How to Plan When You Hate Planning (ADHD-Friendly Guide for Business Women)

If you have ADHD and every planner you buy turns into an expensive notebook after three pages, you're not alone. You probably start with good intentions, fill out a few days, then watch that cute planner slowly become a guilt object on your shelf.

You're not broken. You just do better with a planning system that respects how your brain actually works. In this guide, you will learn how to plan your business and your life with tiny goals, flexible time containers, and simple habits you can restart anytime, without shame.

You'll see how to stop blaming your willpower, create quick wins, and move your business forward even on low-motivation days. You do not have to become a different person or force yourself into someone else’s perfect system. You only need a light planning style that works with your ADHD brain, not against it.

If you need someone in your corner join my Facebook group, Executive Function Support for Women. I will be your cheerleader.

Why Traditional Planners Fail ADHD Brains

Picture this. You get excited, buy a new planner, maybe some pens, maybe washi tape. You fill it out for a few days. By week two, it's sitting on your desk, silently judging you.

Traditional planning often feels like homework. It's full of long lists, tiny boxes, and detailed schedules that assume you'll feel like the same person every single day. With ADHD, that's just not how your brain works.

You probably recognize some of these:

• Drawers full of unused planners.
• Feeling behind by Wednesday.
• Avoiding the planner because it reminds you of “failure.”
• Planning for a week on Sunday night, then ignoring it.

It's easy to tell yourself this is a willpower problem or a character flaw. It's not. You're juggling things that standard planning doesn't account for, like:

• Time blindness.
• Boredom with routine tasks.
• Perfectionism that tells you if you can't do it perfectly, why start.
• Getting hit with 100 new ideas before breakfast.

Your brain isn't lazy. Your brain wants different things. It craves:

• Interest so you're not bored out of your mind.
• Urgency so things actually feel worth doing now.
• Clear wins so you can see that something worked.

Traditional planning gives you the opposite: vague, overflowing lists and a side of guilt. It's also built for people who feel comfort in tight structure and routine. If you feel trapped by that, it makes sense that you resist it.

You might find it helpful to read how other ADHD women handle time and structure, like the ideas in Time Management Hacks for Women with ADHD. Hearing real examples can remind you that your struggle is common, not a personal flaw.

Here is the key idea: you don't have to become a totally different person to reach your goals. You just need a system that accepts how your brain works and still gets you moving.

Your Relationship with Planning: Chaos, Organizedish, or “What’s a Plan?”

Before you change how you plan, it helps to name where you are now.

Are you in total chaos, planning in your head and hoping for the best?
Are you “organized-ish,” with random notes, half-used apps, and a planner graveyard?
Or are you in the “What’s a plan?” camp, where you avoid planning altogether because it never sticks?

Ask yourself honestly: What’s your planning vibe right now?

Most planning advice is built for structure-lovers. You might be an options-lover. You like flexibility, choices, and the ability to follow your energy. When you try to follow rigid rules, it feels like a trap, not support.

So instead of forcing yourself into a system that wasn't made for you, you're going to build one around how you actually work.

You'll do it with three simple pieces:

1. Tiny goals, or “tiny targets.”
2. Time containers, instead of strict schedules.
3. Safety nets, or failsafe habits you can always restart.

Step 1: Swap Perfect Plans for Tiny Targets

Traditional planning often starts with a big overhaul. You sit down on Sunday night and try to fix your whole life in one session. You set 15 goals for the week, color-code them, and feel very organized.

By Wednesday, real life hits, and you feel like you already failed.

Tiny targets flip that script. Instead of focusing on huge goals, you focus on one small, clear win at a time.

Why Huge Goals Backfire With ADHD

When you tell yourself, “I’m going to plan my whole quarter tonight,” your brain doesn't know where to start. It's vague and heavy. It sounds important, but it's not clear.

Your ADHD brain resists unclear, overwhelming tasks. It asks things like:

• How long will this take?
• What does “plan my quarter” even mean?
• What if I do it wrong?

So you procrastinate, scroll, or jump into easier tasks. Not because you're lazy, but because your brain can't see a clear doorway into the work.

A tiny target gives you that doorway. It's

• Small.
• Specific.
• Easy to start.
• Short in length.

