How to Set Goals with ADHD | Tips for Planning with ADHD | ADHD Goal Setting
ADHD Coach and author Alan Graham says...
"By putting in the time up front to create a plan for achieving goals, we can increase the likelihood that we'll be successful."
But if we’re being super honest...planning and goal setting isn't always super fun and exciting. In fact, it CAN be downright boring which can be an immediate turn off for us ADHDers.
I can also tell you as a business owner with over 14 years experience...you will not grow your business into a successful revenue generator without planning out your growth strategy.
Trust me…been there, done that. Over and over.
Scattering your energy willy-nilly might work at the beginning, but as your business, community, and revenue begin to grow, you need a solid plan in place to keep your momentum and success moving forward. Especially when life gets busy.
For example, waaaay back in August 2023, I started planning my return to YouTube and podcasting after several month away.
I sat down over the course of a few days and mapped out my topics. I researched keywords. I considered relevant holidays. All with the goal of creating 1 podcast/YouTube video a week from the beginning of October 2023 through the week before Christmas.
And those first few videos in October felt like a breeze.
But as our schedules started to fill up in November, I started to struggle a little.
By the time December rolled around, I was in full “but I don’t wanna do it” mode.
The good news… I did complete my goal of recording and publishing the episodes I planned…even it was by dragging myself across the finish line versus a victorious fist pump. 😬
You know what, actually…I do deserve a vicitorious fist pump. I am a busy mom with ADHD running a business and meeting a goal I set for myself 5 months ago.
But I’m going to lie and say it was easy. And the lessons I’ve learned from this experience will help me to plan and set goals more effectively in the future.
If you’ve been around me long enough, you know I am big on awareness being the first step towards changing your behavior patterns when you have ADHD. This is why I wanted to help you understand why us ADHDers struggle with planning and goal setting. Then give you some strategies creating and sticking to your plan…because truth be told, without that plan I created in August, there is a very good, near 100% chance, that I would not have met the goal I set for myself.
Ahhh…but alas…Planning is an executive function. Those darn executive functions.
Understanding ADHD Executive Function and Goal Setting
In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, executive functions are brain skills we use to accomplish tasks.
And many of us with ADHD struggle with executive functions because they require the neurotransmitter dopamine to communicate messages to our brain about things like organizing, focusing, motivation, prioritization and planning.
I often hear people in my community say things like "I can't plan" or "I don't bother setting goals because I don't follow through" or "I spend too much time planning but no time executing".
And this is all true. People with ADHD often do struggle with planning. And goal setting. And prioritization. And task initiation. And follow through.
But I want you to remember…just because it is a struggle doesn't mean it is impossible.
I realize that many traditional "goal setting" strategies are difficult for ADHDers. Honestly, one of the reasons I started coaching mom business owners with ADHD as a mom business owner with ADHD was because traditional business coaching models and methods weren’t working for me and I knew I wasn’t alone.
BUT…us ADHDers are really great at big picture thinking.
In fact, modern visionaries like Richard Branson and Bill Gates have admitted to having ADHD and it is suspected that inventors Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell may also have had ADHD.
Clearly, we have the power to think outside the box and create some pretty amazing things.
But far too often, we struggle to break those ideas down into manageable tasks so we can take action. We also struggle with thinking about or taking action towards tasks that don't need to happen in the immediate future.
Our ADHD goal planning issues may also have a bit to do with our ADHD time management struggles.
You may have heard that people with ADHD think of time a bit differently than a neurotypical person might.
We often see time in 2 ways: it’s happening “now”, meaning it’s currently happening or needs to happen in this moment. Or it’s “not now” meaning I don’t have to think about that at this time or until it becomes now.
So…how in the world are we supposed to motivate ourselves to spend time figuring out the steps we need to take to reach a goal that’s waaaay in the future when we usually just wait until it’s crisis mode to take action? It’s quite a conundrum.
But even though it’s a struggle, there are ways to work on our planning skills, even as an executive functional challenged individual. And that’s why I want to wrap up with some strategies that have helped me and my clients make progress on our goals despite our executive dysfunction.
ADHD Goal Setting Strategies
Let’s start by discussing the different types of goals you can set.
ADHD Goal Setting Strategies: Make It a Learning Goal
There are learning goals, which focus on developing skills or increasing your knowledge.
