Reply To: So Frustrated Being Me!

[susank]

I so get the being smart, but so often falling short thing. I’m blessed by being married to a corporate leadership coach. One of the best things he taught me is to use a suspense calendar. I’ve heard this idea a number of times on this site and I know it works for me. I wrote my doctoral dissertation using a suspense calendar and my ADHD is so bad, I should never have been able to do it. Break the job down into smaller parts – like really small parts, and include everything that will need to be done – don’t leave anything out by telling yourself you’ll remember it – you won’t. Put all these steps on a calendar, giving yourself a generous runway before the due date. Now, here’s the most important thing – when you see the task(s) on the calendar – DO THEM. If you put them off to another day, they’ll begin to pile up and you’ll get overwhelmed. Just because we have ADHD, doesn’t mean we can’t be disciplined – we can’t use our disability to just give up. There’s a book called, Eat That Frog, by Brian Tracy. He says if you had to eat a live frog every day, you’d need to get up and do it first thing – otherwise you’d think about it all day. Each morning, do that thing you don’t want to do FIRST. Having ADHD means we have to work harder and smarter.

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