By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – February 23, 2026
When people with ADHD say they “struggle with planning,” they often assume it’s a problem with organization, time, or motivation. But according to ADHD and Attention Coach Jeff Copper, the real challenge runs much deeper. and understanding it can change how you approach planning altogether.
Planning isn’t just about calendars or to-do lists. At its core, planning requires thinking, and thinking relies heavily on executive functions—skills like working memory, prioritization, and self-regulation. Because ADHD is fundamentally an executive functioning impairment, planning becomes difficult not due to laziness or lack of effort, but because the brain systems needed to think ahead are compromised.
There’s another critical piece most people overlook: planning requires making decisions—often uncomfortable ones. Deciding what to do means also deciding what not to do. For many people with ADHD, decision-making feels overwhelming, leading to avoidance. The result? Endless planning loops that never turn into action.
Jeff highlights the strong link between self-awareness and success. When you pause and recognize that planning feels hard, that moment of awareness can be powerful. Instead of pushing harder or trying new tools, ask a different question: What decisions am I avoiding right now? Often, identifying and confronting those decisions is the real breakthrough.
In fact, effective planning frequently works backward. When clients feel stuck or panicked, Jeff encourages them to first rule out what doesn’t need to be done. By eliminating options, clarity emerges—and what remains are the one or two actions that truly matter.
The takeaway is simple but profound: if planning feels impossible, the obstacle may not be planning itself, but hesitation around decision-making. Addressing that directly can unlock momentum, reduce stress, and help you move toward your goals with greater confidence and intention.
Watch the video below, ADHD and Planning Obstacles | How to Make Decisions (https://youtu.be/ATUNZD5_aWo). And post your comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.
TRANSCRIPT:
Jeff Copper
Welcome everybody to this edition of Attention Talk video. I’m your host, ADHD and Attention Coach, Jeff Copper. Today, I want to talk about planning. We use the word “planning.” People don’t really think about planning a lot. People with ADHD struggle with planning. Why do we struggle with planning?
Well, number one, planning is about thinking. Talked about this before. Thinking is about using executive functions to think. ADHD is an executive functioning impairment, so thinking is impaired. That’s the first problem. Another challenge is that people don’t realize planning is a lot about actually making decisions. Making hard decisions with ADHD often resists making those decisions. It’s hard to plan things and you have a lot going on if you don’t actually make decisions.
So why is this really important? Well, there’s a huge correlation between self-awareness and success in life. It’s highly, highly correlated. If you pause and notice that you’re planning and realize that planning is about making some difficult decisions, and if you’re having a hard time planning, maybe you should stop and say, I need to make some hard decisions and focus on not just the outcome, but what decisions am I going to make are the hard ones and how can I make those decisions?
You might find that you unearthed some of that stuff and you’re actually able to go forward. Sometimes a lot of planning is about ruling out like what you’re not going to do. I’ve actually had people come to me before and they’re in a panic, like, “I’m having a hard time figuring out what to do.”
“Well, let’s take a look at what you’ve got and figure out what you don’t have to do. It’s amazing if you do that, how you get back to one or two things that you really need to do.” It’s kind of working backwards, which we’ve done a video on. Anyway, this is really just a video just to bring your attention to that, when planning, sometimes the obstacle is you’re not actually participating or you’re avoiding making difficult decisions.
Avoiding making those decisions really won’t get you towards the goal. Saying, “I gotta confront those and make a decision and try to figure out how to do it ,” might help you.
Anyway, we hope you’ve enjoyed this. If you’re new to our channel, please hit the subscribe button. We release thoughts, insights, ideas, ways to problem solve weekly. Also, comments. What do you think about this? Do you struggle with making decisions in order to make plans? And if you have figured that out, how do you make the decisions? Also, we do what we do for you. Certainly appreciate any contribution by hitting the thanks button. So with that, we hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Attention Talk Video. Take care.