It may not be easy at times working with Adult ADHD, but it can be Fun and done right, WILL make you Money!
Note: I did not write the article (well lets say articles) , yet because my diagnosis was not made until 18 months ago, And having ADULT ADHD is 100% different then a child's, as well as it's 100% different then an Adult who has known and those around have know their entire life, I felt the need to start educating others on who I am and why. For me the best way I can explain it is like being blind your entire life, and everyone around you has no idea you are blind, they get frustrated because You cannot see what they are showing you when they point, then one day we all discover you are blind, yet because of their lack of what that means and the fact that you do have eyes, their way of interacting with you, to accommodate your genetic difference, does not change, they still get upset that you cannot see what they are pointing at. Now because on paper I do not fit the typical stats of a Late Adult Diagnose ADHD; I have a Long term marriage, friends, and my career status and past employments (4 jobs in my life all peaked at top level and all long term) and I have naturally been a very positive, my whole life, I understand why my Doctor said "I cannot even begin to imagine what you are going to achieve in life, now that you know, this will be fun to watch".
I have been Blessed and look forward to the advantages that ADHD can bring. So, as the world learns more about it (remember it's not like childhood ADHD) and our generation (Us 70's and 80's kids) comes out of the woods, can you imagine what we will do and the things we can change, all because we see things different, can do more then two things at once and it's genetically impossible for us to do less, (my favorite thing to learn about myself). It's no wonder that recent news say "ADHD Adults make excellent CEO's, given the right support".
Side note: Two weeks ago we got a call for our Company, Core MSO, to help with the Building and Funding of some new ADHD ADULT clinics (4 of them)....Well of course we will, It's about time the world sees the need and I no longer have to wait in a room full of little kids to see a Doctor!
So PLEASE, TAKE THE TIME TO READ. VERY little is out there about it, but more and more will be showing up!
Jet Blue Airways founder
David Neeleman, Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea and Richard Branson with Virgin Airlines and records -- have succeeded despite,
or by their own accounts, because of their ADHD. ADHD is genetic. While only about 10% of the general population has this gene most of self-made rich & famous have the ADHD gene. This group includes most entrepreneurs, artists, inventors, geniuses, rock stars and billionaires.
How is that?
The ADHD gene affects the brain's relationship with dopamine. This difference causes one to crave stimulation just to feel alive. When you crave stimulation you are more likely to seek thrills, take risks, discover new ways to do things, be bolder, and have more charisma. The temperament that accompanies this genetic difference happens to be the same temperament that makes rock stars, inventors, artists and athletes, entrepreneurs, leaders and billionaires successful.
It's obvious why thrill-seeking is an imperative quality for rock stars, but what about billionaires? According to Fortune Magazine people with ADHD are 300% more likely to start their own company and with the right support become self-made-billionaires.
tMost adults
who discover they have ADHD have suffered a great deal of pain. The emotional
experience of ADHD is filled with embarrassment, ridicule, humiliation, and
self-castigation. By the time the diagnosis is made, many adults with ADHD have
lost confidence in themselves. Many have consulted with numerous specialists,
only to find no real help. As a result, many have lost hope. The most important
step at the beginning of treatment is to instill hope once again. Individuals
with ADHD may have forgotten what is good about themselves. They may have lost,
long ago, any sense of the possibility of people believing in them. They are
often locked in a kind of tenacious holding pattern, bringing all theory,
considerable resiliency, and ingenuity. It is a tragic loss, due to lack of
support and understanding.
Many
adults with ADHD deal with a life of frustration, to hope, for them, is only to
risk getting knocked down and humiliated once more. And yet,
their capacity to hope and to dream is immense. More than most people, Adults
with ADHD simply see things different, faster and bigger. They have visionary
imaginations, are extremely intelligent, masters at multitasking and an
abnormal about of energy high energy to carry it out. They think big thoughts
and dream big dreams. They can take the smallest opportunity and turn it into a
major break. They can take a chance encounter and turn it into a grand evening
out. They thrive on dreams and turn them into reality, the can take things to a
level others can’t even begin to comprehend.
