New Year Blast: Three Promising Ways to Fulfill Your Dreams with ADHD

I believe in goals, annual big-picture goals, and smaller goals too; I’m a coach, after all! I work with adults, parents, and families living with ADHD, as we set goals together. I set annual business goals and biweekly goals with my accountability partner. Goals help us plan and accomplish our dreams. 

But what happens when life gets in the way? How do we manage the bumps in the road that we are all too familiar with living with ADHD and related conditions? That’s when intentions are helpful for managing the load. 

Here are three ways promising ways setting intentions can fulfill your dreams and get you back on track when you live with ADHD.  

Understand Intentions vs. Goals

Intentions help us stick to who we are and what we need so we can accomplish our goals. They can be short-term, long-term, or designed for a particular event or purpose. Intentions help us get around the obstacles when we may need to take detours to achieve our objectives. 

Rather than being results-oriented like goals, intentions focus within, towards our state of being. Intentions help us get back on track when we’ve lost our way, or when we feel we might wander off. They ultimately influence our decision-making and help us stay mindful and present. Our intentions can become the very essence of who are. 

Find Your Intentions with Your Values

Consider these questions when setting your intentions. 

Ask Yourself:

• What do you stand for?

• What personal characteristics define you right now?

• What do you need? 

• What really matters to you?

• What fires you up?

• What are you grateful for?

• What’s your guiding light?

• What’s your watchword or motto?

• What do you want more of?

• What experience(s) do you want to have?

To give you an example, I'll share my intentions with you. 

My intentions:

• Focus on what I can do rather than what I can't. This idea has consistently supported me and my crazy foot to heal, and focusing on what I can do has been my mantra. 

• Choose courage over fear. I continue to be grateful to my Toastmasters group for all I’m learning and for showing me I'm gutsier than I ever thought possible! I look forward to continuing to grow!

• Trust my intuition. This is so empowering!

• Do what matters: family time, friends, meaningful and gratifying work, creating adventure, and connecting with nature. These are my passions that drive the experiences I want to have more of. 

• Listen. Listening actively is my true "heart and soul" pathway toward connection which matters so much to me. 

• Challenge myself, jump in, and GROW. 

Discover Your Needs that Drive Your Intentions 

Needs come from incompletions in our history or childhood and are incredibly powerful, as they drive our behavior and choices, both personal and professional, in ways that we may not be aware of. When you have an unmet need, this could make life difficult if you're in situations where you're not getting that need met. 

• To recognize a need: do you feel really angry or upset about something? There may be a strong need lurking underneath.

• What are the chances of your current needs being a need when you were a child?

• What's true now?

• Who can support you to get your needs met?

• What boundaries can you put into place to meet your needs?

Intentions focus on our state of being as they:

• assist us in closing the gap between what we’re doing and the essence of who we are and what's important to us. 

• help us fail forward so that when we get off-track, we are mindful of what really matters. 

• support us to stay true to ourselves. 

All the best to you in the year ahead,

PS. Need a fresh start setting intentions to help you stay on top of what truly matters? 

Contact me for an ADHD Strategy Assessment and we’ll get you on track to help you and your family reach your full potential!

Transforming Parents Lives