Quick Dopamine Hit

• Before any social event this week, write down one sentence: what am I trying to get from this? If you can't name it, that's data, not failure.
• After socialising, give yourself a specific recovery window — not 'I'll rest' but 'I have until 4pm with no demands on me.' Name it out loud so your brain treats it as real.
• When the invisible wall hits mid-conversation, excuse yourself for 90 seconds. Splash cold water on your wrists. This is not avoidance. It is a nervous system reset.

Quick Dopamine Hit

• Put your workout shoes somewhere you will physically trip over them — not near the door, directly in your path. Physical obstacle beats intention every single time.
• Commit to two minutes of movement only. Set a timer. No workout plan, no routine goal — just two minutes of anything. Walking in a circle counts. The dopamine hit from completing that fires the start signal for more.
• Text one person what you are about to do before you do it, not after. The social stakes from that one message are enough to make your brain register the task as real and imminent.

Quick Dopamine Hit

• Write down three specific things your partner does that no one else in your life does. If you struggle to name them, that is data. If they come quickly, so is that.
• Notice whether the flatness you feel is global — affecting your hobbies, friendships, and work too — or specifically relational. Global flatness usually points to dopamine depletion, not a bad relationship.
• Before any major conversation with your partner, wait 48 hours from the moment you first feel the urge to 'have a talk.' ADHD emotional urgency peaks and often shifts significantly in that window.

Quick Dopamine Hit

• Before a social event, pick one topic you'll hold back today, not because it's shameful, but as proof to your brain that you have the choice. Keep it simple: 'I won't share the full backstory of X today.'
• When the post-event cringe spiral starts, set a 5-minute timer and write down exactly what you're replaying. Once it's on paper, you're no longer processing it on a loop. Close the notebook.
• After you catch yourself oversharing in real time, don't apologize or backpedal. Simply redirect by asking the other person a genuine question about themselves. The conversation rebalances naturally.

Quick Dopamine Hit

• When you feel a wave of emotion coming, name the input overload out loud or in writing: 'My system is at capacity right now.' This interrupts the shame spiral before it starts.
• After an emotional spike, give yourself a 20-minute physical window before any conversation or decision. Walk, stretch, or change rooms. Your processing buffer needs space to clear before language is useful.
• Keep a one-line log for one week: note what input preceded the overwhelm (sound, tone, social pressure, task pile). Patterns will appear within days and give you a warning system you can actually use.

Quick Dopamine Hit

• Pick one fixed anchor in your day — same time, same location — and let everything else be variable. The anchor tells your autistic nervous system 'this is safe' while the open structure gives your ADHD room to move.
• When you feel the urge to blow up your routine, pause for ten minutes before acting. Ask: is this the ADHD needing novelty, or is the routine genuinely wrong? Often the urge passes; if it does not, change one element rather than the whole system.
• Design novelty within sameness: keep the same morning sequence but rotate the content inside it, such as a different podcast or breakfast, while preserving the same order of events. Both nervous systems get something without either one winning outright.