Why You Keep Starting New Projects and Never Finish

It's 7:40 in the morning. Waiting for the caffeine to kick in, today I skip scrolling and choose my latest jigsaw puzzle instead.

The frame is done, the pink sky is in, little piles of flower pieces sit sorted by color.

I pick up a lilac piece of roof. Try it here. Wrong. Try it there. Wrong again.

Then it clicks in.

That click feels so good. Like a tiny "Yay! You got this!" right there on the table.

It may take me a month or two, but I'll keep coming back to it until it's done.

And it makes me wonder why I’ve finished almost every puzzle I started but abandoned so many other things halfway.

Like the knitting projects with one sleeve done… then ditched… because I kept getting bored.

I’ve scolded myself a hundred times, "You never finish anything!"

For you maybe it's the kids' bedroom you started sorting out. Or your 17-year-old's bar mitzvah photos that are still sitting in a folder waiting to be printed.

This Week's ADHD Aha

You keep going when you make the small wins at least as noticeable as the mean voices in your head.

With the knitting, I didn't get that little dopamine hit of satisfaction like some people do every time I finished a row. So a new project always felt more exciting.

With my puzzle, every piece that clicks in is a pleasurable sensory win I can enjoy. "Look! Things are clicking and coming together!" And the big picture stays there on the box lid, keeping me motivated.

You may already have a big picture of how you want things to be, like the one on my puzzle box. You're not getting there because you don't know how to keep giving your ADHD brain the pleasure it craves once the newness of a project has worn off.

That's what we work out in coaching. I teach you how to celebrate each small step and keep the finished picture in mind until you're there.

What if, instead of spending an hour organizing the little kids' bedroom and then giving up because it didn't even make a dent, you consistently chip away at the mess 15 minutes at a time until one day, you put the last toy away, stand in the doorway, and think, "I did this"?

What if, some days, you didn't get to work on the kids' room? But it was okay. When you could, you picked up where you left off, calm and sure you'd get there.

Because now you know you're not "lazy." You know that when a project stops being new, the middle can feel so boring it's almost painful for an ADHD brain. And you know how to get through it without calling yourself names.

That's the work I do with my clients.

When you're done hearing "You never finish anything!" in your head, and ready to trust yourself to finish, even on the days you stall, book a free Breakthrough Call.

Book your Breakthrough Call

With love,
Alana

• ADHD