By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – June 13, 2022
What is self-awareness? Is it just being aware of your own internal emotions and feelings? Is it being able to see yourself in the third person? Or is it being able to see life and situations at a higher level, not just awareness of yourself, but awareness of others? Many people with ADHD struggle with self-awareness.
They feel threatened by it because they are sometimes lost in their head. They are also unaware of the plights of others. They’re often consumed with their own challenges and sometimes don’t realize the challenges of others. Sometimes we need just to step out of ourselves to understand it. Continue reading “A Lesson in Self-Awareness”
In my talks, podcasts, and videos, I relate information and helpful advice on various topics concerning ADHD and attention. From time to time, I receive comments and questions from folks disagreeing with what I say, because they “feel” what they are doing works for them. 
The common theme to all of my newsletters is how paying attention to the wrong belief leads us to the wrong solution, and how being stuck is a symptom of paying attention to an inaccurate belief. As an attention coach, I find that, for most of my clients, the hardest part is not paying attention to the right things, but rather unlearning, letting go, or not paying attention to what the Ego believes it should pay attention to. 
The band Three Dog Night sang it best in their song titled “One,” with the lyrics that go like this:
Untangling a knotted fishing line because it was miscast might be frustrating, but it will pass. Being miscast as a fisherman? Now, that is a problem! As an ADHD and attention coach, I define “miscasting” as placing someone in a role and asking them to do something with an expectation of performance that is not supported by their underlying abilities. To better understand miscasting, let’s use horse racing as a metaphor. 
Social media, YouTube, video games, advertising… they are all about getting your attention.
In Super Bowl XXXVII, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive lineup took the field for the first time. Each player introduced himself on network TV by stating his name and the college that drafted him. When Simeon Rice’s turn came, he stated simply, “Simeon Rice, the School of Hard Knocks.” Get it? Football? Hard knocks? Well, I got the pun and a whole lot more! Here’s what I got. 
Did you know that 50 percent of all doctors graduated in the bottom of their class? Early in my sales career, I loved sharing this very interesting fact; it proved especially useful when I was selling against HMOs in the days when indemnity plans meant you could choose any provider. That’s when I realized most anything that can be measured by definition is at or below average. This simple concept has fascinated me for years. 
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. There are times when a picture or a symbol can communicate things that are quite complex in a way that brings instant clarity. When you run across a graphic that really communicates and explains a concept, it’s transformative. Recently I stumbled onto a graphic that was so powerful I had to recreate the concept for my own so I could share it with you. 
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Yet, all too often, people come to coaching using just a single word, that is, a label, to represent HOW they see something, such as, “I am a writer,” or, “He is a leader,” when in reality the label lacks specificity and represents a vague picture of HOW things really are. As a coach, I prefer using digital descriptions instead of labels because I believe they paint a clearer picture of reality.
What’s the value in having someone who knows how to use a hammer and hits the right spot? Do-it-yourself sounds good, but there is a cost. I call it tuition at the school of hard knocks, in other words, EXPERIENCE. That’s what I want to share with you here. ADHD is very much a challenge. If you’ve got ADHD and have been struggling to manage it, I encourage you to find a professional who’s got the insight to accelerate your learning. After all, if you get the diagnosis and you get some help, you can really live a fulfilling life. 
Thinking is effortful. It can be incredibly gratifying or intensely painful. Take the euphoria of an aha moment when you’ve solved a problem as opposed to struggling to regulate your attention and focus on a difficult or boring task. What’s more, the pressure to think on a deadline, in the face of writer’s block for example, brings on anxiety, which is the human experience, but it’s more extreme for those with ADHD. 
There are times in our world with new technologies or events that metaphorically tilt the floor of human behavior. When that happens, some things are easier, but others become more challenging. Those who lack self-awareness, effort, emotion, and willpower have no go-to strategy to survive an adversarial challenge. Metaphorically, those who are self-aware will spend the time and energy to climb the hill because they know, after climbing to the top, they can get back to what works. 
ADHD Heroes book (
In the ADHD community, we often hear about executive function, but why is it so important that experts often talk about it? That question is one many of us have asked, so we want to help you understand it in a clear context. That’s why we are pleased to release our eBook titled, “ADHD, Executive Function, and Self-Regulation.” It explains the process of executive functioning in the brain as it relates to ADHD, which Dr. Russell Barkley views as largely a challenge of self-regulation. 
If you are like me, you hated doing word problems in school. Word problems are hard because there isn’t a methodical way of doing them. Solving them requires insight, trial-and-error thinking, patience, and practice.
The fun part of being an ADHD coach is to have those with ADHD articulate what I couldn’t. In the last year I’ve had a few emails, texts, and social media posts that really get to the heart of the realities of ADHD. I’d like to share a few with you and get your thoughts (please leave comments). 
It’s become a joy of mine to produce Attention Talk Videos to address attention issues and provide information to help those in need. One thing I enjoy the most is how articulate many people are in commenting on those videos. I’d like to share a few that really represent the realities of the ADHD plight.
Dr. Thomas E. Brown once said, “The more there is a need for independent work, the lower the grades and productivity of those with ADHD.”
People are unique, individual, and infinitely complex. In the interest of maximizing efficiencies, our world and medical community focuses on commonalities to evaluate, label, and treat patients. This approach raises some key questions: Can something so complex be labeled? Is the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD a science or is it an art? Let’s explore this system a bit deeper to understand how we get a diagnosis before answering these questions.
Without a doubt, science is an amazing thing and strides in medicine are impressive. Many specialists turn to advanced tools to diagnose and better understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). By studying cerebral function, structure, and chemistry, specialists can discern biological differences in the ADHD brain. But seeing something different does not mean they understand it.
Our ancestors foraged for food because it was necessary. Today, food is in abundance, freeing up time for us to forage for information. Why are we… especially those with ADHD… prone to forage for information? Because it is pleasurable! You see, one of the key neurotransmitters that impacts the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder plight is dopamine, the reward neurotransmitter. It’s the reason we procreate, why we forage for food or seek anything pleasurable.