Ready, Set, Goals!

On January 1, many people make New Year’s resolutions. By January 7, many people’s resolutions have failed! In fact, only 36% of individuals who have made a resolution will make it past the first month, and only 9% will actually successfully keep their resolutions¹. What happens?! Well, several things. People lose motivation, they get too busy with other priorities, or their goals change. For people with ADHD, there are additional barriers that can interfere with achieving goals.

Barriers to Achieving Goals

• Negative feelings from the past: Folks with ADHD can be quick to go to the negative. They remember examples in the past where they failed and that brings on regret, shame, and guilt. Those negative feelings can get in the way of trying to create and achieve new goals.
• Not acknowledging/celebrating achieved goals: Sometimes people with ADHD do not give themselves enough credit for their accomplishments. They think it wasn’t perfect, or they could have done better, even when they have done a great job. They fail to acknowledge their awesomeness!
• Not changing behaviors/habits: The ADHD brain craves pleasure and runs away from pain. Change is pain. Creating and sticking to a new habit means pain, so it can be very hard for someone with ADHD to get rid of old (bad) habits and create new ones.
• Setting unrealistic deadlines: Time management is hard for people with ADHD. Their brains see time differently than neurotypical people. They may have trouble estimating how long something will take, which can result in not starting with enough time to finish or getting overwhelmed and giving up when time deadlines turn out to be unrealistic.
• Not having strong enough reasons for wanting the goal: Many goals are based on “shoulds” – I should quit smoking, I should lose weight, I should exercise more. These are not things that we WANT to do! They don’t excite us, they are overwhelming, and they necessitate changing our habits. The ADHD brain says "Nope!".
• Failure to put goals in writing: Some people have more luck with achieving goals if they write them down. The act of writing out a goal is the first step to wrapping your brain around a change you want to make in your life.

One way some people with ADHD have found success in setting and meeting goals is to make sure they are “SMART” – specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound.

The SMART goals concept was developed in 1981 by George T. Doran who published a paper entitled "There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives".² Over the years the initials in the acronym have represented different words – for example, the “A” has been known as “achievable”, “attainable”, or “assignable”; the “R” as “relevant” or “reasonable”, etc. Whatever the actual words used, the concept is the same – a way to state a goal that includes a path forward. Here are some examples of each of the five parts.

SPECIFIC: Specific goals are easier to achieve. The unspecific goal of “buy a shirt” can cause you to waste time and energy in a store while you wander through aisles looking at the many different kinds of shirts trying to decide what to buy. But if you make the goal more specific, like “buy a blue, long-sleeved button-down shirt” you can focus on a specific part of the store and a specific rack of shirts which makes it less overwhelming and easier to achieve. An unspecific goal of “start exercising” may be overwhelming with so many options to choose from. But the more specific “start walking 30 minutes every other day” can help get you out the door.

MEASURABLE: Measurable goals have built-in accountability – you know when they are accomplished. The unmeasurable goal of “write a paper” could be never-ending, but “write 10 pages, double-spaced” gives you a goal that you can tell is completed when you have the ten pages written. It is much easier to measure “finish reading three chapters of the textbook” than “do class reading.”

ACTIONABLE: Actionable goals are fully in your control – you are responsible for the outcome. An unactionable goal like “win the lottery” is not up to you. You can do nothing about the lucky numbers that are drawn. But “buy a lottery ticket” is in your control. “Get a job” is also not up to you – it is up to the person or people doing the hiring. A related actionable goal would be “update my resume and send it to a job placement firm.” If you complete that goal, it's a step toward getting a job.

REALISTIC: Realistic goals are within our reach – there is a possibility that you can achieve them. If you have never run before, it would be unrealistic to set a goal of “run a marathon next month.” If you really dream of running a marathon someday, you may start with a more realistic goal of “train to run a 5K road race using a ‘Couch to 5K app.’” If you achieve that goal, you may keep going and run longer races until you eventually get to a marathon. You may also achieve that goal and realize that you hate running and will never run another race. That’s OK too. If you work crazy hours and don’t know how to cook, it is unrealistic to set of a goal of “cook a healthy dinner every night this week.” Start smaller with something like “find an easy recipe with 5 ingredients or less and prepare it this week.”

TIMEBOUND: Timebound goals have a deadline which makes it easier to plan and prioritize. If your goal is to “answer emails” your ADHD brain will think about that later, not now. But “answer emails by 5pm tonight” gives your brain a jolt of dopamine as the deadline nears which helps you focus and accomplish the task. “Clean the closet” will get moved to tomorrow’s to-do list over and over again. But “clean the closet by the end of the weekend” gives you a deadline. It forces you to think about how long it will take, what else you have to do, and how much time you can dedicate to the task in your schedule

You may have noticed that some of the five parts overlap. “Clean the hall closet by 5pm” is specific, actionable, measurable, and timebound. Whether or not it is realistic depends on the person and the closet contents! The more “SMART” you can make the goal, the higher the chances that you can achieve it.

Other Goal-Setting Tips

Goals should be challenging enough that you remain interested, but SMART. If you write down your SMART goal and it still seems a bit overwhelming, break it into more manageable mini-goals. For example, “clean the hall closet by 5pm” may be broken down into further steps like “organize the shoes in the hall closet by 2pm” and “select coats to donate from the hall closet by 3pm” and “match all gloves and mittens in the hall closet by 4pm and put them in a basket.” Each mini-goal is a small step towards the bigger goal of “clean the hall closet.” And remember to celebrate all the wins, even the small ones. Choose a way to reward yourself when you complete each goal.

Goals should be positive. Don’t say “stop biting my fingernails,” say “give myself a weekly manicure to take better care of my nails.”

Remember, your goals are not set in stone. You can be flexible if you change your mind about what you want, or how long you are willing to work at something. Just make sure you try your best before you re-prioritize or give up on a goal. Now grab a pen and paper or open a blank document on your computer or phone, and start being SMART about what you want.

Images:
2023 in the Sand: Photo by Engin Akyurt: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-writing-numbers-on-sand-with-her-hand-13088177/
SMART Goals: https://dougthorpe.com/be-smart-about-your-goal-setting/
Goals Written in Planner: Photo by Bich Tran: https://www.pexels.com/photo/motivational-quote-760709/

Sources:
¹ https://insideoutmastery.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/#:~:text=How%20long%20do%20New%20Year's,their%20resolutions%20through%20until%20succession.
² https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals/brief-history-of-smart-goals.php
https://www.additudemag.com/achieving-personal-goals-adhd/
https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/why-set-goals-wendy-buckingham/

Specific questions and topic suggestions can be emailed to questions@ADHDinCollege.com.