I’m creating a new program and I need your help finding the perfect name for it. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to find a great name for this program and I thought, why don’t I ask all of you Creative Geniuses. As an enticement, I decided to make a contest out of it. If you’re the person who comes up with the winning name for the program, I’ll send you a cool new gadget, a Fitbit Flex or if you prefer, you’ll receive a credit of $100 on the next of my programs you enroll in!.
Why a New Adult ADHD Program?
Here’s what it’s all about: Over the years, working with executives, professionals, entrepreneurs and other adults with ADHD, I’ve noticed that many collect information on ADHD (some of them have whole libraries full!) but never do anything with that information. In fact, a couple of years ago at an ADDA conference, one of the attendees and I were browsing through the bookstore and she mentioned to me that she already knew a lot about ADHD, having read most of the books. What she needed was to work on taking action. She laughingly said, “I just need something that’ll take me by the hand and spoon feed me one thing to do at a time!”
I replied with a smile, “You mean, you need another mother!” But it got me thinking, and I came up with this idea.
Knowledge Doesn’t Mean Change
I realized that even though a lot of information was circulating, being read, discussed and debated, and it was great information, accurate, practical, information that could change lives, people just weren’t acting on it. And of course, without action, there’s no change.
Now, I also saw people who were putting information into action. The thing was, I noticed they were a little over-enthusiastic. They’d try to change everything at once! Imagine trying to quit smoking, lose weight and train for a marathon at the same time! When you engage in multiple major changes simultaneously, it makes you so incredibly uncomfortable that you can’t sustain the changes and you revert quickly to your old ways.
Is it an Inability to Change or the Approach?
This is why many ADHDers come to me saying, “I can’t change! I’ve tried everything.” In reality, they’ve tried two approaches that don’t work: “change everything all at once,” and “learn everything and change nothing.” They haven’t tried the always successful, “learn a little, apply the change in your life, evaluate and adjust, repeat” approach.
A New Program for ADHD
That’s why I was inspired to create a training program for adults with ADHD where members receive excellent information in small doses, and they are assigned a small but significant action to take. Once they take action, adjust and get comfortable, they get another dose of information with another small but significant action to take. After all, that’s how you change, with small but significant actions applied in your life.
Soon, I’ll be inviting any who dare to take action to join me on a three-month journey where you’ll begin to really make transformative changes in your life. Right now, I’m calling it my “quick wins” program for lack of a better name (and because it’s too long to say, “learn a little, apply the change in your life, evaluate, adjust, repeat”!)
These “quick wins” are small changes that make a significant difference in your life quickly. Oh! and by the way, the journey will be free! That’s right, I’m launching this new program at no cost (though there are no guarantees it will stay that way, so if you’re interested in taking part, keep watching for my announcements. If you’re not already subscribed to my newsletter – like if someone forwarded you this email – make sure you sign up today to be notified when we launch!)
Details of the Contest
Ok, now that you know a bit about the program, I’m sure you’ve got some great ideas for a name. I’m totally serious about giving a Fitbit Flex (or the $100 credit on your next Coach Linda Walker program purchase) to the winner! Click here to enter your ideas. Don’t procrastinate, because the contest closes on February 27th, 2015 at 11:59 pm PST.
P.S.: Yes, I’m completely serious. I am giving away a Fitbit Flex to the person who suggests the winning name for this new program. And I’m completely serious when I say that this new program won’t cost you a penny during our three-month pilot, so if you’re not already subscribed to my newsletter, make sure you sign up for my newsletter to be notified when we launch!
Brave Changes (In Baby Steps)
It seems to me that we who have ADD have an operating system that is both ill-suited to the world we find ourselves in, AND outside of our control. Many of us are in a constant state of fear, monitoring our inner and outer worlds and bracing ourselves for disaster. Will positive changes make us relax our vigilance, thereby leaving us vulnerable? Because we are bound to continue surprising ourselves with unforeseen goof-ups.
So it seems important to me that in the process of learning a new habit that helps us function in this world, we also need to notice something we do exceptionally well–whatever it might be–to go hand in hand with the scary change. Suppose your new habit is doing the dishes and putting them away after every meal. Well, hand in hand with that, you might recognize your gift of putting away your cups in such a way that their colors and shapes make a beautiful composition in your cupboard. Other people might not see why that habit is so hard to develop, but they also have probably never had the pleasure of noticing the beauty one can find in a combination of cups.
That ability to find beauty and take joy in it may be especially dear to us, compensation and solace for the sadness we’ve felt at disappointing ourselves and others by not knowing things so obvious to the “neuro-typical.”
It might make positive change more bearable, if at the same time we recognize and reinforce gifts we already possess. We might be more able to forgive our goofs and laugh at them if we also know how we shine.
These ways we have found to survive and endure are old friends. We can keep them, even as we learn to function better and suffer less. The Dish-Washer and the Beauty-Lover join hands, because no one else knows how hard it is to learn to do dishes after each meal, nor how essential it is to recognize and celebrate the beauty of cups.
P.S. The time on my message says 5:50 PM. It is 12:50 PM EST here. What time zone are you in?
Sorry for taking so long to respond… Eastern time (we’re in Montreal Canada)