What are my intentions?

Thanks to author Brett Harrington, MACAT, ANZACATA therapist, ADHD specialist​.

Former ADHD New Zealand board member, Brett Harrington is an ADHD specialist coach, counsellor and therapist who manages her own consultancy, ADHD Sorted.

Since 2011, she has been dedicated to working with adults and children with ADHD using her ADHD-friendly and tailored approach to help them to manage life's challenges, be it in school, university, employment, business or relationships.

​"In this series of blog posts, I’ll talk about the 5 key ‘Awarenesses’ those with ADHD need to achieve a less confusing and more productive life. We should approach these 'Awarenesses' with a spirit of curiosity and a big helping of self-compassion."

This is the fourth in this series of five blogs.

What are my intentions?

Our intentions underpin everything we do. Intentions stem from core values, and we often don’t think much about either of those things.

Having ADHD can make it a struggle to make those intentions, subconscious or conscious, match our outcomes.

​How we might begin to change that is to become more aware of our core values and by extension, our intentions. We can ask this important question: How does what I am doing and telling myself serve my intention?

For example, one afternoon I was knocking around my studio like a pinball, getting nothing done. It was a textbook case of not being organised, not having made decisions about what my priorities were and as a result, I couldn’t get stuck into any task.

​Pausing to check in with my intentions (clear away that paperwork), I first calmed myself with a few deep breaths, got out paper and pencil, made a three-point list and prioritised my intentions. My intention was to make some progress, now I had some guidelines that put me on track to accomplishing that task. ​

Being aware of our intentions can help us align our activity with our core values in situations such as "what am I doing right now?" to "what would I like to do with my life?"