Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
January feels like a fresh, new journal: the pages are blank, full of possibility… but the pressure is high to not make a mistake and end up with a scribbled mess like last year. For those of us with ADHD and autism, the prospect of a blank new year can be both exciting and overwhelming. But what if our neurodivergent brains hold the exact tools we need to make New Year’s resolutions that actually stick?
I’ll be honest—you probably hate New Year’s resolutions. Only half of Canadians made resolutions in 2024 and 2025. And up to 70% of those who did make resolutions gave up after a few months.
It’s even harder for people with ADHD and autism to keep New Year’s resolutions. Rigid goals can clash with traits like boredom, aversion to change, working memory issues, overwhelm, time blindness, procrastination, impulsivity, distraction, and the fear of failure. Traditional goal-setting advice doesn’t work for me at all. I took it as a personal flaw until I figured out how to design a system that works for my brain instead of a neurotypical one. Now, New Year’s resolutions are fun, and I look forward to them every year. I almost always stick to my resolutions for the whole year, but my resolutions look very different than the typical “I will lose 20 lbs by December” or “I will start eating salad” resolutions.
We need ADHD and autism-friendly approaches to goal-setting that work with neurodivergent traits and make lasting changes achievable. In this post, I hope to share just that: practical, compassionate goal-setting strategies that work for neurodivergent families.
The forest and the trees: the AuDHD advantage
People with ADHD tend to be better at big-picture thinking. They’re good at seeing broad patterns, making intuitive leaps, and coming up with innovative ideas. Their fast-paced, novelty-seeking brain is able to grasp the overall feel of a problem and jump to a solution. My husband is able to look at a ton of data and summarize the key findings because he’s good at seeing things as a whole.
Autistic people, on the other hand, are more detail-focused. This is known as “weak central coherence,” where individuals notice specifics more than the overall picture. They have amazing pattern recognition, precision, and deep analysis, but sometimes miss the broader context. This “bottom-up” processing means that instead of seeing the forest, an autistic person might see the trees, the insects, the moss, and the texture of the bark all at once.
ADHD minds love to dream in galaxies, while autistic minds thrive in constellations of detail. As someone who is AuDHD, I get to shift between both modes. New Year’s is my favourite time to use that gift to plan a year that feels expansive yet grounded.
I’ve made New Year’s resolutions every December for as long as I can remember. My method of planning has evolved over the years, but I’m going to show you what works for me now. My way of setting resolutions and making growth happen year-by-year relies on both the ADHD big picture and the autistic details, but anyone can use this technique and customize it based on their situation.
Why New Year’s?
Okay, you might be saying, “Why this specific day?” or “New Year’s is a non-Muslim holiday.” Yes, you’re right, it’s a totally random day, and we don’t really celebrate it as a holiday. There’s nothing special about New Year’s that restricts people from making resolutions and setting goals on any other day of the year.
Planning using the Gregorian calendar
For me, New Year’s is a natural point to reset routines and intentions, because it’s the start of our calendar. I do believe we should start using the Islamic calendar more to be more in tune with our own traditions, but I don’t think anyone can argue that the Gregorian calendar is a huge part of our lives. We use it every day and plan our lives around it. School starts in September. Summer holidays happen in July and August, winter holidays in December. The Gregorian calendar is the one hanging in my kitchen that my kids look at every day. It’s intuitive to me to use that calendar in my planning. I get a shiny new one on January 1st to try to make 2026 a little bit better than 2025.
Using the seasons to help achieve goals
I also like New Year’s as a resolution-starting date because the seasons work in my favour. I have a huge tendency to throw myself into things and get burnt out fast. When I start my goals in January, I keep the seasons in mind.
Winter, to me, is a time of slowness. I wake up later, have less daylight to work with, and just generally am less productive in winter compared to other seasons. I think of winter as a time of rest, recovery, and reflection. It’s a time to recharge and make plans for warmer days.
Starting my annual goals in January means I have a built-in warm-up period until March. I start slow and ease into my goals. From April until October, it’s time to put in that hard work. And November to December are a built-in cool-down period, looking back at what I’ve achieved and taking account of what worked or didn’t work.
