The ADHD Focus Friend

No, it's not. The ADHD Focus Friend book is designed as a print companion to our popular ADHD planner. I like to say they meet different needs — or moods, depending on the day. This book is quite different to the Future ADHD Digital Planner in terms of layout and includes a lot of colour (it's been described by one person as “a huge dopamine hug”). Where the Future ADHD planner gives you hundreds of templates to organize your ADHD/AuDHD brain and a few pages that explain how your brain works, this book offers you a far deeper foundational understanding of how the ADHD brain and nervous system works from a new, shame-free perspective. It's a great resource if you're new to using the Future ADHD planner, or have struggled with negative self talk around how you organize (or don't organize yourself to meet neuro-normative standards). This book will show you that giving yourself permission to love your inconsistent, creative ADHD brain and its quirks, and use your strengths to your advantage will trump any traditional productivity or willpower hack out there.

So many books on ADHD are clinical and emotionless... I wanted to design a warm, full-colour book with illustrations and lots of graphics that would represent the beauty, creativity, passion and energy of the ADHD brain. Many ADHDers struggle to read books, so I refined and edited to make sure it was bright and stimulating the whole way through, while also being clear and easy to digest.

My book includes neurodivergent-accommodating features like:

• Colour coding to reduce load on working memory
• A space to test your fave pens before you write in it
• Science-backed explanations of the ADHD brain & nervous system 
• Deep dives that go beyond the basic ADHD 101, on topics like: emotions as habits, how to regulate the nervous system, the wisdom of procrastination, hyperfocus 'long haul flights', 10 types of rest, the fear of losing the "spark" and more...
• ADHD stickers (because dopamine! 🌈)
• Full-page illustrations to keep you engaged
• A detailed colour-coded contents page and a simple visual one for when you're overwhelmed & stuck
• Undated daily planning pages to reduce brain fog and chaos
• Extra templates specifically to support ADHD brains (like #ADHDtax, Cart: the 24 hour rule, Parcel tracker, New friends and Div/Con planning, plus more!)

This book is for anyone who is ADHD, AuDHD or neurodivergent - diagnosed or self-identifying. It's aimed at adults and teens, though kids might benefit from it too with the support of an adult. If you're a teacher, psychologist, parent or grandparent it's also a fantastic way to understand the ADHDers in your life.

I wrote this book to show you that feeling at home in your brain, becoming more emotionally regulated and in tune with your ADHD/AuDHD nervous system will have a bigger impact on productivity than any other quick 'hack' out there. And in the exercises and journal prompts inside The ADHD Focus Friend, I give you tools and strategies to do that. 

Our ADHD planner has just 7 science explainers, but first half of the book comprises more than 120 science-backed pages that cover everything from masking to body doubling; RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria) to demand avoidance. I've also designed each page as a sort of mini chapter in and of itself, so you can start the book anywhere you like, or pick a page that you're interested in (you don't have to read it sequentially, although you can of course!). 

Throughout the book I explain why popular productivity advice like 'eating the frog' or white-knuckling it often creates more frustration and shame for neurodivergents… because willpower only takes you so far. Unlike neurotypicals, ADHD productivity and organization is most impacted by factors like:

• The unique wiring of the ADHD brain (which has strengths and weaknesses that can present in extremes, making consistency difficult)
• Whether or not you're emotionally dysregulated
• Whether your nervous system is in fight or flight
• Our unique ADHD approach to purpose, passion and goal-setting
• And more!

Once we reframe productivity and organization through these lenses, the shame lifts and we can start to work with what feels intuitive and best for our brains & bodies. 

The second half of the book offers you a chance to practice this new approach to organization — working in cooperation your brain & body — with a gentle introduction to planning. It includes undated guilt-free planning pages so you can go hard in hyperfocus or be inconsistent. The 'Daily Focus Friend' templates and the never-before-seen 'Take 10 every 10' reflection pages give you an opportunity to practice what you've learned, and then take your new mindset to the Future ADHD planner (or any other planner that works for your brain). 

The book comes with a selection of our most popular ADHD templates at the back (like New Friends, Impulse Spending and Div/Con planning), full colour illustrations and a gorgeous sticker sheet.