Overcoming Distractions

If you are an adult with ADHD, this conversation is built just for you. Whether you are a CEO, busy executive, business owner with ADHD or are juggling life and professional responsibilities, you’ll learn a lot about being an adult with ADHD in this conversation.

Kathleen Nadeau, PhD, is the Founder of the Chesapeake Center and the author of Still Distracted After All These Years: Help and Support for Older Adults with ADHD.

In this conversation, you’ll get a snapshot of what it’s like to be a busy adult with ADHD and get some great tips for thriving in both business and home life.

First, Dr. Nadeau discusses why she wrote this book.

While we see a lot out there in the world about children with ADHD, as you well know, ADHD impacts adults as well. Dr. Nadeau discusses how ADHD impacts almost every aspect of our lives, including sleep, work, distractions, overcommitting, and much more.

Dave and Dr. Nadeau discuss why one of the most impactful and basic ways you can thrive with adult ADHD is have the proper support and structure in place. Having a mindset of taking control while having the proper support can go a long way in reducing the chaos of ADHD.

Dr. Nadeau discusses the importance of having brain-healthy habits, including research into diets, and she talks about some of the basics of building an ADHD-friendly environment.

How do adults with ADHD develop a mindset of taking control?

Learn more about the Chesapeake Center and find Dr. Nadeau’s book here.

https://thechesapeakecenter.com/

This is Part 2 of Dave’s conversation with coach Diann Wingert about how adults with ADHD can understand the Four Tendencies, authored by Gretchen Rubin.

Diann makes it clear, as she did in part one of this discussion, that understanding the four tendencies, whether in ourselves or others, is all about expectations.

She also discusses with Dave the importance of understanding “it depends.” Every adult with ADHD has different wants and needs and their particular life and career circumstances. That’s why when understanding someone’s tendency, we also need to preface it by “it depends.”

Dave and Diann also discussed understanding your tendency and possibly the tendency of others you may be working with including direct supervision, that this can guide you to the right career or job.

And in the case of adults with ADHD who have gone on to work for themselves and explored entrepreneurship, many understand these tendencies and it has enabled them to choose who they work with including the type of clients they serve.

Diann tells listeners that if you want to understand how to work with different tendencies and personalities, you need to understand that it’s not about you in their behaviors. People may behave a certain way but it’s a result of their tendencies.

Check out Diann Wingert’s Four Tendencies guide here. https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/the-four-tendencies-guide

This week Dave has back Diann Wingert, therapist turned coach.

Diann discusses the concept of the four tendencies, a philosophy by author Gretchen Rubin. Dave and Diann discuss how adults with ADHD can relate to these four tendencies and how you might find yourself in one or more of these.

Diann points out that this is not a personality assessment, it is more of a way to understand the characteristics of ourselves and others. And by doing so, we learn more about ourselves and how to work better with other people, especially in the workplace.

The four tendencies are:

The upholders.

The questioners.

Obligors.

Rebels.

Diann goes through the basic characteristics of each one of these tendencies.

Dave and Diann discuss how adults with ADHD can fall into these categories and how we can see ourselves in both our personal and professional lives.

Diann and Dave also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each tendency.

This is part one of a two-part podcast series about how adults with ADHD can relate to the four tendencies.

Check out Diann Wingert’s Four Tendencies guide here. https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/the-four-tendencies-guide

Dave sits down with Russell Kramer, author of the book Hocus Focus- Coming of age with ADD and its medicines.

Russell owns and operates a contracting business and tells his story of growing up taking medication for his ADD and why he decided to stop taking meds. To be clear, Russell is not anti ADHD medication but has learned how to thrive as a self-employed contractor without meds.

Russell talks about why he decided to write this book and what people can learn from his story. In the book he talks about critical self-awareness and as he says, coming of age. Russell uses the term growing into his ADD when discussing learning how to thrive.

Along with Russell’s story, he talks about how he manages his business as a self-employed contractor.

Russell discusses everything from how important it is to keep track of his numbers through proper bookkeeping, keeping logs of his day and keeping track of time.

He also discusses how he manages his project lists which are critical to finishing jobs and how he breaks down projects.

And he talks about how important it is for those of us with adult ADHD to find our fit.

Find Russell’s book here: https://a.co/d/0YTuCkk

The thought of goal setting can be a turn off for many people including adults with ADHD. One of the reasons is that many adults with ADHD are not clear on what goals they would like to set, both personally and professionally.

Goal setting does not have to be scary or overwhelming. Those of us with ADHD can set meaningful and achievable goals if we prepare properly and keep them attainable.

Back on Overcoming Distractions is Sarah Reiff-Hekking, Ph.D. of True Focus Coaching, Inc. She takes us right back to the basics of goal setting and gives us advice on how to make this part of our life easier and more manageable. First, she defines what a goal is to get our discussion going.

From there, Sarah gives us advice so we can determine what type of goals we should be setting in our lives. She discusses how we can understand the deeper meaning or personal significance of the goals we set.

Some of the other discussion highlights include.

• Setting short-term goals.
• Trusting yourself when setting goals.
• What’s most important right now?
• Planning for reality.
• Moving towards a goal, not away from it.
• Understanding how goals complement each other.
• Understanding your time frame when setting goals.
• Analyzing what’s working.
• Setting mini deadlines.

Here are the links we discussed about working with Sarah Reiff-Hekking, Ph.D.