Why not New Year’s?
That all being said, I am very impulsive, and I never let dreams sit. When I decided I wanted to memorize the Qur’an, I started immediately. I didn’t wait. So when I called my teacher for my first class, I had to tell her that I might need some time off soon because I was 38 weeks pregnant with Moon. I knew that if I didn’t start at the very moment the idea popped into my head, I would never start. Some things can’t be delayed. While I plan out my year starting in January, things will inevitably come up throughout the year, and this system allows for that adaptation of goals. We’re not locking the entire year down in stone.
If you’re reading this post at any other time of year, or if New Year’s just isn’t the time of year that makes sense to you for starting over, you can use this technique whenever you want. Some people like to start in spring, a time when growth and starting fresh come naturally. Some people might like to start in Muharram, in line with the Islamic New Year. And if you’re feeling impulsive and ready to make a change right now, you can use this starting today, whatever day it is.
My resolution method
I created a printable version of my method to help you follow along with these steps.
Step 1: Broad categories
The first step is to identify 5-6 main categories of your life, for example, Health/Fitness, Personal Development, Family, School, Work, Faith, etc. These will look different depending on your life situation. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else; think of what you actually do in your life and what matters to you.
Step 2: Specific focus areas
Now, list different areas you want to make changes within each category. Aim for 2-3 in each category. Make sure these are things you want, not things others tell you you should want.
For instance, if your home is messy but you don’t mind it, don’t write “clean up my house” just because you think others would expect that to be a goal of yours. This is so important because goals and resolutions don’t stick unless you truly want them. Keeping a goal is hard work, and you won’t do that work for something you don’t care about.
Secondly, keeping with the example, if the house is messy but you don’t care, it’s probably because there’s something else occupying your mind that’s preventing you from using your brain to get the house clean. That something else is a higher priority; otherwise, you would have cleaned the house already. So deal with whatever that is first.
New Year’s resolutions are a tool for you, not more pressure to be like everyone else. We get enough of that already.
Step 3: Finding overarching themes in your goals
Take a step back and look at everything you’ve written down. Is there an overarching theme? Is there a word or phrase that could summarize all the smaller goals you’ve written? If it’s hard to see a pattern, take a breather for a couple of hours or overnight and come back to your sheet. Sometimes seeing the connections requires seeing things with fresh eyes.
Some examples of themes might be: “Energy,” “Connection,” “Presence,” “Good enough,” “Self-compassion,” “Movement,” “Learning,” or “Nature.” They can be a single word or a phrase that you can use to guide you through the year.
Step 4: Quarterly breakdowns
I plan quarterly because the year is too long a timeframe, and my ADHD brain gets bored quickly. Breaking the year into quarters lets me create mini-focuses that work towards my theme and change them through the year.
Having quarterly focuses means I get to feel like I have a fresh start four times a year rather than just once.
If three months is still too long for you, you can even break each quarter into months. I do this because three months is too long for me. I plan quarterly, but in my daily planner, I break those quarters down even more, with each 13-week quarter divided into three 4-week sprints plus a 1-week break after each sprint. I’ll discuss this more detailed planning method in a future post, but for now, let’s just define a mini-focus to guide us each quarter.
My 2026 theme: Cultivating Environment
I’ll walk you through how I planned my New Year’s resolutions and theme. Please remember that your goals should be what you want, and don’t try to emulate my example. I’m sharing this mostly so you can see the steps in action, and also to give you a sneak peek at what my blog posts will likely be focusing on next year.
Broad categories and focus areas
Here’s how I laid out my categories with focus areas for each:
Overarching theme: environment
I took a look at this list, and immediately the word “environment” came to mind. Most of these goals are all about cultivating an environment that works for me. From setting up my home in a way that creates calm and promotes rest, to gardening, which forces me to be outdoors in an environment that regulates me. Many of these goals involve finding, or more likely building, a community of like-minded friends.
