How to Stop Fixing Your ADHD and Start Using Your Strengths
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How to Stop Fixing Your ADHD and Start Using Your Strengths

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Symptoms & Diagnosis, Blog

(originally published May 13, 2011, updated August 7, 2020) We all want to minimize our challenges, of course. No doubt, our lives would just flow better if there were fewer boulders in the way. After all, you’re reading this article because that is what you want. Specifically, you want to minimize the detours you need to take because of your ADHD challenges. What if you could use your strengths to manage your ADHD? Though, like many who are trying to figure out how to manage their ADHD, you may assume you are broken. If this is your perspective, you might be focusing your time and energy on trying to fix yourself. Because that’s what you do when something is broken. You fix it, right? Here’s…

ADHD and The Two Key Steps To Creating The Change You Want
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ADHD and The Two Key Steps To Creating The Change You Want

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

As you are reading this you are thinking you should change. someone wants you to change. you want someone else to change because you think it will make your life better (and maybe theirs). you are getting ready to make changes so some aspect of your life is better. you are in the process of making changes, and wondering if you are doing it right. Perhaps, these changes are related to your ADHD. Change is something we think about all the time. Sometimes we act, and other times we just continue thinking… It is normal But When Are We Ready? I would like my eating habits to be better. I don’t consistently eat as well (read, nutritious meals) as I would like.  And, if the…

Are You Motivated? Answer These Questions To Find Out
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Are You Motivated? Answer These Questions To Find Out

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Symptoms & Diagnosis, ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

 As I’ve written about in the past, both eating and exercising can be part of a holistic treatment plan for ADHD . Last week in my article, The Two Key Steps To Creating The Change You Want I shared with you a bit about my challenges with eating well. This is not the case with exercise, though. Over the last two years I have been able to consistently exercise. Though I have fallen off the wagon, of course, I have been able to resume within a short amount of time. I know that both are “good for me.” In both cases, I know the vital behaviors that that will give me the greatest leverage and allow me to persist. See last week’s article for more…

Learn + Practice + Support = Success
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Learn + Practice + Support = Success

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Symptoms & Diagnosis, Blog

Over the last couple of weeks I have been sharing with you some of my thoughts while I am reading the book, Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Kerry Patterson et al.  It has helped me by reinforcing what I know from my work coaching adults with ADHD. Let’s look at Joe. (As I would never break my confidentiality with clients, Joe is not a real person, but a composite of my work over the years.) When Joe called me to find out more about ADD Coaching, I could tell that he was motivated to succeed in his business. I could hear it in his words and his tone. I could also “hear” the conversation he was having in his head. Maybe you recognize…

ADHD and Decision Making: Stopping The Fire Drills
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ADHD and Decision Making: Stopping The Fire Drills

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

Some rights reserved by Freakazoid! As adults with ADHD many of us think fast and have too many thoughts at once. So, it is no wonder that making decisions can feel overwhelming. Consequently, when we feel overwhelmed, we may delay making decisions. Some decisions may even remain on the back burner indefinitely because we do not have a strategy. Other times we are forced to make a decision at the last minute, compromising our ability to arrive at an optimal solution. True, the stimuli we get from having to complete tasks at the last minute may help us to get things done. This leads some of us to believe that we operate best this way. After all, we completed the paper, report, yard work, etc….

ADD Coaching and Medication: Making The Path Easier
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ADD Coaching and Medication: Making The Path Easier

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Treatment Options, Blog

The  decision to take medication to treat ADHD is certainly not black and white. You may have questions, which require that you spend a fair amount of time seeking out satisfactory answers before you can make the right decision for yourself. I addressed some of these questions in my article, Putting the Pieces Together: Treating Your ADHD.

The Power of Putting On The Brakes
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The Power of Putting On The Brakes

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

I know it when I feel it. It usually begins with this odd ringing noise in my head. If it continues, it might build into this energy in my body that makes me feel like I might combust at any moment! When I get this feeling now, I recognize that I am entering the territory of overwhelm; a territory that many with ADHD visit with some regularity. In the past, I might have spent a fair amount of time trying to get something done or, alternatively, trying to decide what that something should be. Usually, I just ended up wasting time. And the pressure just kept building – I could not think coherently. It took me a long time. But I have figured out that…

Do You Know When To Put Away Your Toolbox?
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Do You Know When To Put Away Your Toolbox?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Symptoms & Diagnosis, Blog

  As I wrote about last week in The Power of Putting On The Brakes, sometimes I find myself so focused on what is in front of me, I forget to slow down.  One of the downsides of going too fast is not being efficient and effective. But another downside is that I forget to live intentionally, in the moment. Yes, adults with ADHD have a tendency to live in the moment. There is now and not now. Often when this happens, though,  it is unintentional. There is no planning or awareness of the consequences of living in the moment. True, if this is our primary way of being, we may not do the necessary planning to reach our goals. But if we are always…

ADHD Adults Who Use These Tips Improve Their Memory
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ADHD Adults Who Use These Tips Improve Their Memory

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Symptoms & Diagnosis, Blog

(originally published July 4, 2011, updated January 6, 2021) Many ADHD adults want a better memory. You, too? It’s definitely one of the challenges adults with ADHD find most infuriating. If you’re struggling with memory challenges you may find yourself at times saying some variation of the following: So, I don’t leave you in suspense I’ll share the punchline with you now. And that is, your ADHD brain is great for thinking and creating. But your brain wiring isn’t reliable for remembering something at the exact time and place you need the information.  Sure, it may come to you, but maybe not when you need it. That’s because your memory really is much more like Swiss Cheese than a trapdoor. ? I know it’s annoying,…

ADHD and Failing: It Is All Part of Succeeding
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ADHD and Failing: It Is All Part of Succeeding

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Emotional Regulation, Blog

We have all failed at some point in our lives. For Adults with ADHD, failure may be all too familiar. Especially if your ADHD was undiagnosed or misdiagnosed until adulthood. If this is the case for you, you may fear failure to the point that it is holding you back from setting or reaching your goals or making the changes that will help you manage your ADHD better. I get it. At some point, after trying and trying, you get tired of falling short of the mark.While it took me a longggg time to really step into this perspective, I have come to think of failing as part of the process of succeeding. That wasn’t always the case. I used to be terrified of failure….