ADHD in Meetings: Tips for Staying Present, Taking Notes, and Following Through
For most professionals, meetings can be difficult, but for people with ADHD, they can be a confusing tangle of expectations, ideas, and words. If you often find yourself zoning out during meetings, missing key points, or feeling uncertain about what to do next, you’re not alone. These experiences represent the unique way the ADHD brain regulates focus and absorbs knowledge, rather than being an indication of disinterest or a lack of talent. With the right support and productivity hacks for ADHD professionals, meetings can become far more manageable. In this blog, we explore how you can navigate ADHD and workplace productivity with greater presence, clarity, and follow-through by working with your ADHD traits, not against them.
Why Meetings Are So Draining for ADHD Brains
For adults with ADHD, frequent meetings present a mix of challenges all at once, i.e., retaining attention, information overload, and distracting thoughts competing for space in your mind. You might be totally focused on some minute detail and miss the larger picture, or your mind might be racing ahead to your agenda while someone is still speaking.
This isn’t a judgment of your skill. This is a recognition that the ADHD brain sees and categorises differently. And in high-stakes environments, like meetings, it needs help, not shame.
Before the Meeting: How to Set Yourself Up for Success
One of the most effective grounding tools is preparation. A few small shifts before a meeting can improve focus and reduce anxiety:
- Clarify the agenda: If it’s not given ahead of time, request it. Understanding what to anticipate assists your brain in anchoring to order.
- Write down what you need to share or ask: Having ideas developed in advance alleviates the stress of thinking in real-time.
- Minimise distractions: Pick a quieter area, shut off irrelevant tabs or alerts, and have a notepad or app ready just for the meeting.
- Use movement to manage energy: Taking a brief walk or stretching before sitting down can calm racing thoughts and increase presence.
These subtle changes are effective ADHD focus strategies for adults that are proven to work. You’re not attempting to become someone else, but establishing conditions that help you overcome ADHD professional challenges and enable you to flourish.
During the Meeting: Staying Present & Focused
It’s natural to feel distracted and your attention to drift. But it’s important to have strategies that can help you gently guide your focus back when you need to. Here’s how you can do it:
- Mindful doodle or fidget: For most ADHD minds, subtle motion (like doodling or fidgeting with a fidget toy) actually enhances rather than hinders focus.
- Note down keywords instead of sentences: This is what makes your brain work without overloading the working memory.
- Make use of visual aids: Colour coding or mind maps during the meeting will enable you to follow along than linear notes.
- Take time-outs for yourself: Standing up for a minute or taking a mental pause during longer meetings can provide you with an opportunity to refocus.
Being “present” doesn’t have to look like perfect eye contact and stillness. ADHD and workplace productivity often need to be perceived from a distinct lens, and that is okay.
Taking Notes That Actually Work for You
Note-taking is not one-size-fits-all, especially for neurodivergent professionals. Experiment with formats that suit the way your brain processes information. Here are some ADHD note-taking methods that can help:
- Bullet points over blocks of text: Clear and brief.
- Voice notes or audio transcriptions: If writing feels like a distraction, make use of apps like Google Recorder to jot down important points.
- Make use of dual screens or split view: This allows you to participate and take notes without constantly switching windows.
Mark action items in the moment: Mark follow-ups in colours or symbols so you won’t forget later.
Digital tools are a great note-taking support tool without becoming an information dump that doesn’t make sense, and can help you organise your thoughts better.
After the Meeting: Following Through Without Forgetting
The real challenge isn’t sitting silently through the meeting; it’s what comes afterwards: remembering follow-through, following through, and staying organised. Here are some suggestions to make it simpler:
- Create a 5-minute buffer: Spend five minutes at the end of every meeting reviewing and translating your notes into action items.
- Use only one task management system: Notion, Todoist, or even a paper planner; all that matters is that you use one. Consistency beats complexity.
- Remind yourself immediately: If a deadline is referred to, make a follow-up or put a reminder on your calendar immediately.
- Check in with a colleague if needed: There’s no shame in saying, “Just checking: was I in charge of that?” Clarity is empowering.
Support is not about keeping you from getting things done; it’s about building momentum in a manner that is sustainable, inspiring, and congruent with how you prefer to work.
Conclusion
ADHD and workplace productivity don’t have to collide. Once you learn how your brain works and apply strategies that honour your concentration style, not only can you survive meetings, but you can conduct them with confidence and brevity.
Keep in mind that productivity is not a matter of doing more. It’s a matter of discovering scaffolding that leverages your ability. You don’t need to fix yourself; you need to find what fits you.