By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – September 30, 2024
Sara has ADHD. She has struggled to pay attention throughout her life. Before coming to coaching, she was easily distracted and stressed out in crowds. It was only after she came to coaching that she discovered how to be effective at managing her attention and stress.
One strategy she learned was managing sound to manage her attention span. You see, Sara is sensitive to sound. A startling noise like a door slamming distracted her focus away from what she was doing toward the sound of the slamming door. When this happened, it seemingly erased her working memory and she had to re-engage in what she was paying attention to. This proved to be very disruptive, stressful, and difficult to sustain her focus.
So, what does managing sound look like? Simple. Sara now uses earplugs to block out sound or uses white noise (the sound of a fan, rain on a tin roof, the sound of wind or waves) to drown out startling noises.
Now, think for a moment. Does it seem to you that managing sound would be on the top 10 list of obvious ways to manage attention? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s on the list.
Sara, like each of us, is completely different and unique. Obvious solutions don’t always work when a person is unique. It is our differences that define our individual solutions. Sara’s sensitivity to sound is just one distinguishing characteristic that defines her obvious solution.
So, the next time you’re stuck, consider letting go of the top 10 obvious solutions (that are based on how you are supposed to be like everyone else), and instead, pay attention to how you’re unique and let your obvious solution come to you.
Prologue
When I asked for permission to share her experience publicly, Sara responded:
“It’s fine with me. I think it will help people see things in a different way, because the solution is so unexpected. We get trained to only look for one type of solution. I wonder why we do that to ourselves/each other.” –Sara
I am startled by loud or unexpected sounds, but since my job is making phone calls, this solution won’t work for me!
Could big noise-canceling headphones that plug into the phone work? It would mute out everything but the call you are on.