But like
most dreamers, they go limp when the dream collapses. Usually, by the time the
diagnosis of ADHD has been made, this collapse has happened often enough to
leave them wary of hoping again. The little child would rather stay silent than
risk being taunted once again. The adult would rather keep his mouth shut than
risk flubbing things up once more. The treatment, then, must begin with hope.
In short, when you're marching to the beat of a different drummer, it's easy to be misunderstood. And, because the world is full of people who DON'T have ADHD, you end up feeling misunderstood a lot …a whole lot
Dear New Employer of an ADHD or ADD Adult:
Thank you for employing an adult who has a prevalent but often misconstrued syndrome! Congratulations on making a positive move not only for an employee who most likely will have very much to offer, but moreover, for your own company or corporation's benefit.
Following are some guidelines for garnering the highest level of productivity from your ADHD adult associate, who will henceforth be referred to as "HA," which stands for "Hyperactive Adult."
1) Research has proven that HA individuals have a very high potential to be high achievers, largely due to their commonly elevated IQ's and aptitudes.
2) Your HA associate, if they do have a college degree, will probably have earned over 200 credit hours in four different areas of expertise. They are literally a melting pot of knowledge, and they want to use it.
3) Your HA employee will usually exhibit very creative performance standards. HA associates have had to develop creative ways to deal with deficits, and this has developed a very creativity aptitude. They are also very flexible.
4) Set definite and firm expectations for your HA employee; however, it is critical to place the onus on them. In other words, give them the reins, but without you holding them. Most will give you 110% when they know they are depended upon.
5) HA associates work better under pressure for productivity, and they are typically harder on themselves than anyone else. This is largely due to school having been such a challenging - and sometimes even horrific - experience for them.
6) The HA employee knows where things are even when you cannot see their desk. It may appear as if Hurricane Katrina just blew through their work area, but HA knows just exactly where in that tumbled chaos lays the Carter Contract or the Mason Manuscript.
7) The HA may have a Rolodex, but in most cases, you may ask them for a phone number that will be automatically relayed to you from memory just like a magic 411 service. The same may be said for the appointment calendar or social calendar or number from reports.
8) The HA can lighten up a serious or tragic moment with humor. The caveat to this is that they are not always the most tactful people with this tool.
9) Your HA employee might walk in thirty seconds late to work, but your HA employee is not one of those who is out the door five minutes before closing time. In fact, your HA associate is most likely the last one out the door, wrapping up the loose ends left by all your OCD employees who file their shoes. Do not expect them to be very early to work, but typically 30 seconds before the clock in time. (I think because I worked A Doctors schedule for over 20 years, this was never the case, but while setting up Core's office, the months I did not have that structor I did notice the struggle).
10) If a critical presentation, which an associate has been working on diligently for weeks, suddenly becomes inoperative or impossible, pass it to your HA associate. They can usually improvise more quickly than can an entire panel of white collar PhD's.
11) Delegate the annual company picnic's planning to your HA associate. This will guarantee a brilliant time for all. You might want to check with your liability attorney to make sure that you are held harmless if anyone is injured during the great games that they will devise.
Adult
ADHD: Tips on Management
Insight
and Education
1. Educate yourself. Perhaps the single most
powerful treatment for ADHD is understanding ADHD in the first place
2. Coaching. It is useful for you to have a
coach or some person near who understands ADHD to keep after you, but always
with humor and patience. Your coach can help you get organized, stay on task,
give you encouragement or remind you to get back to work. Friend, colleague, or
therapist (it is possible, but risky for your coach to be your spouse), a coach
is someone to stay on you to get things done, exhort you as coaches do, keep
tabs on you, and in general be in your corner at all times.
3. Encouragement. ADHD adults need lots of
encouragement. This is in part due to their having many self-doubts caused by
years of ridicule and feelings of shame and embarrassment during childhood. But
it goes way beyond that. More than the average person, the ADHD adult withers
without encouragement and positively lights up like a Christmas tree when given
it. They will work for another person in a way they won't work for themselves
because they thrive on approval. This is not "bad", it just is. It
should be recognized and taken advantage of.
4. Educate and involve others. Just as it is
key for you to understand ADHD, it equally if not more important for those
around you to understand it--family, job, school, friends. Once they get the
concept they will be able to understand you much better and to help you as
well.