And there are performance goals, which focus on a specific outcome.
An example of a learning goal might be taking a course on social media marketing or hiring a personal trainer at the gym.
A performance goal might be adding 1000 followers to your Instagram account or losing 10 lbs before your class reunion.
The reason this distinction is important is that us ADHDers gravitate towards learning goals versus performance goals. This is probably related to the time blindness issue we talked about earlier.
A learning goal is something we can see the impact of NOW. By simply watching a module of our social media course or going to our session with the trainer at the gym, we have completed our “goal” of developing a skill or increasing our knowledge. It’s almost like an instant reward.
Performance goals, on the other hand, may take some time. Which means that they are currently “NOT NOW” aka probably not even on the radar of those of us with ADHD until they move into the realm of NOW.
Those of us with ADHD, to the surprise of pretty much no one with ADHD, also do much better at setting and achieving short term goals as opposed to long term goals.
Considering our preference for immediate learning benefits versus potential future beneficial outcomes, it is no wonder that many of us with ADHD struggle with planning or goal setting.
This doesn’t mean that you should avoid setting long term or performance goals. But it does mean that you should ask yourself “how can I break this big long term goal into smaller short term goals?”
And also “What skills can I develop and implement through learning that will get me closer to my performance goals?”
Remember our weight loss example…rather than just setting a goal of losing 10 lbs, try setting a goal of working out with a personal trainer weekly at the gym for a month. The short term goal is going to the gym each week. The learning goal is gaining knowledge from an expert about what you need to do with your body through the trainer.
ADHD Goal Setting Strategies: Find Accountability
The idea of working with a trainer brings me to my next goal setting strategy which is find accountability. Since motivation and task initiation are executive functions, it can often be hard for us ADHDers to actually follow through when it comes to the goals we’ve set, even if they are short term, learning goals.
But we are incredibly motivated by obligation. Many of us are people pleasers by nature and often hate the thought of letting someone down. That is why accountability is so powerful for someone with ADHD.
Once you’ve decided on your goal, share it with a friend or family member. Ask them to check in with you regularly to assess your progress. If you feel like friends and family accountability might not be enough, you could join an accountability group or hire an accountability coach, like me, to help support you and keep you making steady progress on your goal.
ADHD Goal Setting Strategies: Know Your Why
And speaking of progress…Clarifying why it is you would like to achieve this goal can also help when your motivation starts to dwindle. Because, let’s be honest, there is going to come a time where this goal is no longer new or fun or exciting.
When goal setting, I ask myself and my clients questions like “What is the best thing that can happen when you reach this goal?” or “How will not reaching this goal negatively impact your life?”
Digging deep to see how this will impact or benefit your life can provide you with a boost when you’re feeling less enthusiastic about this goal. Because no matter how excited and motivated you are now, it is bound to happen when something more interesting or fun comes along.
The idea is to go beyond simply saying “I want to make more money” to why you want to make more money. Instead try saying “I want to be able to take my family on vacations to Canada and Europe next year, buy myself a new car and pay off some credit card debt.” By the way, those whys are straight from my goal setting for 2024.
The more specific you can be with WHY you want to achieve this goal, the more you can use it for motivation when you inevitably lose momentum. Once you’ve drilled down and clarified your why, I recommend finding a way to remind yourself regularly.
You could type up and print out your why and place it somewhere you can see every day like on your nightstand, on your fridge, or at your desk.
You could make writing it part of your daily to-do list or journaling as a reminder of why you are going to do what you need to do today.
You could record yourself saying your why statement and listen to it when you wake up or before your work sessions.
You could make a vision board with pictures of what successful achievement of this goal would look like.
(I personally like to make a digital vision board for the home screen of my computer so I am reminded every time I sit down to work how awesome it would be to complete my goals.)
There’s no right or wrong way. Do whatever works for you…and it may take some trial and error to figure out exactly what works best.
And if you’re still struggling with setting goals or following through on the goals you’ve set, I’m here to provide some accountability and support. I meet weekly with my ADHD coaching clients to discuss what they are planning to do that week to get closet to their overall goals. And when they plan to work on these tasks.
If you’d like to discuss your goals and see if my ADHD coaching programs may be a good fit for you, click the button below to schedule your free, no-obligation call.