Cultivating environment stands out as a perfect 2026 theme. Now that I have a theme, it will guide me throughout the year like a compass. Whenever I choose activities or projects, I want to make sure they will help me in cultivating the environment I want. Even if I take only small steps toward my individual goals, the end result come December 2026 will be an environment that’s closer to what I want than it is now.
Breaking it down into quarters
My quarterly breakdown is as follows:
Q1: Decluttering, cleaning, and re-organizing my house
Supporting steps: Go through each room, starting with the kitchen. Get rid of things we don’t need, deep clean, then think about making changes to support us.
Q2: Gardening
Supporting steps: Plan what seeds to plant, prep soil, make a planting calendar, and plant accordingly. Get kids to help.
Q3: Outdoor/garage decluttering, cleaning, and re-organizing
Supporting steps: Go through the garage, deal with unfinished projects (like that table I started refinishing two years ago…), get rid of things we don’t need, deep clean, then think of storage solutions.
Q4: Creating a calmer indoor environment
Supporting steps: Now that the house is clean, create a reading area with soft lighting, replace lights with ones everyone likes, and add indoor plants and wall art.
You’ll notice not every goal made it onto the mini-focuses. That’s because some things need to be done on an ongoing basis. My blog will be taking up time throughout the year, and I’ll just make sure I have time set aside on my calendar to work on it. Creating quality time and supporting my kids’ goals also happens throughout the year as part of life. In a future post, when I talk about planning on a daily basis, I’ll share more details on how I manage this and make sure all my goals are getting attention throughout the year.
Family-Friendly Goal Setting (and Printable Template)
I mentioned that one of my goals is to support my kids with their own goals. This will be my first year introducing goal-setting to my kids. It honestly didn’t even cross my mind to do so until I started writing this post. I wrote this guide with adults in mind, but there’s nothing mentioned here that couldn’t be done by a child.
Any child who can grasp the concept of a year can do this. They may not have a full understanding of what it means to work on one thing for a whole year, but this is a good way to learn that. I also think this could easily be adapted to be done for half a year or a quarter of a year. Just decide on a length of time and break that period into quarters when you get to that step.
Why this is important for kids
My main advice is that kids should be involved in deciding their own categories and focus areas. Don’t let this become another assignment that will be marked and handed back. There’s no right or wrong. Parents shouldn’t try to help the child come up with ideas or steer them toward an answer.
If done correctly, this exercise leads to shared accountability, increased planning skills, and a better connection to your kids. You’ll help each other improve, help your child take control of their life, and get to know what really matters to them. These are all vital for neurodivergent children, leading to stronger family connections and a better likelihood for independence as neurodivergent adults.
That’s why I created two versions of my neurodivergent-friendly New Year’s resolution goal planner template—one for kids and one for adults. I made these to help take the guesswork out of goal-setting. There’s space for brainstorming goals, breaking them down into quarterly steps, as well as visual cues and pre-planned rewards (this will be explained in a future post—I have so much to share about achieving goals, I need to dedicate all of January to it). I also added some permission-based affirmations to help keep you on track and avoid the shame-spiral that throws ADHD people off their goals so often.
Get my neurodivergent-friendly goals planner here.
What’s your theme for 2026?
My AuDHD brain helps me plan both the big picture and the smallest details. Seeing the year as a whole lets me define what I want clearly, and seeing the days, hours, and minutes lets me make slow but consistent progress toward that end vision. There’s so much I want to write in this post, but can you believe how long it is already?
One very important planning step that I neglected throughout this post is the power of du’a. It will definitely be a future post, but du’a is the main thing that will help you achieve your vision. Your yearly theme and quarterly focuses not only guide you when it comes to taking action, but they also form a very handy du’a list to keep in your back pocket throughout the year. Make du’a for your New Year’s resolution throughout the year; make it your go-to du’a. Imagine a year’s worth of du’as for one thing. Ask Allah to make all your dreams come true.
Download the printable goal-setting planner and try this method with your family today. What are your family’s themes for 2026? Let me know in the comments! I would love to know what you’re focusing on this year.
In the meantime, I’ll be here, cultivating environments where neurodivergent families thrive. 🌱