Table of Contents
Too Many Interests, No Clear Direction?
Many neurodivergent individuals know this tension all too well: you have many interests, you perceive multiple things as important at the same time – and therefor it feels as though you can’t see a clear direction.
Rationally, you know that prioritisation would help. Emotionally and cognitively, however, it often feels like a system with no easily visible starting point.
This article explains why this is not a personal failing but a logical consequence of neurodivergent perception – and how four clear steps can help you build a prioritisation system that respects how your mind works rather than working against it.
Why Neurodivergent People Often Feel ‘Different in Every Situation’
Many neurodivergent adults report that they are not only multi-talented or multi-interested, but that they also perceive themselves as a slightly different versions depending on the environment they’re in. This can feel like performing a role or even be momentarily disorienting when you don’t immediately recognise yourself.
The Feeling: Many Interests but No Coherent Theme
You may be able to feel deeply passionate about a wide range of topics – strategy, innovation, psychology, technology, creativity. Quick thinking, enthusiasm, and deep specialist knowledge often accompany this.
The challenging part is that everything feels equally relevant. This creates the impression of lacking focus, when in reality what sits underneath is high cognitive capacity, not chaos.
Context-Dependent Identity: Why Neurodivergent People Shift with Their Environment
Feeling different in every situation? Neurodivergent people tend to adapt their behaviour more strongly to:
- the task at hand
- the people in the room
- expected roles
- unspoken social dynamics
This is not “pretending to be someone else”, but a reflection of finer sensory processing and situational intuition.
The Science: Sensory Processing, Role Adaptation and Masking
Three mechanisms help explain this experience:
- Sensory processing differences: Neurodivergent brains often process a higher volume of sensory input in parallel and filter less of it out (see studies 1 +2). This can make our brains more flexible, yet more sensitive to overload.
- Masking: Over years, people develop adaptation strategies that shape situational identities. These are often automatic rather than deliberate.
- Role adaptation: Many neurodivergent people intuitively recognise which dynamics are in play in a situation and respond accordingly.
In short: you are not “inconsistent”. You are efficiently adapting to context.
When Everything Feels Important: Why Traditional Prioritisation Methods Don’t Work
Many neurodivergent people are exceptionally good at applying traditional productivity tools such as Eisenhower, Pareto or SMART. For many of us, self-optimisation has been a way to bring order to inner complexity. Paradoxically, these methods are often too linear and too shallow to genuinely help.
The Problem with Linear Frameworks
Most traditional prioritisation models assume:
- importance can be defined objectively
- tasks remain stable over time
- priorities follow a linear order
But for neurodivergent individuals, reality is rarely linear – it is context-dependent. Meaning, alignment and integrity are key motivators for us. Doing the right thing well matters more than ticking off a long-planned task. That’s neurpodivergent priorities.
Cognitive Overload & Decision Stress
When the brain is processing too many stimuli at once, it becomes easy to experience: decision fatigue, internal blocks, exhaustion and the sense of “I’m not getting anything done”.
This is not a lack of discipline. This is cognitive overload. (Great contextual description of this term to be found here)
Why Traditional Value-Sets Often Fails Neurodivergent Thinkers – and What Works Better
Perhaps you know the situation: a workshop or questionnaire asks you to identify your personal values. The abstract terms feel vague. You’re not sure whether you truly see yourself in them. You doubt whether you would arrive at the same answer twice.
Traditional value-sets require quick categorisation, abstract thinking and definite choices. For neurodivergent thinkers, this is often overwhelming. We don’t experience values as static, we experience them as context-dependent.
In many studies and self-reports of neurodivergent people, values such as fairness, honesty and safety appear particularly frequently. This reflects a pattern not a lack of individuality.
As a result, sustainable values often emerge on a more abstract, underlying level.
What’s the Difference Between a Priority and a Sequence?
A priority defines what truly matters. Its significance remains relatively stable over time. New topics may be integrated, and things can shift, but major reorientation is rare.
A sequence, however, defines the order in which you carry out tasks. This can change weekly, daily or even by the hour.
