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 ADHD 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 their 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. “What do I want to do?”
And an ADD Coach can help them answer these questions.