(Photo: febisola91)

In the life of someone with ADHD, consistency can be hard to come by. Our brains switch rapidly between interests, which makes it difficult to establish new patterns and behaviors. On top of that, ADHD makes it difficult to manage time effectively. There are a lot of systems out there to help with this and get organized, but even if we get into a good routine, we may still lose interest in it when the willpower wears off. How do we stay consistent amidst our fluctuating interests?

Step 1 – Do What You Truly Love

Just ask anyone with ADHD what they like to do and they’ll probably name a handful of things. They’ll say, “Well, I like watching TV. But I also like basketball. Sometimes I play poker. I love my accounting job.” And the list goes on…

There are a lot of things out there that we’re interested in, and a lot of things begging for our attention. Even without ADHD, we live in an “information overload” society that tugs at us 24/7. This makes it hard sometimes to distinguish between what we’re doing out of complacency, what we’re doing out of necessity, and what we’re doing for non-tangible reasons such as pure enjoyment or contribution to the greater good.

If we are to stay consistent in our personal lives, then we must spend time on passions that make us feel truly alive. Things that motivate and inspire us. Things we would do if money was not an issue and we had all the time in the world (hypothetically speaking). Not only that, but we must commit to do them on a regular basis. It could be 5 minutes a day or half an hour. If we don’t, we’ll get hyper-focused on something, lose interest in a few weeks, start on another interest, lose focus on that one, and continue to repeat the cycle, while never really getting anything done. Over time, this will just burn you out, and you’ll still feel like you’re missing something in your life.

Step 2 – Combine Your Interests

This was more of a recent enlightenment for me, but a very important one nonetheless. Sometimes, determining your true passion in life can be difficult, especially if you work a day job and have little time to work on yourself or your hobbies. To get around this and get close to finding your passion, try combining some of your interests. If you like meditation and yoga, find a program that combines both. If you like sports and writing, try starting a blog in your free time where you can talk about sports or teams with other fans. There are tons of ways to do this, but the point is that you’re doing something you enjoy; in fact multiple things. This should make them more likely to stick, and if not, you’re a few steps closer to really figuring out your passion in life.

If you have ADHD, it may behoove you to start small. Think of a creative way to combine two things in your life that you really enjoy. Then, commit to pursuing it for 1-2 months on a small scale, and try to keep your times the same. For example, if you like to help kids and enjoy martial arts, perhaps you could try teaching a small youth martial arts class once a week, on the same day and time very week if possible. You can easily get this going through a quick Craigslist posting.

Over time, you may decide you want more out of your new hobby. Maybe you want to transition out of your day job and make money doing what you love. If you’re the martial arts teacher, you could easily expand, rent a space, write a book or two about what you do, or a million other things. If this isn’t the right direction for you, then you’ve essentially crossed a couple things off your list and you can move on to what really motivates and inspires you.

Step 3 – Visualize!!!

(Photo:Ron Sombilon)

When it comes to visualization, I primarily focus on my vision board. Many of you have heard of this concept, but if not, it’s pretty simple to put together. Take a plain bulletin board and pin up pictures of your goals and dreams in life. They can be material things you want, even if they seem financially unreachable. They can be success quotes or affirmations. Whatever inspires or motivates you… They can come from magazine cutouts, post cards, greeting cards, printouts, etc. There are even apps on PCs, MACs, and smartphones that do all this for you.

Where will the vision board go? It should be somewhere you can easily see it on a regular basis. Mine hangs on the wall above my computer, just slightly out of focus, but within my peripheral vision. Since I’m in my office just about every morning, I know I’ll see it there and have those motivators every day.

The point of visualization is to inspire you consistently and remind you daily of your goals and dreams in life. However, it can be long term or short term, and there’s really no right or wrong way to do it.

In Conclusion…

I know there are entire books on these steps, but even if you follow just one of them, you should find some clarity toward the direction you want to go. Not only that, but your new changes should be much more likely to stick. Rather than giving up because you don’t care anymore or you’ve lost interest, you’ll be much more likely to stick with what you love and be successful.