What you can learn from ADHD excuses

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

“The dog ate it” could actually be useful… (learn why TONIGHT!)

Creative excusesDo you ever feel like a kid who has to make up creative excuses for not having his homework?

You could actually gain quite a bit of useful knowledge from your excuses if you tracked them.

Think about the last time you didn’t get something done on time, or didn’t follow through on a commitment because you couldn’t even get started.

Focus on a recent incident, try to remember what actually happened to get in your way.

Maybe you forgot.  Or you over-committed and didn’t have time.  Or you couldn’t find whatever it was you needed.  Or you hyper-focused on something else you did first and got lost in it… and never got to the next thing.  (That’s been a big one for me lately!)

Or maybe you really left it out and the dog ATE it!

Chances are, with ADD / ADHD, we have a lot of these incidents in our lives, whether or not we actually come up with more creative explanations to tell others.

Continue reading →

Posted in Productivity, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

ADHD Roadblocks become your ROADMAP

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

Free live teleseminar tonight (Wed. May 9)

You can actually coach yourself into finding your best solutions, simply by examining what is derailing your from doing what you set out to do each day.

Think of the excuses you have for not doing what you intend to do.  I know…you feel they’re just too embarrassing to tell people.  Often, it’s probably something like “I forgot,” or “I couldn’t find what I needed.”  Or even “I couldn’t bear having to look for what I needed!”

These sometimes lame-sounding “excuses” are actually your personal ROADBLOCKS that rob you of daily productivity and keep you from achieving your goals.  And if you really pay attention to them, they can point the way to your solutions for ending procrastination and mental paralysis.

…………………………………….

Please join me TONIGHT for a free LIVE teleseminar:

“Getting Started:  Your Roadblocks Point the Way“
 Wednesday, May 9

9:00 PM Eastern (note the time in your time zone)
Phone & Web Simulcast:  View online or phone in

  • To attend online, click here:
  • To attend by phone, call in to (206) 402-0100 (PIN Code: 750795#)

…………………………………….

If you haven’t seen my video yet with the “Key” tool diagram to help you identify your roadblocks – or you can’t make the date tonight –
 CLICK HERE to sign up for advance announcements of additional free training for Adult ADD / ADHD.

I hope to “see” you tonight!

Posted in Avoidance, Overwhelmed and Stuck, Procrastination, Productivity, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

End the ADHD procrastination battle!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

Free training video introduces my new tool

As an adult with ADD / ADHD, I bet you’re sick and tired of fighting a constant battle with yourself to stop procrastinating.

  • You’ve tried to force yourself.
  • You’ve tried to bribe yourself.
  • You’ve tried withholding rewards from yourself until you’ve finished the dreaded task.
  • You’ve tried asking a friend to hold you accountable.

None of these tactics have worked for you in the long run to break that procrastination habit.  And there’s a very good reason for that.

It’s because you were using the wrong key to unlock the door! 

Continue reading →

Posted in Overwhelmed and Stuck, Procrastination, Productivity, Uncategorized, Work and Career | 4 Comments

Rituals, ADHD, and being human

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

Expect new habits to fall apart after a vacation

The best way to form a new habit is to create a “RITUAL.”   That means identifying some behavior that you tend to do the same way every day, and deliberately using that as a springboard to introduce a new set of behaviors that will give you a desired result.  For example, to leave the house on time for work, you might:

  1. Examine your current habits:  Start by looking at what you routinely do every morning:

    – What behavior works for you?
    – What keeps you from leaving on time?

  2. Create a new ritual:  Incorporate some of what you already do successfully into a new routine.

Lisa, an ADHD Coaching client, needed to get to work on time in the morning.  She would have to form different habits to make that happen.  We started by examining what habits she actually had.

Continue reading →

Posted in Follow-Through, Planning and Scheduling, Time Management / Lateness, Work and Career | 5 Comments

A Cautionary Tale of Two Calendars

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

For someone with ADHD, two is not better than one!

Despite doing business online, when it comes to technology, I’m quite a dweeb.  I’ve been using the same old Blackberry for years, even though every time I’ve had to go to the Verizon store to get it looked at, the salespeople are incredulous that I decline the “free upgrade.”

Technology upgrades are never free.  They come at quite a cost, in terms of my TIME.  They take time to download, time to learn, time to work the kinks out, time spent on the phone and/or online trying to figure out why they don’t do what they’re supposed to.

