Blog

  • Are These 5 Decision-Making Traps Keeping You Stuck?

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    Making decisions is one of the executive challenges for ADHD Adults. Do you have a hard time with decision-making?  Let’s look at the example of a former client, who emailed me a description of his difficulties making decisions (posted below with permission). I’m really struggling to make any decisions in almost any scenario. Like, choosing between 2 things, choosing to get rid of something. I get a sense of panic/anxiety, as well as a sense of frustration. Logic makes no difference. The magnitude of the decision makes no difference. Trust in someone else to “make” the decision makes little difference (I still have to pull the trigger). When I do make the decision, I hold my nose, squelch the butterflies and just do it on…

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    8 Strategies To Use To Make Executing Easier

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Follow-Through, Blog

    When you have ADHD, starting and executing can be difficult, no doubt. But these are also skills that can be learned. Though it takes time. Are you ready for the ride? It will be a combination of strategies and skills that you build. So, you can get unstuck and back on track faster when you’re having a hard time getting started and following through. Know Your Why While certainly not the only strategy, it is important to know why accomplishing a task is important to you. At the same time, it is true that for many adults with ADHD, you may still have a hard time starting a task, even if it is important, if it is not intrinsically interesting to you. So, in the…

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    How To Plan A Productive Day With ADHD

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Follow-Through, Blog

    How do you plan your days so you are sure you are working toward your goals in alignment with your values? I know that is what you want to do. But right now, you may start each day wondering how you are going to get “everything.” Then, at the end of the day, you may feel like you didn’t get enough done. Some days you may even feel like you didn’t get anything done! It’s frustrating to start and end your day like this, for sure. What Does The Beginning Of Your Day Look Like? Maybe you start your day by stopping for coffee on the way to work. You get to the office, maybe a little later than you planned. The first thing you…

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    ADHD and Notetaking For Meetings

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD in the Workplace, Blog

    (originally published May 31,2012 updated September 5, 20224 Do you ever struggle to take notes in a meeting? Alternatively, do you take notes sometimes only to later look at them and wonder what they mean. You just can’t make sense of them. And you can’t remember what was said. Unless you take good notes that you can also decipher later, following up from meetings can be frustrating.  It might be even embarrassing, if you need to go back and ask people from the meeting. But you can make it easier for yourself by adopting a system for taking and reviewing notes. Distracted? One benefit of taking notes during a meeting is to help you focus on what is going on in the meeting. It may…

  • Overwhelmed by too Many Choices? Here are the Solutions for ADHD Adults

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    (originally published January 4, 2018, updated August 28, 2024)It can be overwhelming for Adults with ADHD to make decisions among many options. At the same time it may seem that having a lot of options is a good thing. At least according to our consumer culture. But this is not always the case when you take into account the energy and stress involved in choosing between so many options The quote below from a current client (reprinted with permission) shows what a struggle it can be. I’m really struggling to make any decisions in almost any scenario. Like, choosing between 2 things, choosing to get rid of something. I get a sense of panic/anxiety, as well as, a sense of frustration. Logic makes no difference….

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    ADHD and Using the Urgent – Important Matrix

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Time Management, Blog

    You might find it hard to decide what to do each day, wondering where to direct your time and energy. Then you get overwhelmed and confused trying to decide what to do on your runway, GTD lingo for all of your discrete tasks(emails, phone calls, next actions on your projects, etc.) Then you might end up doing what feels the most urgent or interesting. Yet you might not necessarily do what is most important. One way to turn this around is to use the Urgent – Important Matrix and ask yourself: And decide what to do each day. IMPORTANT AND URGENT – QUADRANT 1 If you have too much in Quadrant 1, you are putting too much on your plate, and you are likely also…

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    The Cost of Perfectionism When You Have ADHD

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Emotional Regulation, Blog

      A perfectionist is someone who is unyielding in their pursuit of unrealistically high standards. So, you may wonder what an unrealistically high standard is. Good question. Whether a standard is unrealistically high depends on your capacity and the context. Here are a couple of examples. You might think it doesn’t make sense to strive for such unrealistic goals. However, a perfectionist does not think the goals are unrealistic. ADHD and Perfectionism If you are a perfectionist, you may have come to be a perfectionist in part because of your ADHD. One way this may happen is when you’re trying to make up for actual or perceived failures in your past. Now you want to get it just right!  While there may be many root…

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    ADHD And Managing Your Clutter

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Organization, Blog

    Is your clutter causing you anxiety and overwhelm because you are worried about what you are missing or because you can’t find what you need when you need it?  Whether it is physical clutter or electronic clutter, as it increases, so does your stress level, right? But right now, because you don’t know how to tackle it, you may be avoiding dealing with it.  Because it seems just too insurmountable.  Is it your email or mail piling up? Stack of papers on your desk/table or electronic documents in the cloud or hard drive, in no particular order. Maybe the clutter is filling your closets, basements, garage, etc.  Clutter can be anywhere and everywhere, whether it is on your computer, in your living space or workspace. …

  • How To Set Boundaries Around Time When You Have ADHD

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    Boundaries are rules you set to let others know what is okay and what is not okay for you based on your values and priorities. They protect your personal and mental space, including physical, sexual, intellectual or mental, emotional, material or financial, and time boundaries.  For this post, I’ll focus on how to set boundaries around your time. How about you? Do you have a hard time saying no when someone makes a request of you? And then you end up saying yes even when it would have been better to say no. For Adults with ADHD, this is a common challenge and is often one of the barriers to focusing on what is important to you. What if you could say no more often?…