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If pushed, ten minutes. That's usually because I've snoozed my alarm for the best part of an hour, wake up in a panic so I only have time to wash myself from the sink, brush teeth, apply deodorant, dress and fly out the door. I fucking hate having to get up at 7am for work.

One time I ACTUALLY woke up on time and felt amazing So amazing that I went to tend to the plants on my way back from the shower… just to turn on the grow lights Next thing you know I’m scrambling to get to work as per usual because I’ve been time-sucked into watering and pruning them So yknow… 15 minutes to get ready if I’ve woken up late and an hour or more if I’ve woken up on time. The more on-time I wake up the later I get to work

This is so relatable lol. “Oh Im actually on time! That means I can….” Aaaaaaand I’m late.

This is why I’m in waiting mode for the first thing I have on any given day, even if it’s at 4pm

I go in waiting mode until the first thing of the day too, but then right before that first thing comes I realise now the day really has to start and I won't be able to wind down for the next 8 to 12 hours (depending on how busy my day is)  So I can push back the start 10 more minutes. Or maybe just to fold the laundry, because I won't have energy for that later. Or maybe just ooooone chapter of this book I love...  

This was me and I would always be hella early to everything because I was so anxious. Then I started meds antidepressants/antianxiety meds and now I'm always late. Get distracted, time management issues, time blindness, etc. maybe being anxious was better? Lol

I did this the other day. I didn’t have to be at work until 9, woke up naturally at 7:30, got to work at 9:30. 😩

This literally happened to me yesterday. I was earlier than usual waking up with the sun, and could have been on time, but instead I walked around my flat watering and feeding our plants. Why?? Why! (We know why)

Yeah. I do this. My morning veered off into brushing one of my cats and then lint-rolling the couch, watering the plants, and trimming my hair. I was two hours late.

This is my life and I hate it, but I don’t even know how to describe how hard a time I have with waking up in the morning. It’s like actual torture, I am so deeply exhausted. I am about fifteen minutes late every single day.

The only way to beat this is to not use snooze and get up when your alarm goes off. Put the alarm in a place you HAVE to get out of bed to turn off so you're already out of bed.... then don't get back in bed.

Done it, didn't help. Would just go back to bed and lay there semi consciously

I found a couple solutions when I was working: 1. I worked nights, so my wakeup time fit my natural schedule better. Unfortunately, I never got to see the sun again. 2. I ended up waking up close to 2 hours before I actually had to leave for work, which meant I had nearly 5 whole minutes of extra time once I'd finished screwing around. 3. I set a minimum of 3 alarms, sometimes up to 7, across 2-3 different devices, staggered a few minutes apart each; the first one also triggered 100w smart bulbs that gradually brightened and couldn't be turned off till all the alarms were off. 4. The alarms played a song I hated. It took me a while to get it all set up, but the system was pretty much bulletproof afterwards.

Downloaded Alarmy so I couldn’t switch off my alarm and semi awake me worked out how to disable it without getting out of bed. If you asked me how I did it, I genuinely don’t know.

I'm glad I'm not alone in this. I used the function where you had to do a set number of squats to turn it off, and about two weeks in I figured out I could just work around it. Once I found that out it was over 😂

My pulmonologist has me take melatonin 4 hours before bed. My issue was I was forcing myself to stay awake at night. He said when you do that, you throw your schedule off and makes it hard to wake up on time in the morning. So 10 mg of melatonin 4 hours before bed will make sure you get to bed in time, it keeps you asleep (but if you need to wake up you can), and so you feel way more rested and will wake start to wake up before your alarms. I didn’t think this would work but it did. He said that a lot of ADHDers have this issue. So now I wake up with my alarm or before my alarm. Yesterday I woke up an hour before, the day before 30 min, etc. I also use a CPAP and we were trying to figure out what times I wanted to go to bed and wake up.

I don't know how you can take so much melatonin. Honestly, I'm surprised a medical professional told you to take that much. My mother, who is a licensed pharmacist, told me and my brother (both diagnosed with ADHD) to only take 5mg at a time, or 10mg within several hours of each dose, to allow your metabolism to take effect. IDK, maybe she was just being paranoid? It's not that it'll hurt you, really, just that for some people it can cause a hangover effect, excessive grogginess, even dizziness or loss of equilibrium. The biggest threat is that chronic use—especially overuse—can cause your neurons to down-regulate their receptors, while also stopping their own melatonin production. You end up having to take more for less benefit but worsening side effects. Your body naturally only produces less than 1mg across the span of an entire night, but it does so rhythmically, based on lots of crap: sleep stages, heart rate, oxygen saturation, ambient noise and temperature, and the biggest one is blue light absorption in your surroundings. Your dose would probably kill my dad; he can't take more than 1.5mg, or else the following day he's groggier than a night of binge drinking. Plus it makes him stagger like a sailor finding his land legs. BTW, interesting little fact about melatonin: supposedly it has a greater antioxidant effect than any other food, such as supposed "free-radical fighting super-foods" like blueberries or dark chocolate. So taking large doses might have other health benefits—if we were capable of absorbing more than ≈1-2mg at any given time. The rest just gives our urine color.

you’re so right. it’s actually criminal how much melatonin is being overprescribed/overdosed. people are abusing it and they don’t even know because pharmacies and doctors push such large doses.

I mean you didn't do it then. You missed the second step where you don't go back to bed. Don't even sit down. Go get a glass or water or some fresh air or something. It works 100% of the time if you do both steps. If you get out of bed and don't get back in bed I guarantee you won't be in bed.

Same here, and I had a bigger chance of shutting it off and passing back out without the snooze alarm to get me back up.

For yrs I set all my clocks 15 min fast. My alarm was loud and across the room ( and for awhile sitting IN a tin pie pan..it was a windup)…. I also made appts a d recorded them for 15 min early. Appt is at 10, I put 9:45. I didn’t know I had adhd. But I was horrified at the idea of “late”. Late meant lazy, bad, can’t get shit together”. I prided myself on being early. I was. For yrs. One of the reasons I poohooed a thought of having adhd. So fast forward 3 decades, 20 yrs of trauma, so many changes and this weird issue of NEVER being on time. No matter how many times I tried to leave early. 1. The internet keeps my clocks on time and 2. I didn’t have the threat of job loss, family headed to poorhouse feeling to keep me going. Today my primary clock is battery operated and even tho, 2X a year it’s either fast or slow an hour for a while… that 15 min is sure helpful. But with careful planning, I’m rarely late anymore again.

other option is to set the alarm an hour and a half earlier so u can snooze it for an hour, lie in bed for half an hour, then get up and still have time to get ready. (i set my alarm at 5 when i have to get to school at 9)

You may have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder. Maybe get a sleep test if its available to you through your doctor. Before I got my cpap I was so exhausted it felt like torture too and I'd fall asleep driving and at work. Cpap saved me

I do have central sleep apnea, and suspected narcolepsy. (I cant take the kind of sleep study i need to find out for sure until I am able to stop a medication that I have to taper off of very slowly.) I was given a BiPAP machine a little less than a year ago but I can’t get myself to use it. The feeling of having the air blasting in my face is so panic inducing that I can’t fall asleep with it even when I use the longest possible ramp time. I just lay there and put all my effort into not hyperventilating or having a panic attack for sometimes hours. And then, if I’m lucky enough to fall asleep, I will go through the whole thing over again every time I wake up to use the bathroom, or get woken up by my son, or need to roll over.. So I finally have an appointment with a new sleep doctor after I moved away from where I was living, and I plan to ask about other options as far as machines go. A few people on Reddit have mentioned that they have newer machines that don’t start to blow until you’re already asleep.

