As an ADHD adult how do I keep it from ruining my life

Many challenges of ADHD worsen as young ADDers become ADHD adults since the consequences of not overcoming them can be more serious than when they were children. Imagine the child in school who forgot to hand in an assignment. This child would probably lose a few marks on the project and get reprimanded. Now, imagine an ADHD adult who forget to complete a projet for a client or to go to an important meeting. Chances are he or she would find themselves looking for work.

Many ADHDers Feel Hopeless

Surveys show that before diagnosis, 87% of adults with ADHD feel hopeless because of what seems like their insurmountable weaknesses. Unfortunately, these weaknesses often hide the most amazing talents and strengths that never get discovered because the ADDer's energy and time is so often focused on correcting weaknesses.

If you are an ADHD adult, chances are you are not living your full potential. Struggling with the challenges of ADHD has probably hindered any attempts at identifying your strenghts and at developing them. Despite hard work on overcoming your weaknesses you find that very little works for you and that you continue to struggle.

Untreated ADHDers are Less Productive

At work, you likely feel as though you're not as productive as your colleagues. You struggle to keep your focus on the task at hand and at starting and completing projects. You often feel overwhelmed by a brain that feels like it's too busy. On average ADHD adults lose a month of productivity over their colleagues.

It's no wonder so many ADHD adults lose their jobs. The problem is not that they are lazy or incompetent, it's that without training they cannot sustain their attention for long periods of time. At times their impulsivity gets in the way or gets them in a whole lot of trouble, in what I call my "open-mouth-insert-foot syndrom".

Your Lack of Productivity Affects More Than Your Career

Many of us think of productivity as something related to work. The truth is that being productive means getting all the "stuff" of your life done. If at work you're very productive but at home you forget your commitments to your spouse and your children or to your parents, you're not being productive. If you never see your physician or dentist or exercise or complete your income tax returns on time, you're not being productive.

It Doesn't Have to Be this Hard

What's frustrating about living with adult ADHD is that it doesn't have to be this hard. With proper help, adults with ADHD can be as productive as their colleagues, if not more. They can then take advantage of their strengths. Many ADHDers are out-of-the-box thinkers with creative ideas and almost endless energy when doing things they enjoy.

If you're one of these ADHD adults, imagine how different your life can be once you discover your strengths and use them to forge a better life for yourself. Consider how great you feel when you realize you're pulling your own weight or when your spouse thanks you for being so dependable. When my clients contact me, to them and their spouses these don't seem possible.

What Do You Need to Do to Make It Happen?

You need to learn what it takes to manage ADHD. The six blocks to overcoming ADHD include understanding ADHD, learning to become productive despite it, developing emotional resilience, in other words, learning to laugh rather than cry about it, creating opportunities to develop your strengths and talents, cultivating nourishing relationships, and learning to manage project effectively.

One-on-one coaching or group coaching or training is a great way to acquire these. They require not only a financial investment but also an investment in time and a commitment to change that is often difficult for adults with ADHD. They often don't believe they can change, or don't think that anything will work for them. They expect it to be too difficult and won't be able to stick to it, or that they don't deserve to be happy because of their "failings".

Not everyone is ready for change and so, if you don't want to change anything, you'll do us both a favor and not contact me. But if you think you're ready, this readiness test will help you to see if you're ready.

It's also important to understand that the real work in coaching takes place between sessions. During sessions, we'll celebrate past accomplishments, make realizations about you, decide what objective you want to achieve, create a plan to overcome possible obstacles, create a plan of action and then you'll be on your way with a plan for the next week or two. All this in less than one hour!

To achieve this, there are steps you can take to get the most of our coaching sessions. I highly recommend that you prepare our first session together in order to take full advantage of this time.