ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast

Why Can’t I Just Start?! ADHD, Motivation & Movement with Sonia Ponzo

6 snips
Feb 18, 2026
Sonia Ponzo, psychologist and founder of Outset Wellness with a PhD in cognitive psychology, explores motivation, interoception, and movement for neurodivergent people. She discusses why starting tasks feels impossible, how poor body sensing causes paralysis, and gentle movement as momentum. Practical app-based tools, ritual micro-moments, and rebuilding self-trust are highlighted.
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INSIGHT

Interoception Explains Why Starting Feels Impossible

  • ADHD often causes poor interoception, so people misread whether they need rest, movement, or something else and blame themselves for inaction.
  • Sonia explains paralysis happens because scrambled bodily signals make the moment wrong for the task, not the person.
ADVICE

Use Movement First To Hear Your Body

  • To improve body awareness, move or breathe first, then check in with sensations like heart rate and tension to get clearer interoceptive signals.
  • Sonia recommends exercising until your body is 'loud' (sweating, elevated heart rate) so cues become salient and generalise over time.
ADVICE

Automate Movement To Beat Decision Fatigue

  • Plan movement to reduce decision fatigue by scheduling activity into your calendar and adapting to availability and weather.
  • Outset app auto-plans walks or indoor workouts, links to calendars, and uses gamified plants to visualise progress.
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