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| Dear Reader,
In my previous newsletter, I introduced Cummins Coaching and Training and wrote about my coaching style with respect to AD/HD Coaching for adults and college students, which is my area of specialty.
In this and subsequent newsletters, I will provide information that will be useful for all subscribers, particularly those who are interested in AD/HD and/or the college experience. Even if you do not feel that you fit into one of these interest groups, I think that you will benefit from the information.
For example, the first article, Planning Your Time: When Good Enough is Perfect will certainly resonate with all who make To Do Lists. Did I leave anyone out? In the second article, AD/HD, College and Success: Is There A Blueprint?, you may want to consider how you envision and plan to reach your goals.
I enjoyed reading all of the responses to my first newsletter. Keep them coming! I look forward to hearing your comments, suggestions and questions. You may email me at: marla@marlacummins.com
Warmly,
Marla |
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Planning For College: A Family Affair
A seminar for parents of college bound high school students with AD/HD
Wednesday June 27th and July 25th
7:00 pm -8:30 pm
Brookline Public Library
361 Washington St.
Brookline, MA 02445
Parents of college bound students with AD/HD, the process of helping your child apply to and select a college is only the first step.
Are they prepared for the independence that college will afford?
In this workshop parents will learn how to be a shepherd rather than an engineer when it comes to preparing their child with AD/HD for college. Parents will leave equipped to have important conversations and plan with their child about their child's needs to become more self sufficient.
Toward this end, we will talk specifically about the differences between high school and college, as well as the academic and life skills students need to successfully navigate this transition.
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Planning Your Time: When Good Enough Is Perfect
Do you get overwhelmed by your To Do List or do you consider it just a useful tool? I hope that you fall in the later group. However, I know that for some The List, as I will refer to it, has an ominous power over them.
I am sure that you have heard or even said some of the following comments. "I have so many things on my list! I can't talk now. I am crazy busy." When you become overwhelmed by The List, remember that you created it. So, you can change it at any time. Really, you can.
To minimize the possibility of getting to this place of panic, try the following:
- schedule tasks far in advance of when they need to be completed
- estimate how much time each task will take
- set a date by which each task must be completed.
By "exposing" your tasks in this way you may find that your anxiety level actually goes down. Then to further reduce your anxiety, expect the unexpected. If you fail to do some tasks on your list, but you have given yourself enough time, you can fit them in another time.
Above all, remember what is important to you.
Yes, sometimes you may fail to complete the items on your list. Ask yourself the question: "What will happen?" You might be surprised at the answer.
We all have different priorities. I am suggesting that you make a conscious choice in accordance with what is important to you. Maintain control of The List and do not let it control you.
Good enough is perfect, really. What if you do not get the last dust bunny? | |
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AD/HD, College and Success:
Is There A Blueprint?
As the needs of each student are unique, it is impossible to offer a step by step plan. However, there are critical steps, which increase a student's chance for success in college. As the architect of their future, college students with AD/HD need to know themselves well (Field and Hoffman, 1994). How they come to know themselves is the focus of this article.
The process starts with questions about their future. "What do I want my life to look like 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years from now? That is, what are my dreams? When I achieve my dreams how will my life look different from now?" Dreams are the foundation of this process of getting to know themselves, as they provide powerful inspiration and motivation.
"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." Napoleon Hill
Moving beyond their dreams, students need to identify the additional building blocks of this self awareness, which are their strengths, weaknesses, needs and preferences. The essence of this question is "Who am I and what do I want?"
Information born from this exploration will give students the information they need to decide what options are available to them to reach their goals, their dreams. At this point they are choosing between available blueprints. That is, they look beyond what may seem like roadblocks to see what could be possible.
Then they need to take the next step in order to choose among the options.
Choice of aim is clearly a matter of clarification of values, especially on the choice between possible options. W. Edwards Deming
When they can articulate their values, what is important to them, they will be in a position to choose the alternative that best suits them. |
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Parent Coaching Group
Coming This Fall... 
I will offer a coaching group for parents of college students with AD/HD. Look for more information on my website this summer. | |
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| I hope that you found useful information in the newsletter. Please contact me at marla@marlacummins.com with any questions, suggestions and/or comments.
Marla Cummins
Cummins Coaching and Training |
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