When the women that I coach tell me how overwhelmed they get by their tasks. I always try to tell them the importance of breaking large tasks down into small steps, so you are better able to accomplish them. Having a huge task such as “clutter my home” on your to-do list would completely derail you, where as a task of “clean out the junk drawer” is just a bit easier to swallow and something you can actually build on.
When that happens, it is important that you stop and reevaluate your list. Don’t be tempted to quit it all together. I know that’s hard, but you need to cut yourself just a little bit of slack. It’s the truth though, right? We are our own worst critics.
As a women with ADHD, we tend to beat ourselves up for how we look and how we feel. If our finances are out of whack, yep…that’s our fault. If our homes are a mess…our fault too. We are so quick to point the finger rather than just give ourselves just a bit of grace and skip the blaming part altogether. In order to keep bad habits from happening again, you need a game plan. Something set into place that will keep you focused on moving forward rather than stuck right where you are.
You are probably saying to yourself this sounds all well and good Coach Jenna but how on earth do we put this into action? Let me tell you…You break it down into small steps. And these steps below will help you with anything goals you are dealing with.
Step #1 Write it down- When you write down what you are going to do is a great way to plan for the day. Rather than having all everything you need to do swirling in your head, tasks are now out in the open where you can see them. That also helps you feel organized and is a helpful memory prompt throughout day.
Step #2 Break each down Into Mini Tasks Now, you are going to want to take each of those tasks and break them down into mini-tasks aiming for 4-6. Remember the more you break things down the easier it will be to reach your main goal.
Step #3 Add your tasks to your weekly to-do Each week when you create your weekly schedule and to-do list you will refer to this list and grab a few items off of it to focus on for the week. As you accomplish a mini-task use a bright highlighter to mark it off, cross it out, you need to see what you have done so you know just how far you have come. This is so important when reaching your tasks gets hard and you are tempted to quit. Those highlights are the pats on the back that you need to keep your motivation going.
Step #4 Revisit, revamp, redo – It is easy for a women with ADHD to make a list of goals and then toss in that pile high of paperwork to be lost forever. Put it somewhere were you can see it each week And this magical little piece of paper is your reminder to what you want to accomplish.
To assist you with this process here is my free chunk it down worksheet UPDATEDCHUNKITDOWNWORKSHEET