Scaffolding the ADHD Brain: How Habits Fail and Systems May Save Us

Summary

Podcast Summary: Hacking Your ADHD

Episode: Scaffolding the ADHD Brain: How Habits Fail and Systems May Save Us

Host: William Curb

Date: May 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, William Curb explores why traditional habit-building often fails for people with ADHD and how to use systems—external environmental scaffolding—instead. He dives into the mechanics of systems thinking, shares practical examples, and offers actionable strategies to design environments that support ADHD brains, especially on tough days. The central premise: habits often depend on unreliable internal processes, whereas systems leverage the power of physical cues and design to encourage positive behavior.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Habits vs. Systems for ADHD ([01:06]-[06:45])

• Challenge with Habits:

  • Habits are often sold as autopilot routines established by repeated action, but in ADHD brains, forming reliable habits is difficult due to inconsistent dopamine responses.
  • Quote:

    "We expect our internal motivation to keep us on track despite our own track record. And then we get frustrated when that falls flat." — William Curb ([01:34])

• Why Systems Work Better:

  • Systems are “a recurring solution to a recurring problem”—not just a series of actions, but interconnected processes serving a repeat need.
  • Quote:

    "A system is a reoccurring solution to a recurring problem. And...it can do it over and over again. It's not just a one time solution." — William Curb ([03:14])

2. Understanding Systems Thinking ([04:10]-[06:50])

• Definition Deep Dive:
  • Systems can start basic, like traffic lights, and become more sophisticated through feedback loops (e.g., traffic sensors). The same iterative approach applies to personal systems.
  • The environment you set up grows in complexity and effectiveness by responding to new challenges—feedback leads to improvement over time.

3. System Structure: Input, Process, Output ([06:51]-[09:36])

• Habit Loop vs. System Loop:
  • Both have a trigger (input), action (process), and outcome (output), but:
    • Habit loops are internal; they rely on brain chemistry to reinforce behavior.
    • Systems are external; they modify your environment to direct behavior, reducing reliance on internal willpower.
  • Memorable Moment: The explanation of failing habits (“do something every day for three months...on day 91, a single text message can destroy the routine”) ([08:52]).

4. Forcing Functions and Environmental Cues ([09:36]-[13:48])

• Externalizing Prompts to Reduce Mental Load:

  • Example: A bright orange note on the door reminding you about your keys — works even during brain fog.
  • Make prompts unavoidable: attach note to the door handle so it must be removed before leaving.
  • Introduce “forcing functions”—physical obstacles that require action and conscious awareness.

• Bundling Habits with Environmental Triggers:

  • Place laundry basket on the couch to force folding before TV.
    • If you want to watch TV, you must address the laundry first.
    • The environment negotiates directly with your intentions.
  • Quote:

    "By changing the environment, you are forcing your brain to at least consciously negotiate with the task." — William Curb ([12:01])

5. Friction & Path of Least Resistance ([13:50]-[15:24])

• Design for Success or Failure:
  • Reduce friction for positive behaviors (e.g., a key basket by the door).
  • Increase friction for unwanted behaviors (e.g., put your phone out of reach).
  • The more steps in a process, the more opportunity for distraction or failure.

6. Addressing Complexity in Systems ([15:25]-[16:58])

• Complexity Can Undermine Systems:
  • More complex systems have more failure points.
  • Example: End-of-day work shutdown
    • Alarm across the room (forces movement and breaks hyperfocus)
    • Checklist at the spot where the alarm is (helpful for transitioning out of work mode).
    • Quote:

      "By standing up and walking, you are physically breaking the circuit of the desk environment..." ([16:24])

7. Environment's Invisibility & Accidental Systems ([16:59]-[18:37])

• Your Environment Always Directs You:
  • Even when unintentional, your environment shapes behavior. (e.g., phone within reach = more distraction)
  • Too many visual cues become background noise and lose effectiveness.
  • Quote:

    "The way we set up our environment dictates more of our actions than we realize, and so we've got to be very cognizant of what those environments are making easier and what parts of them are making things harder." — William Curb ([18:00])

8. Environmental Design as Self-Kindness ([18:38]-[19:56])

• Give Yourself Grace with Systems:
  • Good systems are gifts from your “good brain day” self to your “bad brain day” self.
  • Design systems to make it easier for future you, not to guarantee perfection.
  • Quote:

