… My boss has unlocked my secret ADHD activation language. So secret that I didn’t know what it was.
We were talking about my current case. The word “deadline” doesn’t really do much for me motivation-wise so I said my “goal” was to finish by Tuesday.
Boss said he needed a different word from me than “goal” and told me to say “commitment.” So I said I am committed to finishing the case by Tuesday.
And it was like a switch was flipped.
Deadlines are terrible and exterior. They suck and the consequence for missing them are either non-existent or horrendous. There’s very little in-between. My brain either panics or shrugs them off. Neither option is good for actually, you know, doing things.
Goal is wishy-washy. Leaves me a lot of wiggle room. Sounds good, but there’s no real pressure, internal or external. I’ll get work done, but probably just enough to say I’ve worked on it to relieve the guilt from my lack of focus. My brain is not engaged.
A commitment though? Made to my boss? A commitment is internal with external checks. A commitment has a known, unpleasant but not world-ending consequence (disappointing people and getting a reputation as unreliable). A commitment activates the guilty conscience, creates the urgency, but doesn’t induce panic.
