Do you ever have a desire to accomplish something but then you end up standing there, unsure where to start?
Yeah, me too. Often. I used to think there was something wrong with me.
When I was a 5th grade teacher, I took a class so I could better help my students who had ADD. I realized the people leading the class were describing what was happening in MY brain! "Oh my goodness, this is something other people experience?! I thought I was defective!" was what was right there for me at the time.
Since then I have begun to collect strategies and methods to support myself. In fact, as I write this, I'm using a technique I learned in the class - having another person there with you while you work. It has some great name that now escapes me - D'oh! While I write, my fellow ADDer (my diagnosis) and dear friend, David, is in my earbuds on Zoom. In fact, his timer just went off from the stretch break he was taking. In my brain? "Oooh, yes, I should start using a timer too!"
SQUIRREL!
Ok, back to the topic at hand, which really does all relate.
One technique I have used recently with great success is called a Brain Dump. I even found these fun notepads for it. It's like dumping the junk drawer of your brain. I rely WAY too much on my brain to hold things, and since starting this process, I have more brainpower to do the things that are important to me instead of using it as a receptacle for snippets of conversation, to-do lists, grudges, and whatever else is cluttering the precious CAUSING LOVE part of my brain.
Even as I write this, I feel like this post is jumbled and incoherent. Perhaps I'll identify something from my past at some point that helps quiet that, but for now, the brain dump is gold for me. And it's so easy! Just like dumping the junk drawer so you can sort through it - dump what's in your brain onto a sheet of paper. Get it all out! All of the things you want to do. All of the things you need to do. All of the things you've not gotten to. All of the things you've said you would do and haven't. And especially all of the things you've been dreaming of doing and you haven't taken actions around to make them reality! Sometimes you can even do this when you feel off but don't know why. In that case, a friend with a big listening of you is a good person to dump that to, or better yet, a life coach who is going to be highly trained at listening and isn't going to take any of it personally!
Once you do your brain dump, there are multiple things you can do with that. Sometimes the first action is obvious. Other times you may need to incorporate a prioritizing activity. I learned a great one recently that I use all the time with great success. It's easy and quick, and it's heart-centered so it fits perfectly in what I'm here for (my WHY). And it leaves me with what action to take first, which is usually what stops me from taking ANY actions.
Another tool that many people use successfully is a Mind Map. These are good for any projects you have that you don't know where to start working. I love these (when I remember to use them!) because I am very visual AND I like puzzles. I love seeing everything on paper, organized but not in a rigid way. Mind maps are a fantastic way to start a project, then you can do a brain dump for each category and then prioritize from there.
I know people who have these things laid out for every project they have. People who have mastered being organized more than I have. During this pandemic-time, I have shifted greatly from comparing myself to others, in particular people like that, and finding myself lacking TO appreciating how we're all different and always learning and growing. Now I learn from those people around me that have something mastered that I don't, and then I can take action more freely.
What project have you not taken any action on? What do you want to accomplish before the end of the year? What are the tools YOU use that are helpful? I'd love to hear in the comments!
EVERY action moves you forward. Every one. Even (and often especially) those that feel like they are moving you backwards. You got this. Be your brilliant Self and go to bed tonight satisfied that you leveled up in your game of life.
Go forth and love that squirrel!
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