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How AI Translates ADHD Brain Chaos Into Actionable Tasks
One office worker's simple system for turning overwhelming thoughts into manageable daily wins
The Snail Nest
June 18, 2025
Toby works a regular 9-to-5 office job. He's not building a business or chasing freelance dreams. He's just trying to get through each day without his brain sabotaging him.
He has ADHD. His mind moves fast but rarely in straight lines.
He'll start organizing his desk, remember he needs groceries, check his phone for a shopping list app, see a notification, open Instagram, and hours later realize his desk is still a mess and he's hungry.
The problem wasn't that he didn't know what needed doing. The problem was that everything felt equally urgent and equally impossible to start.
His phone notes app was a graveyard of half-started lists:
"buy batteries call mom gym tomorrow research that thing sarah mentioned email landlord about the..."
Each note started with good intentions and ended in chaos.
He'd write "clean apartment" but then feel overwhelmed because where do you even start? Kitchen? Bedroom? That pile of mail from three weeks ago?
He wasn't struggling with motivation. He was struggling with mental chaos.
The Snail Nest: "So what made you want to use AI?"
Toby: "(laughs) Dude, I had this Sunday where I was feeling super motivated, right? Opened my notes app and just started typing every random thought in my head. Twenty minutes later I'm staring at this absolute clusterfuck of words. Like, what the hell was I even trying to say?"
He didn't download productivity apps or buy a fancy planner. Instead, he started using AI as a translator between his chaotic thoughts and actionable steps.
Every few days, he'd do a brain dump. Just stream-of-consciousness typing everything bouncing around his head. Then feed that into AI to help him make sense of it all.
The AI would organize his jumbled thoughts into clear categories:
"This Week" (immediate priorities)
"When You Have Energy" (bigger projects)
"Eventually" (future tasks)
"Just Random Thoughts" (mental clutter)
More importantly, it would break down overwhelming tasks into smaller, concrete steps.
"Clean apartment" became
Do dishes
Take out trash
Make bed
Deal with mail pile
The Snail Nest: "How much of a difference does this make?"
Toby: "(shrugs) Huge difference, man. I went from staring at shit I couldn't even start to having actual things I could do. Like, I can take out the trash right now. That's not some impossible task, it's just walking to the dumpster."
This wasn't about productivity optimization. It was about translation.
The AI didn't think for him. It helped him see what he was already thinking. His ideas were still his ideas, just organized in a way his brain could actually process.
Every overwhelming Sunday became a productive Monday.
Most people with ADHD don't need more motivation. They need less friction.
AI doesn't have to fix your brain. It just needs to help you work with it instead of against it.
Turn mental chaos into manageable steps.
The Snip Tip
Your brain doesn't have to think in organized lists. Let AI handle the organizing so you can focus on the doing.
Hope you enjoyed today's newsletter.
If you're using AI to solve real problems in your daily activities, hit reply and tell us how. You might just get featured in an upcoming issue ;)
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