Hey Reader,

Today, I want to discuss how to stop constant ups and downs.

When I started my ADHD journey, I started the month planning my day, answering emails, and waking up on time—all the good habits. By mid-month, I felt great. My side projects gained momentum, and I received compliments at work. I thought I was finally making a change. By the end of the month, I’d come crashing down, scolding myself, “I knew it was too good to be true.”

In reality, I developed a habit of relaxing once I received praise. I'd stop doing the actions that achieved the results. This is the silent killer.

Long-term, these behaviors

• Created flashes of success, but dreams never materialized
• Created anxiety that everything was destined to fail
• Made me feel like an imposter

I wanted recognition more than I wanted to achieve my goal.

Similarly, this is why so many celebrities fall from grace.

• Connor McGregor
• Johnny Manziel
• Lamar Odom
• Fetty Wap
• Sean Kingston

They either blew all their money, got hooked on drugs, or ended up in prison: shit, or all 3.

Ultimately, they stopped performing the actions that achieved their results.

Here’s how I broke this habit and maintained consistency.

Bad Habits form without Awareness

As stated in Atomic Habits, habits are

Ultimately, habits form around anything if you do it long enough.

If we’re unaware of our behaviors, most bad habits go unnoticed and plague us for life.

Here are a few habits I was unaware of:

• Letting off the gas when things go well
• Not following through and finishing tasks completely
• Repeating the same mistakes over
• Overworking & Sleep Deprivation

When I became aware of these habits, I was able to fix them.

But you can’t manage what you don’t notice.

So, ADHDers NEED an accountability system that indicates when we’re relaxing.

Use Signals to Provide Awareness

What does this mean?

A check engine light means our car is f*cked if we don't fix it.

We need a system that does the same. I use personal metrics as a signal.

For example, sometimes I’ll overwork myself from 8 am to 11 pm instead of stopping at 9 pm. This gives me a short-term productivity boost, but starts a negative cycle.

1. I work more, stay up later, and reduce my sleep to < 6 hours for several days
2. Which leads to exhaustion, poor work, and frustration.
3. So, I overwork to catch up, and the cycle continues

Ultimately, this cycle will lead to burnout, where I'll take a few days off. Consistency is always better than ups and downs.

By tracking sleep and hours worked, I constantly monitor if I'm headed towards burnout.

Creating an Accountability System

• Make goals —> Ex: Lose 10 lbs
• Identify actions needed to achieve your goal —> Ex: Reduce daily caloric intake to 2000 calories to lose weight
• Track actions and results daily on Excel or Airtable. Here’s a sample! —> Ex: Calories & Weight
• Review your action goals weekly and daily
• Adjust if you’re not hitting your action or result goal

Here’s a worksheet to help you start. Send me yours if you want feedback

Once you track your actions, you’ll identify patterns. Build systems to prevent these patterns.

For example, I used to drop habits after 2 weeks. So, at two weeks, I’d push harder. This stopped the monthly ups and downs.

Remember,

Conclusion: Consistency comes from Awareness

• Actions lead to results. If you stop the actions, so will the results
• Unseen habits drive inconsistency
• Awareness allows you to correct your bad habits
• Build a system to be more aware of your habits
• Take action when you notice something off
• Use systems to prevent continuous problems

Reply if you struggle with staying consistent, and I can help you get started.

​Here's my song of the week!​