Happy New Year, Lovely ADHDers!
It’s that time again — that time of year when a Chocolate Orange stops counting as one of your five a day, we all get motivated for the exciting months ahead and make a whole heap of resolutions. This has got me thinking about ADHD goal setting.
I don’t know about you, but it’s taken me a few days to switch back into everyday life. Those chocolate oranges, free time and relaxation were fabulous. However, I started craving veggies and even painted my hall — a sure sign it’s time to start ‘doing the do’ again.
My thoughts on ADHD goal setting
Instead of jumping headfirst into 2025, I spent a couple of days thinking about what I’d like from the next few months, how I can go about it and who can help me. Doing this helps me to bouncing from between activities and not achieving anything much.
That said, I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions. Why? Honestly, I’m not great at keeping them. ADHD brains love challenges, they crave novelty, but unless resolutions are achievable and interesting the resolve quickly flies off in search of a sparkly side quest.
The good news? With some simple tweaks, ADHD goal setting can set us up for success.
5 Ways to Sow Your Seeds of Success
- Create an Idea Seeds Bank.
Make a list of all the things you WANT to do and call this your Seed Barn. You probably don’t have time to do everything, so this keeps ALL your ideas safe.
(Get a free copy of my Creativity Crops Seed Barn resource) - Check your time budget
How much free time do you have for nuturing new ideas? We’ve all got other things going on in our lives, so consider how much time you’ve got for new ideas. - Evaluate your love for the idea
How much do you love this idea? Why do you want to do it? What will it bring you? It’s good to think about our motivation for an activity. Writing it down helps it stick in our brains and reminds you when the initial dopamine-fuelled novelty wears off. - Break it down.
Turn your big goal into smaller, manageable tasks. This lets you tick off tasks, see progress and create a steady supply of self-esteem fertiliser. - Find an accountability buddy.
Tell someone what you’ve planned. We can all use someone in our corner to cheer us on. Accountability is a positive tool we have in our ADHD toolkit which helps to keep us on track when it looks like now nothing is happening with our plans. Ask a friend, colleague, family member or your fave ADHD coach to check in with how things are going.
Bonus tip!
Celebrate your wins. There’s nothing like seeing the seeds of your ideas sprout to give you the happy feels. Share those magic moments with other people—celebrating progress is one of the best brain fertilisers.
ADHD coaching helps you to plant your seeds of success. It’s about embracing the changes you want to make, creating the conditions for you to grow and using your unique strengths and experience to blossom. Ready to jump into some ADHD goal setting?
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