Why a cup of tea can be productive

Written by May Cadman

When I ran my wedding cake business, I made countless cups of tea and most of them went cold. I’d make a cuppa, take a sip, remember something urgent, answer a message, begin another task, solve a problem, notice the untouched mug an hour later.

And repeat the process.

It wasn’t just that I was busy. My attention was constantly being pulled in different directions. I would move from one task to another, trying to keep everything going at once, and then try to force myself back to what I had originally been doing.

At the time, I thought this was just part of running a business. But what I didn’t realise was how much energy I was using trying to force my focus back once it had already gone.

Now, I’m not saying this is unusual. People with busy lives can relate to cold cups of tea all the time this is not an exclusively neurodivergent experience. But the difference is often in the cost. For some ADHD brains, repeatedly pushing on without pause can tip more quickly into overwhelm, stress, emotional reactivity or mental paralysis.

And I was busy. Truly busy. Running a business brought real pressure: deadlines, clients, deliveries, long days, constant responsibility.

But looking back, I can see something else was happening too.

It was not only that life was busy, my mind was busy. There were always mental tabs open. Things to remember. Problems to solve. Ideas arriving at the same time as practical demands. A constant sense that something needed doing now.

For many people with ADHD, the challenge is not a lack of attention. It can be an excess of it. Too many things pulling at once. Too many thoughts competing for priority. Too much being noticed at the same time.

When that happens, it can become harder to continue, harder to choose, harder to settle, and harder to think clearly.

At the time, I assumed the answer was to push harder. I had no other option - there was work to be done, so you got on with it. If I felt overwhelmed, I sped up. If I felt behind, I tried harder. If I felt tired, I carried on. It worked until it didn’t and I burned out.

What I understand now is that many of those moments were exactly when I needed to pause and reset. The cold tea was never really about the tea. It was about the lack of pause. But I had no language for that then.

I thought slowing down meant losing momentum and I thought rest was something you earned after everything was finished. It turns out the opposite can often be true. That is why breaks are not always a luxury. Sometimes they are part of staying well and functioning well.

Years later, in a much quieter time of my life, I noticed something important.

Even without the pressure of running a company, my brain still sometimes needed a reset. I could be sitting at my desk to work or study, only to find myself drifting. Reading the same paragraph three times. Looking at the news. Checking messages. Feeling cross with myself for not simply being able to concentrate (that self-criticism taking far more energy than the task itself!).

It was then that I began experimenting with something different. Instead of forcing focus once it had gone, I tried pausing. Sometimes it was making a cup of tea and actually drinking it. Sometimes stepping outside. Sometimes folding laundry, walking around the block, or doing something simple for a few minutes.

And yes, when life feels full, a pause can seem like the very thing you do not have time for. Sometimes even making a cup of tea can feel like another task. But often, that is the moment it may help most.

A short pause can help the nervous system settle. It can calm the feeling of overwhelm and create enough space for the next step to become clearer.

There is often something else happening in that pause too: kindness. Stopping for a few minutes can be a quiet way of saying to yourself, ‘I’m listening.’ Instead of meeting struggle with criticism, we meet it with care.

That can feel deeply grounding. We are no longer battling our own mind, but beginning to work with it.

Many ADHD brains work well in shorter bursts, with pauses in between. Productivity does not always come from pushing through. Sometimes it comes from stepping away at the right moment.

Creativity can work like this too. Ideas need energy, but they also need space. A mind that is overloaded can struggle to shape thoughts into something tangible. A mind that has had a moment to breathe can often find its way back to clarity.

These days, my tea breaks are far more intentional. That may sound like a small thing. But often the smallest changes carry the biggest meaning. Back then, the tea went cold - these days, I drink it.

So if your mind feels busy today, try not to judge it too quickly. Pause first. Then return. And if the cup of tea happens to be in the sun, all the better.

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