Why motivation is crap for ADHD people
Don’t let the title confuse things. Motivation is great…when you have it. The only thing is, we can never predict when it will come for us. It’s kind of like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. You would have to walk around every moment carrying a bottle with a hope and a prayer that that lightning happens to strike the inside of the bottle. In other words, when we have ADHD, we cannot rely on motivation as a strategy for getting things done.
Momentum is much more reliable for ADHD people as we go through our “to do” list. The beautiful thing about momentum is that we can create it for ourselves! No more hoping and praying for lightning! So, how do we create momentum? Through ACTION! Small ACTION is all you need!
Let’s use sending an email as an example...because I really, really don’t enjoy sending emails! You have an important email to send out. You know it’s important, but just cannot seem to sit down and write it. Start with a small ACTION. Maybe it’s by opening an email draft and typing the email address and subject. Even though it is a small action, enjoy that small victory! Congratulate yourself. If you just aren’t feeling it, you can stop.
Chances are though, that you have created a bit of momentum and can take it a small step or ACTION further. Next, you may decide that you could write a greeting, the first sentence and your signature. Revel in that win! Again, if that’s all you can muster...stop! My guess is that the momentum is really going to be flowing through you now! The next small ACTION might be writing the body of your email or maybe a small paragraph.
The key to making momentum work for you is acknowledging and celebrating the small victories that you are accumulating! Instead of focusing on the tasks as a whole, focus on completing just one small part of it...and it can never be too small! Will this work every time? Maybe not. Will it work enough to help you accomplish some important tasks or to make progress on a goal? Absolutely!
Momentum is where it’s at!