    "A well-designed system is ultimately an act of self kindness. It's a gift that your good brain day self builds to protect and support your bad brain day self." — William Curb ([19:11])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We expect our internal motivation to keep us on track despite our own track record." ([01:34])
• "If you were to have a total brain fog day...a system like a bright orange note on your door that says 'keys' would still likely work because it exists entirely outside of your cognitive state." ([10:39])
• "Put your clean laundry basket directly on the couch cushion where you want to sit—forces your brain to actively negotiate with the task." ([11:47])
• "Your physical environment is never neutral. It is actively directing your behavior right now, whether you designed it or not..." ([19:31])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & Episode Purpose: [01:06]-[02:30]
• Definition of Systems & Their Role: [02:31]-[06:00]
• Systems vs. Habits for ADHD: [06:01]-[09:36]
• Forcing Functions/Environmental Cues: [09:37]-[13:48]
• Friction and Simplicity: [13:49]-[15:24]
• Complexity & Shutdown Routine Example: [15:25]-[16:58]
• Environmental Influence & Accidental Systems: [16:59]-[18:37]
• Environmental Design as Self-Kindness: [18:38]-[19:56]
• Episode Summary & Top Tips: [19:57]-[20:37]

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Top Actionable Tips (from episode summary, [19:57]–[20:37])

1. Traditional habits may not stick due to inconsistent dopamine reward; design systems in your environment to make intentions inevitable.
2. Passive reminders are too easy to ignore—use forcing functions to make desired actions unavoidable.
3. Lower friction for positive behaviors, increase friction for distractions.
4. Environment is always nudging your behavior—intentionally design it to support your intentions, especially on bad brain days.

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Overall Tone

William speaks in a relatable, understanding, and encouraging manner—often using humor and practical metaphors (“gift from your good brain day self to your bad brain day self”). He normalizes ADHD struggles while providing concrete, empathetic advice.

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This episode is essential listening (or reading) for anyone with ADHD—or those supporting them—looking to move beyond the myth of willpower, and instead use environmental design and supportive systems to achieve consistency and kindness in daily life.

Transcript

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[William Curb]

