Your Small Wins Playbook for Big Change

We sabotage our best intentions when we saddle new resolutions with these common ADHD traps: thinking too big and expecting overnight change.Ever optimistic, the ADHD brain assumes that it will hit the gym seven days a week, even after a long track record of doing the opposite.

It believes it will craft elaborate, gourmet dinners every night after months of DoorDash and frozen pizza. It imagines it will wake up every day at the crack of dawn after a lifetime of hitting the snooze button.When we inevitably fail to overhaul our lives at breakneck speed, we feel ashamed and overlook our efforts.

This leads us into perhaps the most damaging trap of all: self-criticism.Great change starts with small wins – and small victory laps.

For ADHD brains, every step forward deserves recognition and celebration. Begin by following this advice:BJ Fogg, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist and author of the popular book Tiny Habits (#CommissionsEarned), outlines this process for lasting change:After I [do my current habit], I will [do a teeny, tiny behavior toward my new habit].