I wake up at 5am. And no matter how much I do that day, I can never sleep early. Like, 10:30pm at the EARLIEST, but often later and I begin to panic around midnight and then have nightmares about my alarm going off until it does. I frequently pass out for about 30 minutes or so when I get home though so that’s kind of nice until I wake up and have no idea what planet i’m on let alone country or time zone. If i’m not working then fuck. 3 hours. I used to be able to hear the alarm and jump straight into my runners and go for a run, shower and be out of the house inside 90 mins. Now I wake up, stare at the ceiling for an eternity, until my bladder forces me to the toilet, put on coffee, zone out on my bed for another hour, eventually get the energy to masturbate, vape, half arse tidy my room, long shower, look for my wallet and car keys etc

i always have to wake up at 6 am usually, so i make myself go to bed at 8 pm, and try to be sleeping by 9 pm. but i’m a night owl so it just sucks having to have everything so early… i end up taking melatonin everyday at around 7pm lol (i have to sleep at least 9h or i wake up way too tired and won’t end up going to school)

Take some mirtzapine amazing for all that I relaxes you and will make you drowsy I was the same exact way for pretty much all my life until about 3 years ago. I went from going to bed at midnight to 2:00 am every night regardless of getting up at 6:00 am for work to going to bed at 10:30 pm sometimes earlier if I’m exhausted now

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My mum got a letter from the school once, saying I'd been skipping classes. It wasn't the case, I was just always so late that I'd miss the register.

And poop in the office after clocking in? As always a wise man never poops in his free time, but always during company time.

This is our ADHD family... My husband and I set our alarms for 7:15am and we both snooze them until 8:30am. Then we wake up in a panic, wake up the kids, and we are all rushing to get out the door and have breakfast and get ready for work within 20 minutes so everyone can get to school and work on time. It's chaos every day.

I had to get up at 4:30am for three years. That had me going to bed at 8pm, so I could *maybe* be asleep by 10pm. Quit last month.

That would be a dream. Today, I got out of bed at 3:45am to get ready for work. 

This! Haha I don’t have time because I snooze too long which kick start my panic mode and I’m done in 20 mins. I have so say I regularly forget stuff

This is... this is just me.

Was gonna say I snooze until the absolute last possible minute I have to wake up, wake up in panic, get dressed, brush my teeth, quickly splash water on my face to wake up, fling out the door and do some mascara on the way to work

2 hours. It’s all the little decisions we have to make. It’s just too much.

Thisssss, it's like trying to corral toddlers. I can work a complex job, but the little everyday decisions kill me. There is too much choice, it is overwhelming.

Solved this by absolutely minimising the amount of decisions to be made. Clothes and bag prepped the night before, breakfast is a latte made while the dogs are outside doing their thing plus maybe a protein shake if I’m driving that morning. Access card for work, AirPods and meds booster dose always in the same place on the kitchen counter. Exactly the same makeup every day - tinted moisturiser, eyebrows, concealer, fixing powder. Can get up and out the door in 15 minutes… IF I can get up.

I would love consistency in my routine and I pre-plan as much as I can, but my brain will often throw a wrench into my pre-made plans/decisions (I'm also autistic). So, for example, the clothing set aside last night may be unwearable today (too itchy, feels too hot, or the seams are bugging me). Or, the planned hair routine (no wash, just use dry shampoo) goes out the window because my brain decides I can "feel" the oil on my scalp (it is an awful sensation that I can't live with all day), so now I have to wash my hair/blow dry/style it now. This sort of thing can happen at every teeny level of the process. It is constant management of changing whims/needs based on my sensory and other issues. I often have to bring a change of clothes to work in case something that was fine to wear the other day is unbearable today. It's all annoying! Haha

I get the feeling! I have somewhat dealt with this by eliminating almost all clothes that give me any sensory issues, and I tend to think ahead a bit when choosing what I will be wearing the next day - am I going to be driving, is it going to be warm, do I feel bloated? I usually wake up at about 6:30 am, and leave at 07:45 am, and since my routine only takes 15-20 minutes, I have enough time to deal with an unexpected complication, like choosing to not shower the day before and the hair being too oily. I have somewhat lower expectations for my hair style, though, so drying/styling it is out of question. I towel dry and it gets to 70% dry while I commute. If no complications arise, I drink my coffee while browsing Reddit/ spend a few more minutes on my make up and so on. But streamlining as much as possible does improve my mornings a lot. Fewer decisions = less uncertainty and chaos for me, and also less panic as I know exactly how much time I need in order to present as a civilised human being and not a misanthropic hobgoblin that I really am at 7 am.

Yes!!! So so many decisions and options like idk how to explain it but you said it so perfectly

That part of my life got a little better when I bought myself a little wooden tray from Michael's to put my keys and wallet (and sometimes phone) as soon as I step in the door. I have to be able to see it, though, orrr I forget bc I have no real habits.

20 miinutes actual ge5ting ready. At least 1.5 hour wandering around lookintg for keys, wallet phone bralin etx

ADHD Hack#1: keys, wallet, phone always go in the same place immediately. Or at least your keys and wallet. I can send a signal from my watch that makes my phone emote so i can find it.

ADHD hack#2: keys and wallet have AirTags in them and my Apple Watch is always either on my wrist or in the charger. Use the watch to beep the phone, and use the phone to beep the wallet and keys. Leaving them in the same spot is helpful, except that one time when they don’t make it to the spot and you can’t remember what you did with them. If I lose the watch, my husband’s phone and the kids iPads can beep things for me lol

I second this! The AirTags have saved me so much time and energy.

Hey siri where’s my iPhone? I can’t help you right now, please check in the find my app… I bought a pelican statue thing with an open mouth to dump my keys and wallet into. They usually make it there.

>my Apple Watch is always either on my wrist or in the charger Haha, nope. I mean I love my (non-Apple) watch, the most used functions are timers (there's a pizza in the oven? I need to pick up the kids?) and the Find My Phone. But the moment I take it off to charge, it no longer exists. 24 hours later it's still sitting on its charger at 100% and I'm in town somewhere cursing myself and not being able to check the time or set a timer without taking my phone out.

I actually say " wallet, phone,  keys, watch" while I pat my pockets and check my wrist before leaving. 

Same!

