Bitesized Strategies: Artificial Urgency - Start with Deadlines

Ever wonder why you can’t start a task until the last minute? Entrepreneur and ADHD advocate Colin McIntosh discovered that instead of waiting for motivation to magically appear, he creates artificial urgency — using earlier deadlines to trigger his brain into action before panic takes over. In this episode, we explore why this simple strategy works so well for ADHD and how you can use it yourself. 

Key Points: 

• Why the ADHD brain often needs urgency to get started.
•  Colin McIntosh's strategy of creating artificial deadlines. 
•  Practical ways to build urgency into everyday life. 
•  How artificial urgency helps overcome time blindness and procrastination. 
•  Designing your environment to work with your ADHD brain.

COLIN MCINTOSH S2E12: https://adhdifference.nz/s2e12-building-empires-leaning-into-adhd-strengths-guest-colin-mcintosh/

ADHDIFFERENCE: https://adhdifference.nz/artificial-urgency/

Thanks for listening. 

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 ℹ️ DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or ADHDifference. Read More

Transcript

JULIE: Have you ever noticed you can spend 3 weeks avoiding a task and then somehow finish it in the last 3 hours before it's due? If you have ADHD, you're not lazy. Your brain simply responds differently to time. And many of us don't fully engage with the task until there's a genuine sense of urgency. The good news, that urgency doesn't have to be real. Today's strategy is about creating artificial urgency, giving your brain a deadline it can respond to before the panic sets in.

Welcome to ADHDifference Strategies. I'm Julie Legg, your host, author of The Missing Piece and an ADHD advocate. Over the years, I've had the privilege of speaking with incredible guests, unpacking real life strategies, mindsets, and tools for navigating ADHD. This bite-sized series brings those insights together. Short, practical, and ready to use.

Today's strategy comes from my conversation with entrepreneur Colin McIntosh. Colin discovered that instead of waiting for motivation to magically appear, he creates situations where urgency naturally exists. Let's hear Colin explain it in his own words. 

COLIN: "No, I know it's so hard to get started. Like that's my biggest symptom is like getting started, getting that ball rolling is so difficult when there's no urgency and there's no deadline for me. So, like creating my own deadlines, is kind of the way that I would phrase that strategy. And I've noticed like if I'm working somewhere that closes at 7:00 p.m. or 3:00 a.m. or whatever it is, and I have to get out of there when they close it, and I've got to finish up my work and go home, and I know I'm not going to be able to restart my work once I do that. Now, I've created this sort of artificial deadline for myself. Okay, I have to finish by 2 in the morning or I have to finish by 7:00 p.m. or whatever it is. And I think that that is a really good strategy, too, is like create those artificial deadlines for yourself." 

JULIE: Colin chooses to work in environments such as cafes or bars with specific closing times. When closing time arrives, he has to pack up and leave whether the work is finished or not. That simple closing time becomes a deadline his ADHD brain responds to. And the clever part of the urgency is it is not fake. The cafe or bar literally is closing. But the work itself may not actually be due until much later. But by creating an earlier deadline, Colin gets the benefit of urgency without the stress of a last-minute crisis. Instead of relying on panic, he's designed structure. 

This strategy is especially useful when you keep putting off starting important tasks. You always seem to work best at the last minute. Half the day disappears without making progress. Open-ended projects feel impossible to begin. You know what you need to do, but you just can't seem to get started. If you're constantly waiting for the pressure of a real deadline, artificial urgency can help bring that motivation forward. 

When it comes to practicing the strategy, work somewhere that naturally has a finishing point, like a cafe or a library. Create a hard stop. Book an appointment. Organize a school pickup or plan to meet someone. Give yourself a reason the work has to stop. Schedule a meeting with yourself. Block time in your calendar and treat it like any other appointment. Tell someone about your deadline. External accountability often makes self-imposed deadlines feel much more real. Use a visible countdown. Set a timer so your brain can actually see time passing instead of simply guessing. 

Many people with ADHD experience time blindness, making it difficult to judge the passing of time or connect today's actions with future consequences. Because motivation is closely linked to dopamine, the ADHD brain often waits until pressure creates enough stimulation to get moving. Artificial deadlines provide external structure that makes time feel more concrete. Rather than waiting for panic to trigger action, you're creating just enough urgency to help your brain engage much earlier. 

This strategy reminds us that we don't have to wait until everything becomes an emergency before we begin. Sometimes our brains simply need a little structure to get moving. Artificial urgency isn't about fooling yourself. It's about understanding how your brain works and designing your environment to support it. 

A big thank you again to Colin McIntosh for sharing this practical strategy. If you'd like to hear more from that conversation, head over to our main ADHD difference podcast and listen to season 2, episode 12. Thanks for tuning in. For more practical tools for beautifully different brains, hit the subscribe button.