Have you ever found yourself leaving cabinet doors open around the kitchen?
Or maybe you walked away from the stove only to realize later that you never turned it off.
These kinds of slips can feel frustrating and even scary.
These oversights are common with ADHD, but even without ADHD, stress and distraction can create the same problem. You start something, but the finishing part falls through the cracks.
Today, we are going to talk about why your brain sometimes abandons tasks midstream.
I will also share 5 practical, brain based strategies you can use to improve your follow through.
Information source- Psychiatrist Dr. Tracey marks youtube video
How ADHD, Stress, and Distraction Affect Finishing Tasks
Here is why we fail to finish tasks. When you forget to close a cabinet door or turn off running water in the sink, it is usually not because you did not care, although your partner or roommate might think that.
It happens because your brain never fully encoded the act of finishing. Starting a task and finishing a task involve different brain processes. Your brain is good at initiating activities, but maintaining attention long enough to complete them is where things get complicated.
Here is what happens:
Your working memory, the part of your brain that holds information temporarily, can only handle so much at once. If you start cooking and your attention gets pulled to a text message, your working memory drops the stove task before you finish it.
You may think you completed the task because you started the sequence, but the follow through never happened. The task was abandoned midstream.
For people with ADHD, this happens often because the brain struggles with task persistence, which is the ability to stick with a task until it is fully done. But you do not need an ADHD diagnosis to experience this.
High stress, hormonal changes, or living in a multitasking culture can cause the same lapses.
Let us go in on the neuroscience.
The Brain Systems Involved
The prefrontal cortex, located behind your forehead, is like a project manager. It helps you focus, sequence steps, and see tasks through. When it becomes overloaded by distractions, its ability to track where you are in a sequence breaks down.
The basal ganglia, deep inside your brain, function like an autopilot system. They are excellent at helping you initiate routine actions, such as reaching for the stove knob or opening a cabinet. But autopilot does not guarantee that you will finish the action.
Without enough attention from your prefrontal cortex, the sequence gets cut short. You may begin turning the knob, but because your mind has already jumped to something else, such as checking your phone, you walk away without turning it fully off.
Your brain logs the start, but not the completion, which creates an open loop. The task remains incomplete in the background. Later, you might feel unsettled or second guess yourself because you never marked it as done.
These errors are not new, but they have become more common in modern life.
Why Modern Life Makes It Worse
We live in a task switching culture. Our brains were not designed for constant interruptions from phones, emails, and notifications. Each switch drains focus from the task at hand.
There is also attention fragmentation. Even when nothing urgent is happening, we carry background noise, worries, and mental to do lists. This fragments attention and weakens follow through.
Then there is stress and overload. When stress hormones stay high, the brain’s ability to encode and complete tasks weakens.
There is also a paradox. The more routine a task becomes, the less conscious attention you give it. You are not focused on turning off the stove because your mind is already planning your next move. That is exactly when the final step gets dropped.
To improve follow through, you must give your brain better instructions using cues and rituals that help lock in completion.
Here are 5 simple, practical strategies rooted in how your brain works.
5 Brain Based Strategies
1. Anchor Tasks to Your Senses
Narrate the action as you do it.
For example, say aloud, I am turning off the stove, or I am closing the cabinet.
By speaking while your body moves, you engage both sound and motion. Your body feels the action and your ears hear the words. This dual input makes it harder for the action to slip away unnoticed. Instead of drifting into autopilot, you keep the task in conscious awareness long enough to finish it.
2. Point and Confirm
This builds on sensory anchoring by adding a gesture. After turning something off, point at it and say off. When closing a cabinet, touch the door and say closed.
The gesture creates a closure signal that tells your brain the task is done. Pairing the gesture with a simple word strengthens the memory. Instead of relying on a single mental note, your brain forms a stronger multi sensory memory.
3. Use Anchor Objects
Use your environment as a memory aid.
After turning off the stove, place a dish towel across the knobs. After locking the door, put a sticky note on the frame that you remove only after checking the lock.
These props act as visual anchors, confirming the task is complete. You externalize the reminder into your surroundings instead of relying only on working memory.
For people with distractibility, especially ADHD, anchor objects reduce mental load and provide a visible receipt that the task was finished.
4. Build a Shutdown Ritual
Create a fixed sequence you follow every time.
For example, before leaving the house, always check lights, stove, and locks in the same order.
Repeating a routine in the same way allows your habit system in the basal ganglia to automate the sequence. This reduces how much you must rely on working memory or willpower. Over time, follow through becomes automatic, even during stress or distraction.
5. Insert a Pause Before Leaving an Area
Take ten seconds to stop and scan. In the kitchen, look around. Are the cabinets shut? Is the stove off? Is the sink running?
This pause acts as a consolidation moment for your working memory. It interrupts the rush from one task to another and gives your brain time to register what has been completed. Without the pause, steps get dropped. With it, you create space for your brain to confirm completion.
Why These Strategies Help
These strategies work because they reduce reliance on working memory, which is short lived and easily disrupted. They recruit stronger encoding systems that hold on to the task more securely.
Narration uses language.
Gestures use sensory and motor networks.
Anchor objects externalize memory.
Shutdown rituals create habits.
Pause buffers give the brain time to record completion.
They do not simply cover up distraction. They retrain your brain to complete the loop more consistently.
If you have been leaving cabinet doors open, forgetting to turn off the stove, or dropping steps in the middle of tasks, it does not mean you are careless or lazy. It means your brain needs better instructions for finishing.
Try adding one or two of these strategies into your routine this week. You may be surprised by how much calmer you feel when you can trust your brain to follow through.