a visible countdown: Use a timer or deadline app so your brain sees the time running out.
“I work better when there’s pressure. It’s not about stress. It’s about structure.”
— Colin McIntosh
The Science Behind It
ADHD is linked to differences in the brain’s reward system, particularly with dopamine – a neurotransmitter tied to motivation and urgency. Research shows that people with ADHD often have lower baseline dopamine, making it harder to initiate tasks without stimulation or pressure.
A 2019 review explores how people with ADHD experience distortions in time perception — often underestimating how long tasks take or struggling to visualise future events. These differences can lead to chronic lateness, difficulty prioritising, and challenges with task initiation. The authors suggest that such timing deficits are neurobiological in nature and tied to impaired executive function. External strategies like artificial deadlines or time chunking help counteract this by creating more concrete temporal structure, which supports task engagement and follow-through.1
💬 Final Thought
Colin’s approach reminds us that it’s okay to use workarounds. You don’t need to force motivation to appear, you can design it. Artificial urgency isn’t about tricking yourself. It’s about understanding what your brain needs in order to begin.
So next time you find yourself stuck, try adding structure before the pressure hits. Start the clock. Make a time-bound choice. Let the closing hours of a café or a scheduled call become the nudge you need to get things moving.
🎧 Listen to the full episode S2E12 here 🎧
REFERENCES:
- Ptacek, R., Weissenberger, S., Braaten, E., Klicperova-Baker, M., Goetz, M., Raboch, J., Vnukova, M., & Stefano, G. B. (2019). Clinical implications of the perception of time in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A review.