You're not trying to move 10 steps. You're only moving one.

What Tiny Targets Look Like

Here is the difference between a giant vague goal and a tiny target.

Instead of:

• “Plan my whole quarter.”

You pick:

• “Brain dump all my Q1 ideas for 10 minutes.”

You know what a brain dump is. You know what 10 minutes feels like. There's a clear start and a clear stop.

Other tiny targets, pulled from this planning method, might sound like:

• “Follow up with 2 leads.”
• “Finish the draft for Sarah.”
• “Review this month’s income goals.”
• “Write 1 Instagram caption.”

Notice how each one is short, clear, and focused. You could start any of them without needing a full day of perfect focus.

Tiny targets work because they give your brain:

• Quick wins that feel good.
• A clear starting line so you aren't guessing.
• A fast reward so your brain gets that little “We did it!” hit.

You also remove the drama. You're not deciding your entire future. You're only deciding what matters for the next small block of time.

If you like hearing how other ADHD entrepreneurs adjust goals to fit their brains, you might enjoy this ADHD goal-setting guide for entrepreneurs. It lines up well with the tiny-target idea.

Try One Tiny Target Today

Take a moment and pause. What's one tiny target you can set for today in your business?

Keep it small enough that you could finish it even on a low-energy day. For example:

• “Send 1 follow-up message to a warm lead.”
• “Open my draft sales page and improve the headline.”
• “Spend 10 minutes listing content ideas.”

Write it down somewhere you'll see it. That single tiny target is your proof that you don't need a perfect plan to move forward. You just need the next small step.

Step 2: Ditch Rigid Schedules for Time Containers

If you've ever tried to follow a strict hourly schedule, you probably know how fast it can fall apart.

You block your calendar:

• 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Deep work
• 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Content
• 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Admin

Then 9:07 hits, something pulls your attention, and the whole day already feels “behind.” At that point, it's easy to give up on the plan entirely. With ADHD, you often need less precision and more flexibility. That is where time containers come in.

What Is a Time Container?

A time container is simply a block of time where you choose one area to focus on. You aren't tying it to the clock as tightly. You're giving the time a theme.

Instead of:

• “From 9:15 to 9:45 I'll write 2 emails and 1 Instagram caption.”

You say:

• “For 30 minutes, I'll work on content.”

Within that container, you can decide in the moment what makes sense:

• Maybe you write an email.
• Maybe you draft a caption.
• Maybe you outline a blog post.

You're still focused on content, but you have options. That lets you work with your current energy instead of fighting it.

How to Use Containers in Your Day

You can keep your containers very simple and repeatable. For example, you might decide that on a typical day you want:

• 1 revenue container.
• 1 client container.
• 1 CEO container.
• 1 admin container.

That might look like this:

Time of day	Focus container	Example focus inside the container
Morning	Revenue	Lead follow-up, writing sales emails, offers
Morning	Client	Client calls, client deliverables, edits
Afternoon	CEO	Reviewing goals, planning offers, big-picture
Afternoon	Admin	Inbox, invoices, backend tasks

You don't have to name exact clock times. You can say, “Sometime this morning, I want to do revenue and client. This afternoon, I’ll do CEO and admin.”

Inside each container, you plug one tiny target. For example:

• Revenue container: Follow up with 2 leads.
• Client container: Finish the draft for Sarah.
• CEO container: Review income goals for the month.
• Admin container: Pay 2 invoices.

Anything else you do is bonus, not required. You're not “breaking rules” if you don't get to 40 tasks. You're keeping your promise to show up for those containers.

If you are curious how other ADHD business owners adapt planning and structure to fit their style, the story in How I Manage ADHD As A Business Owner offers helpful perspective.

Adjusting Containers on Low-Energy Days

On some days, your brain will simply say, “Nope, not happening.” That's normal.

Time containers give you room to adjust without giving up.

If you planned a 30-minute revenue container and your focus is shot, shrink it:

• 30 minutes becomes 10 minutes.
• 10 minutes becomes 5 minutes if it has to.

You can still move your business forward with a 10-minute follow-up block. A 5-minute brain dump is still real progress. The win is not in having a perfect day. The win is in keeping your containers flexible enough that you can always do something.

