How a Life Coach Can Help You Master Living with ADD/ADHD
Posted on March 22, 2011 by Valerie Banarie, One of Thousands of ADD ADHD Coaches on Noomii.
Living with ADD/ADHD can be very challenging. Hiring a Life Coach that specializes in this area can be the best thing you could do for yourself.
Imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed with ADD when I was well into middle age. Like most people, I thought ADD was a disorder of childhood, outgrown by adulthood, and that those who claimed to suffer from it as adults had simply found a creative way to justify their underachievement, disinterest, lack of care, or refusal to do their best. People with ADD, (or ADHD as it is sometimes called) and the people around them, are often frustrated by the apparent difference between the potential that one has, and what they are able to achieve.
From the outside, it may seem that the person with ADD is simply forgetful, uninterested, disconnected from what’s going on around them, and lazy. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet in looking at the following list of traits often shared by people with ADD, it is an easy myth to believe.
People with ADD typically:
**Have a short attention span, trouble concentrating and are easily distracted, especially when doing tedious tasks, so that what they are doing tends to include many mistakes and/or take a very long time to complete, if it is completed at all.
**Have times of intense focus and concentration, particularly when they find something interesting, that blocks out everything else and makes it difficult to shift attention from one thing to another.
**Are forgetful, often losing things, and spend a lot of time trying to find the same things time after time.
**Are disorganized to the point that the house or office may resemble an obstacle course of paper piles and other items.
**Are late paying bills or arriving at appointments, work or school.
**Often have a hard time maintaining friendships or relationships and may have difficulty coexisting with family.
**Tend to be impulsive, often making decisions or taking action without considering the consequences, and interrupting when others are speaking,
**Often abuse alcohol and/or drugs and engage in other high risk behaviors.
**Begin many projects that they are excited about and finish few if any of them.
**May have difficulty following driving directions, recipes or instructions, especially if they are complicated.
**Have trouble sitting still, and may pace, doodle or fidget excessively.
**Often procrastinate, waiting until the last minute to do things.
**Have poor self-esteem and doubt their ability to be successful.
Having many of the traits on the list does not mean that you have ADD, only that you may want to consult a doctor or therapist who is familiar with ADD if you have not already done so. Even if no diagnosis is made, following the behavioral suggestions for people with ADD can make your life both easier and more successful.
On the flip side, people with ADD have a great many positive traits they can call upon to improve their lives. We are creative, enthusiastic, spontaneous, have quick and active minds
that can easily absorb information we find interesting and find solutions to problems even as they are being identified. And that intense focus and concentration can certainly come in handy when applied constructively.
As ongoing research is uncovering the causes of ADD, creative ways of dealing with it are being developed and used with great success. Probably the most recognized is the use of medications to improve focus and concentration. If you are using or considering using medication, please be sure that your doctor has an excellent understanding of ADD and ADD medications and has kept up with the current research, or find an ADD specialist.
Gaining knowledge about ADD and how it affects you personally can make you feel more empowered and participating in ADD support groups, either in person or on-line can provide support and
encouragement. Meditation, neurofeedback, exercise, diet and supplementation and self hypnosis are proving helpful.
One of the most helpful things that you can do is to hire an ADD coach. The coach will work with you to develop clear goals and devise a plan that leads to consistent movement towards
the completion of the goals in manageable steps. Part of that plan is being accountable to the coach for completing those things that you have committed to doing in between sessions.
Together, the client and coach create strategies and systems that include learning new ways of handling the disorganization, time management issues, procrastination and difficulty following through that create the feeling that life is a series of races on a hamster wheel…you work very hard and get nowhere.
An ADD coach helps people master their lives and live up to their potential. The path to your brightest future may be only a phone call or email away.