Yeah, KPW! Keys, phone, wallet. ~*high five*~ Keys first, cos I won't be able to fetch those other things I forgot if I don't have the keys. Phone is wallet, & wallet is my face on cards. I try to keep everything in my pockets, so I don't just rest an entire handbag somewhere & lose it all at once. Guys appreciate that I'm not a 50-things-in-handbag girl, & I appreciate my (relative) sanity.

Same!

Same. I repeat it so much it's like a cross between a Zen mantra and an OCD tic. One time I actually had a minor panic attack thinking I'd lost my phone somewhere, then I realized I was sitting on my couch watching TV, it was charging in the other room, and I was a total fucking moron.

most embarrassing times, when I'm talking on the phone,.wandering around the home, being obviously distracted. Other person goes "what's wrong?" .. "I just can't find my phone ANYWHERE I guess I've lost it".. "yeah you lost something..but NOT your PHONE" 😅

Haha, I have like 3-6 safe places I leave my stuff. But when I search for an item that’s not there… I immediately get a red flag that an “inconsistency “ has happened. Sometimes looking at my camera roll and selfies help to identify what I was wearing to track my keys or credit cards

I have a 24 hour parking zone that I dump things in if I'm too exhausted to think otherwise there's a "day drawer" where I pocket dump the second I get home.

100% agree with this. Due to loosing them In the past I'm manic about leaving them in the same place

I have a bowl near the front door where my stuff goes, every time. Never put something down on the couch!

this is what I have done for years. I keep a large bowl on top of a shelf right at my front door.. as soon as I come in, I set my bag on top and empty my pockets into the bowl. My keys are always in the same spot. My wallet is always in the same spot.. I never have to go looking for them.

Good suggestuon. BUT... I grab them all together from their spot and theni i go grab a coke or a snack and i leave one of the 3 there. So i place the other one's down some where and spend time finding it. So then i find my wallet and i dropped my keys and/or phone some place then i have to try to remember where The never ending cycle. And air tags don't work when you cant find your phone. And I only have a phone so i can't use a tablet or laptop to find phone.

I've been trying to teach my ADHD son this for a while. You really have to master putting CERTAIN things away consistently and in the same place. I have ADHD as well. This is the only way I can make things work.

Ditto. My ritual is to say out loud “KEYS - ‘THESE’ - WALLET PHONE.” ‘THESE’ is that one “other item” that I always take with me; it could be my headphone, my water bottle, coffee, etc. Plus it rhymes with keys and it helps. I repeat the phrase when leaving the house, exiting the car, and pretty much each time I transition from one location to another.

Such a common theme of ADHD is misplacing things and having to spend time finding them... but this has never been a problem for me. Everything has a place that it must be. If it isn't in the designated "home" spot, then it's in the secondary location, and if not there - 100% in the tertiary. And if for some reason it's not there, it's because of a very good reason, which means it's somewhere that I can't possibly forget, and if I think I might, or have to stash a thing in a strange spot - I'll take a very unassuming photo of the general area of the space it's in. I dated this one girl and the entire relationship was her going "Where is x!!!???" and then I'd point to it without looking up. My memory is a mess when unmedicated, but I somehow never lose track of physical items. I'm hyper-aware of ALL THE ITEMS around me.

Same here I’m very strict with myself when I get home from work… keys go here, work pass goes in there etc etc. so I’m ready to avoid a panic the next day.

I hang my keys up behind my front door but before I had my front door hanger if I had to be somewhere such as taking someone to the airport or something important or even going to work I would put them in my freezer or fridge. Keychains probably have more components on the little alarm thing now than they did 20 years ago however the freezer or the refrigerator method never failed me!

I streamline everything so I have to exert minimum effort in the morning. And I time my sleep very carefully so I’m waking up at the end of a sleep cycle. I do my morning routine on such a complete automatic that I sometimes don’t realize I’m sick until I get to work. I take about 30 minutes. 50-60 if I have to take a morning shower because I failed to do it the night before. I have my work week prepared on Sunday. All outfits are folded on a shelf. My breakfast and lunch for the week are prepped and packed for that day. I have a low maintenance no style haircut and don’t wear makeup except concealer. My morning routine is as follows; haul myself out of bed, put my morning playlist on, drink water, brush teeth, wash face, moisturize. Then I go downstairs, take my meds and vitamins, feed the cats and go to work. My morning playlist is exactly as long as I should be taking, and I should be at specific songs at different tasks. I eat breakfast at work. This has been the big game changer for me because I get lost in meal times. I know not everyone has a job that will let them do this though.

You are organised as fuck! But I know it's thru repetition & making habits, & it probably took a lot of effort to get to this point. The playlist is an awesome idea! I used to wake up every day with a song in my head, play that first & just enjoy it, then hit shuffle to get going (I used to keep a little note of all the on-waking songs, too). But the timing of tasks is great! I need little 20min alarms when I'm cleaning people's houses (self-employed), but making a playlist would be way more fun! About the only thing you mentioned that I always do: sleep cycles! I am basically non-functional in the mornings, & I have low quality sleep due to sinus / apnoea, but sticking to the cycle is so much better for not feeling groggy, & not sleeping thru 5 alarms! It's weird, but 4.5hrs is better than 5.5, even tho neither is really sufficient. People kinda don't realise that the recommended 8hrs includes ~30min falling asleep time, & 7.5 actual sleep is the best. Now I just need to set an actual routine, & habit-stack my way into being halfway functional in the morning -- including eating something before coffee / ketosis, because food is such an afterthought for me ... Then, the uber playlist! 🐨💚

This is how I do it. I meal prep on Sundays, make breakfast the night before, and lay out my clothes the night before. I also make my coffee at work and drink my coffee and eat breakfast at my desk. I keep quick breakfast and lunch things at work too in case I don't have time to meal prep. Sticking VERY STRICTLY to a routine is the best tool I have for managing my ADHD. Unfortunately when I go off-routine my anxiety skyrockets.

I have back up food at the office too! I keep cans of soup and crackers at my desk. And bags of trail mix.

FIVE HOURS??? I’m not losing that much precious sleeping time lol I press snooze until the last possible second then force myself into the shower, brush teeth, do full makeup and hair in about 45 minutes - this includes getting a 6 year old ready. my “breakfast” is stopping to starbucks on the way to work.

I can definitely relate to the 5 hours. I leave for my job at 3pm but I'm usually up by 10. And still rushing to get out the door on time. My normal get-ready tasks are: 2 cups of coffee, breakfast, brush teeth, shower, blow-dry, get dressed, makeup, and grab my lunch, purse, and jacket. This should not take more than 1.5 hours tops, and if pressed, I've managed it in under an hour. However, I'm terrible about getting sucked into Reddit or YouTube for literal hours at a time. And I work 10-hour shifts, so I don't get home until 3am, so if I'm lucky I'm in bed by 5. The 5 hours of sleep I'm getting is not enough, I'm constantly exhausted, and never have time to do things I enjoy or get any exercise.