Step 3: Build Safety Nets With Failsafe Habits

Even with tiny targets and containers, you'll have days or weeks that feel like chaos. You'll forget to plan, ignore your list, or just shut down.

Instead of pretending that won't happen, you build safety nets for it. A safety net in this system is a simple, restartable habit. It's so light that you can pick it up again after a messy week without feeling like you “broke” anything.

You're not chasing a perfect streak. You're choosing habits that help you say, “Okay, I’m back, and I know exactly how to restart.”

There are three core failsafe habits:

1. A quick daily reset.
2. A weekly CEO check-in.
3. A parking lot for extra ideas.

Habit 1: The 5-Minute Daily Reset

The daily reset takes five minutes or less. You can do it at the end of the workday or in the evening.

All you do is:

1. Decide which containers you want tomorrow.
2. Pick one tiny target for each container.

You might say to yourself:

“Tomorrow I have one revenue block, one client block, and one CEO block. In revenue, I’ll follow up with two leads. In client time, I’ll finish the draft for Sarah. In CEO time, I’ll review my income goals for the month.”

That's it. You're not planning your whole life. You're just making tomorrow a little clearer.

If you skip a day, or three, you're not behind. You simply open a fresh page and do another five-minute reset. You're never starting from zero. You're always starting from now.

Habit 2: The Weekly CEO Check-In

As a business owner, it's very easy to get lost in what feels urgent. Inbox, DMs, client requests, content, and small fires can eat your week.

A weekly CEO check-in pulls you back to the bigger picture.

Once a week, set aside a short block of time and ask:

1. What worked this week?
2. What did not work?
3. What brought in money?
4. What drained my energy?

Then choose:

• One main focus for the coming week.
• Three to five tiny targets that support that focus.

Your focus might sound like:

• “Fill two client spots.”
• “Finish the sales page.”
• “Map out my Q1 offers.”

From there, you match your containers to your real life and energy. If you know you have a busy family week, you can choose fewer or shorter containers. If you have more space, you can expand.

If the week goes sideways, you don't spiral. At your next check-in, you ask, “What got in the way?” and adjust. No shame. Just data.

If you want more ideas on how ADHD-friendly strategic planning can look at a higher level, you might like this ADHD-friendly strategic planning framework for leaders. It mirrors the idea that planning should be flexible and iterative, not rigid.

Habit 3: The Idea Parking Lot

Your brain has ideas all day long. New offers, new courses, collaborations, content, rebrands. If you try to act on all of them at once, your current plan falls apart.

At the same time, you hate losing good ideas. So you mentally clutch them, rehearse them, and get even more distracted.

You need a parking lot.

A parking lot is a simple place where you put ideas you aren't acting on right now but don't want to lose. It doesn't need to be fancy. It can be:

• A page in a notebook.
• The notes app on your phone.
• A Google Doc literally named “Parking Lot.”

Whenever your brain throws out a shiny idea, you write it there. As soon as it's recorded, you can tell yourself, “It is safe. I'm not doing it right now, but I can come back later.”

That single move frees up a lot of brain space. You aren't trying to hold every idea in working memory. You're letting your system hold it instead.

Quick Review of Your New Planning System

You now have a simple, ADHD-friendly planning style:

• You use tiny targets instead of perfect plans.
• You plan in time containers instead of rigid hour-by-hour schedules.
• You support yourself with failsafe habits: a 5-minute daily reset, a weekly CEO check-in, and an idea parking lot.

None of these pieces require a perfect day. They're all restartable.

Take One Tiny Step Today

You don't need to build the full system today. That would just turn this into another giant project your brain wants to avoid.

Instead, pick three tiny moves:

1. Choose one tiny target for tomorrow.
2. Decide one time container where you'll do it.
3. Pick one place to start your parking lot list.

That's it. You can add the daily reset and weekly check-in once that feels natural. Let your system grow at the pace of your real life.

If you want more ADHD-friendly strategies for your business and your executive function skills, you can explore the free course Executive Function and Neurodivergence, join the community in Executive Function Support for Women on Facebook, or get ongoing support in the EF Bomb Membership.

Before you close this tab, ask yourself: What is the smallest action that would make tomorrow easier for you? Write it down. Let that be proof that your planning does not have to be perfect to be powerful.