5. Give up guilt over high-stimulus-seeking
behavior. Understand that you are drawn to high stimuli, be it work or play.
6. Listen to feedback from trusted others.
Adults (and children, too) with ADHD are notoriously poor self-observers. They
use a lot of what can appear to be denial but it’s truly a lack of
self-awareness.
7. Try to get rid of the negativity that may
have infested your system if you have lived for years without knowing what you
had was ADHD. A good psychotherapist may help in this regard.
8. Don't feel chained to conventional careers
or conventional ways of coping. Give yourself permission to be yourself. Give
up trying to be the person you always thought you should be and let yourself be
who you are.
9. Remember that what you have is a
neuropsychiatric condition. It is genetically transmitted. It is caused by
biology, by how your brain is wired. It is NOT a disease of the will, nor a
moral failing. It is NOT caused by a weakness in character or a lack of trying,
nor by a failure to mature. It's cure will not be found in the power of the
will, in punishment, nor in sacrifice, nor in pain. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS. Try
as they might, many people with ADHD and others around them; have great trouble
accepting the syndrome as being rooted in biology rather than weakness of
character.
Performance
Management
14.
External
structure. Structure is the hallmark of the non-pharmacological treatment of
the ADHD child. It can be equally useful with adults. Tedious to set up, once
in place structure works like the walls of the bobsled slide, keeping the
speedball sled from careening off the track.
15.
Make
frequent use of:
•
lists
•
color-coding
•
reminders
•
notes
to self
•
rituals
•
files
16.
Color
coding. Mentioned above, color-coding deserves emphasis. Many people with ADHD
are visually oriented. Take advantage of this by making things memorable with
color: files, memoranda, texts, schedules, etc. Virtually anything in the black
and white of type can be made more memorable, arresting, and therefore
attention-getting with color.
17.
Use
pizzazz. In keeping with #15, try to make your environment as peppy as you want
it to be without letting it boil over.
18.
Set
up your environment to reward rather than deflate. To understand what a
deflating environment is, all most adult ADHD'ers need do is think back to
school. Now that you have the freedom of adulthood, try to set things up so
that you will not constantly be reminded of your limitations.
19.
Acknowledge
and anticipate the inevitable collapse of X% of projects undertaken,
relationships entered into, obligations incurred.
20.
Embrace
challenges. ADHD people thrive with many challenges. As long as you know they
won't all pan out, as long as you don't get too perfectionistic and fussy,
you'll get a lot done and stay out of trouble.
21.
Make
deadlines.
22.
Break
down large tasks into small ones. Attach deadlines to the small parts. Then,
like magic, the large task will get done. This is one of the simplest and most
powerful of all structuring devices. Often a large task will feel overwhelming
to the person with ADHD. The mere thought of trying to perform the task makes
one turn away. On the other hand, if the large task is broken down into small
parts, each component may feel quite manageable.
23.
Prioritize.
Avoid procrastination. When things get busy, the adult ADHD person loses
perspective: paying an unpaid parking ticket can feel as pressing as putting
out the fire that just got started in the wastebasket. Prioritize. Take a deep
breath. Put first things first. Procrastination is one of the hallmarks of
adult ADHD. You have to really discipline yourself to watch out for it and
avoid it.
24.
Notice
how and where you work best: in a noisy room, on the train, wrapped in three
blankets, listening to music, whatever. Adults with ADHD can do their best
under rather odd conditions. Let yourself work under whatever conditions are
best for you.
25.
Know
that it is O.K. to do several things at once: carry on a conversation, watch
T.V. and knit, or take a shower and do your best thinking, or jog and plan a
business meeting. Often people with ADHD need to be doing several things at
once in order to get anything done at all.
26.
Leave
time between engagements to gather your thoughts. Transitions are difficult for
ADHD'ers, and mini-breaks can help ease the transition.
27.
Keep
a notepad in your car, by your bed, and in your pocketbook or jacket. You never
know when a good idea will hit you.
28.
Read
with a pen in hand, not only for marginal notes or underlining, but for the
inevitable cascade of "other" thoughts that will occur to you.
