Edge Foundation Blog

Editor’s Note:  This month we are pleased to publish a guest post by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D.  Nationally recognized psychologist, Kathleen G. Nadeau, Ph.D., has many years helping children, teens and adults to learn better planning and organizational skills.   Dr. Nadeau is the brains behind, Skoach, an integrated online time management and task planning tool.

Figure out why you procrastinate, then match your strategy to motivate accordingly.

Procrastination can be caused by several things. You may procrastinate because you don’t enjoy a task. You may procrastinate because a task is large and challenging to organize. Or, you may procrastinate because you aren’t sure how to accomplish the task.

1. Procrastination due to dislike of an activity

If you procrastinate because you don’t like a task, look for ways to increase task appeal such as:

* Make it into a game, and keep score.
* Make it into a game, competing with others.
* Listen to upbeat music while doing it. Schedule a reward immediately after you complete it.

2. Procrastination due to overwhelm

If you’re avoiding a task because it is lengthy and overwhelming, then “divide and conquer”:

* Break the large task into separate, short-term segments.
* Then check off each segment as an accomplished short-term task.

3. Procrastination due to inertia

If you procrastinate because you have difficulty initiating a task, create something to react to. Tasks that can be reacted to are easier to begin than those that you must initiate yourself.

* Work on the task with others - then you can react to their questions, emails, etc.
* Establish a deadline with your supervisor.

4. Procrastination due to lack of organization

Sometimes we procrastinate on beginning a large project because we haven’t organized the task and don’t know where to start. If you can’t seem to get a project organized:

* Think through the task.
* Talk with your supervisor or collaborators to plan it.
* Break the larger task into do-able segments.
* Create a list of resources and supplies needed to accomplish the task.
* Create a timeline for the task.
* Then schedule the first segment of the task.
* Create an email or text reminder for this segment.

5. Procrastination on difficult tasks

Not all tasks can be made easy, but if you find a task particularly difficult, you must analyze how it can become easier.

* Do you need help?
* More training?
* More practice?
* More assistance from other?
* Analyze what is making the task so difficult, and then get the help you need to succeed.

6. Procrastination at certain times of day

More challenging tasks should be done at whatever time of day you seem to feel more focused and energetic. Take note of your daily rhythms, and then try to schedule the most avoided tasks for the time of day when you’ll have more energy to tackle them.

Problem-solve and apply your solution

To combat patterns of procrastination, select a task that you keep putting off. Then look at the list of possible solutions above and choose one that you think is most likely to be helpful.

Pick one (or more) of these solutions, and keep track over the next few weeks. Are you getting things done on a consistent basis? If so, keep up the good work! Your new solutions will soon become habits that require very little effort to maintain.

Final note for severe or chronic procrastinators
Some people seem to have a generally low level of motivation and tend to put off all tasks that take energy or effort. These people are classic “couch potatoes” that would rather do “nothing” than anything at all. If you fall into the couch potato category, you may actually struggle with chronic, low level depression.

Others are couch potatoes due to chronic sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, or poor physical fitness. If you feel as if everything is too much trouble, then get a medical check-up to see if depression or some other health problem is playing a role in always putting things off.

ADHD, Depression and Why it Matters

ADHD and Depression II: Types of Depression

ADHD Depression Busting Tool Kit

There’s a lot of talk these days about information overload.  You may have missed our post about tips to handle information overload. The core idea to managing information overload is to prioritize what you want to see and choose when you want to be reading it.  When you bounce around from site to site or get lost down the Twitter rabbit hole you may be learning lots of interesting trivia or wasting valuable time.

There is no right or wrong way to manage the flow of information.  The key is setting up a system that works for you.  Most information sources, like The Edge Foundation, have a variety of ways you can use to manage the content coming your way.

Email Newsletters

Email Newsletters — With sites that are delivering useful but not breaking news, like the Edge Foundation, you may choose to subscribe to their email newsletter.  What’s great about this type of subscription is you’ll get a weekly (or in Edge Foundation’s case) a monthly summary of what’s been happening on your favorite content site.  One email gives you highlights of the best of the content produced by a site.  And in the case of the Edge Foundation, you’ll get inside information about coaching specials our research studies and other news you can use.  We hope you’ll consider clicking on the link and signing up today!

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds — With web-enabled mobile phones, putting your favorite blogs into a Google Reader can be a very useful way to manage your news.  You can check into your reader without turning on your computer.  That makes it really easy to scan the headlines while you ride the bus or have your morning cup of coffee.  Don’t know what RSS is.  Here’s a 4 minute video to watch that will explain it.

