Wow! I can’t believe it’s August already! Seriously, where did summer go? Apparently you can’t take the teacher out of me. I need downtime over the summer. Like, in my bones, I need it.
Last year I refused to participate in the summer slow-down and it cost me. I pushed. I hustled. I told myself I’d rest “later.” And I walked into fall completely tapped out, running on fumes I didn’t have.
This year I did it differently. I listened to my body instead of arguing with it. I trusted my energy would come back on its own schedule, not mine.
So June and July looked like this: chasing squirrels. Watching shows. Reading books I’d been meaning to get to for a year. Playing dumb games on my phone. Actually resting, not the kind of rest where you’re secretly still keeping score. I spent time with my grandson, hung out with family, and worked on projects when I felt like it and not a minute before. I didn’t stop working entirely. I just stopped forcing it.
Here’s what mattered most, though: I trusted that my energy would come back. My gut told me I’d feel a shift once August hit, and honestly, I do.
My son started med school this month, at 27, chasing something he’s wanted for over a decade. My grandson started daycare the same week. Everywhere I turn there’s back-to-school energy, that new-beginning feeling in the air.
Maybe you’re feeling it too. Maybe you’re not there yet, and that’s fine. Give it another week or two. Keep listening. Chase a few more squirrels if that’s what you need.
But when that spark shows up, and you start thinking about how you want to spend the fall, this is for you.
Why Re-Entry Feels Harder Than Starting
Most of us were raised to believe that getting back on track is about willpower. Just decide. Rip the band-aid off. Get it done.
But restarting is often harder than starting from scratch. Starting something new comes without baggage. There’s no memory of the last time you dropped the ball, no inbox with 400 unread emails staring you down. Re-entry drags all of that back in with it. It’s not just “begin the task,” it’s begin the task while also facing everything that piled up while you were gone.
No wonder it feels heavy.
Before we get into the hacks, one thing has to come first: your nervous system. None of these strategies will stick if your body is still bracing, still in that tight, avoidant, ugh-not-yet state. You can have the perfect schedule and the perfect list and still spin your wheels if your system doesn’t feel safe enough to move. Regulation isn’t the optional part. It’s the part that makes everything else actually work.
This is where a quick tapping moment comes in. Focus on that resistance you feel toward getting back into it, the tightness, the avoidance, the part of you that wants to look away from the inbox a little longer. Tap through it and say, “I can begin again gently.” You don’t have to slam back into full productivity mode. Gentle counts, and gentle is actually what gets you moving.
Once your body knows it’s safe to begin, the hacks have something to land on. The goal this month isn’t to force momentum. It’s to rebuild the conditions momentum needs to exist. Here are four ways to do that.
Hack #4: Schedule First, Figure Out the Rest Later
When your brain is still a little foggy from a slower season, decision-making is usually the first thing to go. You don’t have the bandwidth right now to decide when you’re doing things and what those things are, all at once.
So, skip that step. Before you even look at your task list, open your calendar and block off time. Just time, nothing in it yet. You’re not deciding what goes in the blocks. You’re deciding the blocks exist.
For ADHD brains especially, time tends to be invisible until it’s a crisis. Blocking it out gives you something to move toward instead of a wide-open day that swallows itself whole.
Try blocking three or four chunks this week and just label them “work time.” You’ve already handled the hardest part, deciding when, before you’ve asked your tired brain to also figure out what.
Hack #14: Gather Your Supplies Before You Sit Down
Here’s a sneaky one. You finally sit down to work and realize your charger’s downstairs, your notebook’s nowhere to be found, your water bottle’s empty, and the file you need is buried in seventeen browser tabs you closed two weeks ago.
Every one of those is a tiny exit ramp, and an ADHD brain treats an exit ramp like an open invitation.
So before you start, gather your stuff. Laptop, charger, notes, water, whatever the task needs, all in one spot. Do it the night before if you can, or five minutes before you sit down if that’s more realistic.
This isn’t fussy or unnecessary. It’s removing friction between you and the work. Fewer reasons for your brain to get up and wander means momentum actually has a chance to stick.
Hack #21: Pick One Strategic Work Hour
Not every hour of the day is equal, and re-entry season is the perfect time to notice that.
Instead of vaguely promising yourself you’ll “work more” this week, pick one hour and make it count. Ask yourself when you’re actually sharpest right now, not back in your old routine, but today, coming out of a slower season.
Maybe it’s the first hour after coffee. Maybe it’s 4pm when the house finally quiets down. Whatever it is, protect that hour. Use it for the task that actually needs your full brain, not email, not admin, the real thing.
One well-placed hour of real focus will move you further than five scattered, distracted ones ever could. Re-entry doesn’t need more hours. It needs the right one.
Hack #19: Try Working at a Different Time
If your old schedule feels like cranking a rusty machine back to life, here’s your permission slip: you don’t have to work when you used to work.
Summer probably shifted your rhythms without you noticing. Later mornings, different energy peaks, a whole new relationship with your body clock. Instead of forcing yourself into a 9am block that no longer fits, try something else. Work earlier. Work later. Try a window you’ve never used before.
This isn’t about being undisciplined. It’s about being honest with yourself. Your rhythm in August doesn’t have to match your rhythm in May. Give a new time slot a week before deciding it’s not working. Sometimes timing is the one piece standing between you and momentum.
You Don’t Need a Perfect Reset
If you take one thing from this, let it be this: you don’t have to nail re-entry on day one. You don’t need the perfect system or the perfect mood to count as “back.”
If tapping is useful for you, notice any pressure to get it right this time. Tap on that and say, “One step is enough.” Because it is.
Schedule first. Gather your supplies. Protect one strategic hour. Try a different time if the old one doesn’t fit anymore. That’s not a whole system, it’s four small doors back into motion. Walk through whichever ones make sense for you this week.
Your energy will keep coming back, a little more each day, the same way mine did. You don’t have to force it. Just leave the door open.
Next blog, I’ll talk about turning that returning energy into real momentum without it becoming another source of pressure.
