I am at the airport, and while I am here, thought I would share a few thoughts. Reason I am here on the internet is due to the flight being cancelled. Called a friend and she was asking about my new ADD Coaching skype course on AD/HD Coaching.
In this coaching course, I am obviously going to be doing ADD Coaching! I will cover things like distraction, procrastination, failure to complete tasks, lack of focus, or is it lack of intention? Intention (which is what ADD Coaching is about) is how come attention becomes deficit - i.e. attention deficit disorder! ~*~*~*~*~
The plane arrived sooner than I thought, so had to leave off there! Subsequently I have been to the AD/HD Seminar, it was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The seminar wasn't actually about ADHD Coaching, but rather about ADHD - about managing ADD whether it is in the family, or if a person has been diagnosed, or simply for parents and teachers who want to know more.I gave a talk called "My Story, the gifts and disadvantages of ADD". I will write it here, in another post in the next week or so. Again, I mentioned little about ADD Coaching, and more on my story, and I couldn't help myself stopping and comparing the story with a typical ADDers experiences and relating back to ADD Coaching! This is the way forward, not only for the ADD person themself, but for partners, parents, and me too! I wouldn't be without a coach for anything, and sometimes not necessarily an ADHD Coach.The gifts that I bring up in the ADD Coaching are: the fast thinking, and sometimes 'winging' our conversation when we need to - and mostly under pressure becuase we haven't thought about it until 5 minutes before the event! Others think we are marvellous! That fast thinking can also be an advantage when something goes wrong (like a fire or flood), and the ADD person is able to run different scenarios three times faster than a non-ADD brain. We are great at starting new things, of having grand ideas, of also being friendly and unassuming.Imagine that - being able to start something, and not having to finish it! You may well say that is impossible - but consider this: you pay someone to do it for you! Or you do somehting that does not require finishing, like a Star!
Books, Glorious books! ADD Coaching books, and even straight ADD / ADHD books! This is the first step to understanding about ADD and ADHD, and especially about ADD Coaching.
I thought that, as I was coaching ADD and ADHD, that I should put some books in here that may be of interest to those people that are involved with ADD and ADHD in some form or another in their lives. Also, I know a lot of people are interested in ADD Coaching and ADHD Coaching, so have included some of the books in this list too.
These are not necessarily my favourite books, and indeed, there are a couple or more that I have not read, yet! However, when it comes to ADD Coaching – I would like to mention that one of my heroines is Nancy Ratey. I find that I align with what she says about ADD Coaching / ADHD Coaching and with her strict rules for both coaches and coachees! On my website about ADD Coaching and ADHD Coaching, there is an article that she has co-authored.
It is under the heading Coaching ADD/ADHD and other modalities and the title is “Therapy and ADD Coaching: Similarities, Differences, and Collaboration” by Peter Jaksa, Ph.D., and Nancy Ratey, Ed.M., ABDA, MCC.
Here is a paragraph, that may help your decision to read it or not!
Treatment for ADD/ADHD in adults has typically been defined in terms of medication and therapy. Coaching is emerging as another form of help that can benefit many people with ADD. The very notion of “coaching” leaves many people scratching their heads in confusion, however. Most health care professionals have at best a vague idea of what coaching is, what the benefits are for the client, or how to work with a coach in a professional collaboration. Many physicians, some of whom are even reluctant to refer people with ADD for testing or therapy, are not likely to recommend to their patients something as esoteric sounding as “ADD coaching.” Medication alone is seldom if ever sufficient treatment for ADD however. Many therapists who work diligently with their clients on emotional issues, relationship issues, and behavioural strategies to increase productivity, are perplexed to find that the therapeutic goals are simply not being implemented on any consistent basis. The client’s failure to follow through may be interpreted, quite inaccurately, as “resistance” to treatment. A working knowledge of the benefits of ADD coaching would allow all these professionals to be more effective in treating their ADD clients.
This above is only the tip of the iceberg about the article on ADD Coaching and ADHD Coaching, and I believe well worth the read. I will be putting up more books or changing them in the near future, so keep a look out!
Love ya!
