The Drummer and the Great Mountain
A Guidebook To Transforming Adult ADD / ADHD
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Release in Spring 2014

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Adult ADD / ADHD: Life Visioning and Goal Setting Tips (Part 3)

by Michael Joseph Ferguson | Jan 26, 2015 | No Comments

In last week’s article, we explored mapping your short-term goals. The next step involves distilling each goal into a list of short-term goals.

From Short-Term Goals to Doable Actions

The next step is to take your short-term goals and turn them into doable actions that can be added to your action item list, and/or your weekly schedule. 

I want to place special emphasis on the term “doable action.”

For example, if your short-term goal is:

 “Run a full-length marathon within a year.”

And you presently don’t engage in any kind of regular exercise routine — it may be unrealistic to start with with an action like: 

“Run everyday for 1 hour.”

A more “doable” action would be something like: 

“Place a reminder on my calendar to jog twice a week for twenty minutes.”

 

Exercise: Turning Goals into Actions

Starting with just the first short-term goal for each long-term goal, list a series of actions you can take right away to address this goal.

Revisiting our previous example, if your short-term goal is: 

“Study filmmaking (take classes, read books, etc.)”

Start listing a number of actions you can take right away to reach this goal.

It may look something like this:

  • Research “filmmaking books” on the internet. Do a search for “best books on filmmaking”, read reviews, and order books.
  • Go to the local library and check out books on filmmaking.
  • Watch filmmaking tutorial videos on the internet.

That’s a good start, but you may want to carve out specific times in your schedule each week to address this short-term goal. 

You may want to add to your list:

  • Every Tuesday afternoon from 2pm – 4pm, study filmmaking. Write it on my calendar!

If you have a big list of actions, you may want to whittle it down a bit, prioritize, and get to a list of the most important (and potentially effective) actions to address this short-term goal.

In this way, go through each long-term goal, choose the first short-term goal, and repeat the process. Once you have your list of action items, the next step is to add them to your action-item list, then onto your calendar.

This is an excerpt from the book The Drummer & The Great Mountain — A Guidebook to Transforming Adult ADD / ADHD — Chapter 6: “Life Visioning.”

THE DRUMMER AND THE GREAT MOUNTAIN
A Guidebook to Transforming Adult ADD/ADHD

a soulful, comprehensive, and holistic support system for artists and creative humans.
Join our growing community.

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Find Us On:  natural add natural add
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