✨ MVP Your Life: Breaking the ADHD Perfectionism Loops

Written By Hannah Desmond

Starting something, finishing something. Apparently, that doesn't feel like climbing a mountain to people who don't have ADHD. Who knew? (Well, them probably). The only reason I’ve managed to finish this actual sentence is because I’ve been applying a core tech principle to my life: the Minimum Viable Product.

As ADHDers, we frequently get stuck in the perfectionism loop → can't start/finish → shame → try to perfect whatever it is → can't start/finish loop. One way I’ve found to break out of it is by borrowing an idea from my days as a software developer: the Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

💡 What MVP Means

In software, an MVP is the simplest version of a product that works. It's unpolished, it's clunky, but it’s functional. From there, you can:

  • learn what actually matters

  • decide if it’s worth continuing

  • build on it if you want/need to

Sometimes you realise you don’t even need the finished product. You also haven’t wasted months perfecting something no one wants.

🌱 Everyday MVPs

So, I’ve taken to applying MVP thinking in my everyday life. I'm actually doing things instead of freezing. It also means if something didn't go perfectly, it's easier to get out of that shame loop if you just consider it to be the MVP.

✍️ Writing

A developer colleague once told me about the concept of the “vomit draft” for writing – just spew words onto a page, then polish it later.

It works because trying to write the perfect opening line is a surefire way to never write anything of substance. Getting the vomit draft, or MVP, down on paper (well, screen) makes starting much less overwhelming. The MVP of writing isn't creating something splendid and fantastic and eloquent right off the bat. It's getting words on a page which can be edited later.

Sometimes, if I have a migraine and I need a screen break, I dictate thoughts into my phone and email it to myself. Then next time I get to my emails, I have an MVP waiting in my inbox. I've iterated on it using ChatGPT (because structuring = yawn!), and then iterated on it with my actual brain and writing skills.

But it was that MVP thinking that got this started (and finished).

🧹 Cleaning

While the concept of vomit draft didn't make sense for other activities, the MVP can be applied to all sorts, like tidying up and cleaning (more yawn!).

Like many ADHDers, I really want my home to be clean and tidy, but somehow everything just ends up in A Big Mess.

The size of the Big Mess can stop me from starting. So I MVP the tidy-up. Just do the bare minimum to get things moving:

  • Get the rubbish off the floor

  • Stick the washing in the basket

  • Put the crockery next to/in the sink

Bam! The room instantly looks so much tidier, and often I end up pottering more. I might even do the washing up…

🍳 Dinner (ADHD + migraines)

Cooking a “proper dinner” feels like a huge job some nights (most nights). But I know I need to eat a proper meal or I can end up with a migraine. (Which is very irritating because I only just had dinner yesterday, I shouldn't need to eat AGAIN).

So, what’s the MVP dinner?
Carbs + protein + veg.

Current go-to:

  • Potato in the air fryer (blessed be the air fryer)

  • Some chickpeas or a lump of cheese

  • Quick tomato sauce whizzed up in the NutriBullet (blessed be the nutribullet)

I wouldn't feed it to dinner guests. Probably. But it is dinner. And it works and I am much less likely to order a takeaway.

🚀 Why It Helps

“Break it into small steps” never really worked for me. It felt mega boring, like I had to whip out a planner before even doing anything. MVPing stuff is different because it lets me just start, however scrappy and messy that is.

Doing the MVP of any given task reframes a big, overwhelming task into something manageable. Since MVPing my life (personal and work), I started coaching ADHDers before I finished my website, I started booking clients without the perfect booking system or payment system, and I've written this article! I've kept moving the needle. It's imperfect, but it's consistent.

✨ The Spirit of MVP

Do what works enough right now. Learn by doing. Build later if it matters.

🧠 Where could MVP thinking take the pressure off for you this week?

Hannah Desmond