No Limits Life Coaching: ADD

This is not a time that is merciful to someone who is easily distracted by highly stimulating activities. Getting caught up in the swirling circus of holiday parties, non-stop shopping specials and the multiple sights and sounds of holiday activities is a piece of cake for even those highly organized and well focused individuals. What chance does that leave for a well-managed, organized and balanced holiday season for someone who is easily distracted, has difficulty prioritizing and completing tasks on time and who suffers painful procrastination with every decision to be made?

Minimize your angst and grief by ordering your activities as much as possible.

Take some time to plan out your holiday agenda.

List all of your scheduled activities and identify the time frames for each one.
Discuss realistic expectations with someone you trust (folks with ADD typically set expectations that are unrealistic and unreachable and then feel frustrated and disappointed when the expectations are not met) and write them down.
Keep your to do list short. Identify 1-5 tasks at a time. Don’t add to the list until you have completed the ones already on the list.
Identify your most important goals for the holidays and the steps required to reach those goals.
Share your goals with someone you trust and review them through the week.
Set a shopping budget. Leave your credit cards at home and shop with cash if at all possible. Review your spending and your budget after shopping.
Tell someone when you have gotten off track and ask for help.
Have fun and reward yourself for being good, Santa will.

Contact Jim today for a complimentary 30-minute success coaching session.

Build It To Last

Do you hate following daily routines? Are you prone to resenting structure and rebelling against the idea of “having to do something”? Do you get energized and distracted by the biggest and shiniest marble in front of you? Are you likely to race after the biggest bear in the woods before you have gathered all the tools you will need to catch the big fella? Are you likely to cut corners and rationalize your willingness to do so?

Are you as successful as you try to be, as you would like to be?

I have worked with many professionals who claim to have traits of ADD and who have answered yes to all of the questions above except the last one.

What we have discovered through our work together is that the development and adherence to a “system” is critical to their success. What we have also learned is that following a system can be a painstakingly slow process for a good number of them.

It seems that the one critical factor in building a workable and valuable routine is the need for each person to claim it as their own. Folks who typically resent being directed or told what to do will instinctively react by doing the opposite, finding a distraction or do nothing at all, which severely impedes their effectiveness and productivity.

Successful activity often requires persistent repetition of mundane steps that may not be fun, may require focus and concentration and may not be easy. While these steps may not immediately lead to the shiniest marble or biggest bear in the woods they will, if adhered to consistently, lead to successful outcomes. I often hear one of my thriving business clients offer this refrain “when I follow my system everyday I do the things that grow my business and when I am distracted by that potentially huge sale (bear in the woods) my routine and business suffers”. This successful business person fought against many ideas/systems that various professionals offered to him for years. He eventually learned to embrace a routine that he identified as one that made sense to him and one that he could own as his alone.

If you want to be more successful make the challenge personal by developing your own routine and following a system that fits the way you work. Remember to be honest when identifying steps that lead to your success rather than looking for the quickest or easiest fix.

Identify your desired outcomes.
List all of the steps you will need to take to reach this outcome
Prioritize these steps. What is the order they will need to follow? Which steps will need to be performed most often? How often? Which steps will offer the greatest discomfort and thus lead to the greatest resistance? When would be the best time to attend to these tasks?
What time of the day are you most productive? Which steps should be performed during those times?
What type of support/assistance will you need? Who will you turn to for that assistance?
What rewards will you gain from following this routine?
Identify all of the reasons why you would not want to follow your routine?
What outcome should you expect if you stop?
Are you satisfied with that outcome?
How will you know when you have stopped following the routine you have developed?
Who do you want to share your activity with?
Who will hold you accountable when you are getting off track?

Remember! Each time you join the rebel forces and attack the bastion of “you have to”, you are assailing the foundation of your own kingdom.

"I’ll Do It Later. I Have Plenty of Time"

This is a wonderful rationalizing and self-defeating phrase used by many of us but much more frequently by those professionals who struggle with traits of ADD. Folks who struggle with organizing their work and schedules, prioritizing, focusing their efforts, staying on task, completing tasks on time, completing tasks at any time, following through with commitments and feeling competent in their endeavors.

Too often” later” gets here way before it is expected and the project, assignment; task is late or never completed. These are well intentioned people who will tell me that they often overestimate the time they have available to complete something and underestimate the time it will take to get the job done.

Contact Jim today to learn how coaching can benefit your career and your life.

Many of my coaching clients fall into the “I have plenty of time” or “I do my best work when the pressure is on” mind-trap. My customary response is how much later and at what cost?

Along the road to “later” we suffer through days of increased worry, anxiety, anticipation and fitful or reduced sleep as “later” approaches ever closer and still we remain frozen in our inactivity.

There is typically an adrenalin rush during those last hours as we are faced with a sense of urgency and dread. We rally to the cause, too often working for hours under intense stress to complete our task on time. While we may feel successful with our outcome, we are unaware of the price we have paid with our overtaxed emotions and physical well-being.

I encourage the professionals I work with to stop overpaying their emotional pipers:

Build and maintain a system of accountability that allows you to begin working on priorities earlier in the process.
Identify unpleasant aspects about the project that leads you to delay or avoid it.
Identify aspects of the project that you embrace or enjoy. Make it fun wherever possible.
Be realistic when setting expectations of time needed to work on the project and time available to do the work.
Be aware and honest about your patterns of work and look for ways to build in new habits.
Break the task into smaller parts.
Schedule a time to focus on an initial part of the project and set a time or date for completion. Completing parts of the task on time will allow you to build a sense of mastery and the confidence to keep going.
Maintain accountability to your project and timeframe you have set. Tell someone what you are working on, how you are working on it and when you intend to finish. Keep them in the loop as you move forward or if you fall behind.

Most of all be honest with yourself. Can you really afford to do it later? Do you really have plenty of time? Really?