The Paralysis Pattern Tracker

You are not Broken. You are wired differently.
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🧊 The Paralysis Pattern Tracker

A worksheet from ND Hive. Companion to “What is ADHD Paralysis?”

What this is

ADHD paralysis is not laziness. It is your brain hitting an activation wall it cannot scale on willpower. Map a recent paralysis episode here so you can see the shape of your own pattern. Once you see it, you can intervene earlier next time.

Takes 10 to 12 minutes. Use it within 48 hours of a paralysis moment.

The 4 types of ADHD paralysis

Different paralysis types need different interventions. First, identify which one hit you.

1. Task paralysis. You know what to do. You cannot start.
2. Decision paralysis. Too many options. Brain locks. You do nothing.
3. Mental paralysis. You’re frozen in thought, looping, can’t stop the spiral.
4. Choice paralysis. You face a binary, both feel impossible, you stall.

Which type was your most recent episode?

☐ Task · ☐ Decision · ☐ Mental · ☐ Choice · ☐ Combination of: ___________

Map a recent moment

Pick one specific paralysis episode from the last 48 hours.

Step 1: The trigger

What was the task or decision?

___________________________________________

What were you doing 10 minutes before paralysis hit?

___________________________________________

Step 2: The first signal

How did you know paralysis was setting in? (Check all that apply.)

• ☐ Heaviness in body
• ☐ Brain fog or “static”
• ☐ Sudden urge to do something else (anything else)
• ☐ Got hungry / thirsty / sleepy out of nowhere
• ☐ Started scrolling phone
• ☐ Tabs and windows started opening but I wasn’t doing anything
• ☐ Inner monologue started repeating
• ☐ Time passed without me registering it
• ☐ Other: ___________

Step 3: The peak

How long were you stuck?

___________________________________________

What did you DO during the paralysis? (Be honest. No judgment.)

___________________________________________

What was the inner monologue saying?

___________________________________________

Step 4: The break

What eventually broke you out of it?

• ☐ Deadline forced me through
• ☐ Someone interrupted me
• ☐ I got hungry enough to have to act
• ☐ I took medication / caffeine
• ☐ I changed environments
• ☐ I broke it into a smaller piece
• ☐ Someone was with me (body double)
• ☐ I never broke out, it ended only because the day ended
• ☐ Other: ___________

How did you feel afterward?

___________________________________________

Pattern check

This is the [number] time this month I’ve experienced this exact type of paralysis:

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5+ · I lose count

The trigger seems to be (circle one or more):

Too many options · Boring task · Hard task · Emotionally loaded task · Task someone else assigned · Task I assigned myself · A specific time of day · A specific environment · Other: ___________

The earliest point I could have intervened (if I’d noticed):

___________________________________________

One thing that has worked at least once to break paralysis:

___________________________________________

The intervention plan

Match your paralysis type to its intervention.

If task paralysis: Body double. Externalize the demand. Tell another human “I am about to start [task]” and let them witness. The witness changes the nervous system math.

If decision paralysis: Reduce options to two. If you cannot choose between two, flip a coin. Notice your gut reaction to the result. That gut reaction is your real preference.

If mental paralysis: Get out of your head. Movement. Cold water. Talking to a regulated human. Stop trying to think your way through. The loop ends with sensation, not analysis.

If choice paralysis: Make the smaller, more reversible choice first. The wrong small choice is recoverable. The right large choice that never gets made is not.

This week’s commitment

Pick ONE.

• ☐ When paralysis hits, send a “I’m stuck” message to one specific person before doing anything else
• ☐ Add one Hive Session this week so I have built-in body doubling for at least one stuck moment
• ☐ Pre-decide: when I hit paralysis, I will [specific action] before scrolling
• ☐ Other: ___________

Reminder

Paralysis is information, not failure. It tells you the cost of the task is higher than your current capacity. The fix is not “more capacity” through willpower. The fix is reducing the cost (smaller piece, scaffold, witness) or borrowing capacity (body double, co-regulation).

Stop diagnosing yourself as broken. You’re walled, not broken.

Borrow capacity from real humans. Try a Hive Session free for 7 days →

Back to “What is ADHD Paralysis?” →

A worksheet from ND Hive. Built for people who have been called lazy when they were actually frozen.