adhd coaching

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    ADHD and Communicating: Finding the Right Words…

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

      For adults with ADHD communicating can be a veritable landmine at times. Sound familiar? You are not alone. These are common communication challenges when you have ADHD. Of course, some of the challenges may be due to differences in communication styles or the difficulties the other person has in communicating. And some challenges may be due to your ADHD symptoms. That is the good news, really!  After all, it is easier to focus on an area where you have the most control, yourself. This is the focus of this article. Once you understand how your ADHD may be impacting your ability to communicate effectively you can create an action plan to help you communicate better Retrieval For adults with ADHD the filing system for…

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    ADHD Support: Therapists and ADHD Coaches

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Treatment Options, Blog

    Who do you have on your team for support? J. Russell Ramsay, PhD, co-director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program posits that: …with the ADHD medication as a foundation, it’s the psychosocial treatments that can come in and finish the job. However, like many adults with ADHD, you may feel the shame of years of failed accomplishments as a result of living with undiagnosed ADHD, and may be reticent to ask for help. You may even have come to believe that you are not capable of reaching your goal(s) and are ready to give up. Wherever you are in thinking about or attempting your goals, you don’t need do it alone. With help you can reach your potential. Therapy and…

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    ADHD and Medication: How Do I Make the Decision?!

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Treatment Options, Blog

    The decision to take medication for ADHD can be complicated for many people. Often made more complicated by pieces in the media, such as the recent article Ritalin Gone Wrong by Alan Sroufe, Ph.D., (NY Times, Jan. 29, 2012). As Dr Ned Hallowell noted in his response on his blog,  Dr. Hallowell’s Blog, Dr. Sroufe’s article is “inflammatory rhetoric” filled with “scare tactics and wrong-headed assumptions.” Articles, like Dr. Sroufe’s, can make it more difficult for you to make a decision, as the rhetoric can really cloud your ability to make an informed decision based on facts, if you let it. To help you arrive at a well thought out decision that works for you I’ve put together a 11 page interactive workbook, ADHD and…

  • Work With Your ADHD and Complete Your Projects

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

      Which of the following are projects? All of them. Yes, even buying paint, really. If there is more than one step, it is useful to consider the task a project for planning purposes. And when faced with a project you may feel intimidated by all of the seemingly moving parts. You may procrastinate out of fear that you will not be able to complete it well. Alternatively, you may react quickly and dig in, thinking you just have to put in more time and work harder. Yet, you know that being reactive or procrastinating does not help you to make the right choices in order to get the project done. The key is learning how to follow a process. While following a process does…

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    ADHD and Productivity: Do You Know What Action to Take?

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Time Management, Blog

      How many different tools and strategies have you used to help you become more productive? You did the research. Read about how other people used it successfully. And said to yourself, “this tool is the ticket.” In my last post, ADHD and Getting Things Done: Is It a Match?, I shared with you that I thought most readymade systems, like David Allen’s GTD, are not made for “out of the box” use by Adults with ADHD. I also explored how you can work with your ADHD and use GTD in the article, The First Step in Taking Control of Your Tasks. The Second Step is to sort your tasks so you can decide what action to take with each one. Weekly Review The best…

  • Here is The First Step in Taking Control of Your Tasks

    ByMarla Cummins Blog

    How are you going to decide what you need to do today? When you have ADHD, this process can be challenging. If you sat down at your desk right now, could you see all of your tasks? If you are like most of us, your answer is likely, “not really.” But you would probably like to be more confident that you have a structure for locating your important tasks without trying to rely on your memory, right? I often hear some variation of one of the statements below when talking to my clients about To Do Lists. I have too much to do. A list would be too overwhelming. I just do what I need to do. I’ve tried using a list, but I can…

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    Are You Getting The Feedback You Need?

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Tools & Strategies, Blog

    I have had prospects and new clients say to me that they wish they had known about ADD Coaching sooner. When I heard this again, recently, I began thinking about the usefulness of mirrors. Of course, in the most literal sense, most of us are glad that we have them to save us from the embarrassment of going out in public with spinach still in our teeth or toothpaste on the corner of our mouth. But for many with ADHD, having different types of “mirrors” also provides us with the tools we need to manage our challenges   Getting the Feedback You Need For example, it is not always easy to figure out what is going on when you procrastinate. Are you resisting doing an…

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    ADD – ADHD: Do You Know This Strategy to Prevent Overwhelm?

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

    What Do You Want To Say “Yes” To? Being self employed and a single parent of a middle school age daughter, my life is full and can be overwhelming, sometimes. While I am certainly blessed to be a parent and to have my own business, I still find myself occasionally wanting to do more, and feeling like I “can’t.” There are times, lately, when I struggle with the “need” to say no to other opportunities. Then I remind myself that I could say “yes,” instead, if I made different choices. I remind myself that every choice has a cost. Recently, I’ve been feeling isolated in my business. So, I have been thinking of ways to connect with other people professionally. Like many with ADD –…

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    What Is ADD Coaching?

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Treatment Options, Blog

    What is ADD Coaching? I hear this question all the time. As the field of ADD Coaching is relatively new, many people, understandably, do not know about it. When I was a teacher no one ever asked: “Marla, what is teaching?” Like most of us, they assumed that they knew what the work of a teacher entails. Whether that is accurate or not would make for an interesting conversation. I won’t digress here, though. So, now, as an ADD Coach, I welcome these conversations about my work. It is an opportunity to share my perspective of ADD Coaching, and how this perspective informs my practice. Just like teachers, ADD Coaches describe the service that they provide in different ways. Here is how I have come…

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    Planning Your Time: When Good Enough Is Perfect

    ByMarla Cummins ADHD Time Management, Blog

    Are you an adult with ADHD? Do you get overwhelmed by your To Do List or do you consider it just a useful tool? I hope that you fall in the later group. However, I know that for some The List, as I will refer to it, has an ominous power over them. I am sure that you have heard or even said some of the following comments. “I have so many things on my list! I can’t talk now. I am crazy busy.” When you become overwhelmed by The List, remember that you created it. So, you can change it at any time. Really, you can.