Thought Reflection
Worksheet

ADHD Executive Function Tools

A structured process for examining a thought that is affecting
how you feel or how you are showing up.

Where This Tool Helps

Adults with ADHD often carry a heavy load of thoughts that have never been examined - conclusions drawn from years of negative feedback, missed deadlines, and comparison to people whose brains work differently. Those thoughts tend to feel like facts. "I always drop the ball." "I can't be trusted with important things." The feeling of certainty is the problem. A thought that feels true enough that you stop questioning it operates like a constraint on what you will attempt.

This worksheet does one thing: slows the thought down long enough to look at it. The fact/opinion distinction alone is often enough to shift something. Most of the heaviest thoughts turn out to be opinions wearing the language of facts. The evidence columns reveal that quickly - the "evidence for" section often fills easily, while "evidence against" requires more effort. That asymmetry is itself information.

The worksheet surfaces what is there. The questions at the end are designed to help you do something with what it shows you.

How to Use This Worksheet

Write the thought exactly as it sounds in your head. Not the polished version. The actual words that show up. "I'm a disaster" is more useful to examine than "I sometimes struggle with organization."
Pick fact or opinion - don't skip this step. If the thought is a fact (verifiable, specific, time-bounded), it does not need restructuring - it needs a response. If it is an opinion, continue.
Fill the evidence columns separately. Do "evidence for" first, then "evidence against." If you do them simultaneously, the mind tends to discount the contradicting evidence as it writes it.
The feelings field is not optional. Knowing how a thought makes you feel connects the cognitive work to the real cost of holding it.
Write the balanced thought in your own words. It should feel true enough that you could actually believe it on a hard day - not so positive that it sounds like a platitude.

Thought Reflection Worksheet

Date:

Name:

The Thought to Examine

Write the thought exactly as it sounds in your head:

Is this thought a fact or an opinion?

Fact

Opinion

Evidence For

What supports this thought?

Evidence Against

What contradicts this thought?

How does this thought make me feel?

What would I tell a friend who had this thought?

A more balanced way to think about this:

Before Your Next Session

Now that you have examined the thought, take a few minutes with these questions before your next coaching session. They connect what the worksheet revealed to how you are operating.

Before your next session:

The thought you examined - is it one you return to often, or was this the first time you named it? If you have held this thought for a long time, where do you think it came from?
What did the evidence-against column show you that you do not usually acknowledge? What makes it easier to hold the evidence for than the evidence against?
What would change in how you approach a specific situation - a conversation, a project, a decision - if the balanced thought were the one that came first?

Tandem Coaching Partners

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to unlock sustainable growth.

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Thought ReflectionWorksheet