Bonus Episode 16: Runway Week Part 2 – Start the Year Right by Doing this FIRST if You Have ADHD – Intentions

Runway Week, Parts One and Two: Your Focus Word and Your 23-for-23 List

Welcome to Runway Week, my name for the process of setting a few things up before the year truly takes off. ADHD brains are remarkably good at building the plane while flying it, putting out fires, adjusting on the go, learning as we go. But giving that plane an actual runway first gives it a real shot at getting off the ground. That’s why I’m cautioning against a January 1st New Year’s resolution that sets you up to fail right out of the gate. Instead, we’re working through the acronym FIRST, one letter at a time.

F is for focus word

Rather than a resolution, pick one word to represent the year, something with enough layers of meaning that it stretches across health, work, and home. Last year mine was “strengthen.” This year it’s “step,” it nods to wanting more physical steps for my health, to the extra steps I want to take to grow the podcast and website, and to the steps I want to take toward a more functional home. I keep it visible, mine lives as a screensaver on my iPad, as a quiet daily reminder of the direction I’m steering toward. It’s not a task, not something to check off daily, just a compass.

I is for intentions, not resolutions

This is where the 23-for-23 list comes in, inspired by Gretchen Rubin of the Happier podcast. Rather than a single big resolution demanding daily upkeep, this is a list of 23 things you’d like to accomplish sometime over the course of the year, with no rigid daily requirement attached.

How to build your list

Start with a brain dump on scratch paper or sticky notes, whatever helps your brain move things around freely. Include a mix: small things that have been nagging at you forever, aspirational things you’re not sure you can pull off but want closer to reality just by writing them down, things you’ve always wanted to try, and things you simply have to get done. Since 23 is a prime number and doesn’t divide evenly, one option is grouping it as seven, seven, and seven across your categories, with two items left as flexible extras.

Two creative ways to use your remainder items

One option: a rotating monthly mini-goal that changes every month so it never goes stale, one month focused on hitting a daily step count, the next on drinking enough water, the next on joining a class that involves literal stepping, whatever ties back to your focus word and keeps things interesting rather than becoming another rigid habit you’ll abandon. Another option: weave in one long-term project broken into small monthly chunks rather than trying to check it off all at once. My own example is a slow-motion overhaul of my master bedroom, paint, a wall treatment, finally hanging frames that have been leaning against the wall for ages, new bedding, a new rug, tackled piece by piece across the year rather than all at once, which makes a big, intimidating project feel far more approachable.

Your practical, actionable step

Grab a piece of paper or a stack of sticky notes and brain dump 23 things you’d like to accomplish sometime this year, mixing easy nagging tasks, aspirational reaches, long-held wants, and genuine have-tos. Pick one focus word to represent the whole year, and put it somewhere you’ll actually see it daily.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.