Welcome to Hacking youg ADHD I'm your host William Curb and I have adhd. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Hey team. So when I moved into my neighborhood, most of the houses weren't built yet. So I got to see over the course of a few years a lot of the work that went into putting those houses up all the day to day progress that always kept happening and how every step seemed to set them up for the next step. Now nobody expects a brick wall to just materialize out of midair on pure willpower or a house to get completely built with no effort. Yet when it comes to managing our daily routines, that's exactly what we try to do. We expect our internal motivation to keep us on track despite our own track record. And then we get frustrated with and that falls flat. In this episode, we're taking a look at why our attempts to build traditional habits often don't work with adhd, and why it isn't a moral failure or a lack of trying. We're going to explore the critical mechanism of external scaffolding versus internal habits, digging in how we can stop burning through our limited supply of daily executive function and start building the physical infrastructure that does the heaving lifting for us. If you'd like to follow along on the Show Notes page, you can find [e-mail] 298 alright, keep on listening to find out how systems thinking can help us transform our environment. One of the hardest parts of talking about systems is finding a good definition to go with. Because what I want from a good definition is a better understanding of what I'm talking about. But a system broadly defined is just any set of parts that interact with one another generally to a greater effect than any of those parts alone. Or even more simply put, once put together, the system is greater than the sum of its parts. And this definition isn't wrong or misleading, but it doesn't really give me a whole lot more understanding beyond the whole greater than the sum of its parts angle. It fails to convey the actual mechanics of what's happening. Instead we might define it as a series of interconnected actions or processes which can work together to produce a specific result. But again, this feels too high level for my brain to really wrap itself around in any meaningful way. Sure, I can grab some sense of the concept here, but if I tried to put it into place, I'd fail at creating anything worthwhile. But then I landed on a system is a reoccurring solution to a recurring problem. And if we combine that with our other definitions, well, now we're cooking because here we can finally get the why behind why we'd even want to set up a system in the first place. What we've got are interconnected pieces that work together to solve a reoccurring problem. And then the most important part, it can do it over and over again. It's not just a one time solution. You don't need to build a system to solve a one time problem. But if it's reoccurring, you want something that'll hold up over over time. But let's make this more concrete and take a classic engineering example. A four way traffic intersection. At its most basic, you have cars that just drive through when things are clear. No lights, no rules. But as things grow more complex, there needs to be an intervention. There are too many people trying to get through at once and taking turns is just leading to huge traffic jams. Let's say we add a traffic light. Now we have a system where the light is timed to be green at certain times and red at others, allowing cars to come and go at fixed intervals. But even this could be iterated upon and we eventually get to a system where we add sensors to tell when cars are actually there, when they need to turn. And let's not forget to add in ways for Pedestrians to cross the street. What was once just a chaotic four way intersection is now a complex system that modulates the flow of traffic depending on what the needs are at the time. In systems thinking, we call those sensors a feedback loop. The system takes in data from its environment, processes it, and changes behavior based on that data. And that is really important for us to think about when we're talking about systems we want to set up. We can start off with a very basic system that gets us from A to B, but as we work with it, we can add in other features that will help us. It's important to remember too that we might not know what those features are at the beginning. With our traffic example, instead of a traffic light, we could have gone with a roundup. And for certain communities that would be a much better option. But for others, it could be a nightmare. Just like for our systems some of the time, what works for someone else will not work for us. Now, to be functional, a system is comprised of three an input, a process, and then its output. This sounds a lot like a habit loop, which looks like a trigger, an action, and a reward. But the difference when we're talking about systems is that a system is external scaffolding, while a habit is largely internal. The reason this distinction is important in regards to ADHD is that in a neurotypical brain, the reward of a finished task, like putting away laundry, provides a reliable hit of dopamine that seals the habit loop. In the ADHD brain, that reward chemistry tends to be completely inconsistent. We might feel a win one day and then absolutely nothing the next. It's one of the reasons that for many of us, the idea of having a habit be so ingrained that we don't even think about it just seems completely alien. This is why you can do something every single morning for three months. And then on day 91, if you get distracted by a text message, the habit seems to just completely evaporate. It was never truly on autopilot. It was just a high effort routine. You were burning executive function to force it to happen. Now, don't get me wrong, there are absolutely things that we can end up doing on autopilot. It's just the mechanics of actually forming a habit are much more complex and difficult than the just do it every day for 21 days kind of advice we often see online. But I digress. With systems, the idea is that we're not relying on internal habit loops to keep us going. Instead, it's about how our external environment is directing our behavior. We are intentionally Designing the Path of Least Resistance if you were to have a total brain fog day where you can't even remember how old you are, a habit would likely fail you. A system like a bright orange note on your door that says keys would still likely work because it exists entirely outside of your cognitive state. Of course, I can see times when I just completely disregard a note in front of me though. So perhaps instead I might attach the note directly to the door handle so I can't open it without removing the note. Regardless, when we're looking to build our systems, what we want to try and focus on is creating a certain inevitability. In design psychology, this is called a forcing function. A physical roadblock that forces you to conscious awareness before you can proceed. That's the note on the door handle. Or let's say you're trying to fold more laundry and you want to bundle it with watching tv. To help with this, you place a clean laundry basket directly on the couch where you would normally sit. This means to sit down and watch tv, you must either move the heavy basket or fold the clothes. The environment is forcing the interaction. That is a forcing function. Now, could you simply move the basket to the floor and ignore it? Absolutely. But by changing the environment, you are forcing your brain to at least consciously negotiate with the task. So in this example, we're taking care of the when while watching tv, the wear the couch and then the friction which is having to move the basket. And we do need all three of these