1. Time Matters Boot Camp Virtual Workshop: CreateFocusNow.com
2. Website with resources: truefocuscoaching.com
3. Link to apply for a Strategy Session at no cost: https://www.truefocuscoaching.com/strategy-session-inquiry/

One thing that pretty much everyone with ADHD experiences is the concept of “out of sight out of mind.”

That can be everything from your calendar, to do list, shopping list, backpack or laptop bag to bring to work, car keys and the list goes on.

So in this episode of Overcoming Distractions Dave sits down with Star Hansen AKA the Clutter Whisperer to talk about how we can reduce out of sight, out of mind in our personal and professional lives.

Star first addresses the idea that for many adults with ADHD there is anxiety with clutter. But she also makes sure to tell listeners that out of sight and out of mind is not a problem exclusively to those of us with ADHD. Everyone experiences this.

Star also discusses some of the common scenarios that many of us with ADHD can relate to in both our work setting and in home. We’re sure you can relate to some of these.

Star and Dave discuss the following ideas that can help reduce out of sight out of mind in the workplace and at home.

Star says to acknowledge habits that contribute to this.

Start somewhere because better than nothing is progress.

Less is more so reduce items within a particular space.

Establish locations for important items.

Embrace the truth.

Try and fail and try again!

Establish boundaries to mitigate walking into a room and forgetting why you were there. Yes this can contribute to out of sight out of mind.

Learn more about everything Star has to offer on her website; www.StarHansen.com

There’s a clear connection between our ability to think and how we plan and when we have ADHD, it helps to understand that connection.

Because many with adult ADHD have challenges thinking effectively when we need it, planning can suffer. But fear not, we have some answers in this episode of overcoming distractions.

Back on the podcast is Jeff Copper from DIG Coaching.

Jeff and Dave discussed the concept of ADHD and thinking and why times arise when we cannot think clearly or think methodically. Because of this, it affects our ability to plan whether in the workplace or at home.

Jeff says that when we have ADHD we need to have a collection of mine tools that help us through these processes. Those need to help remove discomfort when it comes to thinking and planning.

Jeff also discusses why we need to externalize thinking when we are an adult with ADHD.

Dave and Jeff also discussed the importance of mind, body, sleep and eating habits as they are part of the core to thriving with adult ADHD.

Jeff also walks us through some of the core practices adults with ADHD can implement in their daily lives to make thinking clear and as a result planning easier and more productive.

Find ADHD and Attention Coach Jeff Copper at his website. www.digcoaching.com

Overcoming Distractions focuses a lot of attention and resources on helping busy professionals like you thrive in the workplace with adult ADHD. This week we have a general discussion about how to navigate the workplace and thrive, grow and feel less stressed.

Dave has a discussion with Jess Meredith, founder of Differing Minds based in the UK. Differing Minds consults with organizations of all types to give them a better understanding diversity and give leadership the tools to help their workforce.

Jess and Dave talk about some of the basic reasons why some of us adults with ADHD have challenges navigating the workplace and how those spill into our home and personal life. We have challenges with our workload, systems, routines creating effective to do lists as well as scheduling projects and tasks appropriately. That tax is our executive functions, and it can make us tired at the end of the day.

Jess talks about some of the common challenges that many adults with ADHD have in the workplace in how to begin the process of advocating for yourself without disclosing your ADHD.

Jess says that advocating for yourself requires us to understand our ADHD, work with a coach or mentor as well as doing your own research to understand ADHD better. She said it is also very helpful to document and journal our challenges with ADHD as well as strategies that work in our favor.

Dave and Jess talk about the must haves for thriving in the workplace. She says understanding your sensory profile and sensory processing can help you understand your needs. For many with ADHD movement helps us manage our ADHD. Working for a short period of time and then getting up and walking around for a minute.

She also says that noise-cancelling headphones can be a tremendous help in maintaining focus and minimizing distractions.

And finding an accountability buddy that can help you stay on track can be very beneficial to thriving in the workplace.

Learn more about Differing Minds here: https://www.differingminds.co.uk/

Understanding the overall concept of emotional intelligence and how it affects our lives with ADHD is critically important when it comes to navigating professional and personal life and thriving with adult ADHD.

This week on Overcoming Distractions, Dave has a discussion with Dr David Sitt, the author of ADHD Refocused-Bringing Clarity to the Chaos.

Dr Sitt first discusses his book and explains why the word “clarity” is in the subtitle. It is one of the keywords that drives how we thrive with adult ADHD. He explains that for many of us with ADHD, we wake up with the lights off and we must regain clarity on a regular basis.

Dr Sitt defines emotional intelligence and how it relates to adults with ADHD.

He discusses self-awareness, and self-management, including how to regulate, problem-solving, social awareness, relationship management, and dealing with conflict.

Dr Sitt And Dave discuss how “reading the room” is incredibly important, specifically in the workplace.

Dr. Sitt also discusses how many adults with ADHD have a low frustration tolerance and talks about how rejection is part of emotional intelligence.

Dr. Sitt discusses many steps to get started on the process of evaluating your emotional intelligence. He says self-awareness is a great first step and a great way to achieve that is through mindfulness and meditation.

He also talks about the power of journaling about your social world and how that can improve your emotional intelligence.

He offers many other powerful tips to get started on the process of improving emotional intelligence.

Learn more about Dr. Sitt and grab his book on his website.

https://drsitt.com/