The 1 thing you need to do to build a meditation habit if you’ve got ADHD

3 months ago, I decided to learn how to meditate. As I explained in When You Mix Alcohol and ADHD, I have ADHD (inattentive type), which I thought made my odds of achieving Zen negligible to none.

Apparent solutions were everywhere however. My Instagram feed was full of people throwing out dubious advice and fixes to be able to do meditation ‘properly’.

‘This app’ or ‘that method’ was, they claimed, the key. Entwined within this algorithmic jungle of alleged miracle cures were the replies of the restless and the desperate. ‘Will this work?’ ‘Can you guarantee this?’ ‘Has anyone tried this yet? Please let me know!’

I was one of these people. When I tried meditation, it was because my anxiety was spiralling out of control and I wanted a cure.

After wasting a week downloading eight different apps, realising most of them were rubbish, then trying none of them, I finally attempted my first session.

The app I settled on (a free one I still use, and recommend called Medito) had options for both guided and unguided meditation. This is a choice between being told what to do, or controlling meditation yourself at your own pace, with a timer alerting you when your session is up. I chose the guided version, and the shortest time…