My Money Operating Manual

You were handed money advice written for a different brain. This is where you write your own - short, specific, and yours. Keep it somewhere visible; a brain that loses things will lose this too.

Organizing support, not financial advice: This is your own reference, not financial, legal, or tax advice. For specific decisions, a qualified professional or non-profit counselor can help.

How my money brain works

My tells (when I overspend, when I avoid), my strengths, my dopamine truths:

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My systems that actually work

The handful you'll keep - not the whole menu.

The automations and simplifications I'm keeping:

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My early-warning signs & resets

What a money spiral looks like early for me - and the small reset that helps:

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My supports & people

Who and what I can lean on - a partner, friend, financial therapist, non-profit counselor, a tool:

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My one-line reminder for hard money days

The sentence that pulls it all together:

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This is yours now: Managing money with an ND brain is maintenance, not a cure - and you now hold the instructions, written for the brain you actually have. Put it where you'll see it.

Go deeper

Ready for more? These lessons pick up where this worksheet leaves off.

• Your ADHD Operating Manual, from The Adult ADHD Course. The capstone of the Adult ADHD Course: turn everything into one personal page — your strengths, watch-outs, tools, people, and a one-line reminder.
• Building Your Personal Regulation Toolkit, from The Neurodivergent Brain. The capstone: build a personal regulation plan around your wiring — name your state, match tools to it, catch overload early, design your space.
• Money, from The Neurodiverse Couples Repair Program. The money session for a neurodiverse couple: two money brains, where each came from, what each protects, and one system with room for both.