By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – January 15, 2019
All the reminders in the world won’t work unless you engage.
Ever wonder why proposed systems or solutions don’t work for you? I’ve found the invisible elephant in the room is the ability to self-regulate. You can set reminders and alarms all over the place, but in the end, none of them will work unless you engage. In simple terms, setting an alarm to wake up is useless if you hit snooze time and time again. The trick is to associate the alarm to putting your feet on the floor and standing up.
Activating is more about making it easy to put your feet on the floor or having something to look forward to in order to get out of bed, not so much about the alarm. If you want to move forward, you have to address more than just the symptoms.
ADHD isn’t so much a deficit of attention but rather an issue of self-regulation—the ability to vigorously engage the executive functioning brain to override the automatic brain. This ability to pause, ponder, and choose a different path to proceed is what helps us reach our goals.
Can you pause, identify your triggers, and then design an environment that can help you regulate your urge to sleep more than necessary?
3 Suggested Attention Exercises to Self-Regulate:
- Focus on your brain and figure out what motivates it to get up. Can you smell the brewing coffee? Set the coffee timer to begin a few minutes before the alarm clock rings.
- Start planning the night before. Make your lunch, pick out your clothes, and make sure your keys are where they should be!
- Set the alarm 30 minutes early. This is helpful if you just can’t get out of bed on the first alarm… and you know who you are. Experiment with this on the weekend, as it may not be a solution for you!
- Figure out what works for YOU!
As Russell Barkley, Ph.D.. says, “ADHD is not a disorder of knowing what to do. It’s a disorder of doing what you know.”
Learn more about adult ADHD individual and group coaching at DIG Coaching. What works for a neurotypical person doesn’t always work for adults with ADHD. I learned—the hard way—that what my parents, teachers, tutors, and coaches were telling me to do wasn’t always working for me. My dyslexia made it hard. In college, I had to throw everything out the window and figure out what works—FOR ME.
To learn more, watch this video: https://youtu.be/S0hQ1_ASzdM
Do you have a book that you rec. for adult ADD?
Yes. “Spark” by Dr. John Ratey and “Driven to Distraction” by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell and Dr. John Ratey.