251: Dream Big Without Burning Out Your All or Nothing ADHD Brain

Ditch the Vague Resolution: Build Your 26 for 26 List Instead

Today’s the fun day — the part where all that New Year energy and excitement actually gets to play. It’s the day you’d normally see people picking a word of the year, building vision boards, and setting goals. Go ahead and have that fun. We’re just going to tweak the format so it actually suits how our brains work.

Your word of the year needs a body

If you want a word of the year, have one. But pair it with something physical, because our brains are visual. If your word is something like “jump,” find a little frog or kangaroo stuffed animal and move it around the house the way you’d move an Elf on the Shelf — somewhere it catches your eye and makes you smile, only you knowing what it means. If your word is about taking steps forward, an old baby shoe you couldn’t bring yourself to donate could sit by the sink instead. A physical, moving symbol sticks in a way that a word alone doesn’t.

Skip the vague goal — build a 26 for 26 list instead

Here’s the bigger shift: instead of a resolution like “I’m going to walk 10,000 steps every day,” which falls apart the first day it doesn’t happen, build a list of concrete, checkoffable things. We’re calling them aims instead of goals — when you aim at a target, you might not hit it exactly, but you’re still moving in the right direction, and that counts.

Take a vague aim like “I want to be healthier” and turn it into something finite:

• “I’ll buy myself a new outfit after 30 workouts” — where a workout can be a yoga class, a gym session, or just walking out the door for 1,000 steps. Each one counts toward the 30.
• “I’ll call and book every pediatrician and dentist appointment for the year this month” — a concrete task that also might nudge you into realizing you haven’t booked your own overdue mammogram or checkup.
• “I want to clean with more natural products” becomes “I’ll line up all my current chemical cleaners somewhere I’ll be annoyed by them until I use them up, then I’m allowed to switch to natural ones.” The annoyance is the point — it gets the old stuff gone instead of sitting half-used in a cabinet forever.

None of these require daily tracking or punish you for a missed day. They’re just done or not done yet.

Stack in some quick wins on purpose

As you brain-dump your list — and you can absolutely have more than 26, or bundle some together — deliberately include a few things that are nearly already accomplished. That’s not cheating. Early wins give you a dopamine hit that keeps you moving, instead of making you wait until December to feel anything.

A good trick here is finding “twofers.” I want to purge my linen closets down to two sheet sets per bed anyway, and I’ve got excess towels and rags piling up. So two items on my list — “organize the linen closets” and “make a donation to an animal shelter” — get solved by the same afternoon of work. And because I can’t check off “donation made” until the stuff is actually out of my house (not just bagged up in the garage), it forces the whole loop closed instead of stalling halfway.

Pair what you dread with what you love

One more move for the list: attach a task you avoid to an activity you actually look forward to, so the reward pulls you through. If you never think about home maintenance but love podcasts, make a rule that podcasts only happen while you’re vacuuming or scrubbing a bathroom. My own version: I’m loving a watercolor course I started over the holidays and I’m dying to get into the next lesson series — so I don’t let myself sit down for a watercolor lesson unless I’ve done 10 minutes on the trampoline, walked two miles, or done a 10-minute weight routine first. The thing I want becomes the unlock for the thing I need.

Your practical, actionable step

Start brain-dumping your 26 for 26 list today. Think in categories first — health, nutrition, home, decluttering, a hobby, family time — then turn each vague wish into something concrete and checkoffable. Throw in a few near-freebies for quick wins, and look for pairings between what you love and what you avoid.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.