183: Getting Ahead Can be Dangerous to Your ADHD Brain – 4 Steps to Complete a Project When Your ADHD Brain Wants to Stop!

RUSH: What to Do When You’re Actually Ahead for Christmas (and Don’t Want to Blow It)

I want to talk about a rare and slightly disorienting situation: what happens when you actually get ahead of things this Christmas, feel thrilled about your progress, and then have to figure out what comes next so you don’t accidentally sabotage yourself.

This came out of a twelve-day Christmas prep challenge I ran in my free community, repurposing some bonus content from 2021 that doesn’t really change year to year. We started the Monday after Thanksgiving and ran twelve straight days, and by day twelve, a lot of participants found themselves genuinely further along than any previous Christmas, without everything being finished. That in-between spot, ahead but not done, is exactly where things get interesting.

Why being ahead can quietly backfire

Here’s the danger: Parkinson’s Law says work expands to fill the time available for it. So even if you’re eighty percent ready by early December, without deliberate action, you can still end up frantically scrambling on Christmas Eve, wondering how that happened again. What actually happens is complacency. You relax into the good feeling of being ahead, and your brain doesn’t kick back into urgency mode until the last-minute crunch forces it to. The good news is the load waiting for you at that point will genuinely be lighter than usual, but it won’t disappear entirely unless you take action against it now.

That’s where the acronym RUSH comes in, creating urgency deliberately, right now, instead of waiting for it to arrive on its own on December 23rd.

R is for Review

Take honest stock of what you actually completed versus what you merely started. Did you finish the stocking stuffers, or just get the gift wrapping station set up without wrapping anything yet? Write down where you genuinely stand.

U is for Understand

Break down everything still left into small, specific sticky notes, one task per note. This does two things at once. It’ll initially look like more work than it really is, because seeing it broken into that many individual pieces can feel overwhelming. But it also means each note becomes a small, quick, approachable task you can grab and knock out fast. This pairs well with the nonlinear pending list style I’ve talked about before, where you pick whichever task appeals to you in the moment rather than working strictly in order.

S is for Share

Post those sticky notes somewhere visible, a kitchen wall, the fridge, a mudroom, where the rest of your household can see them. Our brains tend to keep tasks so scattered internally that when someone offers to help, we can’t even articulate what we need. Having it all laid out either lets family members self-initiate (“I saw you needed rolls, I grabbed them at the bakery”) or lets you point directly at a specific note and ask for exactly what you need instead of a vague general request for help.

H is for Highlight

Remind your brain of the actual payoff of staying ahead. Our brains are wired to chase the dopamine hit of a last-minute rush, because that rush has been rewarded before, it got done, so the brain keeps seeking that pattern. Counter it by highlighting a different reward: actually being present for the evening, having time to get ready before pictures, relaxing while baking cookies instead of sneaking off to wrap twenty gifts. Consider making one big sticky note at the top of the whole pile that simply says something like “enjoy this season,” as a reminder of what you’re actually working toward.

It’s not too late to start, even now

If you’re hearing this and wish you’d started the twelve-day challenge earlier, you still have time. Starting today still puts you ahead of the usual Christmas Eve scramble, and the first few days of that plan are mostly just building your schedule and list, which can realistically be knocked out in a single sitting.

Your practical, actionable step

Do a quick review right now of what’s actually finished versus started, write out what remains on individual sticky notes, post them somewhere visible for your family to see, and add one note at the top reminding yourself why staying ahead is worth protecting.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.