The ADHD Back to School Hack No One Is Posting About

I had every intention of writing you a big, impressive post last week about all the ways I wrap my brain around the back-to-school mental load. It never happened. The truth is, I was exhausted.

Every creator I follow right now is posting lunch ideas and after school routines and back-to-school hacks, and I want to make things easier for you too. But I also want to be honest with you, because that is kind of the whole point of why I show up online.

So here is the best back-to-school hack nobody else is telling you: give yourself permission to recover the first week back to school. If you’re feeling depleted, you need to address that first before moving in to super mom planning mode.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that summer always gives me what I call creative constipation. As summer winds down (my kids go back today), I feel it big time. My brain is overflowing with ideas I want to have implemented yesterday, but the lack of deep focus time all summer has taken its toll.

To be completely honest, I’m exhausted, cranky and dysregulated after the last 2.5 months of 24/7 mom mode. And though there are so many things I want to start scratching off my to do list, I know that jumping in with two feet when I’m this worn out, is never a good idea.

Here is my personal example of not taking my own advice. A few weeks ago I decided to launch a challenge. First it was a 30 day bootcamp. Then it turned into a 6 week mini Master the Mundane. Anxious to get back into my creative rhythm, I started putting it into motion even though something felt off.

This past weekend, I checked into a hotel by myself to get it all set up because I was feeling beyond anxious and frustrated about it. A little time alone, and it became clear that I needed to shift the whole focus and push back the start date.

I have so much more clarity now, and I am not just excited to sell something. I am excited to build something that fills a real need I have been noodling on for years. Rest and alone time bring me clarity, every single time. Exhaustion and dysregulation bring me subpar solutions that never stick.

So as eager as I am to implement some new routines for the kids and press GO on all my big ideas the second I’m back from drop off, I am giving myself this week to recover and transition back to our new normal.

I’m going to prioritize things like sleep, working out, getting alone time, time outside and maybe having a full conversation with my husband. I’m going to focus on supporting my kids as they transition back to school. I’m launching this new program but taking some time to really think through every piece of it.

I’m not going to put my foot immediately on the gas pedal for all my ideas for business or parenting because I know I need a chance to rebound after a summer of little alone time. Not just because I’m tired but because I know my ideas and my execution will be 100 times better if I allow myself that indulgence.

And though I’m going to go in to detail here with how I get organized for the new year, my advice to you is to focus first on rest, recovery and transition and then after you’re through that first week, carve out some time to work through these steps.

Here is why back-to-school planning feels so heavy for an ADHD brain, and it is not because you are behind or bad at this.

Back-to-school is not one task. It is dozens of tiny ones landing all at once: the school calendar, each kid’s activity schedule, medical appointments, teacher emails, supply lists, and forms that come home in backpacks with zero warning. Every single one of those is a decision, and every decision costs working memory you do not have an endless supply of, especially the week after summer wrecked your routine.

That is not a disorganization problem. That is a mental load problem, and it hits hard this time of year.

Here is the high level shape of how I deal with it:

• I get everything out of my head in one messy brain dump before I try to organize any of it.

• I build one visual, at-a-glance view of the whole season instead of trying to hold dates in my memory.

• I update my electronic calendar with all pick-ups, drop offs, and ongoing activities as recurring events.

• I update all of my recurring alarms.

• I update my Mom Admin list for the season.

🔒 Okay, here is where it gets good. Behind the paywall, I am handing you my actual back-to-school playbook, start to finish. Here is everything you get:

• 🗓️ The exact brain dump I do before I ever touch a calendar. Not a fancy system, just the messy, everything-out-of-my-head method, plus the AI prompt if you would rather have it organized for you.

• 🎨 A peak at my visual calendar, color by color. The system that turns “I feel like I’m forgetting something” into “nope, we’re good,” including exactly how I build it.

• 🧠 The weekly flow prompt that walks through my hardest trade-offs with me instead of just handing me a pretty table. This is the one that stops me from overcommitting before the semester even starts.

• ⏰ The actual alarms sitting on my phone right now, word for word, and the rule I use to decide which transitions earn one so I do not drown myself in notifications.

• 🤝 The exact email I sent Mark about pickups and drop-offs with Mark, so we are not renegotiating whose job it is every single morning.

• 🍎 My real afterschool recovery plan, down to the snack, the timing, and the early dinner hour that changed our whole house.

• 📋 How I keep visuals, screen time, and sensory accommodations running without me having to enforce any of it in real time.

• 🧾 My Mom Admin list for the season, plus the AI prompt that interviews you through it instead of leaving you stuck on a blank page.