ADHD, Anxiety, and Goal-Getting

It can be a pain trying to get anything done when you can't focus. Check out these tips on plowing through your goals despite distractions.

ADHD is common among kids and adults alike. I have it pretty severely, and while I do take medication, there are times when I can't take the medicine or I just need to feel productive without it. My routine is pretty much the same with or without the medication, but some days I am more productive than others, and that's OKAY!

It is HARD feeling accomplished when your to do list is growing constantly and you are barely checking items off, so what do you do???

Let's break it down.

Make separate lists.

I am a paper planner. I don't just mean that I have a paper calendar. I plan with lists, calendars, and more lists. First, I write out my long-term goals. This can be my yearly or even monthly goals. Then, I take those goals and break them down by week. What do I need to accomplish each week to reach these goals? Once I get that down, I take it day-by-day. Most nights, I make my list of things I need to get done the next day. This takes an overwhelming amount of things and turns them into a manageable list.

If you struggle with ADHD or even anxiety, this can help because your brain is trying to hyperfocus on 100 different tasks at once. Some days, when I feel really overwhelmed, I take my daily list and designate times to it. I then set alarms and only work on each task for a certain amount of time. This helps me to not get so caught up in one task that I stay on it all day and never get to the other tasks on the list. If you don't finish, tack a new time on at the end of your hourly schedule.

Remind yourself it's okay to carry over tasks.

If I don't finish all the tasks I needed to finish on Monday, I roll them over to Tuesday. This allows me to cut myself off from work so I make sure I have time to spend with my kids and doing other things for myself. If you don't do this, you will get burnt out. It is important to have a time where you cut yourself off. I'm not going to lie, I still struggle with this one, daily. I am bad about answering emails at 1 AM and working while my littles play next to me. It is my goal to get better at this and practice my own tips. This has helped me in the past, and it definitely kept my stress level down, but it is probably the hardest for me.

Don't bash yourself for not finishing work.

We live in a time of do, do, do and go, go, go. If you don't work constantly and finish everything you set out to do, you aren't doing enough. Our minds internalize this and tweak it to where we think, "I didn't finish because I'm not enough." Then, we take that apply it to EVERYTHING. I didn't finish work, but I worked all day. Because I worked all day, my house is a mess, my kids watched TV all day, my spouse had to do extra to keep up because I couldn't do it. I am not enough. Then, we sort of spiral between anxiety and stress, now depression is starting to set in, and we feel so much like we need to step it up that we get into a cycle of hyperfocusing to finish things that we start the process all over again and we get stuck.

One thing I do for this is keep Bible verses handy. Choose your favorite uplifting verses, quotes, positive affirmations and write them in the margins of your planner. Write them on sticky notes and stick to your laptop, your mirror, or wherever you will see them daily. Find ways to remind yourself that it is okay to fall short. Honestly, usually with ADHD and anxiety both, you will be ambitious in your goals to the point where you will almost never finish your list. That brings me to my final tip.

Prioritize your list.

You can do this through color-coding or even just listing tasks in order of importance. As you write out your list, designate in some way those that HAVE to get done today, those that need to but aren't urgent, and those you put on for good measure. Focus on those with highest priority and work your way down in order of importance. This is the most helpful to me because I tend to try to choose the "quickest" and easiest tasks first, but between distractions and the actual length it takes to complete these, I end up spending more time on those tasks that don't matter. If I prioritize, I make sure I do those with highest priority first so if I don't finish my list, I can rest easier knowing I got those things with a deadline finished at least.

Even if you didn't finish your list today, you are ENOUGH.