THE TOP 10 MINDSET TIPS FOR AD(H)D MINDS
Use these to get unstuck and get started, connect to your purpose, and live a fulfilled and focused life!
1) Focus on serving and impacting others more than any self-limiting thought or belief.
Take one courageous action every day/week to be more impactful to others. Focus on how your work/product launch can reach and change the lives of others. If it will help just one person change their life, drive into that motivation. Try keeping this perspective top of mind to help counteract any self-limiting thinking or doubt. When you live from this mindset every day, that one person turns into thousands of people helped over a lifetime.
2) Focus less on next-level goals. Focus more on living from your core values.
Most goals are accompanied by a number; I want to lose 20lbs, I want to make 250K/yr year, I want to feel 30 again… etc THEN I'LL BE HAPPY. The issue with being inspired by a number or an end result is that you only get to enjoy it once you arrive at your result, if at all. Once you hit that goal, a common experience for ambitious people is to immediately raise their number and thus they enjoy very few moments of satisfaction, fulfillment, or enjoyment for all their years of efforts.
Instead, try focusing on the core values you get to live from each day on your journey to your goal. Getting to the end of the race isn't motivating, it's who you get to become during your journey and the principles you live by. Want a list of 120+ values you can start to live from today? Go to the
3) Be mindful of making things too COMPLEX
Instead of overthinking and getting overwhelmed by bigger goals chunk it down into smaller actionable steps. Yes, you need to begin with the end in mind and know how you will get to your result but it is always easier to adjust and edit things once you have something down and have momentum with the task. I suggest creating a simple framework that you can work off of and just get started with the first step.
3) Go Step-by-Step
Simple steps and simple habits that require very little time commitment always help to create momentum. Focus simply 15-20 minutes on the first step and just go from there. Stop thinking about how you'll finish the race when there is many many more miles to go. Just take the first step and get some miles under your feet. That way, regardless if you do it longer than the time allotted, you did something and made progress that day. Chip away at it long enough and you will be done before you know it.
5) Manage ALL or NOTHING expectations
ADHDers thrive on challenge and competition. However, when you set such a high bar initially and expect perfection from the start, it often leaves a feeling of failure if you slip up just once (which typically happens). I like to call this the All or Nothing Expectation Gap many ADHDers fall victim to which prevents them from making progress with what they care about.
The common belief many of us have is “It's either you do it perfectly, or not at all.” Ironically, this pressure causes us to be overwhelmed, overthink it, and try to perfect things before we even start. This results in us procrastinating and then beating ourselves up for not doing it or not doing truly “enough” due to the high expectations. All that said, does this sound like a very sustainable long-term growth plan?
You could try another technique to make it very easy and actionable to build consistency and momentum. If the goal is to workout 5x per week, maybe start with less than half of your goal number like only 2x per week. Once you've hit this for a few weeks in a row, you can slowly increase the expectation. If you slip up, don't beat yourself up. This is okay. Just look around to see what ball you dropped due to life happening, make an adjustment, recommit, and just pick it back up again. Simple as that. The same goes for any success habit you are developing.
6) Do what interests you. Embrace finding your zone of genius and outsource the rest.
You might have always felt less than in various subjects in school. Math? Reading? Writing? Etc These are typical areas of struggle for ADHDers and for many of us, it results in limiting thinking that we "are not very good learners” and creates an overall feeling of inadequacy about how we learn. It's time to let that mindset go. Now is your time to finally find how you best learn, embrace your learning journey to find your unique genius, and let your real expertise shine.
If you don't want to do a certain task or job because it doesn't interest you, you don't have to. No teacher's going to be upset that you paid Suzy Q to do your math homework anymore. Don't worry, I'll keep that secret between us. Use your networking and connection skills to hire and bring someone onto your team that loves doing the job you aren't good at, Give yourself full permission to do what you love and learn to outsource the rest. Remember, there is someone out there that loves doing the job you hate.
7. Get it out of your head and into a working tracker that has an adjustable format. Work on processing your process and tracking what you do each day.
So much of processing for ADHDers is visually seeing what they did and what they are still working on to keep it top of mind. Out of sight really means out of mind for ADHDers. So how can you organize what you are working on in your life and business all in one place? Regardless of how you view trackers and planners, due to the “out of sight out of mind rule” if you have ADHD you need a system that works for your brain. The more effective the system the more productive your output and process will be.
Most planners or tracking systems are meant for neurotypical minds. Don't like what's out there, create your own! If you want to try mine here is a link to my Daily Performance Planner that is geared toward the ADHD mind:
Want help putting your life or business tasks into a daily planner or habit track, that's my zone of genius, let's talk!
