Unnecessarily identifying with your ADD traits can create issues making it harder to heal them out move past them. That’s probably true for non-ADDers, too. Here’s story from today. You can be sure I’ll explore other beliefs to see how I’m holding myself back!
Stream
The Path To Success
The path to success includes one great recipe: 1 part “surround yourself with good people” and 1 part “trust yourself”. Good people guide you, support you, and challenge you. Those good people help you grow and thrive. Trusting yourself helps you sort through what to accept and to adopt, and what to reject or put on the shelf for later. That self-trust strengths you and makes you smarter.
Memorization Learning Tip
It’s been awhile since I had to memorize something. Those brain cells lose their elasticity with memorization without constant work. I’m struggling with learning a 5-minute presentation I wrote to give for Ignite. It’s *only* five minutes long and I haven’t embedded it in my brain to present with timed slides. I know the material. Maybe it’s my monkey ADD brain playing games with me. Out of desperation and frustration though I came up with an excellent plan to make this presentation mine.
When your memorization skills play games with you and you struggle with learning a simple “something”, try this…..
Your Productivity Tool Bag
The audience members of Ignite Ridgway I spoke with afterward all commented that they used the Structure component of time management from the tool bag I presented that night. They used it for themselves and/or their kids. ADD runs in families, you know. 🙂 Initially, I thought I’d underestimated my audience and was guilty of speaking to the choir.
Later I realized that only a few told me they’d learned they couldn’t make sweeping changes in their routines so used the Strategy of baby steps. What I realized though, is that not one person talked about the Self Care component, especially taking hourly breaks.
Regardless of what spurs you to want to be more productive, to live a high performance life, it’s vital to take hourly breaks. You not only are more productive when you do that but you also are more refreshed at the end of a busy, productive day when you take hourly breaks.
Mindful Communication
People want to be heard and understood, though that’s not always clear from their words and actions.
The best way to accomplish that is to actively listen, ask clarifying questions along the way. The trick is to ask about their feelings by reflecting back what you hear and see. This isn’t the time to offer your opinions or feelings. Stay focused on their feelings until they don’t have anything more to say. You’ll feel the shift in energy, the clue they feel heard and understood.
After people feel heard and understood they can proceed with the business at hand, be that change or the reason for being with you.
The C-Word
How committed are you to your dreams, goals, and purpose? Will you give up plans you’ve made when your Purpose needs your attention?
When my Camino walking partner chose her Purpose over her plans to walk the Camino I was struck by her dedication to that Purpose. I pondered: if I were as committed to building my business and spreading my word about high performance living and the gift of ADD, would my Purpose be reached? My conclusion was…Yes.
When you put your goal, your Purpose, before anything else, that’s commitment. Do you have what it takes to be that committed?
Massive Action
Action overcomes all that holds me back in life. Taking action moves me forward. Taking Massive Action propels me toward my goals. That’s what I did when I made the decision to postpone my Pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. After planning and training for a year and a half my initial reaction was to wonder what I was going to do next! That reaction lasted seconds, maybe minutes.
First, I called my walking friends and suggested a long walk. Second, I contacted all the people in charge of the speaking opportunities I was missing when I was going to be on the Camino (and quickly was accepted in one event). Third, I started polishing my presentation that I’d be using for at least two of those events. I took massive action and am having massive results.
Fourth, I did my Spanish class for the day. 🙂 I’ll keep training for my postponed Camino so I’m ready when it’s time.
What massive action toward your goals can you take in your life?
Kit, Not On The Camino
Tough decisions have to be made sometimes. How do you handle those situations?
The proactive approach is to do something that supports your heart, soul, and mind. Since I wasn’t going to be walking the Camino de Santiago during September and October, as planned for a year and a half, I decided to invite my walking friends to go walking with me for a day. That was a great step, so to speak, to take to help me get past the dramatic change in my plans.
ADD Crutches
I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago about the various kinds of crutches people can use to get through life — using behavior like the cast you’d put on a broken limb. Just as you have to remove the cast from the limb and strengthen your muscles, you have to remove the emotional casts so you can be a contributing person.
Walkin’ On
Walking is my theme these days as I train for my “little jaunt” this fall. So today I want to talk about walking On, In, and To.
Walking On
Dr Loeffler, my geography professor, always said that you don’t really know a place until you’ve walked the land. I knew he was right but it seemed crazy to me at the time. Since I heard him say that back in about 1973 I’ve learned first hand how right he was.