When the women that I coach tell me how overwhelmed they get by their goals. I always try to tell them the importance of breaking large goals down into small steps so you are better able to accomplish them. Having a huge goal such as “clutter my home” on your to-do list would completely derail you, where as a task of “clean out the junk drawer” is just a bit easier to swallow and something you can actually build on.
When that happens it is important that you stop and reevaluate your list. Don’t be tempted to quit it all together. I know that’s hard, but you need to cut yourself just a little bit of slack. It’s the truth though, right? We are our own worst critics.
As a women with ADHD we tend to beat ourselves up for how we look and how we feel. If our finances are out of whack, yep..that’s our fault. If our homes are a mess…our fault too. We are so quick to point the finger rather than just give ourselves just a bit of grace and skip the blaming part altogether. In order to keep bad habits from happening again, you need a game plan. Something set into place that will keep you focused on moving forward rather than stuck right where you are.
You are probably saying to yourself this sounds all well and good Coach Jenna but how on earth do we put this into action? Let me tell you….You break it down into small steps. And these steps below will help you with anything goals you are dealing with.
Step #1 What is your goal? This is going to be super easy The reason being is the key to this all working in the first place. If you don’t know what the end result needs to be, you will never be able to create a path to get there. Find your goal and write that down on a piece of paper. Put it right at the top in nice bold letters. Be specific on exactly what you want.
Step #2 Choose 1-2 key areas of that one main goal. For each goal there are going to be smaller goals you will need to reach before you can get there. I like to call those Step Goals and you are going to use those small steps to get you closer to your main goal.Write your Step Goals fanned out below your main goal. For example, my main goal is to write my book. My step goals are only working on 1-2 chapters at a time.
Step #3 Break each Step Goal down Into Mini Tasks-Now, you are going to want to take each of those Step Goals and break them down into mini-tasks aiming for 4-8. Remember the more you break things down the easier it will be to reach your main goal. Write your list just below each step goal.
Step #4 Add it to your weekly to-do Each week when you create your weekly schedule and to-do list you will refer to this list and grab a few items off of it to focus on for the week. As you accomplish a mini-task use a bright highlighter to mark it off. Do not cross it out, you need to see what you have done so you know just how far you have come. Which is so important when reaching your goal gets hard and you are tempted to quit. Pick a color that makes you smile and use that to tick off your wins and steps to your ultimate goal. Those highlights are the pats on the back that you need to keep your motivation going.
Step #5 Revisit, revamp, redo – It is easy for a women with ADHD to make a list of goals and then toss in that pile high of paperwork to be lost forever. Put it somewhere were you can see it each week And this magical little piece of paper is your reminder to what you want to accomplish.