The Key To Outsmarting ADHD
By Dana Rayburn, Adult ADD Coach

ADDed Success Is The Monthly Online Ezine for Adults with ADHD from ADD Coach Dana Rayburn.

Welcome to ADDed Success!
Right now, I'm going to share with you a secret for managing ADHD. It's a trick sure to make life much easier. A key to outsmarting your ADHD.

Here we go...

It's human nature to focus on our weaknesses, to try improving our skill at those things we don't do well.

I propose a different approach. It's been incredibly helpful to my clients and has worked miracles in my life, too.

Here's my suggestion: Accept your weaknesses and do whatever you can to avoid them!

Build your life instead around your strengths. Focus on improving your ability to do the things you naturally do well.

Why?

If something is hard for you to do, you'll avoid it. You'll struggle. You'll procrastinate. No matter how noble your intentions, it's hard to force an ADHD brain to do what it doesn't like to do.

When your life is built around your strengths, you're more likely to do what you say you'll do and keep track of details. You'll find life easier and more joyful, too.

Read on for some tips to help you build a strength-focused life.

First, you must become aware of what kind of tasks challenge you and what tasks you find easy to do. I use an exercise and an assessment to help clients identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Next comes the fun of refocusing your life around your strengths. Here are some guidelines:

1. Delegate as many of the tasks you find challenging as you can.
One of my clients has four school-aged children and keeping track of their homework makes her crazy. She delegates homework details to a tutor.

2. Find creative ways to make challenging tasks easier to do.
Another client bogs down paying his bills. He finds on-line banking makes bill paying so quick and easy to do he enjoys doing it.

3. Don't volunteer or work in areas focused around your weaknesses.
A client belonged to an international service club with lengthy weekly meetings. His ADHD made sitting through those meetings almost painful. He resigned from the club and now happily volunteers in more physically active community projects.

Building a strength-focused life is a major step toward outsmarting ADHD. What steps will you take to reduce the impact ADHD has on your life?

The Last Word
Until you learn to outsmart ADHD, life can be incredibly frustrating.

You struggle to stay on track, finish projects and keep commitments.

It's worse, of course, if your ADHD is undiagnosed since you don't know why life seems more effortless for other people while being difficult for you.

Over the years I've found living with my ADHD gets easier. Why? Because of the various tricks I've developed to outsmart my ADHD. Some of my tricks I figured out before diagnosis, others after.

In fact, when you learn to outsmart your ADHD, you can actually turn it into an asset. Isn't it nice life doesn't have to
be so hard!

What exactly do I mean by outsmart ADHD?

My experience from my clients and my own life shows you can't fight ADHD - you've got to work with it.

That's why my approach to coaching is to help clients identify their strengths and challenges. We orient their life around their strengths and figure out ways to avoid or soften the challenges.

These steps, along with improving self-awareness are important first steps to outsmarting ADHD.

To Your ADDed Success,
Dana

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Unleash Your Power
Through ADD coaching, my clients improve their productivity, increase their profits, and take control of their life. Learn more about ADD coaching for business people and other high-functioning adults with ADHD.

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