Curiosity is the engine.Tools · CBT
Get started on something you’re avoiding
See exactly where one task keeps stalling
Write down a task you keep putting off. Work out what makes beginning difficult, then plan a first action you can try without committing to finish the whole task. You need to begin a report, but the notes are in three places. Your first action could be to put the notes in one folder. You could stop after that and decide later when to write the first paragraph.
Before you type anything
This worksheet does not send, save, or track anything you type. Entries stay in the page until you clear it or leave. Your own browser, keyboard, or extensions may still process what you type, so do not enter anyone's name or identifying details.
What this tool can't do
- Diagnosing or screening for ADHD or any other condition
- Deciding whether medication, therapy, accommodation, or medical assessment is indicated
- Judging motivation, effort, capacity, reliability, or character
- Entering workplace-confidential, clinical, or identifying information
When to stop and use another route
- Stop if the task involves immediate safety, medication, medical symptoms, legal duties, or another decision that needs qualified advice.
- If the task repeatedly cannot be started or is causing meaningful impairment, consider discussing the pattern with an appropriate health professional; this map cannot explain why it is happening.
The questions
The whole exercise stays visible, and every question is optional. Start with the question that catches something useful, leave anything blank, and stop when the exercise stops helping.
Describe the task and its first action
Begin with the task and the smallest observable sign that it has actually started.
Keep it broad and non-identifying: for example, “begin the report” or “make the appointment.”
0 / 500 characters
Write an action someone could see you do. For a report, this could be opening the document and typing its title.
0 / 2,000 characters
Find what makes beginning difficult
Treat the task and environment as things you can inspect, not evidence about your character.
Plan when to try the first action
Make the action, cue, and stopping point concrete enough that you can learn from one attempt.
Write exactly what you will do. You can choose an action that takes only a minute or two.
0 / 2,000 characters
For example: after breakfast at the kitchen table, with the document already open.
0 / 500 characters
Write what happened after you tried
Keep the result as information about this situation rather than turning it into a grade.
Complete this question after the attempt. Record what happened and what you would change next time.
0 / 2,000 characters
What you have so far
Your start-line note
Your own words, kept in order — not a score, an interpretation, or a recommendation.
- START
- No entry yet
- SUPPORT
- No entry yet
- CUE
- No entry yet
- STOP AFTER
- No entry yet
- REVIEW
- No entry yet
This is a structured copy of your own entries. The tool does not score, interpret, diagnose, predict, or recommend.
Keep it or clear it
There is no submit button. Use Print if you choose to keep a copy, then Clear before leaving.
Before you use this to make a decision
Use what happened to adjust the task, the support or the timing. This worksheet does not explain the cause of repeated difficulty starting or determine what care or accommodation you need.
Sources and limitations
What the evidence does not establish
- The supporting trials studied clinician-led, structured interventions for adults diagnosed with ADHD. They do not establish the efficacy of this brief worksheet.
- Start friction is not specific to ADHD and can reflect health, sleep, stress, disability, environment, resources, priorities, or many other factors.
- The exercise produces no score, diagnosis, treatment recommendation, or outcome promise.
- Every prompt is optional; a useful result may simply be that the next condition is still unclear.
The sources behind the structure
- CADDRA — Canadian ADHD Practice Guidelines, 4.1 Edition ↗Canadian clinical guidance; supports a functional and contextual view, not diagnosis by worksheet.
- Solanto et al. (2010) — Efficacy of meta-cognitive therapy for adult ADHD ↗Randomized trial of a structured clinician-led intervention in 88 clinically referred adults.
- Safren et al. (2010) — CBT for medication-treated adults with persistent ADHD symptoms ↗Randomized trial; it does not validate a universal productivity technique.
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