INCUP
By Dr Torrance Merkle, GP · · ADHD
Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, Passion. Adults with ADHD operate with an "interest-based nervous system" rather than the "importance-based" system the rest of the world runs on.
Key takeaway: Why can’t I just sit down and do this important thing?
Most productivity advice is built on a single assumption: if a task is important enough, you will do it.
Not with ADHD it doesn't!
Adults with ADHD operate with an "interest-based nervous system" rather than the "importance-based" system the rest of the world runs on.
Importance, consequences, and moral obligation simply don't generate the neurochemical activation required for an ADHD brain to engage. The ADHD engine doesn't run on priority. When the right catalyst is absent, initiating and sustaining effort feels like wading through wet cement, or being stuck behind a brick wall of executive dysfunction.
That catalyst usually comes down to five core motivational triggers, collectively known as INCUP:
- Interest: If you are interested in the task, you probably won't struggle (and if you aren't interested, then good luck).
- Novelty: New notebook, new pen, new keyboard, new friend, new job, new degree, new country, new hair colour, new cafe to work in... Changing your physical environment, switching tools, or approaching a familiar problem from an unconventional angle tends to help. Equally, the exercise plan you started 3 weeks ago will probably not continue without some other strategy.
- Challenge: It has to be the right amount of challenge to work. Tasks that are too simple trigger understimulation and paralysis, while tasks that are too overwhelming trigger avoidance. Tasks that seem do-able at the beginning might derail once all the clothes are on the floor after trying to Marie Kondo the wardrobe.
- Urgency: With time perception often split into now and not now, time pressure acts as a reliable emergency generator. You can harness this artificially through short sprint timers, fake micro-deadlines, or working alongside an accountability partner.
- Passion: While initial interest can burn out quickly, connecting effort to core values, identity, or a larger purpose provides the endurance needed to push through mundane subtasks.
Understanding INCUP shifts the entire productivity conversation. The next time you find yourself stuck, stop asking, "Why can’t I just sit down and do this important thing?"
Instead, ask: "Which of these five triggers is missing, and how can I inject it right now?"
When you stop treating ADHD as a failure of discipline and start managing it as an interest-based system, task initiation changes from a battle of wills into a matter of smart environmental design.