A: precisely 9 minutes more than the time between getting up and when I have to leave.

I feel this in my bones.

This is such a good answer. No matter how much time I have to get ready, I will always take about 7-9 minutes more than I should

I’m 46m and it seems to get worse as I get older. There’s the whole period before I get ready. I hate to be rushed. It’s the worst time management. Drives my wife crazy.

Same age and ME TOO. 

I call it the Big Sit

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Oh my God no way there are others. I thought something was wrong with me. Wait a minute.

Lmaoooo this is exactly it

Literally can't do this because I will then never start work.

Up at 6am, out the door at 8:15. This includes shower, breakfast, yoga, meditation, 10 minutes of staring at the ceiling when the alarm goes off, 15 minutes of reading, checking the weather every 5 minutes because I have zero retention. I wake up at 6am, 7 days a week so my routine doesn't change. The more scheduled my day, the less I feel like I'm sabotaging myself. On my off days I go through the whole morning routine and then do 30 minutes of Yoga Nidra. I do the same exact thing 40 weeks a year. In the other 12 I do it from various hotels and airports around the world. I should point out it's taken me 20 unmedicated years to develop a system that works for me and has included several major fall apparts where life was too hard.

I think this non changing routine is key to tackling the pitfalls I have a pretty set routine for the morning that I follow everyday unless sick and then I usually wake up anyhow 😂

20 minutes. I shower at night, don't wear make up, and pack a light breakfast and a shake for lunch. I hit snooze until the last possible minute.

Yep. Don’t leave enough time for faffing about. Wake up and use the shot of adrenaline to race through the routine and get out the door! If I have plenty of time - I will be late! I need just enough time to get the essentials done. And drink my coffee and eat a snack on the commute so I don’t have any ‘still’ time at home where I have a chance to look at my phone or anything else that will lead me astray.

How do you decide what to wear in that short amount of time?

I go through my blouses in the order that they are on the rack in the closet. If I'm not going to wash it, I put it as the last item on the rack. If I put it in the laundry, I just keep the hanger in the same relative position so I know where to put it back. I always wear black slacks.

Oh my, this is very interesting to me. It is really helpful to hear strategies from other people. Thanks a lot for replying! I really liked the idea. I am a bit too obsessed with combining garments perfectly and I have too much of variety to use your method exactly at the moment. But I will try to find a similar approach based on just picking things in order. Maybe I can also pick the tops in order and would just have to pick a bottom and shoes to match. Hmmm this is an exciting prospect of spending less time picking clothes for me 🤩. Thanks again!!!

1. Don’t sit down. Ever. 2. Don’t look at your phone. Turn on the radio or have a playlist going though because a 2.5-3.5 min song is a decent way of tracking time without looking at a screen. This may cause friction if you’re trying to date for not sending good morning texts early enough but fuckem. 3. Keep moving! Find a flow that takes you back and forth. I’ll get up, put the hot plate on to heat, poop, go back to the kitchen and throw my breakfast on, shower, then go eat breakfast that was frying. No break inbetween and I’m showered and breakfast eaten, just have to get dressed and brush teeth at this point.

Yes to this! Sitting down and looking at my Phone are the two worst decisions I could make in the morning. The first one I'm quite good at when it's just me in the morning getting myself ready, the second is a lot harder still. I do have a "final" time that I really really need to put it down to still be able to get somewhere on time, but I will be more stressed and I don't actually want to start my day like that. I'm trying my best. My husband needs time to relax and drink coffee and even read before going anywhere, so when we're supposed to be somewhere on time together it's really hard for me to not sit down and also take my time drinking coffee and cuddle with the dog or to not nag him because I feel the need to keep moving and his chill attitude is making me nervous that we'll be late. When he's taking his time I feel like I can take the time as well (since he's not ready yet I can definitely take longer myself as well, right? At least according to my brain) and I always end up stressed when it's time to leave because he's so fast with getting ready when he's getting ready and then all of the sudden I need to be ready too and my brain and my routine wasn't there yet. When it's just me, I don't get interrupted and I have a flow that works very well for me.

Around 2 hours. 15 minutes actually getting ready, and 1hr 45mins sitting around doing.. absolutely nothing

15-20 minutes. Shower, get dressed, hope I remember where my shit is (I won’t), run around looking for it, leave (first leaving) realize I forgot something, go back look for it, realize I didn’t actually forget it it was in my pocket the whole time, and leave again (second leaving). Still be 15 minutes late to work because I hit snooze too much.

Oh, every other day I shave. Adds 8 minutes.

Somewhere between 1-1.5 hours. Shower, makeup, dry and flat iron hair.

Get the app called Routinery, it is made for this sort of thing. You set up a routine and the amount of time it should take, and then it lets you know when it’s time to move on to the next thing. It’s very handy, give it a try! Edit: also, a clarifying question. Don’t you have work or school or anything? Surely you don’t mean that you wake up at 3-4 AM to get to work/school by 8-9?

I do actually get up at 4 am to work at 1pm 😆

i do homeschool for this exact reason🥲 my adhd is pretty severe to say the least

Sounds like homeschooling is part of the problem. It doesn't create any sense of urgency to get you moving.

Since ADHD gets worse with age, I doubt yours is worse than everyone else's. I think the cause is a lack of experience at managing your ADHD

I work from home, and I spend maybe 10 minutes getting up and make breakfast. Then eat breakfast at the desk while I figure out what I'm doing for the day. Then I do the rest of my "morning routines" during small 5-10 minutes breakes throughout the workday. I know it's probably not the best way to do it, but it works for me. If I take to long getting ready when I get up I'll just postpone getting started working, and spend too much time. And when I'm taking my short breaks I'm allready in workmode, so I want to get back to working as soon as possible, so I'll do whatever I'm doing quicker

and i’ll give that app a look!

I feel like 5 hours is way too long!! I wouldn't be able to function if it took me that long. And I thought I took a while with my solid 2 to 2.5 hours. Then again, I do the things I don't like to rush the evening before, like showering, choosing my clothes and cooking breakfast. That way I only need to heat up what I'm going to eat and do what can't be done before on the day of.

I'm terrible about going to bed super late, awful about hitting the snooze in the morning, and quite time blind/easily distracted, but I have a job where I need to be places on time. If I know I'll have an early or tight morning, I'll take a moment when setting my alarms the night before to make myself a timed checklist (a reused list in a notes app on my phone). The list has all my usual morning routine steps, in the usual order. I then start at the bottom with the time I have to leave my house, and go up from there, adding the time I should be doing each thing. Right before that is "put on shoes, grab keys, bring stuff" (whatever I need to grab to bring with me) - I give that 5 minutes, maybe you'd put 10. Eventually, I get all the way up to waking up (and then the "you really need to be up now" because yeah), and know when to set my alarms. Here's an example from literally this morning: - Up 605 - Really up 625 - Brush teeth 630 - Feed dogs, let out 635 - Start coffee 640 - Shower 650 (etc) I set this with a scheduled reminder shortly after the "really up" time, and it helps keep me on track. It's hard for me to gauge if I'm on track otherwise but with my list, if it's almost 7 and I'm still dawdling by the coffee, it's time to get moving. It also helps force decisions, like I know I'm out of time so this outfit is good enough.