because we need to trigger the system when it's contextually appropriate. If you're being reminded to fold the laundry three hours before you actually have time to do it, that's not helpful. If you're being reminded to fold the laundry when you sit down, but the laundry is still upstairs in the dryer, Again, not helpful. And the friction of you having to physically move it means that the system can't just fall apart because you didn't notice. Could still fall apart at the level of you choosing not to do it right now. But a system is never going to be able to directly force you to do anything. Instead, what we are really looking for is better ways to get our intentions in front of our faces and into our hands. Alternatively, there are also examples of when you want to lower the friction for something like setting up a key basket by your front door to drop your keys into right when you walk in. You want to make that step as effortless as possible by removing any friction points. If you have a three or four step process in putting away Your keys. That's going to be three or four steps where you can inadvertently get distracted by something else. But if you just have drop keys in basket, nothing else goes in the basket, well, you're making it far more likely that you'll be able to follow through with your original intentions of always putting away your keys. And of course, we can set up our systems to tackle more complex problems. With the caveat here that I just mentioned above, the more complexity we add, the more spots for failure we introduce. Let's take something like creating an end of day shutdown workflow to move us out of work mode and into the rest of our day. Now, this is where something like a phone alarm would seem like a great way to remind us that it's time to start getting ready to close out. However, you and I both know how easy it is to to ignore a phone alarm when it goes off, hits news, and just keep hyper focusing on whatever it is we're working on. To counteract this, we want to create a tightly coupled system where the trigger and the action are physically linked. Instead of an alarm on our phone right next to us, we set up an alarm across the room that we physically have to get up and turn off. This interrupts whatever we're doing to force us into the next stage, or at least endure the alarm until we actually get up. By standing up and walking, you are physically breaking the circuit of the desk environment. You have moved your body into a new space, which makes it infinitely easier for an ADHD brain to transition into a new task. And right there next to that far away alarm clock, we can have our physical checklist of our end of day shutdown routine. This could include writing down exactly what we were working on so we know where to start the next day. Clearing any of the trash off our desk, closing out the 45 browser tabs that are no longer relevant, and maybe even turning off the computer completely. Could we skip these steps? Yes. Yes we could. But again, the point of the system isn't to magically control us. It's to get us to interact with our own past intentions. It's not simply about a passive reminder, it's about the physical action involved. Because when push comes to shove, it doesn't matter what we've set up. We are still in charge of all the things we choose to do and what we choose not to do. However, the more inevitability we can build into our physical environment, the better off we're going to be when we have bad brain days. And this is vital to Keep in mind, because not all of the systems in our lives were intentionally set up by us, think about how easy it is to just pick up your phone and start scrolling when it is always directly next to your hand. That sirens call is a lot easier to ignore when the phone is physically out of reach. Or imagine having 20 sticky notes stuck around your monitor to remind you to do things. Of course none of them remind you to do anything because your brain can't process 20 competing triggers. They've just become part of the background wallpaper of your desk. The way we set up our environment dictates more of our actions than we realize, and so we've got to be very cognizant of what those environments are are making easier and what parts of them are making things harder, specifically in regards to what we do and don't want to be encouraging if I Want to Drink More water Having a water bottle right next to my mouse means that I am much more likely to have a drink when I feel a phantom echo of thirst. Having a trash can readily available right under my desk makes it much easier to keep things clean. But if my water bottle is across the room, I'm probably not going to get up until I'm actively parched. And if my trash can is around the corner and hidden inside a kitchen cabinet, well, we can just let some of this stuff pile up on my desk until I really need to get around to it. If we don't pay attention to these environmental design choices, then we allow suboptimal accidental systems to run our lives and direct us into actions we say we don't want. A well designed system is ultimately an act of self kindness. It's a gift that your good brain day self builds to protect and support your bad brain day self. While having that readily available trash can doesn't mean I'm always going to immediately throw away my trash, it does mean that it's much easier for me to follow through with my tensions when I want to. And that's all we're asking for here. We need to pay attention to our environment and understand that it will direct our behavior whether we choose to design it or not. Thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end. Before you go though, let's do a quick rundown of Today's top tips. 1. Traditional habits rely on an internal dopamine reward to lock them onto autopilot. Because ADHD record chemistry is wildly inconsistent, that autopilot switch rarely flips. Instead, we want to work on designing our environment through systems to help make our intentions inevitable. 2. Passive reminders are entirely too easy for an ADHD brain to ignore. Instead, we can use design psychology to create physical roadblocks that force our conscious awareness. Putting your clean laundry basket directly on the couch cushion where you want to sit forces your brain to actively negotiate with the task before you can proceed. 3. Human brains naturally drift towards the path least resistance. Take advantage of this by manipulating that friction. Lower the friction for positive intentions by creating one step solutions like a dedicated key basket by the front door. Or crank up the friction for distractions by doing things like putting your phone completely out of reach so you can't just pick it up without even thinking about it. 4. Your physical environment is never neutral. It is actively directing your behavior right now, whether you designed it or not, which means relying on willpower is often a losing game. Treat environmental design as a handoff between two versions of yourself. Let your Good Brain Day self build a physical world that protects and supports Bad Brain Day Solve alright, that's it. Thanks for listening. I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode. Feel free to connect with me [e-mail] contact and if you'd like links or to read this episode's transcript, you can go to the show notes [e-mail] 298 and if you'd like even more hacking your ADHD, be sure to sign up for my newsletter any and all distractions which comes out every other week. In it, I give out my best distractions of the week, either what I'm reading, what I'm playing, what I'm watching, and everything in between. I also try to give out a few bits of actionable advice in each newsletter, although your mileage is certainly going to vary there. 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