Continuing our theme from last time, I wanted to share just a little bit of the awesome information I learned from the Succeed With ADHD Telesummit. To recap, the telesummit is hosted each year by Laurie Dupar of coachingforADHD.com. This year she brought in 25 guests over the course of 5 days to discuss various aspects of ADHD. As of this writing, you can still purchase access to all of the interviews and pick up the bonuses here. I’ll say again that I’m not getting paid for that link, so once you wander off down the rabbit hole, don’t forget to come back! Last time we talked about three of the guests, and I’ve picked a few others that I found especially interesting, and I will be sure to include their links so you can go do your own follow-up.
Leslie Josel is from orderoutofchaos.com and is a regular contributor to ADDmagazine for a column called “Dear Organizing Coach with Leslie Josel.” She talked about the problems we have completing projects, keeping up with the clutter, and misplacing things. (Ok, misplacing pretty much everything. Anyone?) Schedule the time into your calendar like it is an appointment. The trick is to also schedule the WHAT, not just the WHEN.
I’ve been experimenting with this strategy lately, to varying degrees of success. I find that as long as I schedule SOMETHING in there, then I will manage to get something done. It usually isn’t even remotely what I said I was going to to, but at least it’s something! I have to keep a separate list of everything I NEED to do though, or I get lost and forget what it is that I still have to do. It’s a work in progress. But I digress…… (SQUIRREL)
Remember that we tend to jump in somewhere in the middle of a project. Not only do we need to do a better job of starting at the actual beginning, we also need to work on remembering that taking the time “to get ready to start” should be a thing too. Treat the pre-project set-up as it’s own thing. If you do that, then you will not have to stop once you do get going, and have less of a chance of getting diverted mid-task. Here’s an example. If you are going to mop the kitchen floor, first you sweep it right? If you don’t already have your mop and bucket out, when you have swept you have to go and get them. Let’s say they are in the garage, so you step out to the garage and while you are there you notice that the shelves are in disarray, so you start straightening them. The next thing you know, it’s six hours later. The kids and dog have tracked sand all over the kitchen. Not only do you still have to mop, but now you have to spend time sweeping again.
Leslie had a few other great tips. She says that in her household they proclaim, “Have a treat while you make it neat!” Everybody gets cookies or ice cream or something they like while they are working. Here is another. You are familiar with the “have a home for everything” strategy, right? If you are like me, that flat out does. not. work. I’ll be darned if I can remember what the homes actually are! Leslie suggested that you get a clipboard, and make a list of where the “homes” are. Now there is no remembering required. Can’t remember where you put the scissors last? No problem. As long as you used your handy dandy clipboard when you straightened up, you can simply look at it to see where they are now! I confess that one made me actually say, “OH, DUH!” out loud. Why do we never think of these things?
Finally, look at how much space you want to use for storing things…. Let’s start with your closet. What should have a home in your closet? If it doesn’t fit, don’t store it somewhere else, negotiate what will go in there, and ditch the rest.
This one was fascinating. Dr. James Greenblatt wrote “Finally Focused.” He was in to talk to Laurie about ADHD and the gut. Yes, that gut. Did you know know that we each carry around about FIVE POUNDS of bacteria in our intestinal tract? Wrap you brain around that one for a moment!
Now that I’ve given you all the heebee-jeebees, here is what we know. We have learned in recent years that the relationship between the gut and the brain is profound. Studies are showing that most the serotonin in our bodies is actually found in the intestines. The studies are also showing that there is a very real link between the balance of neurotransmitters and intestinal health. In his practice he has found it possible to effect the level of serotonin, and each of the other major neurotransmitters, using a probiotic.
Dr. Greenblatt believes that one contributor to ADHD is something called dysbiosis. That is abnormal bacteria in the gut, causing the inability to absorb nutrients properly. He has found that many of the children he has treated turn out to have a yeast infection in their intestines. (And yes, that is as yucky as it sounds.) Some kids have even have enough of a yeast infection that they are actually producing alcohol in the GI Tract. This seems to be especially true of the “hard-core” hyperactive children that don’t seem to respond well to any other treatments. He treats these children with a prescription strength probiotic to bring the bacteria levels in the intestines back into balance, and that often produces a reduction of symptoms.
Now, I’m not saying we all need to go have our guts checked for a yeast infection, but Laurie did ask him what he would recommend over the counter. He mentioned two, I’m afraid I missed one, but the other was Culturelle. I figure that certainly shouldn’t hurt me, so I may try it. I’ll let you know what happens if I do.
The last speaker I’ll talk about is Linda Roggli of ADDiva.net I just plain liked this woman, so I will be following her more closely. She pointed out that as ADHDers, we make EVERYTHING complicated. Now, we don’t want OTHER people to make things complicated for us, that just makes us mad. So why is everything a major production? Easy answer. Because that’s the way we like it! It keeps us interested.
This can become a problem when it leads to obsessive thinking or perfectionism that keeps us from doing what we need to do. Has anyone else ever spent so much time researching something that we never got around to the doing? Just me? No, I didn’t think so.
There is an actual reason for that. Knowledge is always new. When we are learning new things we can see all of the other options. That makes it much harder to move forward, while we think, “Well I can do it this way. Or I could do it THIS way. Or maybe THIS way yet again.” Sound familiar? The key to overcoming this is to recognize when you have gone too far down the road of making everything complicated. I think this is the reason having a business coach has helped me so much in my own coaching endeavor. Without her I would have SAID that I had started a business, but I would still be researching the heck out of it, instead of actually doing it. Coaches are the bomb, people. But I might be biased in that thinking.
Well that was only six of the people that I heard from over the five days. I’m sure that you don’t need a reap of the whole 25, but I will link at least a few of the ones I have not mentioned below. Many of them are coaches themselves, or have written books, and all are worth at least learning a bit about. Next time …… Fired to Certified Life Coach Business owner in 8 weeks. How did that happen?
Oh, and how do you eat an elephant? Why, one bite at a time, of course! (Translation: Baby steps are still steps! Also: No actual elephants were harmed in the writing of this metaphor.)
Until next time, take care of yourself. Really.
Tracy.
From today,s post:
Leslie Josel writes a column for ADDmagazine
Dr. James Greenblatt wrote “Finally Focused”
And other guests that I enjoyed.
Tara McGillicuddy from ADDclasses.com
Rudy Rodriguez, Coach Rudy founded the ADHD Center for Success
Abigail Wurf had ideas for helpful APPS
Lynne Edris spoke about punctuality
Dana Rayburn talked about how we can do a better job of getting projects finished!
Finally Jeff Copper spoke about how to “hack your brain” I really enjoyed his segment, but I
don’t think I can explain it well myself.
