This is for the artist with ADHD—whether you’re a painter with a growing collection of blank canvases, or a filmmaker too anxious to share your videos. Let’s talk about how we can get out of our own way and make progress on our creative goals.

I used to call myself a writer who doesn’t write.

I had all these ideas in my head—a realm of untold stories—and I relentlessly failed to bring them together into completed pieces of work that I could share with the world.

I still struggle with that. My Google Drive is a bottomless pit of first drafts, my Notes app is full of bursts of ideas that I quickly typed up on my walks and then never returned to to flesh out, and I have journals upon journals of half-born poetry and prose.

But I finally published this blog.

Over two years after registering the25thofjune.com, I finally hit the “Publish” button—an exhilarating experience, by the way—one that I’d missed for a long, long time.

So, what changed? Did I suddenly become a better writer? Did I wake up one day without the fear of failure and judgment looming in the back of my mind? Did my ADHD get bored of me? No. But I learned something critical that completely changed the way I approach my creative goals, and I want to share that idea with you today.

Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome.

The most powerful ideas are so simple and obvious, that you almost can’t believe you didn’t think of them yourself. It quite literally feels like a lightbulb flashing on, or a glass shattering inside your brain.

For me, this idea was to focus on the process, and detach from the outcome.

It’s the central premise of Seth Godin’s 2020 book The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. In the book, he describes art as “a process without regard for outcome, a commitment to journey”. Seth is a renowned author, entrepreneur and thought leader in marketing and creativity. The Practice is a guidebook for artists who want to do more with their creative passion.

“Process over outcome” requires framing your creative goals in terms of your input, rather than your output. For instance, instead of aiming to get 1000 shares on your next video, you aim to post one video every week, or to film and edit for one hour every day.

The process itself becomes the goal. This isn’t just a better way to set goals, it’s the only way that makes sense, and I’ll explain why.

You Cannot Control Outcomes.

There is an important Stoic philosophy about the dichotomy of control, that emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between what we can control and what we cannot. The Stoics determined that external outcomes, such as success or failure, are outside of our control, and therefore, should merely be accepted, rather than attempted to be controlled.

This is captured in a great quote from the Greek philosopher Epictetus:

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own . . .”

—Epictetus, Discourses, 2.5.4–5

Epictetus, who was born 2000 years ago as a slave in the Roman Empire, believed that we should make goals about things that are up to us. And the only thing up to us is what we do.

I cannot guarantee that this blog will become successful. No matter what I do, I can’t control whether or not people read my work, or like it enough to engage with it. What I can control is my own effort.

I can sit down every day and I can type.

And it turns out, that’s all it takes.

When You Focus on the Process, the Outcome Finds its Way to You.

My goal now is write every day. I stopped trying to become a writer, and I started writing.

I don’t set a time. It doesn’t matter if it’s for two minutes or two hours—as long as I open my laptop and type. Framing my goals this way has completely changed the game for me.

It’s gotten rid of the anxiety that comes along with being attached to external outcomes, it’s given me clarity and simplicity, and it’s turned a big scary goal like run a successful blog into type words once a day.

By making my creative goals all about the process instead of the outcome, I was able to build the skills and practice necessary to publish this blog.

Are Your Goals About Things That Are Up To You?

If you’re staring at blank pages or empty canvases, I encourage you to inspect your goals. Are your goals about things actually within your control, like your actions, efforts and attitude? Or are they about uncontrollable externals, which have nothing to do with you?

You might be surprised at how much art you can create when you forget about becoming an artist, and just create art.