How long do I have? Because the answer is that amount of time plus 5 minutes

If I’m medicated, 2 hours. Besides normal getting ready things, this includes walking my dog, spending time with my cat and bunnies, and eating breakfast. Not medicated, about 4-5 hours. I do all the same stuff but it takes soooo much longer when I’m off my system.

When I was working on-site, I was forced to get ready even if I'm groggy. But when I shifted to work-from-home, it definitely had a significant impact. I can get from 2-4 hours to start the day.

It depends. If I have plenty of time to get ready 2 hours or I might never get ready. If I oversleep and wake up in a panic, I can get out the door in less than 5 minutes.

I feel you on the 5 hours! I’ve noticed that if I have a deadline (e.g. need to be at work by 9 am), I’m able to get ready in 1.5-2 hours. Have tried hard to cut that down, but with showering and making and eating breakfast, I have a hard time going faster realistically. So need to wake up by 7:15 at the latest to make it to work by 9 am if I shower. However, if I just want to get outside for a walk or to run errands with no deadline in place, all hell breaks loose! It can easily take me 5-7 hours to get ready because I keep spacing out, procrastinating, getting distracted by my phone, etc. This is why work from home with minimal supervision doesn’t work for me. With nowhere to be by a set time, I’ll just procrastinate a ton. Have you considered moving from home schooling to going back to school? Having a strict time by when you need to be somewhere might help you a lot!

That’s one thing my adhd does not effect. If anything it makes me over focused. I wake up always before my alarm clock goes off. My routine is always the same and out the door at exactly the same time. I hate being late for anything and my wife drives me nuts when she makes me late. Heck, today I had a Dr’s appointment for my adhd and I was there almost a hour early. If you throw a major wrench into that I’m lost for the day.

i'll always think i'll be quicker than i am

However long it takes to leave 5min late.

1-2 minutes. I tend to wear the same clothes(multiples of the same outfit) and if I eat it is the same thing. I eliminated choice.

Same breakfast every day is an amazing choice.

You guys get ready in the morning??

OMG SAME AND very ADHD. I really die inside anyone tells me they're shower full fake of makeup and dried and styled hair and outfit and show combo took "no less than 10-20mins" I'm like is this REAL or do people not time correctly or are they just flat out lying or am I like doomed? Hahahaha The harder I try to hurry the worse it gets too! I'll lose EVERYTHING and just end up sweating having a mental breakdown and giving up sitting on the floor somewhere 😂

30-40 mins, I brush my teeth for about 10 mins, splash water on face, cream, lil mascara, throw clothes on, take my meds, give my dog his meds, make a coffee and run out the door

As much time as I have... about 7 minutes.

About 10 minutes normally I can’t get out of bed until the very last minute then it’s a mad rush

I have managed to hack my ADHD / my autism manages to win out in the morning. My phone is out of reach. Alarm goes off, I have to get out of bed to snooze it. But I'm out of bed, so then no point snoozing. Phone goes in work bag. Clothes were "laid out" (thrown on chair) night before. I have breakfast (always the same) at work, and it's been set up the night before. Grab work bag + breakfast bag, go to car and leave. I leave my work badge and keys in the cup holder in the car. When I get into the car, they go into my pocket / on. When I get into the car at the end of the day, they go into the cup holder. (Also I leave my shoes in the car. I hate wearing shoes, so they go on when I get to work, and come off as soon as I finish. Can't forget my shoes if they don't go into the house)

I like to have at least two hours. I drink coffee, put curlers in and watch tv. I only spend about ten minutes with makeup/clothes but that down time before is critical.

I’ve never thought about how long…. I wake up at 6am. Take my dog out. Make a coffee, shower, makeup, hair, maybe pack something to eat if I don’t forget, feed my dog, pack up my stuff for work, then I’m out the door by 7. I take my dog to daycare then commute to work and get there around 7:40. 1.5 hours? ADHD HACK: As an ADHD’er I have NEVER let myself snooze. I have made it a rule. My one alarm I set goes off, and I force myself to sit up or I won’t get up. ADHD HACK #2: I keep my keys and headphones and wallet and dog necessities (leash-harness) in one place. It does WONDERS for being on time. Questions for all of you: Anyone else’s ADHD force them to be unbelievably early out of mistrust for yourself? My work day wouldn’t start until 8:30, and I’m stressed that I’ll goof around so I get there insanely early. Then I sit and stare at my screen until it’s time to work (an hour or so). Or until the meds kick in. Maybe it’s the anxiety-ADHD cocktail. Ha.

Curious - does this same thing apply to other areas of your life? Do you find yourself needing to give much more time to tasks in order to get through them properly?

Less than half an hour.

Ready? Morning? Urrrrmm nah i get up when i get up and i generally throw whatever on and go about my day pretty easily, how are you other adhd heads managing to shower daily? Fuck i forget to brush my teeth some mornings let alone remember to shower everyday

You need to make it fun somehow, or break up what NEEDS to be done with what you want to do. Use a timer. For me it's get up, take meds, 30 minutes video games. Then journal and eat breakfast, then go outside and play with the dog 10 minutes. Then I do my ablutions and go to work, listening to loud music and drinking coffee. Good luck!

I don’t even have a getting ready routine. I feel like my mornings always start so jumbled no matter when I get up/how long I lay in bed before actually getting up. Ha! I usually wake up get my kids Going and then get ready in between getting their shit done and doing chores so it’s literally busy a frazzled mess every morning. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Bro you take as long to get out of the house in the morning as my entire nightly sleep

I have slowly, systematically dismantled my morning routine over the last few years. I went from a solid 1 - 1.5 hours to 30 minutes (including shower): The first thing I did was to develop a uniform. I wear the same thing nearly every day (as in I’ve built up multiples, always a clean change of clothes). Never have to worry about what to wear. Find the thing that makes you feel the best about yourself, but that is also comfortable and low maintenance, then run with it. No more wardrobe paralysis or mirror torture. It’s amazing. I have curly hair, but it’s thinning, and I used to spend an hour applying product, diffusing, arranging, pinning…ugh. No thank you! I found a protective hairstyle that I love…as in, pretty scarves in a quick, yet attractive arrangement that add variety to my “uniform” and let me leave the house with either dirty or wet hair, depending on the day. Unless I’m doing sweaty, dirty projects (gardening, etc.) I only shower on M/W/F. This way I get a fresh start to the work week and the weekend, but can relax about it when I’m just lazing about. Taking the pressure off showering every. single. day is huge. Lastly, I drastically simplified my makeup. I used to be a high-heels wearing, red lipstick sporting, full face of make-up girl, and this was admittedly the hardest thing to adjust. But now it’s just a dusting of translucent powder (with sunscreen), a few swipes of mascara, and a tinted lip balm and I’m set. I love it, love it. I know these things will not work for everyone and every situation, but I figure it’s worth putting the ideas out there. And I will say, I am routinely stopped by people complimenting me on one thing or another, so clearly I do not look like a total slob. :)

Super fast I get my lashes done every 3 weeks so that helps I began putting my clothes out with whole outfit shoes n all aside night before so shower, change, and minimal makeup too 5 min total 20 min total.

