Boomerang Tasks: A Drain on Your ADHD Brain!
There’s a specific kind of task that tends to drain a lot of mental energy, especially for women with ADHD who often manage more of the mental load in their relationships. I call them boomerang tasks.
A boomerang task is something where you’ve done your part… but it’s not finished.
- You submitted the paperwork.
- You called the insurance company.
- You emailed the teacher.
- You requested the refill.
Now you have to wait on someone else to do their part.
But if the other person doesn’t follow through, it's a problem. That means you still have to track it, because if their part doesn't happen, you deal with the consequences.
That’s a heavy load to carry — especially when your brain is already juggling a lot.
Why These Are So Hard
With ADHD and executive function challenges, we often try to use our brains as storage devices. We tell ourselves to remember to follow back up on something later, but holding unfinished tasks takes up mental space. When you see it sitting on your to-do list, but you can't actually do anything about it, it's this nagging stressor you can't unload yet.
You can’t check it off, but you’re still responsible for it.
A Simpler Way to Handle It
Instead of letting this one live on your daily to-do list, try this:
Make your best guess on when you should hear back and then schedule that like an appointment in your calendar.
When your "appointment" comes, you can cancel it if it's already resolved. If not, that's your time to take the next step (or reschedule it to a time when you can). Boomerang tasks are unavoidable, but we can approach them in a way that saves our mental energy and keeps important things falling through the cracks!
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