Asking the question "In order to reach your goal this week, what WON'T you do?" is an excellent tool for achieving short-term goals.
Copyright (c) 2008 Jennifer Koretsky
I am a member of a business Mastermind Group. We're a small group of coaches and business people who meet weekly to check in with each other, ask questions, and set the goals we'd like to be held accountable for.
In last week's meeting, I complained that I was once again setting the same goal for myself that I had set the week before. Despite wanting to complete that goal very badly, I just couldn't find the time to get it done.
That's when fellow Masterminder Doug Emerson, aka The Profitable Horseman, asked one of the best coaching questions I've ever heard:
In order to reach your goal this week, what WON'T you do?
He knows me well...and I think he's gotten to know Attention Deficit Disorder well, too!
Asking me that one little question forced me to articulate exactly what was getting in the way of my progress. It will come as no surprise that I was allowing myself to follow distractions that were new and more interesting than my original goal.
Simply articulating this problem forced me to be aware of it, which allowed me to consciously avoid the distraction. This proved to be an excellent tool for achieving my short-term goal.
So let's take this out of the business context and move it into the general scope of ADD management. Let's use a common example of a short-term goal that adults with ADD frequently get tripped up on: financial management. (Substitute organization or running errands or any other goals that you have trouble meeting.)
Let's say you set a goal for yourself this weekend to manage your finances and balance your accounts. When you set out to do this, what usually gets in the way? These are the things you can commit to NOT doing when you set out to achieve your goal this weekend.
A great example of what might get in your way (no matter what your goal) is getting caught up in your computer or getting sucked into television. So before beginning to get to work this weekend, you can commit to NOT watching TV or turning on the computer until you've met your goal.
By making this commitment, you make yourself aware of potential pitfalls and plan to deal with them before they become problems. Deciding what NOT to do is an excellent way to avoid the typical distractions that keep you from getting the job done.
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