The Mirror Test: A Decision Fatigue Hack for ADHD Brains

This is part two of a ten-part series on how you can lower your daily decision fatigue, and feel more calm in your day-to-day life as a result of that.

If you missed part one, I discussed what I call The Sock Rule, where you intentionally decide what is worth your energy and what isn't. Spoiler, but socks are not worth it. Read that first post to learn the differences between decision fatigue and executive dysfunction, especially as it pertains to ADHD.

It was very intentional that the first tip was something simple. It's simple, yet impactful. How you react to the idea that something simple could help with such a big problem, is information.

Everything is information.

But when people endeavor to change their life, they often start with big overarching changes, rather than small actionable steps that build over time.

The big things can make a difference, but they may be harder to maintain in one big swoop, or they may be the wrong things to change and lead to more decision fatigue rather than less.

If you don't know what makes you thrive, what holds you down, what you are doing because of outside pressure rather than genuine desire, or how you are uniquely designed to succeed, you could change the wrong things.

Changing the wrong things makes your life harder, not easier.

When you pay attention to the information around you, how it makes you feel, and use it to be curious, you can change your life.

That's why there are three components to part two of this series.

• First, pay attention to your reactions and patterns of behavior.

• Second, seek more information about yourself to learn why those reactions and patterns exist.

• Third, work with those behaviors to accept or alter them, within reason.

That second part is an excuse to take some personality tests. I'm a huge fan of learning and when life-changing information gets absorbed in my brain, I can't help but hyper-fixate and want to learn more.

What is more life-changing than learning about yourself? I call this practice the mirror test.

Put your personality and patterns to a mirror. Really take a look. It might change your life.

How Can Knowing Yourself Better Influence Decision Fatigue?

At first glance, taking a personality test and studying that test feels like it could be overwhelming, when in reality it can help if you allow yourself to explore the results with curiosity.

By studying your patterns, you can release shame and gain more understanding in your decisions.

Recommended Personality Tests for People with ADHD

There are three tests I recommend for those with ADHD like me. Two are free with upgrades available to learn more, and one has a fee to take the test, but gives you over a dozen pages of information with that cost.

How Human Design Can Help with ADHD

Getting your Human Design chart is free, but there are many paid upgrade versions that give more details. Human Design is similar to astrology, where it considers your birthday to generate the chart, but you also need your birth time and birth location.

Human Design combines various methodologies, like chakras and I Ching, with different channels in our body that function in certain ways. Studying your Human Design is described as a way to live in your alignment again, breaking away from societal conditioning.

There are four Human Design energy types, with twelve distinct profiles within it. Honestly, the charts are confusing, but most sites will give you the information you need in an actionable way, so do not worry about learning exactly how to read it. MyHumanDesign is a very aesthetic site and app for the test, and the creator has a companion Human Design book if you prefer more of a deep-dive in written material.

When it comes to ADHD, learning I was a Manifesting Generator with a 3/5 profile helped me feel more at peace with how many passions I had. It helped me realize that was who I was supposed to be, and not something shameful. 3/5 is labeled The Great Life Experimenter. How can I hate myself for not being able to settle into one niche if my design says that is not who I was born to be?

Releasing ADHD shame is important when applying the mirror test, as you can't improve your life if you are hating something you can't fundamentally change.

How 16 Personalities Can Help with ADHD

The Myers-Briggs 16 Personalities test is a hallmark in the personal development space. It is one of the first personality tests many people take because of its popularity. It's a short, free test (typically less than ten minutes), and scores you on different characteristics in four categories on a scale of 50-100%. There is an upgraded version for career focuses, but it's not required for you to benefit from the test. You can read more about the 16 Personalities methodology and how they score each person's energy, mind, nature, and tactics.

What I love about it is how I can see how my personality has changed over multiple years and how it compares to different celebrities. Once you have an account, you can retake the exam every six months to compare. My core personality letters have remained the same, with the exception of moving from extroverted to introverted in 2024. Yet from that 2025 test to now, I can see I'm increasing my assertiveness and decreasing in my introversion. What could that mean?

