ADD and the Traffic Cop

I have a traffic cop analogy for defining ADD/ADHD and how coaching will help you.

When I think about ADD/ADHD, I sometimes think about a traffic cop directing traffic at an intersection. He is telling the cars exactly where to go. As long as the drivers pay attention to him, everything moves along efficiently. Now imagine if the traffic cop directs traffic in the wrong direction, too fast or too slowly. This intersection becomes a snarled mess and we have gridlock. This is what happens in the mind of someone with ADD/ADHD. Their thoughts are moving at light speed through their minds and without direction sometimes they get jumbled. It is a random jumbling of thoughts therefore harder to regain efficiencies.

Here is where coaching comes into play. A coach helps individuals to install traffic lights which will help to automate the traffic patterns. This frees up the traffic cop to focus on other items. A coach will help the traffic cop do better more consistently. However, more importantly it will help identify where the traffic light will take the place of the traffic cop so it’s more automatic. The traffic cop will monitor bigger things while the traffic light will monitor the details automatically.

Thanks and I hope you will come along this journey of learning about ADD and how coaching will help you or your loved ones enjoy a fulfilling life.

Strengths - Finding more time for enjoyment

So, what if you have been tracking the amount of time you spend on your Strengths and you find that there is a lot of room for improvement?

Well, you may wish to start with something that is the simplist and easiest for YOU to do. That is, pick one thing for work or school that you can easily add more time doing that is within the things you do well and enjoy doing and set a goal of spending one more hour a week doing that thing. On the other side, see if there is something you do not enjoy doing and see how you can spend 30 minutes less a week doing that (while still being effective in life). For example, could you pay someone else to do that thing, delegate it at work? What if you barter, you agree to do something for someone else who agrees to do that thing for you? Who knows, if you look closely, you may discover that you can get a system set up or automate a process so it no longer is something that you dislike so much, maybe with a system set up that works for you, it becomes something you do well and enjoy? Send your comments and discoveries to me...

Keep Creating a Better Life For Yourself, One Step at a Time...

Robb

The Attention Deficit Disorder Association Conference in Minneapolis, Minnasota July 2008

Here are some summary points from some of my notes from participating in the conference:

Some important reminders that the speakers addressed at the conference included the importance to those with ADD/ADHD challenges (and others who share those challenges) to cover some basics:

Get and stay connected socially with those who love, support and accept you for who you are and who encourage and support you.

Get work where you feel productive and appreciated.

Have constant structured support to stay focused on short term and long term goals.

Use systems and technology to help you get and stay organized.

Bring and keep fun in your life and plan for and schedule fun and social time so you support yourself in having it.

Some new things:

Research shows that having a trained and specialized ADD/ADHD Coach in your life helps you feel happier, stay focused and be more productive.

Daily exercise is key to overall mental and physical health and helps elevate mood, increase focus and is vital for those with ADD/ADHD.

Get an exercise buddy or group who will support you and you them...even nag each other to make time for exercise.

Complex exercise tends to be more stimulating and interesting so those are the best for those with ADD /ADHD to participate. (i.e. raquetball, martial arts, and other sports with many levels of complexity and mastery that offer many ways to constantly learn and improve.)

With the guidance of an expert, you may be able to get accomodations at work. It is best to enroll the services of an expert before beginning this conversation at work.

It is probably best NOT to disclose your ADD at work before enrolling the help of an expert.

Strengths: How much time do you spend with your strengths?

Strengths – It is so important to spend time using and developing our strengths….when I speak about strengths I realize there are at least two key categories of strengths. There are things we are good at, which may or may not come easily, and which we may or may not enjoy using. Today I am talking about those things we do really well and we enjoy doing them…whether it is important as to how easy or difficult it is for us to use them does not matter to me at the moment. If we enjoy them and are good at them, then, in my opinion, we should spend the majority of our time getting even better at them. Also, as much as possible, we should spend the minimum amount of time we can on the things we do not enjoy and/or do not do well (at least so much as we are still be effective and successful in life). Spending as much the majority of our time, energy and focus doing things that we do well and enjoy is a worthy and important goal in life.

Suggestion….for a week set a timer to go off once an hour, when the timer goes off, write down a quick estimate of what amount of your hour you spent on using the skills you love to use and do that for your waking day, each day for a week. If your weeks vary a lot, you may want to extend this discovery process for a month. Then come back to this blog, and we will explore what to do with the information you discover. Send me an email with what you find.

Happy Hunting.
Robb

ADHD ADD at the workplace

The qualities and traits of ADHD can show up as positives and/or negatives in the workplace. Many times those traits that are showing up as negative or perceived by others as negative can be turned around in short order. Sometimes an advisor, advocate, strategists or support staff is needed to make the transition as successful as possible. These changes can result in job security, promotions, raises and/or new and bigger opportunities. In my experience, some of the clients I have worked with have gone from being an employee at jeopardy of losing his or her job, or an executive at risk, too being seen and recognized as a vital link to the success of the business or organization. For example, one architect with key marketing and sales responsibilities for a key architectural firm went from a place of the partners discussing his possible dismissal to a place where the partners were discussing how they could pay him more incentives and praising him for firm wide record breaking performance. The solutions involved many parts and stages, some of the things I advocated for and worked with the employee and firm to create included reframing the context within which his role was viewed and thereby defined, comparing the support staff and administrative functions in place in his areas of responsibilities compared to those of similar levels in other parts of the firm, gathering broader and deeper financial data to make a sound argument for the changes that needed to be made that were not only justified, but demanded by the firm's own button line history. After the client and I had his actions and plan in place and a clear plan of attack in place, all of our key requests were granted and the implementations were successful to the benefit of the employee, as well as, the entire firm.

If someone is concerned about job security, finding and keeping the right joy, keeping a position in the company they are in (at least until something better is secured), it is important to take both a big picture perspective as well as identifying the details. Top performance is in the best interests of the employee as well as the entire organization. If you or someone you know are concerned about such things, you may begin by speaking about (and writing down) the plus and minus sides of the big picture: What is working and what is not working? What is a true problem and what is a perception problem?
Then, proceed to get to smaller and smaller details until you have a full list of what is working and what is not working. (alternatively, one can start with the details and build up or start with the big picture and get more specific). At that point, put the list down for a period of time and come back to it several times with fresh eyes. Then, it is time to engage in productive conversation with a trusted friend, family member or professional who can help.
I invite you to tell me about your current or past experiences with ADHD at the workplace.