New Year's Resolutions? Not for me.

What I do instead

I admit New Year’s Resolutions never worked for me.

I also admit that goals have historically confounded my ADHD brain. For me, long-term goals are too nebulas to wrap my brain around, and so I’ve never been much for setting them.

You, too?

Somehow, I have managed to get where I am today with a different approach.

Maybe it’ll help someone else:

Short-term Goals and Prioritization

Here’s what I do:

1. Get quiet. Carve out some space and time to listen to my intuition.

2. Set intention. When I listen to my deepest down desires (spiritual connection, community, and creativity, to name the most important), I set an intention to put more time and energy into my desires. I’ve learned to stop listening to what my brain, and others, tell me I should be doing, and I listen to what my body and what my soul are yearning for instead. This has brought me more serenity and joy. Meditation helps.

3. Prioritize. What has helped me succeed is not goal-setting so much as prioritization. Life is about priority. What we spend time on, that is our priority in life, whether we’d like to admit it or not. Knowing my intentions to say, become a full-time writer, I don’t go setting goals. I prioritize. I look at my calendar, at my life, how it is currently planned out, and I find spaces where I can add in time for writing. It seems simple, I know. But these are the bare necessities that have led to results, when it comes to achievement.

   *Keep in mind that one of my priorities in life is to not be so achievement-focused, but to be focused on contentment and joy. Often times that means carving out time to do absolutely nothing, to walk in the park, to sit in meditation, etc.

4. Get help. For some, this might be a coach, a mentor, or a therapist. For me, an accountability buddy. For the past year, I’ve been blessed to have a friend, also neurodivergent, who offered up this idea for the both of us. Each week, we reflect on the week before (what worked, what didn’t), we note a couple of goals (very short-term) for the next week, and any barriers that get in the way. Sleep, rinse and repeat.

5. Schedule it in. Intention does not work without action. For me, the most effective action, one that has helped my ADHD significantly, is to use my Google calendar and to SCHEDULE IT IN! I know, duh, right? But until we schedule things into our lives, whether it be that date with a significant other or a friend, time to create, or whatever, when are we honestly going to do it? Friends know that if they want to see me, it needs to go in the calendar. That time becomes their time, or it becomes writing time (every Sunday from 10am-3pm is writing time). I am far more likely to follow through on a priority once it is in my calendar. If I discover down the line that I’m not following through, then it may mean that the priority needs to be re-examined. Maybe that thing, let’s say going to the gym, for example, is something my brain thinks I should do, but my soul wants a nice walk in the park.

We’ve got to get honest with ourselves first, before any amount of goal setting or prioritization can work. Avoiding that relationship? Maybe it’s not right for you and it’s time to cut ties. Not making time for creativity but you dream of being an artist? Maybe there’s some internal barrier worth exploring.

In my experience, goal setting is great, if priorities are in alignment with my soul’s true desire.

Otherwise, I’m only abandoning myself.

In 2026, I plan to do less of that.