Break Any Task
Into Tiny Steps
Paste any task. Get 3–7 ADHD-friendly micro-steps in seconds. Each one starts with a physical verb.
What is task breakdown?
Task breakdown is the cognitive strategy of dividing a large or overwhelming task into a series of small, concrete, individually-completable actions. For ADHD brains, the primary barrier to starting a task is rarely understanding — it is initiation: the gap between knowing what to do and generating the neurological signal to begin. Research on executive function (Barkley, 2012) shows that vague, multi-step tasks have significantly higher initiation costs than single, concrete actions. By reducing any task to a sequence of physical micro-steps, tools like Hivework's Tiny Steps lower the initiation cost of each individual action to near zero.
Why ADHD brains need micro-steps
The standard advice — "break it into smaller pieces" — fails because it does not tell you how small is small enough. For ADHD, the answer is: small enough that the first action is purely physical and takes under 5 minutes. "Write the report" is not a task. "Open a new document" is. The physical verb — open, pick up, click, write, stand — engages the motor system and bypasses the planning loop that ADHD initiation gets stuck in. Tiny Steps generates each step as a physical-verb instruction specifically because of this mechanism.
How to use Tiny Steps
- 1
Type your stuck task
It doesn't need to be perfectly described. 'Taxes' works. So does 'the thing I've been avoiding for three weeks'.
- 2
Choose your granularity
Calm (3 steps) for manageable tasks. Normal (5 steps) for most things. Spicy (7 steps) for high-paralysis days when even 'step outside' feels impossible.
- 3
Read only the first step
Ignore the rest of the list. Just do step 1. The list will still be there when you come back.
- 4
Check it off and read step 2
The checkbox is not optional — the physical act of checking triggers a small dopamine signal that helps with continuation.
Task breakdown vs body doubling — when to use which
| Tool | Use When | Solves | Works Best With |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny Steps | You know what to do but can't start | Task initiation, paralysis | Body doubling while you work |
| Silent Hive | You can't activate at all | Environmental activation | Tiny Steps to know what to do |
| Brain Dump | Your head is full and unclear | Cognitive overload | Tiny Steps for the Do Now items |
| Honey Timer | You need a time container | Time blindness, drift | Tiny Steps inside the timer block |
Frequently asked questions
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