Resetting with neurodiversity
Have you ever had one of those days when everything seems to go wrong, and all your well-laid plans fall apart? It can be overwhelming, frustrating, and hard to know where to start. That is why having a strategy for resetting with neurodiversity matters: not just in theory, but in the moment when you actually need it.
My need for resetting varies throughout the day, depending on fluctuating energy levels. The strategies below are the ones I come back to. Some are practical, some are physical, and some are about connection. The key is knowing which one works for you before you need it, so you are not trying to figure it out when you are already overwhelmed.
TL;DR: Resetting with neurodiversity means having a personalised plan to get back on track when your day goes sideways. This post covers six practical strategies: taking a break and breathing, skipping, reaching out, and looking after yourself.
Resetting with neurodiversity: strategies that actually work
Take a break: When you are overwhelmed and unable to make progress, the most effective first step is usually the simplest. Step away from the task. Engage in something different, even briefly. The key is to have a plan for the break itself so it doesn’t drift into activities that leave you feeling worse. A deliberate break is productive. An unplanned one often is not.
Controlled breathing: It might sound obvious, but it works. When you focus on your breathing, it interrupts the loop of other thoughts competing for your attention. You do not need to do it for long, and you do not need a yoga mat. Even two minutes of focused breathing is often enough to create a pause and help your mind begin to settle.
Prioritise one thing: When everything feels equally urgent, the answer is not to tackle everything. Pick the single most important task. Complete it. The sense of achievement that comes from finishing one thing, however small, creates momentum. It does not matter what comes next: just identifying and completing one task is often enough to break the paralysis.
Skip: Skipping was my lockdown discovery, and it has stayed part of my daily routine ever since. It is almost impossible to think about other things while skipping, which makes it one of the most effective mental resets I have found. Two to three minutes is enough to clear your head and shift your state. I wrote more about why this works in Skipping and Neurodiversity.
Reach out: A short conversation can move you forward faster than an hour of trying to think your way through a problem alone. This works particularly well if you are an external processor: someone who thinks out loud and uses conversation to make sense of things. External Processing and Neurodiversity explores this in more detail. The practical point is to have a short list of people you can contact when you are stuck: not for ongoing support, just for the kind of quick conversation that reorients you.
Look after yourself: this is the foundation on which everything else rests. Sleep, movement, food, and boundaries around when you start and stop work all affect your resilience when things go wrong. When your physical reserves are low, even small setbacks can feel catastrophic. When they are solid, you bounce back faster. For more on this, Capacity and Neurodiversity is worth reading alongside this post.
Building your reset plan
The strategies above work best when you have decided in advance which ones to use. When you are already in the middle of an overwhelming moment is the wrong time to choose. Pick two or three that suit how you are wired, and write them down somewhere you will actually find them.
Think of this post as the starting point for your own reset toolkit. The goal is not to avoid difficult days: it is to move through them more quickly when they arrive.
If you would like to explore this further with support, get in touch.
Related reading
Why skipping works as a reset tool, and how to build it into your day without it feeling like another thing on your list.
External Processing and Neurodiversity
If you’re wondering about external processing, this post explains why thinking out loud works so well for some neurodivergent people.
Understanding your capacity is what makes resetting sustainable. This post explores how to think about energy and output over time.
Stay connected
If this post was useful, there is plenty more where it came from. Every month, we share practical insights on neurodiversity, management, and how to make workplaces work better for everyone. Sign up to the newsletter here.