A specific question, answered specifically.

When you can't start anything — the 12-minute protocol

Most ADHD content tells you to "break the task into smaller pieces." That's correct and useless. If you could break the task into smaller pieces, you'd already be working. The task initiation problem isn't about breaking down the task. It's about the cost of starting being higher than the cost of doing nothing.

What actually works

The 12-minute protocol. We literally built an interactive version of this. Four three-minute blocks:

1. Name the gap. (No apology. Just the fact.) 2. Name what you skipped. The actual skipped thing, not "everything." 3. One honest next move. Not "catch up." Twelve minutes of one specific thing. 4. Close the laptop.

The fourth block is load-bearing. Most ADHD planning fails because once we start, we don't know how to stop. Re-entry without crashing is the goal — not catching up.

What doesn't work

"Just start." The amount of contempt this advice deserves is hard to overstate.

Buying a new productivity app. You don't need a 4th app. You need to use one of the three you have for 12 minutes.

Caffeine. Helps for 90 minutes, costs you 14 hours of sleep debt. Not a sustainable input.

The Deskrune version

SelfHealer Basics is exactly this protocol expanded into a kit — the 12-minute block plus daily variants for "I missed 1 day" / "I missed 4 days" / "I missed 2 weeks." $4.99 through May 31.

For physical anchor: a basic mechanical kitchen timer at $7-12 is more useful than any app for tasks under 25 minutes. The ticking is the feature.