8. Success is an inner game. Play to win.
When you have ADHD, it's even more imperative to learn how to hack your programming to keep your mind motivated and on task. For many ADHDers, the game that keeps them motivated is one of Urgency, Challenge, Timers, & Timeblocking.
Urgency:
Set due dates and a timeline for EACH phase of your project so there is a sense of urgency to finish step by step. Then hold yourself accountable to the work schedule. That way you can now organize and break down how you need to allocate your time to make small progress every few days to complete small and big tasks towards the goal. This will help you feel less overwhelmed, help with processing, and support you in doing more complete work. Tried this in the past, but it still doesn't work? Try the next one.
Challenge:
Play a game against yourself and work each day to improve your score! You can track yourself points for completed tasks You can give yourself 1pt for easy tasks, 3pts for a challenging but doable task, and 5pts for tasks that have been weighing on your mind for a while. Calculate your points at the each day and work to increase your total points week after week. This provides you with an ongoing understanding of what was done, makes you look back at your day, and gives you a great sense of accomplishment for your work progress.
This is a gamified and simple way to create a process for your process and ADHDers love it! What we don't measure, we can't manage or improve!
Time Blocking:
To support issues with cognitive loading and task initiation, try bulking similar-minded tasks on the same day and same time of the day each week. ( For a business that might look like doing content creation like this email every Monday and Wednesday from 9-12noon with the focus on either content creation, editing, and or scheduling content tor marketing. Tuesday and Thursday is for Sales during the same 9-12nooon block and can consist of client calls and prospect follow up. Friday is for Administrative, Accounting, and operational improvements/reviews etc
However, which way you do it, take the key areas you typically need to make progress with your business and time block them off in your calendar to a certain day and time. If for whatever reason you get pulled into doing something other than the assigned task, at least you have a best-in-class structure that takes into account all facets of your business assigned to time blocks within your week. The same approach can be applied to the important areas of your life ( family, health, finances etc) Set aside time!
Timer:
When we are forced to work with the clock, we have a better perception of time, and magic happens! Setting a 45-minute timer for a task and then exclusively giving our undivided focus to that task always yields better results than trying to do 10 things at once. Why? Well, we are challenging ourselves to internally align our energies and output to get as much done in that allotted timeframe = FOCUS The time is finite, and so is the work effort so we can really focus on the work in a sprint, rest, and reset format, which is way better for ADHDers who have fluctuating energy output. Set a timer, turn on your favorite song from your playlist (something you already know), and knock out the work!
9. Good Habits & Decision Fatigue
It's been said before but it is worth repeating…. self-care habits help ADHDers' brains function optimally!
8hrs of Sleep.
Daily Exercise (or any kind of intentional movement really)
Vitamins & Supplements
Good Nutrition
1 Gallon of Water
Meditation
Keeping your Environment Clean
Breathwork
Stretching
Mental Health Support
Music that Supports Focus
Saying NO to say YES to what you really want
Create boundaries with your time, energy, and personal access
Take up space
Believing that you are enough
Kickass.
&
Repeat!
Your best effort in this moment is always enough. When you hit a productivity wall or experience diminishing output, visit the above habit list to refresh your mind and renew your outlook.
Make your energy cup overflow so that when you begin to work again each day you have the energy to make progress. If you need to take a little break to refresh your mind, do so. When you find that you have been unproductive for the last 1-2 hours, take a break. Just don't go down a rabbit hole of distractions.
10. Get accountability and objective support. Find someone who can empower your mind and inspire you to do more and be more.
ADHDers are brilliant dot connectors and idea generators. What we overthink, procrastinate on, or get overwhelmed about can be real easy for someone else to solve. Enroll others to help you with your project and processing. Do you know someone who is ambitious that has similar goals/struggles? Ask them to be your work buddy. Allow them to contribute and vice versa. Share your wins, challenges, and inner workings. Learn alongside each other to grow together as a team on a mission.
Don't have a group but want support to implement some of the above tips to help you really thrive in your work and in life!? DM or email me the words
“ Self Mastery” to get more information on my upcoming Focused and Fulfilled Life/Business Coaching Program: 6 Weeks of Executive Coaching & Business Strategy ( 5/13 - 6/21) build foundational life habits and business success systems at scale! Or you Click HERE to book a 1:1 call.
Don't you think its time you;
- uncovered your life purpose.
- started or scaled your business.
- Got accountability and support to help you accomplish more and hit your desired goals.
Know someone with AD(H)D? Send them this post/email to encourage them to thrive on their path to success!
Want an in-depth understanding of what areas you can work on in your life, business, or professional career? Take my free assessments;
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Purposely Yours,
Devin
Devin@inercourcoaching.com
845 821 4870
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