Many people confuse the two and try to treat priorities like checklists.
For neurodivergent people, this leads to conflict: priorities reflect meaning, while sequences may consider further aspects like urgency.
In short: once you understand your priorities, you can use them to arrange your tasks into a harmonious sequence.
The following four steps show you how to identify and use identity-based priorities sustainably.
Step 1: Make Your Personal Patterns Visible (Personal Patterns Mapping)
Before you can prioritise effectively, you need clarity about who you are in different contexts.
How to Recognise Who You Are Across Situations
Ask yourself:
- In which moments do I feel myself?
- Which situations drain me?
- When do I act intuitively and effectively?
Pattern Analysis: Behaviour, Emotions, Needs, Energy
Consider patterns across four dimensions:
- Behaviour: What do I actually do?
- Emotions: How do I feel while doing it?
- Needs: What need am I trying to meet?
- Energy: What energises me and what exhausts me?
Why Patterns Are the Most Reliable Access Point to Your Identity
Actions speak louder than words. Identity does not emerge from description, but from repeated patterns of response and behaviour.
Once you recognise your patterns, the following steps become intuitive.
Step 2: Distinguish Between Interests and Values
Why Neurodivergent People Often Find Everything Interesting
Interests are an energy source for neurodivergent minds.
Curiosity acts as a perceptual phenomenon, and diving deeply into a topic is genuinely rewarding for us.
It may appear inconsistent from the outside, but usually there is a clear underlying pattern or theme. Identifying and naming that overarching theme is an important breakthrough.
How to Define Values Without Overwhelm
Replace abstract questions such as: “Which value is most important to you?”
With observable ones:
- When do I feel aligned with myself? When do I feel truly seen?
- What hurts me? When do I lose control?
- What do I instinctively stand up for?
- What does the environment look like in which I can be fully myself? What defines it?
These questions make values visible without pressure. Neurodivergence is often linked to strong emotional resonance, high creativity and intense sensory processing. Questions that tap into these layers provide far more clarity.
Step 3: Prioritise When Everything Feels Important
How closely are your interests and values connected?
Neurodivergent sparks and patterns need external structure. Structure reduces decision stress and strengthens self-efficacy.
The Three-Filter Method: Relevance – Energy – Identity Fit
- Relevance: What has real impact?
- Energy: What gives or drains energy?
- Identity Fit: Does this align with the person I want to become?
Only when all three filters align does something qualify as a genuine priority.
Step 4: Your Personal North Star (Identity-Based Priorities)
A System That Adapts to Your Neurodivergence – Not the Other Way Around
You don’t need a rigid system. You need a respectful system that honours how your mind works.
Identity-Based Goals Instead of External Expectations
Guiding questions for value-driven, meaning-motivated people:
- Which outcome feels authentically “mine”?
- What do I want to stand for in the future?
- Which development aligns with my inner compass?
How to Stay Consistent Without Rigid Planning
Consistency does not come from discipline or rigidity. It comes from a stable sense of identity.
A neuroinclusive system has two essential qualities:
- it provides a reliable framework – like guardrails
- it allows freedom for shifting interests – like changing lanes on a highway
In short: when your system works with you, you no longer have to fight your own mind.
Conclusion: Clarity Is Not Control – It Is Self-Efficacy
Structure + Softness as a Neurodivergent Strength
Clarity is not a rigid scaffold. It is a supportive frame that allows you to remain flexible and creative.
Effectiveness emerges where identity, energy and priorities intersect – not where you push yourself to function “normally”.
Neurodiversity Coaching: The “Priority Compass” Programme
Would you like to clarify your values, interests and priorities in a way that genuinely reflects who you are? Unsure where to start – and tired of saying “I just have too many interests”?
I work with neurodivergent professionals and leaders. In my coaching programme, I support you in understanding yourself, learning to work with your mind and taking meaningful action. Across three focused coaching sessions, we develop your personal Priority Compass. You receive a clear framework that gives you long-term orientation. This is how too many interests, no direction becomes individual strength and clarity.