At least 1.5 hours

I have an interval timer on my watch that vibrates every five or ten minutes. Every time it goes off I change tasks even if I'm not done. I get super hyper focused and lose time. This works amazingly well for me! I also use it to motivate myself. I will set it for as little as two minutes. I say cmon I can do anything for two minutes. It gets me off my ass. Usually it leads to more activity

Micromanagement of thyself is crucial.

if i have to be somewhere by a certain time, i wake up 1.5 hours early exactly. i can only take 120 second showers or else i’ll go over my time.

Depends. I'm always prepared and have 3 alarms set. That being said - I give myself an hour and a half. Just to fully wake up and not feel like I'm being rushed, but it only takes like 20 minutes, and that's mostly to let food settle so I can take meds right before I walk out the door. But say I stay out all night with a girl and only get like 2 hours of sleep - that's fine. I'm prepared for that, too. Backpacking for the past... 17 years has taught me to wake up with the sun and gtfo. I always have at least 2 healthy, hearty meals pre-cooked and ready to go, wrapped in aluminum foil. Toss them in a lunch box with a frozen water bottle. Shirt. Pants. Socks. Moccasins. Wallet. Keys. Run head under faucet. Towel. Grab my pouch of pre-prepared daily medication/vitamins/supplements. Teeth. Contacts. Deodorant. Water bottle. Pistachios. Sunglasses. Ear buds. Phone. Cold brew. Double-check that sinks and stove are turned off. And I'm gone. It's like some strange running-dance. I enjoy it for some reason. It's like, if I wake up in such a disheveled state, and have to take on the world - I know I'll be just fine, but it also means I get a really weird intro to my day - which means I'm going to probably have a very long, memorable day - which I'll take any day, over a day of boredom, or one of unprovoked chronoception. I was always jealous of my friends who could wake up, running late for work, and just throw on a hat and shoes and be gone, because I was SO FAR from that and I knew it. It's taken me a while to adapt, but now, unless I'm journaling a super-vivid dream or words from Dreamland that I know will be forgotten - I can pretty much just throw on a hat and walk out the door, if I must. It's a very liberating feeling to know that you never truly *have* to get ready for anything because you're never unprepared. Ever.

Depends. Sometimes I can push myself out of bed quickly if i have classes on regular in early morning. Otherwise it is at least half n hour of wiggling in bed and on phone. Best is if I can shower right away, otherwise I will proscrinate for even longer and wait with my food.

I don’t have to work, but it still always takes me longer to do my makeup than I’d ever estimate it to. If I’ve decided I want to do makeup, my wife will check in on me to let me know how much time we’ve got until we have to leave- or to see how many more steps I have so she can estimate how long it’ll be. I think if I’ve already got an outfit ready, I can be done in about 30min. When I have to wake up early though ((we wake up at 4am when school’s in because we have to drive the kids an hour to their school)), the only thing that works for me is setting my alarm in my watch. It vibrates when it goes off, so the slight physical stimulation wakes me up enough and I’m not being bombarded by loud/obtrusive noise.

5 HOURS??????

45 minutes. The trick is TV. When I was a kid I remember watching cartoons and when a certain cartoon came on as scheduled then I knew to be get going. Thesedays as a boring adult it’s the news channel with a clock on screen. When the weather forecast comes on just before the hour, that’s my cue to move it!

About 10 minutes to get ready but 30 mins to actually get up

I wake up around 1 hour before I should leave the house for work, but I always underestimate how long it takes for me to get ready, so I end up always getting to the office 30-60 minutes later than what I planned. Fortunately I have flexible working hours, otherwise I would be screwed. And you could think, then wake up 30 or 60 minutes earlier. But I always choose that extra sleep lol

1.5 hours to the dot. If I have one thing throw me off or distract me out of my routine then I will be that many minutes late. My routine is very temperamental and takes that exact amount of time lol and it includes: wake up, go to restroom, put on a show, brush teeth, wash face, then go to room, put back on my show, do hair, get dressed, cook food, leave. If we are to leave early, there is no rushing, I HAVE to wake up earlier if so, and need to know beforehand otherwise it's not possible unless I throw off my routine and I can't fathom doing that without a meltdown lmao.

Hang my purse on a hook inside the door. Keys, wallet, etc ALWAYS in the purse (well, 59 out of 60 days). Charge the phone in bed. Wake up and take my phone with me. If I got up immediately, 1/2 hour. But I really like to sit in bed and pet my kitties for 1/2 hour. Despite all this, I am pretty much always 15 minutes late because reasons. Every day a new and perfectly valid reason.

The term ‘get ready’ is relative. Sometimes I cut corners, use the bathroom, brush my teeth, put some no need to think clothes on and leave. That takes under 5 min. Most mornings I wake up at 4:30 and walk out the door at 6:40, I have plenty of time.

Wow 5 hours! I have to get my kid to school so that has helped me get in a routine. I also don't eat breakfast. I get up, have a wee, weigh myself, brush teeth, quick shower, dressed, do my hair quick, sometimes makeup but most times I just stick sunglasses on. Go downstairs and clean the kitchen, I hate all the dishes being out from the night before, I have to make my kids packed lunch and I like it all clean before I do.. so I do all that. Then I chased my kid around (do your teeth! Get dressed! Eat your breakfast! Etc) then I sit on a bench by our back doors in the kitchen and have 5 mins to myself drinking a cup of tea and looking out the window. Then, it's off out the door to walk my kid to school. I get up at 7.30 and leave the house at 8.40. During school hols, I get up at like 8.55 and start work at 9! It's totally just my kid that has helped me have a morning routine!

I feel you. Like theoretically if I do all my routines yo my satisfaction it's 45 minutes to 1,5 hours - get up, make coffee, shower, have breakfast while maybe watching a video or planning in my bullet journal, do my hair and makeup and dress, feed the dog, pack errands in the car... But - if I absolutely have to be somewhere I can shower, dress, brush my teeth, do my hair and feed the dog in 15 minutes. But - since I struggle with this horribly all my life I even timed and film myself and apparently I sometimes listen to the news on radio like 2-3 times because I "haven't heard them", then I abandon the coffee maker like 3 times because it's too many steps and I remember something else. I return to change the outfit and I just sit and stare or stand and stare a lot, knowing I need to de something but I'm not sure why. Like I may need to pee or I'm thirsty but I have to stop and think to identify it. I read emails, wonder of to shop or play a game or read an article... I google random stuff I think about and other things so it can easily take 3-4 hours. And I totally got up at 6 to be at work at 8 (45 minutes commute, an hour to get ready) to actually leave the house at 9 or 9:30. Not knowing what actually happened.

