One of the biggest challenges for me is trying to organize my time. I put this pressure on myself to get everything done at once. This never really goes well for me. It usually ends up with me feeling frustrated and like a failure. These are the times when I need to remind myself that I do things a bit differently than those without ADHD.
For the last year or so, I have been trying to organize my time better and stick with it. Not an easy thing to do for me. I finally did something I couldn’t manage two years ago – set goals. It sounds straightforward, but for someone like me, setting goals usually involve a path that starts as a straight line and then veers off in twenty different directions before coming to a grinding halt at the edge of a cliff.
To give you an example of my new method of goal setting, I will use the areas I would like to include as part of my career. First, I determined what I could do without becoming overwhelmed. For me, that was pursuing an education in Aromatherapy as my first step. Then I realized I wanted to take yoga teacher training and reflexology. It took a lot of self-talk to remind myself to focus on one thing, complete it, and move to the next. I added yoga teacher training and reflexology to my list of next steps so that I could put all my focus on Aromatherapy.
Currently, I am still working on completing my aromatherapy course. I have given myself an end date that I want to have the course completed. There is a set schedule that I make on what I should be completing each week. This method seems to work for me, and I am ahead of schedule. I have held back from enrolling in anything else because I know the more I take on, the more I will become distracted. Then there is less chance that I will complete my goal of becoming a professional aromatherapist.
Goal setting is going well, but it is not 100% yet, and I wonder if it will ever be. It isn’t easy at times. Internally I have lots of conversations with myself to take things slow. Thankfully I also have support and people reminding me not to overwhelm myself and complete things one at a time.
When I stop and think about what I have completed this last year, I am proud of myself because I will finish something soon. Two years ago, there was no way I could have completed a course. Taking the time to set goals and giving myself constant reminders to slow down has been beneficial.