Discover more from Extra Focus • ADHD
Hey friends,
I know we still have more than a month left, but it honestly feels like the year is almost over. Maybe because the Christmas season started the second that Halloween ended? (I used to be a strict “Christmas doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving” person, but I’ve since been converted)
In the past few years, around this time I start to think about what my year has looked like, reflecting on the good and the bad of the last 12 months.
When possible, I really like to take a short Personal Retreat for this process and make it official, so I can really detach from the busyness of the daily grind and focus on reflecting and dreaming.
Staying at an airbnb for a couple of days to write my annual review and plan out my next year has been a great ritual for me.
Because people with ADHD often struggle with what I call Success Amnesia—i.e. forgetting all the things you’ve done well—I find this to be a great time to evaluate the year and remind myself of what’s gone well (and maybe identify some areas for growth too).
Then I like to take what I’ve learned or observed in my annual review and look to the year ahead. This gives me some perspective on how to plan for the next year and what approaches I might take to help things be successful.
What sort of annual rituals do you find helpful for evaluating your past year or planning the next?
Anything that’s worked particularly well?
Anything you thought would work but just fell flat?
Stay focused,
Jesse J. Anderson
P.S. If you aren’t sure where to even start for doing something like this, I’ve been working on putting together some sort of annual review template and possibly hosting a webinar so some of us can fill it out together.
It’s always easier to work on something like this when you’re doing it as a group!
If that sounds interesting to you, let me know in the comments!
Podcast Appearances
In the past couple of months, I’ve had the privilege of getting to chat with friends old and new alike as a guest in several different podcast interviews!
Here are a few of my recent guest podcast appearances. I had a great time with all 3 of these, I think you’ll really enjoy the conversations (and maybe learn something too)!
The NBD Podcast with Kristina Ellis
Focus and Chill with Jeremy Nagel
Dig to Fly with Karl Staib
ADHD is getting to the 'almost done' stage of a project, and then spending more time thinking about abandoning it than it would take to actually finish it.
(via Threads)
Annual Reviews and Personal Retreats
I've been using this booklet called YearCompass - https://yearcompass.com/ - for many years now to do past year reflecting and coming year planning. I can't say enough about it. So helpful for really seeing all the accomplishments I've achieved (that I often forget about), and to help me find a focus going forward.
Love and need, template and group.
Usual end-of-year is me cloistered with notebooks, calendars, kids’ schedules, partially implemented/populated apps...