Coached by Caitlynn · Free Checklist

The ADHD
Morning Routine

5 things your brain needs before 10am.

How you start your morning sets your brain chemistry for the rest of the day. These five things take less than 30 minutes — and they change everything.

📋 Screenshot this or save as PDF — tick each one off every morning

Your morning checklist

1 First 30 mins

Protein within 30 minutes of waking

Your brain needs dopamine from the moment you wake up. Protein provides the amino acids that build it. Skipping breakfast tanks your dopamine — and your focus — before the day has even started.

Try: Eggs · Greek yoghurt · Smoked salmon · Protein shake · Cottage cheese. Anything with at least 20-30g protein.
2 First 15 mins

No phone for the first 15 minutes

Starting your day in someone else's world — notifications, social media, emails — immediately overwhelms the ADHD brain before it has warmed up. You are absorbing everyone else's priorities before you have set your own.

Try: Put your phone face down until after breakfast. Give yourself 15 minutes of quiet before the noise begins.
3 Within first hour

Write down your one non-negotiable for today

Not a to-do list. One thing. The single task that — if you do nothing else today — makes today a win. ADHD brains get overwhelmed by lists and shut down. One thing activates focus without paralysis.

Try: Write it on a Post-it note and stick it somewhere you can see it. Make it specific — not "be productive" but "finish the proposal by 2pm."
4 Any time before 10am

Move your body — even for 10 minutes

Exercise raises dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin — the exact neurotransmitters ADHD brains are most deficient in. Ten minutes of movement in the morning can improve focus and emotional regulation for hours.

Try: A walk around the block · 10 minutes of stretching · A quick bodyweight circuit · Anything that gets you moving. It does not have to be a full workout.
5 Before you leave the house

Say one kind thing to yourself out loud

ADHD brains carry a loud inner critic. Before the day gets going — before the distractions, the decisions, the potential for things to go sideways — give your brain one kind, true thing to hold onto.

Try: "I am showing up today and that is enough." · "I am doing my best and my best is good enough." · It does not have to be grand. It just has to be kind.

"The morning sets the brain.
Set it well."

Want the full system built around your ADHD brain?

@coachedbycaitlynn · The Rewired Method