ADHD-New Year’s Resolutions

A Guide For ADHD-Friendly New Year's Resolutions

The New Year often marks a time of reflection and goal-setting, providing an opportunity for personal growth and positive change. For ADHDer, this process comes with its unique set of challenges and opportunities. In this blog post, we'll explore a guide to crafting ADHD-friendly New Year's resolutions, acknowledging the potential benefits and addressing the hurdles that may arise.

The Benefits and Challenges of Resolutions as an ADHDer:

New Year's resolutions can serve as a powerful catalyst. They offer a chance to reevaluate routines and habits, providing motivation that aligns with the ADHD brain's natural attraction to novelty and new beginnings. The prospect of setting goals and personal growth becomes a driving force, creating a positive framework for change [1].

Despite the positive aspects, common obstacles such as inconsistency/difficulty sticking to routine, distractibility, impulsivity, time blindness, and other executive functioning difficulties [2] can hinder progress towards goals. Recognising these challenges is the first step towards crafting resolutions that are tailored to the interests and specific needs of an individual with ADHD.

Tips for ADHD friendly Intentions:

Tap into the ADHD-friendly Resolutions Recipe:

When creating ADHD-friendly goals/resolutions it benefits to incorporate the specific ‘ingredients’ we know that most ADHD brains tends to thrive on or are considered ‘strengths’ which is spontaneity/hyperactivity, social connection/empathy, creativity [3], emotional sensitivity, and competition/hyperresponsiveness to reward [4].

Understanding the Impact of Executive Functioning

It is important to take into consideration the executive functioning difficulties an ADHDer may experience. For instance, if you struggle with procrastination or with time blindness, predicting the length of a task might be difficult [5].

Once you understand a bit more about how your ADHD brain operates (e.g., role of Dopamine in procrastination), then you can adjust your expectations about how, when, and under which conditions you best achieve your goal.

Using Hyperfocus to your Advantage:

Whilst Adults with ADHD have a tendency to be easily distracted by irrelevant information, there is surprising evidence that many also experience reports of ‘hyperfocusing’ (i.e. long-lasting, highly focused attention) [6] . Choosing to only attend to the one goal at a time can mean that you can tap into the ability to intensely focus on the one thing for longer without getting side-tracked.

Meaningful Goal Setting and Reviewing Progress

It is important that the goal is meaningful to you for it to be something you want to commit yourself to. Research also suggests that you may want to choose a goal that is approach oriented (e.g., increase physical health) rather than avoidant oriented (e.g., abstaining from alcohol) as they tend to have higher rates of success [7]. It might be helpful to use mindful and reflective questions when deciding your resolution/goal and reviewing your progress. They can include things like:

-          What are the most important things that inspire me (i.e. values)?

-          What makes the goal/resolution I’ve set so important?

-          What ‘small’ habits do I need to change to achieve this ‘big’ goal?

-          What would life look like if I achieved it (outcomes)?

-          What would it look like if I failed? What were the barriers to achieving?

-          How can I break it down in smaller tasks so I stay motivated?

-          How will I measure my goal’s success?

Getting Support and Accountability

Once you’ve set your goal it often helps ADHDers to voice this goal to others. For ADHDers accountability buddies can be hugely beneficial. You may also need to ask for help whether through friends, family, or professionals (i.e. gp, psychologist, or psychiatrist). These people can also help you stay accountable or help you make the adjustments you need to stay on track.

Practice Self-compassion:

Be kind to yourself and recognise that setbacks are a natural part of trying to achieve goals. It is easy to critize ourselves but we know how unhelpful to be self-critical and perfectionistic when it comes to goals. Try your best to embrace your unique journey, steering clear of the pitfalls of comparison and perfectionism.

In Summary:

While New Year's resolutions may not work for everyone, customizing goals to align with the specific needs and preferences of individuals with ADHD can make a significant impact. The journey towards personal growth and positive change is unique for each person, and embracing this individuality can lead to meaningful and sustainable progress when it comes to resolutions and goals more generally.

Begin Therapy for Adults with ADHD in Brisbane or via Telehealth

Therapy with a psychologist who truly understands the complexities of having ADHD as an adult or parenting ADHD kids could be the answer you’re looking for. I want to help you be more confident in your decisions for yourself and your neurodivergent kids.

Johanna has ability to see clients in Brisbane North. However, no matter where you are in Australia, she can also help you with Telehealth. Get started with these steps:

1.         Fill out a contact form to book in for therapy.

2.         Check out more information in the About me.

3.         Contact me if you have another questions via hello@holisticwellnesspsychology.com.au

4.         Check out the social media pages @holisticwellnesspsychology and ADHD podcast page @adhdherway- a podcast that will be launched very shortly!

References:

[1]       E. S. Nordby, S. Gilje, D. A. Jensen, L. Sørensen, and S. H. Stige, ‘Goal management training for adults with ADHD - clients’ experiences with a group-based intervention’, BMC Psychiatry, vol. 21, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Feb. 2021, doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03114-4.

[2]        M. H. Sibley, P. A. Graziano, M. Ortiz, L. Rodriguez, and S. Coxe, ‘Academic impairment among high school students with ADHD: The role of motivation and goal-directed executive functions’, J. Sch. Psychol., vol. 77, pp. 67–76, Dec. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2019.10.005.

[3]        Boot, N., Nevicka, B., & Baas, M. (2020). Creativity in ADHD: Goal-Directed Motivation and Domain Specificity. Journal of Attention Disorders, 24(13), 1857-1866. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054717727352

[4]        Kohls, G., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B. & Konrad, K. Hyperresponsiveness to social rewards in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Behav Brain Funct 5, 20 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-5-20

[5]        J. B. Meaux and J. J. Chelonis, ‘Time perception differences in children with and without ADHD’, J. Pediatr. Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 64–71, Mar. 2003, doi: 10.1067/mph.2003.26.

[6]        Hupfeld, K.E., Abagis, T.R. & Shah, P. Correction to: Living “in the zone”: hyperfocus in adult ADHD. ADHD Atten Def Hyp Disord 11, 209 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12402-019-00296-6

[7]        Oscarsson M, Carlbring P, Andersson G, Rozental A. A large-scale experiment on New Year's resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals. PLoS One. 2020 Dec 9;15(12):e0234097. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234097. PMID: 33296385; PMCID: PMC7725288.