I had a myriad of ideas… all there, sure I would make money somehow! I didn't need much to start off with, and I loved photography. I started my own photographic business, looked older than my 20 years! I enjoyed the photography, and had been trained by a German Professional – boy, was he hard and strict and meticulous! The best I could have had, in spite of resenting it at the time. ADD Coaching will help with things like structure. He provided the Structure that I needed. He also provided the Skills and the Strategy. These are things I came to learn about much later, and now incorporate in my ADD Coaching. The other thing needed, and covered in ADHD Coaching, is Support. This may be the first essential ingredient.Photography was great, and I had Thompsons Publications paying me a retainer! The bubble burst, Thompsons restructured, and they decided I was only being used by the Engineering which was 1/3 of the group, so my retainer was suddenly reduced to a third. Better go get another secretarial job!I had left Zambia under strange circumstances – the owners of the company that my boyfriend was working for disappeared owing over a million Kwacha. We had to move fast as they had not sent in any of the registrations they said they had, meant he was working illegally. I went to London where my dad and mom were living. Worked in Riding School first and gained valuable training. Then found a job in Trafalgar Square, office facing the Nelson's Column statue, working for Solicitors in London as a secretary. Worked in Holland in a riding school again, before going back to South Africa.With the little experience I had it was not difficult to get a job. The job was great, only thing is that I was not crazy about some of the managers or some o f the people I worked with. The second I found a discrepancy in their authenticity or their honesty, I was unable to respect them. This did not auger well in the company! When doing ADD coaching now, I hear this above statement so many times. It seems to me that an ADD person tends to say and do things that people interpret as disrespectful or even insubordinate! The ADD person is being honest – they usually don't do too well at telling lies.So I moved through the ranks, alternately working for myself and for a large corporation.I set up a computer company, and after 4 years of training and supporting a lawyer the lawyer registered my company name (as a thank you gift – it never occurred to me to do this). I was delighted! I had my own company registered. I still had the photographic Studio and was still working for a corporate.I was also studying for a degree – had discovered something called "Distance Learning" which meant I could work and study at the same time. It was also less expensive than the local university.As an ADD Coach, one of the things we recognise is when a person is as 'busy' as I was, is this is a typical scenario of an ADD person. Typical too of Entrepreneurs as they don't like working for a boss, they want to be the boss!
I bought a horse!
I was inspired, devoted, and thought my horse was the most beautiful I had seen. He really was lovely actually, and with all my love and attention, we were soon jumping anything in sight! I loved jumping, the thrill of it, the feeling of being airborne, even if it was only for a few seconds, I could do it again and again. And my horse was right there with me, we were fearless.
Nowadays an ADD Coach will tell you that THAT is typical of an ADD person, and people with ADHD particularly, self-medicate (more about this in another post) by doing things that will create an adrenalin rush. Like kids jumping off a roof - my son did that! For adults the best is bungee-jumping. But I wouldn't do that, that is just a bit too radical, so horse jumping it was, and such fun.
Then I met an English man and fell in love! We dated for a long time, finally moved in together and started to fight! I didn't understand me, how could he? However, he was patient, and we worked things out. He bought me a bigger cross-country motorbike (I had a small one) and took it to Zambia, I was to join him. But I had no money saved. No problem, I sold my horse, and the buyer agreed that when I came back, I could buy him back again. With that money I flew to Zambia, and it took 2 days to get to the East where my boyfriend was.
When one is having ADD Coaching or ADHD Coaching, aspects of this story are tell-tale! One of the strengths of an ADDer is the ability to make a fast decision (even if a Libra like me), and to 'wing it' in a situation. Or to make a plan when it is seemingly impossible. How many people do you know that are fantastic at pulling ideas out of a hat at a moment's notice? Most entrepreneurs I know can, and most of them exhibit a need for ADD/ADHD Coaching!
Hi, my name is Lorí, and this is my first post to my blog. I have so much to say, yet not sure where to begin… so will begin with a little bit of my story that started a looong time ago and what led me to consider ADD coaching and ADHD coaching (which I may not get to by the end of this blog, but will continue later!)
When I was in pre-primary school, I already knew then that I was different. I was truly a 'good' girl, tried to make myself invisible and succeeded some of the time. It was not easy as I was a large person for my age. This difference led to the smaller kids of the same age (and older) taking advantage of me. How? If they wanted something, like a turn on the swings, and I had just finally managed to get my turn, they would start to point to me and say it was their time. A teacher would hurry over and order me off, to give the smaller kids a turn. They thought I was forcing my way into things because I was bigger (most thought older too, partly because I was a quiet person).
In primary school this continued. Luckily in Gr. 2, they decided I was too advanced and so I went into the next grade, thereby missing a whole year (YAY!) At least I was not much taller than this bunch of kids, but still too shy to push myself into anything, any games. I had no friends, and spent my time watching my baby sister who had just started school, and I made sure no-one upset her!
High School was much the same story, different people, different circumstances. Same report, "Lori is so bright, could work harder", "with a little effort Lori could be an A student" and so on. I drifted through school, was lucky that I caught on pretty quickly and once I knew, I knew. Never really studied, and finally finished high school about my 17th birthday! Freedom!
I chose not to study further, could not imagine another day at school. Went into something I loved (and dreamt about the whole time in school) – horses! Worked in a riding school for a while, until my mum decided I should get another job as secretary – I could type up a storm in those days of manual typewriters! Although I was young (and pretty), I still found difficulty in creating relationships, oh, how I wish I could have had some ADD coaching. But I never knew at that time that there was something called ADD, and my strangeness and being different became my own best-kept secret.
The photo is of me when I was in my Matric year - final year of high school.