Mood
Management
31.
Have
structured "blow-out" time. Set aside some time in every week for
just letting go. Whatever you like to do--blasting yourself with loud music,
taking a trip to the race track, having a feast--pick some kind of activity
from time to time where you can let loose in a safe way.
32.
Recharge
your batteries. Related to #30, most adults with ADHD need, on a daily basis,
some time to waste without feeling guilty about it. One guilt-free way to
conceptualize it is to call it time to recharge your batteries. Take a nap,
watch T.V., meditate. Something calm, restful, at ease.
33.
Choose
"good", helpful addictions such as exercise. Many adults with ADHD
have an addictive or compulsive personality such that they are always hooked on
something. Try to make this something positive.
34.
Understand
mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that your moods will change
willy-nilly, independent of what's going on in the external world. Don't waste
your time ferreting out the reason why or looking for someone to blame. Focus
rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will pass, and
learning strategies to make it pass sooner. Changing sets, i.e., getting
involved with some new activity (preferably interactive) such as a conversation
with a friend or a tennis game or reading a book will often help.
35.
Related
to #34, recognize the following cycle which is very common among adults with
ADHD: Something "startles" your psychological system, a change or
transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite
trivial. This "startle" is followed by a mini-panic with a sudden
loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy. You try to deal with this
panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another
aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, even months.
36.
Plan
scenarios to deal with the inevitable blahs. Have a list of friends to call.
Have a few videos that always engross you and get your mind off things. Have
ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there's extra
angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself, like,
"You've been here before. These are the ADHD blues. They will soon pass.
You are O.K."
37.
Expect
depression after success. People with ADHD commonly complain of feeling
depressed, paradoxically, after a big success. This is because the high
stimulus of the chase or the challenge or the preparation is over. The deed is
done. Win or lose, the adult with ADHD misses the conflict, the high stimulus,
and feels depressed.
38.
Learn
symbols, slogans, sayings as shorthand ways of labelling and quickly putting
into perspectives slip-ups, mistakes, or mood swings. When you turn left
instead of right and take your family on a 20-minute detour, it is better to be
able to say, "There goes my ADHD again," than to have a 6-hour fight
over your unconscious desire to sabotage the whole trip. These are not excuses.
You still have to take responsibility for your actions. It is just good to know
where your actions are coming from and where they're not.
39.
Use
"time-outs" as with children. When you are upset or overstimulated,
take a time-out. Go away. Calm down.
40.
Learn
how to advocate for yourself. Adults with ADHD are so used to being criticized,
they are often unnecessarily defensive in putting their own case forward. Learn
to get off the defensive.
41.
Avoid
premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a conversation. Don't
"cut to the chase" too soon, even though you're itching to.
42.
Try
to let the successful moment last and be remembered, become sustaining over
time. You'll have to consciously and deliberately train yourself to do this
because you'll just as soon forget.
43.
Remember
that ADHD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or hyperfocus at times. This
hyperfocusing can be used constructively or destructively. Be aware of its
destructive use: a tendency to obsess or ruminate over some imagined problem
without being able to let it go.
44.
Exercise
vigorously and regularly. You should schedule this into your life and stick
with it. Exercise is positively one of the best treatments for ADHD. It helps
work off excess energy and aggression in a positive way, it allows for
noise-reduction within the mind, it stimulates the hormonal and neurochemical
system in a most therapeutic way, and it soothes and calms the body. When you
add all that to the well-known health benefits of exercise, you can see how
important exercise is. Make it something fun so you can stick with it over the
long haul, i.e., the rest of your life.
45.
Make
a good choice in a significant other. Obviously this is good advice for anyone.
But it is striking how the adult with ADHD can thrive or flounder depending on
the choice of mate.
46.
Learn
to joke with yourself and others about your various symptoms, from getting lost
all the time, to being loud or impulsive, whatever. If you can be relaxed about
it all to have a sense of humor, others will forgive you much more.
47.
It is
crucial for you to keep connected to other people.
48.
Find
and join groups where you are liked, appreciated, understood, enjoyed.
Conversely, don't stay too long where you aren't understood or appreciated.