Everyone changes over time, but I like to think I'm becoming more assured of myself and in what I stand for in recent years. I also spent less time working on understanding myself when I was younger, instead adapting to what people needed from me rather than loving who I was. I presented as extroverted most of my life, because people needed me to be that way. That experience was helpful, because I learned a lot of people skills and can "turn it on" when needed in the workplace, but the main difference in introversion and extroversion is what recharges your energy.

I feel calmer, and better able to reclaim my energy, when I'm alone and uninterrupted. That is being introverted, regardless of whether or not I'm "good with people."

ADHD can also change for women over time as their hormones levels differ. This is why many women don't get diagnosed with ADHD until adulthood, when changes in their body and lives make it harder to work around symptoms.

Seeing the changes in my Myers-Briggs test scores has been really interesting. I encourage you to take the test and set a reminder to check again in six months. Will your results change?

For more specific ADHD focus, Sagebrush Consulting has a great breakdown on how ADHD interacts with all Myers-Briggs personality types.

As an INFP-A (also known as the Mediator), Sagebrush suggests my FP (feeling and prospecting scores) lend me to be a more scattered creative with time-blindness that abandons a lot of projects. Uhhh... That's accurate.

Knowing this information helps me focus on strategies for that time blindness, like setting timers during certain activities (currently having fun using ProWritingAid's session timers when blogging and writing), and using reminders and calendars for things I know I need to interrupt my hyper-fixations for.

Notice that I did not take that advice when it comes to abandoning projects. I am perfectly fine with abandoning projects when I need to. I only care if working on projects keeps me from what I have to do for my family, wealth, or safety, so I created systems to not forget those items.

One fun benefit of this personality test is it tells you what real people and fictional characters have the same personality as you. I LOVED knowing that I was similar to Fox Mulder from the X-Files.

I wonder what he would think of the fact that I've written an alien romance novel...

How CliftonStrengths Can Help with ADHD

This is the test that has helped me the most this year, and is why I recommend unlocking the full premium test and not just the top five traits.

CliftonStrengths, formerly called StrengthsFinder, measures 34 traits through a 15-minute online test. Your results will include a guide on how you can optimize your top ten strengths. Its philosophy is to lean into those strengths, rather than improving your bottom-performing ones. It's easier to get better at what you are already good at, than it is to improve a weakness by even a small amount.

When I saw consistency and discipline were in my bottom strengths list, meaning what I was least good at, I was shocked. As someone who hyper-fixates a lot, it's easy to confuse that with my capability to be disciplined. Short sustained focus is not the same as discipline.

Through studying my results, I learned I should focus on novelty and challenges, rather than leaning on the rigidity of discipline. For example, if I challenge myself to walk around the block first thing in the morning and track my happiness in journal entries for two weeks, I would be more likely to be consistent than if I just said to do a walk in the morning without a time-based goal or something to keep track of. After those two weeks are up, I could up the challenge by saying walk around the block twice.

I'm doing this right now by writing this ten-part series. I have many half-done series ideas, but the idea of making them feels overwhelming or not encouraging, so when I told myself it was just ten parts and then I get the novelty of choosing another series topic, it is easier to follow-through on.

Life is a Mirror, Use it to Improve Your Day-to-Day

These personality tests are information that you can choose to help your life, if you honestly review your patterns.

What you observe is a mirror, not a cage. No single personality test is infallible, but many of them will tell you something you already suspected about yourself. That validation can change a lot, either to help you understand and improve or to help you move on. Take what motivates you, what feels workable, and leave the rest behind.

I challenge you to take one test today, any of them. Sit with what you feel once you read the results, analyze it, and then evolve what you have been attempting to change. Are you approaching it the right way?

This was part two of our ten-part decision fatigue hack ADHD series. Join my newsletter below to get updated on the next post in the series!