Don't set goals, set ADHD Actions

hey hey hey, how was your week? hope you were slightly more productive than before? and most importantly hope you had fun. Feel free to reply I always respond.

The tip for this week is “Setting ADHD action, not goals”

First off, what's an ADHD action? growing up we were taught to set HUGE goals and if we fail we at least land on the moon, that's great advice but if you have ADHD that might just be overwhelming, you avoid the tasks and get nothing done! So the concept of ADHD actions is the complete opposite, It’s all about focusing on the input, not the outcome. Instead of setting a goal of "make an extra $1,000 this month," which can feel overwhelming and distant, we set an action.

Scientific Evidence Supporting ADHD Actions

Numerous studies have explored the effectiveness of rituals in managing ADHD symptoms:

• "The Efficacy of Action Planning in Reducing ADHD Procrastination" by Tull, Matthew A., et al. (2007) This research directly investigates the effectiveness of action planning for reducing procrastination in adults with ADHD. It highlights the benefit of breaking down tasks into smaller steps.

• A qualitative and quantitative study of self-reported positive characteristics of individuals with ADHD "In ADHD, complex goals that require sustained attention and executive control often lead to avoidance behaviors. Shifting focus to immediate, actionable tasks can utilize the ADHD tendency for immediate engagement, thus turning potential weaknesses into functional strategies for accomplishing tasks." Link

Here's how ADHD Actions work:

Instead of: "Earn an extra $1,000 this month" Try: "Apply to 10 freelance gigs on Fiverr this week"

Instead of: "Lose 20 pounds" Try: "Pack a healthy lunch and snacks 4 days this week"

Instead of: "Declutter the garage" Try: "Spend 25 minutes decluttering the garage 3 times this week"

See the difference? ADHD Actions are bite-sized, scheduled behaviors totally under your control. They provide clear instructions for what to do, instead of an ambiguous goal. And here's the best part - simply doing the Action is "winning," regardless of the outcome! It builds self-efficacy and motivation. If you apply to 10 freelance gigs, you win - whether you get hired or not.

Now I’m not saying don’t set goals in general. if it works for you then by all means do that BUT also set ADHD Actions for your goals trust me you’ll see the difference

What I want you to do this week:

Instead of setting goals for the month or week, set 5 ADHD Actions you want to take.

For example this month I really want to hit 1,000 subs on this newsletter so my Actionable would be: “Post 3 times a week on IG”, “Sponsor 5 ADHD-related theme pages”, etc. These are actionables that if I do them I will most likely hit 1k subs and even if I don’t I’ll be very close cause i took real action, plus this isn’t overwhelming.

If you think this can’t be applied to yearly goals (I would rather have you set quarterly goals), use the same example of growing this newsletter. If my initial year goal is to reach 10k subs. That’ll mean I just need to “post 3 times a week on IG and Reddit”, “Reach out to at least 5 ADHD theme pages a week”, and “Sponsor 1 a week”.

Does this sound hard to you? well, not so much in fact the action itself sounds very underwhelming but over time it’ll compound into me hitting my “goal” as long as I hit my actionables.

ADHD Tools:

Focusmate – working with someone quietly on Zoom. Several ADHD people have told us that having someone there to help hold them to account is effective for them.

EndeavorRx – a video game that doctors prescribe for kids with ADHD.

Have a great week ❤️