This is why, when I finally broke down and bought an iPhone, it stayed unopened in the box for more than two months.   Continue reading →

Posted in On the Job, Planning and Scheduling, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Paralysis beats Procrastination as problem for ADD / ADHD Adults, according to “Getting Started Blues” Survey

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

We’re being labeled with the wrong stereotype!

If you ask anyone what they think the biggest problem ADD / ADHD Adults have, they’re likely to say “procrastination.”  This answer is likely to come from people with ADD themselves, as well as those who live or work with them.

Once I began coaching and training ADD Adults, I came to realize that people use the word “procrastinate” to describe any kind of not starting, without distinguishing whether they were avoiding starting because they didn’t WANT to, or whether they actually weren’t ABLE to. It’s long been my belief that the majority of  ADD / ADHD “procrastination” — especially in the workplace — was actually due to an individual feeling STUCK, mentally unable to begin.  Their brain was unable to figure out where to start, how to start, what to do, or was simply overwhelmed by how much there was to do. 

The results of my “Getting Started Blues” Survey indicated that I was right!

Continue reading →

Posted in Follow-Through, Overwhelmed and Stuck, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Productivity, Uncategorized | 30 Comments

ADD / ADHD and the “Getting Started Blues”

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

Procrastination solutions must be specific to the problem

I talked to a prospective ADHD Coaching client the other day about the nature of her challenges with ADD / ADHD.  She said, not unsurprisingly, that one of her greatest problems was her tendency to procrastinate.

I asked her what seemed to be the main reasons she procrastinated.  “There’s usually just one reason,” she said.  “I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT!”

As we know with ADD or ADHD Adults, that “don’t feel like it” state of mind comes up a lot!   But, to lump all issues that we have in getting started into that one bucket is to over-simplify the nature of the problem.  We need to identify more specifically what causes that feeling in order to develop solutions to help.

Continue reading →

Posted in Procrastination, Productivity | 12 Comments

Does ADD / ADHD make you a worse driver?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

A study on teens says it does!

The weather this March has been so weirdly warm and beautiful in the northeast that it makes me want to just get in the car and drive! Music blaring, windows open, top down, my inner teenager wants to emerge.  Perhaps it was the good driving weather this week that prompted the March 27 New York Times article, “Learning to Drive with A.D.H.D.”   

The article cited sobering statistics about ADD / ADHD and driving.  According to a 2007 study conducted by Dr. Russell Barkley and Daniel Cox, “young drivers with A.D.H.D. are two to four times as likely as those without the condition to have an accident – meaning that they are at a higher risk of wrecking the car than an adult who is legally drunk.”

Continue reading →

Posted in News and Views, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Stay on task with an easy online timer

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

The perfect tool for  ADD / ADHD Adults at work

e.ggtimer.com Easy Online TimerOne of the most useful tools anyone with ADD /ADHD can have is a timer.  It can be set at intervals to keep your mind on task, to remind you of when to start or stop an activity, or to make sure you leave in time for a meeting.   I’ve often recommended the Invisible Clock, which allows you to set up to 12 times in advance.

But, there are several common roadblocks to the timer getting put to use.  Either people forget to buy it, or they don’t get to reading the instructions on how to use it, or misplace it and forget about it.

So I was really excited to hear out about an online timer…  

Continue reading →

Posted in Follow-Through, Productivity | 14 Comments

Career is Balancing Act between Desire and Discipline

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Bonnie Mincu

ADHD and changing jobs

How do you know if leaving a job is the right decision… or just ADD restlessness? 

Justin, a manager in a large financial corporation, hired me as an ADHD Coach to help him salvage his job. He had done quite well over the years, gaining increasing responsibility in managing retail offices where he dealt with the public and oversaw an entire operation of various types and levels of employees.  Although he loved his work, Justin felt he had reached the top of where he could go in the retail area of the organization. Therefore, one year ago, he had allowed himself to be seduced away by a rival firm to take a higher-paying position involving complex transactions.

ADHD, restless on the job?Now, rather than using his relationship-building and people skills, Justin’s success was dependent on his ability to juggle enormous amounts of detailed paperwork and to conduct quantitative analysis. In fact, these were areas that he did not have particular strengths, and did not enjoy. His ADHD-overwhelm kicked in and he found himself increasingly paralyzed, day after day. In addition to being depressed at facing the workday, he lived in fear that his shortcomings would be discovered. The fact that his boss showed great patience and continued to have faith in him made Justin feel even worse.

Continue reading →

Posted in On the Job, Work and Career | 12 Comments