The problem isn’t your motivation; it’s that finishing simply doesn’t deliver the same neurological reward. So somewhere along the way, you stall. Maybe you hit a bit of the project that requires a level of executive function that’s hard to access. Maybe you just kind of lose interest. Maybe the dopamine just ran out when you got the project over the hump.

You might have done this so many times, with so many things, that your office is now a graveyard of projects that didn’t quite make it. Or projects that you absolutely 100% intend to finish at some point, you’re just waiting for that motivation to return.

Maybe, like me, it’s taken you 4 years to complete a course that should have taken a few months (yup, I really did that). Maybe you’ve told yourself some pretty unkind things over the years because of this pattern. Beaten yourself up for never finishing. (I’ve done that too)

Here’s what I want you to know. This isn’t some kind of moral failing. And while it may have gotten in the way of you achieving what you want in your business, it doesn’t have to spell the end of your success. You’re working with a brain that hasn’t been given the right tools yet.

There’s a moment that happens with every abandoned project. It’s the moment you feel the pull, the new idea, the shinier thing, the urge to start something else. It’s the moment that you’re no longer so excited to sit down and work on this current project. The moment it no longer feels like it has to be the highest priority in your life, or maybe the moment where you relax a little bit because you know you’ve broken the back of this project and now it will be easy so it’s safe to take your foot off the gas.

The first step is simply noticing, without judgement, when this happens.

But then what?

You’ve probably heard it a hundred times: Just commit! Build good habits! Push through! Set a SMART goal! Make yourself finish! The reason that advice hasn’t worked isn’t because you lack discipline. It’s because it completely ignores how your brain actually operates. They might as well say, “Just don’t have ADHD! Life would be so much easier!” The habit worth building is not “finish more things” or “be more disciplined.”

This is the moment where you have a choice: continue the familiar pattern, or consciously do something different. 

Work.Life.Smarts is a totally different approach to habit building for ADHDers. The habits we focus on first are:

• Self-awareness so you can learn about your patterns and notice those moments as they happen, without judgement.
• Making conscious choices to try something new (or not – you’re in control here).
• Curiosity, so you can honestly evaluate what’s working and what isn’t.

At the same time, we experiment with practical tools and mindset strategies that can help you work more effectively with your brain. Over time you build not one rigid system, but a toolbox of strategies, a menu of options, that work with your unique brain to help you get those last steps finished.