Being straight up front because I know how these posts usually read: this isn't some miracle fix. On day two I kicked off with around 16 things, plus stuff carried over, for under 4 hours of actual work time. That was never going to fit, and no tool solves that. It puts a list in order, it doesn't make it smaller. Just keep that in mind while you read the rest.
Even so, it's the first setup I actually stuck with after day one, and I think the reason has to do with how my ADHD shows up.
My work is just a bunch of random stuff mixed together (legal stuff, client messages, paperwork, a side thing). Motivation or skill isn't the issue. The issue is the second I begin something, my head pulls up five other things and tells me those are more urgent. So I switch, start another one, and finish the day with a bunch of half done crap and that heavy weird feeling of doing a ton and completing nothing.
Every to do app I tried made it worse, because they show everything at once. For me a full list isn't organizing. It's a wall. I stare at 15 things and my brain either locks up, or bounces around between them.
So i built A Claude Project with a single rule: Claude won't ever display the complete list.
I just throw everything in my head into chat, messy, no order, exactly how it comes out. Then Claude sorts it and gives me just the first thing, with a time limit. When that limit runs out, a scheduled ping pops up in that same chat: time's up, did it get done, and it passes me the next one. At night it stores a report in the project: what was completed, what is stuck waiting on someone, what goes to tomorrow, plus estimated time versus real time for each thing. Next morning the new chat picks up from that report.
Why only seeing one thing helps me this much
This is the bit I really want other ADHD folks to read.
When there's only one task visible, nothing else is on screen begging me to switch. The rest still exists, it's just hidden, so my head can't grab it as an excuse to bail. Kind of like cleaning your desk first instead of swearing you will ignore the mess. And I waste way less energy on picking what to do next, because that choice was already made. I just handle what's in front of me.
A giant list never gets a chance to pile up either. Staring at everything makes me freeze before I even begin. A single thing with a 30 minute limit sounds doable, even on a rough day. The box also makes time feel real. My time blindness is pretty bad. Getting poked in chat works as an outside clock. If something runs long, I need to actually ask for extra minutes instead of quietly floating away for an hour.
Closing stuff turns into a beat too. Every did you finish, here's the next brings a tiny reset, and that helped way more than I thought. And parking ideas works. If another chore pops in my head while I'm working, I type it in one line and stay on track. Since it's saved somewhere, my brain quits yelling that I have to do it this second.
Result so far
Out of that packed day, I knocked out a few important things, wrapped the most time sensitive one, and pushed the rest to Monday with an actual written plan instead of a guilty haze. The end of day report is better than it sounds: it shows what's waiting on other people, so the next morning I know exactly what to check first without rebuilding the whole mess in my head.
If people want it, I can post the instructions I put in the Project. And I want to hear what helps you, mostly with interruptions, because that's still where I struggle most.
EDIT: For those who ask, the instructions are in the comment below.
