Reaching Your Goals Despite ADD
By Dana Rayburn, Adult ADD Coach

ADDed Success is ADD Coach Dana Rayburn's monthly newsletter about living
successfully with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Welcome to ADDed Success!
Why do adults with ADHD make wonderfully elaborate goals they rarely
accomplish?

Well, it's a many-faceted ADD-thing.

ADHD makes it hard for us to plan so our goals remain fuzzy.

ADHD's incredible creativity makes our goals too ambitious and too complicated.

Our low tolerance for boredom means we get tired of working on one thing and
jump on to something else.

Our low tolerance for frustration means when the going gets tough the adult with
ADHD goes and does something else.

Often we forget we made a goal in the first place. (This one always makes me
smile. How is it I can be wildly charged about something one day and the next day
I'll have forgotten all about it?)

Are you ready to try a new approach to goal setting? If so, I've discovered an
ADHD-friendly way to set and reach your goals. I call it Project Goals.

I hope you find, as I have, that Project Goals eliminate many of the goal
frustrations caused by ADHD.

The core of Project Goals is to have just three SMALL projects (or chunks of
projects) to focus on and juggle at a time.

Project Goals allow you get to bounce back and forth among activities. When you
get bored or stuck you just work on something else for a while. You'd do this
anyway, but instead of doing useless, mindless stuff the other thing you work on
is another Project Goal.

Here’s how to make Project Goals work for you:

• Pick three small goals you can finish in a week or two. Often, Project Goals
  are smaller pieces of some larger project.
  
  Experiment with what size Project Goal feels right for you. Too large a goal
  feels fuzzy and impossible. Too small a goal is merely a task whose
  completion doesn't pull you far enough forward to significant accomplishment.
  

• Get clear on your intended outcome. Think through what will have happened
  when you’ve completed each Project Goal.
  

• Post reminders of your Project Goals in a prominent place where you will see
  them often. I make sure they are written in my calendar, my to do list and on
  my white board.
  

• Schedule time to work on your Project Goals. This is an important, often
  neglected piece of structure. If you don't schedule it, you won't do it.
  

• When you finish a Project Goal, immediately pick another one to replace it. It
  may seem logical to switch your focus and work solely on your unfinished
  Project Goals, but because of your ADHD, that would actually rob Project
  Goals of much of their value.
  
  You need to be able to bounce around among the three goals for variety and
  to keep your interest. You also want to have something worthwhile to turn to
  when you get stuck or run into a problem.
  

• Keep a waiting list of Project Goals. Along with my reminders of my current
  Project Goals I have a list of ‘Project Goals In Waiting’ from which to select.

How do you eat a pie? You slice it up into smaller, manageable pieces. With
Project Goals it's the same idea. Take a large project and slice it down into
smaller, more manageable parts. Before you know it you'll surprise yourself by
getting things done.

The Last Word
Lately we've been working on taxes in our household so naturally one of my
Project Goals has revolved around taxes.

I find simply stating my Project Goal as 'Finish Taxes' too vague. What exactly
does that mean? Where do I start? When have I completed the goal?

Stating the Project Goal as 'Complete Tax Workbook and Email to CPA' is much
more clear. Even though there are many small steps with in this goal, it's more
clear to me what needs to be done and how it will look when finished.

On the other hand, if I go to a more detailed level of tasks such as 'Run Quicken
Reports', 'Collect Backup Paperwork', etc., I get overwhelmed and bogged down at
managing too many details.

Plus, I’m challenged when it comes to complex planning and seeing details, so I
usually overlook tasks, which of course creates an entirely new set of problems.

Hey, you likely have taxes to do, too! Here's an idea. Why not use completing
your taxes as a Project Goals experiment?

Good luck. Hope you get a refund this year.

To Your ADDed Success,
Dana

PS. - Trouble Staying Organized? No Problem! Reserve your copy of 'Organized
for Life' at the special 'early-bird' price.

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