Blog

  • How to Prioritize When You Feel You Have To Do Everything Now!

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    One of the challenges for Adults with ADHD is deciding what to do at any given moment. And, if this is one of your challenges, you may make these decisions based on what feels important. But, when everything feels important right now, it can feel impossible to decide. Of course, while you want to pay attention to your instinct, as it may point you in the right direction, relying just on your feelings to drive your decisions in the moment is risky business for Adults with ADHD. To make it easier to make decisions in the moment: decide what is essential to you — your priorities — in advance. decide in advance what activities / tasks will help you succeed in doing what is important…

  • Is Too Much Planning Getting in the Way of Managing Your ADHD?

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

     In my last post I introduced you to the Stages of Change Model and shared strategies for preparing to create effective change — Stage 3. If you haven’t read that post yet, take a few minutes to read it, and then come back here. Ok, ready? When you have prepared enough, which will look different for everyone, you are ready to put your plans into action — Stage 4. And this time of action can be exciting and hopeful, as well as frustrating. Frustrating because you will almost certainly encounter bumps in the road — bumps you may or may not have been able to anticipate. Seeing your journey as a series of experiments and being willing to approach these experiments as a beginner will…

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    Have ADHD and Want To Create Lasting Change? Do This First

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

     Do you often wonder, how ADHD adults can make lasting changes stick?“ Maybe you question whether your life is always going to be “this” way because of your ADHD? The simple answer is, “Yes, you can.” The more complicated and honest answer is, “Well, it really depends on whether you think you currently have the bandwidth to put in the necessary time and energy.” Read on to see what steps you could take to start taking charge of your ADHD. Then you can decide whether you are ready to make the changes you envision. Understanding How Change Happens Can Help You Persist You already know that change is not easy. Yet, when a strategy does not work for you right away, do you sometimes get…

  • Want to Be Productive? Then It’s Time to Ditch Your To Do List!

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    Ok, well, don’t ditch you task list entirely. But creating a task list for ADHD adults is, well, tricky. You definitely need a way to see and manage your tasks. Because, when you are using it the right way, your list can help you do what is important to you. And, of course, that’s what you want. But, if your list isn’t optimized, it may be hindering your productivity. Ready to figure out how make a task list that will help  you be truly productive? What Does It Mean To You To Be Productive? Some people feel ok about how much they get done in a day. And others feel constantly under siege. How about you? How you feel lies in part in how you answer…

  • Here Is How to Leverage Your ADHD Creativity and Get to Done

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    First, a heads up… This article is not just for those of you who work in creative professions, such as writers, designers, architects, etc. Everyone with ADHD needs to know how ADHD adults complete creative work. Because, whatever your work, you engage in some activities that require you to use your creativity. Maybe it’s creating a presentation, writing an article, designing a product, planning a class, etc. And you may also have the ADHD super power of having lots of ideas, which can be a gift and a challenge, as you know. But follow though is likely not one of your super powers. You’ve tried breaking your tasks down, estimating the time and scheduling them. But these typical suggestions have not worked for you. Part…

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    When You Have ADHD & Your Clutter Overwhelms You

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Organization, Blog

    What about how ADHD adults deal with clutter? Ultimately, though, I know the question you really want answered is, “How can I get rid of the clutter in my house / office and maintain it in a way that works with my ADHD?”  And you’ve tried plenty of techniques without a lot of success or you would not be reading this right now. While the exact path is going to be different for everyone, you can start by first answering the question, “What do I want my space to look like when it is good enough and works for me?” If you need help answering this question, check out my last post. Then, when you are clear on the outcome you want, you can choose…

  • 8 Tips You Can Use Now to Go from Intention to Focused Action

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

      Can ADHD adults complete tasks? Of course. Yet, I know it’s frustrating for ADHD adults to have every intention of following through, and then falling short. If this is happening to you, I imagine you’re wondering why, right? First, the three components we all need to be able to follow through on our intentions are knowledge, motivation — the desire to do something — and skills. If you, like many other ADHD adults, attribute your lack of follow through to not be motivated enough, you may think, “If I really wanted to do it, I would! I mean, sheesh, everyone else gets their stuff done…” But, I bet, if you are like most of my clients, lack of motivation usually isn’t the problem. I…

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    What Is Impostor Syndrome, and What Can ADHD Adults Do About It?

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Emotional Regulation, Blog

    Have you ever wondered about your professional life, “What if people find out I don’t have enough experience, am not that smart, don’t have enough talent…?” If you have ever had these or similar thoughts, know you are not alone. I know because I hear sentiments like these all the time in my work. For many reasons, some of which I’ll cover below, it is common for ADHD Adults to wonder, “How did I get here and when will ‘they’ find out I really can’t do ‘it’?”  This question often comes from feelings of not being enough — of feeling like an imposter. We all feel like this at times. It becomes problematic, though, when these feelings lead you to act in a way that…

  • 3 Steps You Can Take Now to Turn a Dream into a Real Goal

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

     Are you avoiding going after your long-term goals — dreams? Because you don’t think it’s possible, especially for ADHD adults? You can. Really. Using the steps below you can devise the right kind of goal and plans that will make it possible for you to follow through. As you read below you may wonder whether it is worth all the time and effort. I know. But putting in the time and energy up front will save you time in the long run, and help you progress more effectively and efficiently toward your goals. Yet, I know that it may take a while to trust that this is true. Give it a try. As the saying goes, you may have to see it to believe it….

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    Not Sure What Kind of Help You Need to Manage Your ADHD?

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

     When you have ADHD and deciding what to change is a challenge, you might get stuck in analysis paralysis. You know you need to make some sort of change to make things better, but you just don’t know where to start. Everything seems hard. And you want it all to be better. Now! But, since you can’t do it all now, you may give up. Because you think it is impossible to decide what to do. But you’re here, reading this. So, even if you’ve given up in the past, you really want to figure this out. Below is one way to zero in on where you want to start making changes. Because, even though it would be nice to make everything better now, you…