ADHD and Slow Processing: Tips For Better Conversations
Frustrated by your slow processing? Learn how ADHD adults address this and communicate effectively in all types of conversations.
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Part 3: One-on-One Conversations Made Easier with ADHD
One-on-one conversations can feel intense with ADHD. Learn how to prepare, stay focused, and handle feedback with confidence.
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Part 2: How ADHD Adults Can Have Better Group Conversations
Group conversations can be especially hard with ADHD. Learn strategies to help you stay oriented and participate in real time.
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Part 1: Why Conversations Are Hard For ADHD Adults
Real-time conversations can be challenging for ADHD adults, no doubt. For you, too? Discover how that can be related to your ADHD symptoms.
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How to Make Writing Emails Easier with ADHD (Part 3 of 3)
Learn how to stop avoiding emails and make writing and sending them easier when you have ADHD — without all the second-guessing.
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What to Say When Setting Boundaries with ADHD
Learn why setting boundaries can be so hard. And how to set them with greater ease so you can focus on what matters.
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ADHD and Slow Processing: What Helps in the Moment
Do you have moments when, in a meeting, a one-on-one conversation, or a social or business gathering, or when you feel like you’re not processing the information as quickly as you would like? For example, a common challenge I hear from many Adults with ADHD I work with is, “When I’m in the middle of a conversation or meeting, I just can not seem to put it all together and figure out how to contribute. Often, I don’t think of what I want to say until after it is over. I feel so stupid!” If you have similar thoughts, you might then spiral into shame. And think you are just not that intelligent. You may then become distracted by these thoughts and feelings. This distraction…
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Part 3 – How ADHD Adults Keep Conversations From Going Horribly Wrong
(originally published November 10, 2017, updated January 12, 2023 ) Communicating well in everyday run-of-the-mill conversations can be difficult for ADHD adults. I wrote about this in the two previous articles, ADHD Adults Communicate Better Using These 7 Listening Tips and 5 Strategies You Need to Use to Be Better Understood in Conversations. But you will need a different skill set to handle crucial conversations. These are conversations where the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, according to authors Joseph Grenny et al. of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. The authors also note that: Our natural tendencies in moments that seem threatening lean toward fight or flight rather than listen and speak. This can be especially true for ADHD adults for reasons I will explore in…
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ADHD Conversations Skills You Can Use
In my previous post, Part 1 – ADHD Adults Communicate Better Using These 7 Listening Tips, I explored some of the challenges you may have listening well. And suggested strategies you could use to listen better. But, if you’re interested in communicating better, you likely also want to learn how to improve your ability to convey your thoughts. And, as true with listening, your ADHD likely contributes to the challenges you have making yourself understood. I’ll explore some of the reasons for this below. But your ADHD is only a piece of the puzzle. Because your communication patterns have also become a habit. And this is the good news! Because, once you better understand how your ADHD may get in your way, you can learn and…
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How To Be A Better Listener With ADHD
(originally published June 17, 2020, updated November 14, 2022 ) I know you have read and so know quite a bit about communication, including how to listen better. Yet, despite having all this information, you may still be struggling to implement it in a way that helps you communicate the way you want. So now you are wondering, “Am I just unable to listen and communicate well?!” That may be the case right now. But, if you are struggling to implement the advice you’ve accumulated over the years, it’s likely, at least in part, because you haven’t customized it to fit your unique needs, including those related to your ADHD. Here is the good news! You can change that. So, you can communicate the way…