I take roughly about 45 minutes---pee, brew coffee, feed pets, wash face/brush teeth, and then dress and do light makeup. The secret is that since I wake up at 5:30am and am a little bitter about that, I leave myself an average of 25-30 minutes after I finish getting ready to go BACK to bed for a little cat nap. I absolutely love it. And then I pop up, put on shoes, grab my stuff, and head out the door.

This morning I washed, dried, curled my hair, make up and dressed in 30 min. I am a hairdresser and like to be put together at work, but I always get it done fast. I hate doing it so just want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Until about 8pm when it’s time to start winding down but my brain in only then ready to go do shit

One thing I have going for me is the fact that I’m a morning person. I only need one alarm and have a very structured morning. I really need ‘morning chill time’ before I hit the day, so after doing my usual rituals I scroll through Reddit before heading out. Mornings is one of the categories I’m good at. That being said, throw me into the wasteland of the afternoon and that’s when restlessness, inattention, and all the usual suspects do their thing. 

All throughout my life all I could hear from people close to me were "What's taking you so long?". "OMG you take almost an hour to take a bath". "You're so slow/" And no matter how much I tried, I always stumble upon these comments. It also takes me almost 5 hours to get ready. At the back of my head, I always have this idea that I can do everything within an hour because my routine, especially my morning routine isn't that especial, I always take the time to do all the important self-care ritual at night before bed, thinking that it will save me time the following day. But still, with a simple morning routine, I still need 5 hours. What I noticed is that, since my morning routine is already simple (in my head), I tend to insert some other "tasks" like my meditation, journaling or even listening to podcast while making breakfast (just some examples of the other tasks that I do), and these tasks/activities distracts me from the reality that I need to get ready before this specific time. My time blindness has always been a struggle, I am not sure what else todo cause I have tried to adjust my wake up time, the routines, but still there's always this voice whispering in my head, "I still have time", even if the reality is far different.

45 minutes. I listed to the same radio station every morning so I know by what segment of the show it's on where I should be in my routine! They even have a 'wake up' song after the news so I set my alarm for 5 minutes before the news, listen to that and the song and then get up. Then keep time to the rest of the show until I need to get out the door!

It doesn't matter how early or late I get up.. I'll do nothing until there's only 20 minutes left to leave the house. I give up trying and just accept it and roll with it

In my best - 1h30m I wake up, brush my teeth, do yoga, shower, take meds put stuff on my face ( i don't wear makeup, just some cleansing etc), have a breakfast, have coffee, do my hair - but lately i just wear them very naturally, get clothes on, pack shits etc. - there is always thst possibility to lost keys some papers etc so the best time. When I don't wash my hair it is usually an hour. When I am groggy (like today) I usually wake up an hour before but start doing things about 30-40 minutes. Less than 30 minutes isn't posssible for me. Honestly the earlier I wake up the better. My best morning routine is when I wake up at 6 and have 4 hours for stuff. I can clean I can do yoga with quality I have time to enjoy my breakfast and coffee etc. But lately I am just too tired. The morning routine is really magical. It can do magic to your days but honestly it is not possible for me to do it the same way everyday and lately I just go with the flow. But I really really feel the yoga effect. I did like 10 minutes and now I try to do like 30 and it is a bless! My body feels much better.

20 minutes max. Meals together before bed, shower before bed if I need it, my work clothes are scrubs so it's not like I have to pick out an outfit, I just make sure I have a clean set available. Morning is just brush teeth, quick skincare, throw the hair up in today's choice of clip or bun, quick walk and feed the dogs and cats, make my coffee while I pack my food for the day, maybe heat up a breakfast to go, and I'm out the door.

In the gentlest of ways and without judgment, 5 hours is insane and definitely something to bring up with your medical providers. It takes me longer to get ready than people without ADHD would probably take to do the same tasks I’m doing, but I’m taking like 20-40 minutes longer. 5 hours is wayyyy over the threshold of “impacting your daily life” and you should consult someone to get support and tactics that might help you.

Well. That's a loaded question.

You guys get ready ?

Two minutes selecting a video to play during shower, 5 minutes shower, 2 minutes for brushing teeth, 3 for hair, 5 getting dressed, 1 minute putting on shoes and collecting phone, wallet, etc. This is if I'm waking up when I normally do which is around 15-30 minutes before work starts and I'm panicking because I'm afraid I'm going to be late.

i had the same issue, then i started eliminating things i had to do in the morning, became night shower person. stopped having breakfast at home (started having early lunches). stopped smoking in the morning (i have realized that my one cigarete with coffee on balcony somehow cost me a half an hour) and in the end i cut it down to reasonable time.

I set my stuff out the night before so I don’t have to make decisions in the morning. If I’m getting ready without a plan in place it can take me up to two hours lol

Me too. My routine is minimal in the morning and I need several hours. I’m not a morning person. So part of it is transitioning from one task to the next. It’s so difficult. I’ve been getting up super super early now and making breakfast and then hanging on the couch with the dog or sometimes I take a little nap. And then go to work. It makes me feel better. But every time someone suggested getting up earlier I mean, duh. So obvious. There’s a reason I wasn’t getting up earlier. I go through phases where I can and I can’t. When I can’t it’s a mad scramble every morning.

There’s a happy medium I’ve found. If I wake up too early it makes me think I have lots of time and I’m not efficient. Too late and I can’t think straight and forget things. Usually about 45 min before I need to leave is perfect. Just the right amount of panic to get the job done well and fast.

3 hours. And I do the bare minimum when it comes to styling my hair. I basically just blow dry it. I don’t wear makeup. I don’t even leave getting my clothes out until morning, I do that the night before. I’ve literally talked to two therapists about this bc it’s been a problem in my life for so long and it wasn’t until I actively started seeking out an ADHD diagnosis that I realized it was related.

Most the day

Oooooh yeah. Definitely. Takes me ages if i don't have a very important/pressing meeting or appointment that i cannot miss waiting for me at the other end. It's like wading through molasses. And even when i'm rushing i'll end up late anyways. 

Doesn’t sleep for days: Go to the bathroom. Brush my teeth. Sometime around noon I take my meds. I start trying at 11. Finish by noon. I don’t eat until dinner. When I sleep: Go to the bathroom. Brush teeth. Take meds, a hr later lol. Don’t eat until dinner. The only thing that ever changes is the content of my day.

2 hours, maybe 1hr 45min on a good day. All I get done during that time is bathroom, showering, and getting dressed. Consistently 11 minutes late to work though, regardless of how much earlier I get up. Time just evaporates.

We’re all cursed by the time blindness beast. I literally cannot be on time to save my life. I’m always trying to fit in one last thing before leaving my home and without fail that one last thing will make me late.

This is so f-ing relatable 🙂‍↕️😪 Staring into space trying to remember what I’m doing and what’s next paired with thinking about every single possible step ahead of me. Anywhere from 2-4 hours each morning 😭 Having a strict routine would help but that will likely never happen since I’ve tried and it still doesn’t feel like autopilot it’s always an insane amount of effort to remember what things your supposed to be doing what order and execute. I’m trying to do the list system now

frr it’s the worst😭 never understood how people can just DO things like one after the other without space inbetween. it feels so overwhelming. swear my clock goes quicker than everyone elses cus i’ll sit down to have a few deep breaths and a sip of water or something between tasks and next thing i know it’s been 30 minutes😭

Normally, I need one hour to wake up and ideally two more hours to shower and get dressed and do my hair & make-up. Today I woke up at 6 to do some work that was overdue before leaving for my meeting at 12. I was late for my meeting because I could not stop trying on clothes. So I canceled the meeting which cause me to relax about getting ready and I was almost also late for my second meeting at 1:30. I did zero work before my meetings, and did not sleep enough. Apparently just so that I could try on every fucking dress I have. Like, why? It does not make sense to me to do this, but I do it anyway. I kinda hyperfixate on finding the perfect outfit for the day and the occasion and the weather. The best part is I ended up wearing the first outfit I tried on. So I wasted at least 6 hours on messing up my closet. This is one of my worst habits that I cannot seem to quit.

I can relate to sometimes just shutting down in the morning and staring at the wall. My mom would scream at me for doing it when I was a kid, and in hindsight, that didn't help at all. Is the thousand-yard stare ADHD or PTSD? It's hard to know.

Forever and a day; I’m still working out the math. Attempts to experience time have been jarring.

45 mins or so to shower, get dressed, make a coffee and get out the door. Then another 10 minutes going back and forth between the car and house for all the things I forgot.

Like 2 and a half, but this is if I I’m just throwing on bullshit, not eating breakfast, and not really doing my hair 😂

honestly i don’t know. time blindness is a bitch 😾

Wait so if you start work at 8AM do you wake up at like 2:30 to start getting ready then??? Do you sleep? Personally I take on average about 30 minutes to get ready, 15-20 if I'm in a rush. But I don't wear makeup and I don't eat breakfast. If I do have breakfast it'll be something small and quick like a bagel, cereal, oatmeal, or maybe eggs of some sort if I've got a little more time.

55 minutes if I have to shower, otherwise 40 minutes. I spend some time after I wake just reading a post or two online to become awake. I brush and shave. Then I put a 10-12 minute YouTube video on while I shower so I know that when the video ends, I should start finishing my shower. I do a very rigid routine every morning, but I still often manage to forget some important part anyhow, like shaving or making my lunch pack.

completely relatable. just got my diagnosis recently but have always been wondering why i take SO DAMN LONG to get ready & get out of the house, while in fact i can easily do my makeup in less than 30 mins (in those time that i have to rush it)

The only correct answer is "Longer than I think it will take."

Do you have hypersomnia as well by any chance? (Extreme daytime sleepiness that can make it hard to “wake up”? That can tied in with ADHD and make this worse.

I have to plan out a solid hour for my morning routine which typically involves waking up, brush teeth, let dog out and feed, coffee & breakfast, shower, dress, and then I’m ready to go. I have conflicts with time blindness so when it feels like it’s only been 20 min it’s actually been twice that and it’s frustrating.

This seems like one of those things where there are two very clear types of adhd. How tf anyone can wake up and have that much time is incomprehensible to me. I wake up 20 minutes before leaving- it used to be less but I’ve started packing a lunch. If I have too much time I will either be bored and waste time until I’ve wasted too much and get tired again. Or I will get distracted and be late. I like to have however much time I need and leave and that’s it. I need the sense of urgency to get me awake or I’d hit snooze for hours.

It depends how well I’ve slept, whether it’s a non working day, office day, or working from home day. This morning I felt awful but reached for my laptop whilst still in bed so was “at work” for 9am

I think you need a therapist to help you through this problem. Don't accept it. One hour should be about right for getting ready, which means you're losing four hours, per day, that you could be using for sleep or productive activities. That's 28 hours a week!

This morning about 4 minutes. Heavy on the snooze, got stuck on some podcast, then went "fuck"! Clothes on, skipped my boxers because I didn't think I had time, grabbed my medication, box of cereal and yogurt, chucked it all in the nearest bag (it was a freezer bag), and flew off on my bike... got distracted by thoughts, slowed down, then went "fuck"! Looked at the time on my phone, and the bus was already due "fuck fuck fuck"! Bolted through traffic, where I was nearly manslaughtered by my bus, hailed it as I locked my bike, and climbed on, bus driver was cracking up laughing. But usually it takes an hour, I can enter a room looking for socks 4 times before my head stars on track. I see something in the room and start doing that instead, then leave without the socks. Yesterday I went to the shops to get milk and bought about $100 worth of other shit, came home without bread. That's why I usually take my medication really early, like 6am, so it has time to kick in before I do the headless chook dance.

5 minutes. 3 to make coffee and 2 to chain smoke nicotine.

Wake up, throw on clothes from my basket of clean laundry, put in contacts, comb hair, brush beard, deodorant, and brush teeth if I allowed myself enough time. I skip breakfast because my brain now doesn’t think it’s important enough to wake up for, so if I want to eat breakfast I grab a protein bar on the way out. 20 minutes at best, typically 30.

I try to get up at 5 to walk my dog, exercise, yoga and shower before I start work at 8:45. I still feel like I run late sometimes because of how long it takes for me to get started lol

Literally 15 mins. I shower the evening before, and go to bed in the clothes I wear to work the next day, aside from pants and shoes which are always in the same place.

Wake up at like 6:15, brush my teeth, throw on whatever the hell I think would be comfy for the day, and be leaving my driveway by 6:25, snack in the car while driving and take morning meds, if all goes well, pull into work 1 or 2 minutes before I’m late and pray to every god that’s ever existed that I make it to the time clock before it ticks over to 7:01. Now does this always happen, no, that’s why I’m on r/ADHD But this is what it’s *supposed* to look like, and for the most part, usually does.

Brush teeth, take pill, pants, shirt, shoes, phone, out... I'd say if I wanted to, I could get out the door in 5 minutes. 15 if I'm looking to be comfortable.

I'm the same. I'm a morning person, and could never understand why it took me so long "to get ready". When I was younger, I needed to be up at least 4 hours prior to departure. I know now that part of it was me staring off into space while doing my tasks. It was like my brain would go into "take your time" mode without me noticing (if that makes sense?). I was diagnosed at 47 and still struggle with it, but it's much better now that I know what's going on.

Five minutes

35 minutes. I wake up at 5 or 7 depending on my shift and I am out the door 40 minutes later. No makeup, hair dries in the car. Only thing I have to remember is mine and my kids meds. Everything is on autopilot after years and years of he same routine.

Minimum 1 hour. I prefer 2

I feel like it varies! depends how lost in my thoughts I am. Some days 30 mins others over an hour.