Social Media Sites

Social Media Sites — If you are active on Twitter or Facebook you can follow Edge Foundation in either of these places.  This is a way to listen to what’s going on in the background.  It can also be helpful if you are very active on Facebook to treat it like a RSS reader and scan all your information without leaving Facebook.  Word to the wise:  it can be a good idea to keep Facebook and Twitter for down time use only.  That means not following a news source on either site or you’ll find yourself justifying the time you spend falling down the internet rabbit hole as “work” and not getting any actual work done in the time you set aside to do it.

Content Aggregators

Content Aggregators:  Sites like NetVibes.com can help you stream all of your content including RSS, YouTube channels, Facebook, Twitter and more into one location.  The downside of these sites are that you have to have your computer turned on to use them.  Many people also like to segment the types of information they read into different types of channels — entertainment, work, school — and an aggregator works bestl when you put everything in there.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts can be a great way to keep abreast of a specific search term such as ADHD.  Set up Google Alerts to come as emails or in your RSS feed on an hourly, daily or weekly schedule.

How do you channel your information?  Did we miss your favorite content management method?  Let us know what works, and doesn’t work, for you in the comments.

College is a critical time for students with ADHD. Finding new strategies that work with ADHD is the key to success. We are pleased to announce that a new resource for college students is now available, free of charge! ADHD and College Success is an invaluable resource, jam-packed with ideas, tips, and encouragement to help college students with ADHD succeed.

Included in the whitepaper are 60 practical solutions for typical ADHD challenges. Highlights include:

• Using creative ways, like music, to keep yourself on schedule
• Working with your urge to procrastinate, not against it
• How to study smarter, not harder
• How to use fidgeting to stay focused
• 4 student qualities for success

Everything you need to know about ADHD, college, and living your dreams. Download your FREE copy at the bottom of this link today!

Editor’s Note: This week’s post was written by Award-winning Professional Organizer,
Judith Kolberg.

The first step to effective note taking is focused listening

Maybe it’s the school season, or that its “conference season”; whatever the reason, taking note and note taking is on the agenda. Note taking is no small task.

• It starts with taking note — listening intently to the talking-head and getting a grasp on what is said.
• Then it involves writing down both the most pertinent ideas and the relevant details and ignoring extraneous material.
• Finally, good note-taking results in actually using the notes in the appropriate context.

Inattention and distractibility make note taking hard for everyone

Even people without ADHD find it difficult to take note and note-take. Inattention, which makes the ADHD brain struggle to focus long and hard enough to get information into the brain in the first place, and distractibility, which moves attention away from the task at hand, conspire to make taking note really tough. And figuring out as you listen and write what is important and what is not is also challenging.

Note taking Tips for the ADHD Student

• Don’t look: Consider not looking at the speaker, but instead looking down at the paper or your laptop or whatever it is you are taking notes on. Sometimes knocking out some of the visual of looking at the speaker, can reduce distractions.
• Use the handouts! These days, most speakers and teachers give handouts with the central concepts already on them. Write on the handouts. Use highlighting. Add your own comments or thoughts. Since you did not create the handouts, you have to put your own imprint on them so they live and breathe and work for you.
• Share notes with a friend: Let someone else handle the details; go for the main concepts and ideas. You can often get the details from someone else’s notes, an audio recording, or a written transcript.
• Use shorthand: Develop a simple short hand but be certain you understand it! You might write the word “details” like this “dtails”. The letter “t” can stand in for “the”. A long phrase that is repeated, like “note-taking” can be written out once, and thereafter written as “n/t”.
• Try Mind Maps: Consider taking notes graphically by using mind maps. Click here for more information.
  Consider using note-taking software. Click here for more information.

Using Your Notes Effectively

Just a word about using your notes: separate your notes out by topic or subject and you’ll be able to utilize them better. Say you went to a conference on ADHD and took notes about medication and on memory and on ADHD humor. Separate them, make the topic prominent, and stick your notes where they will be used next. For instance, put the medication notes in a file to bring to your next doctor appointment to discuss with your doctor. In your calendar, on the date of the doctor appointment write “bring notes”. The notes on memory might just be for your own edification so call then “Don’t Forget” and file them under “ADHD”. Maybe you’ll want to use the ADHD humor notes in your next presentation. Stick the notes in with your presentation material. In other words, put notes where they are most likely next to be utilized.

Have you ever tried recording important lectures? Do you have your own shorthand? Have you ever asked someone to share notes with you? Let us know what note taking strategies have worked for you.

Last month Edge Foundation attended CHADD’s regional conference in Anaheim.  The keynote speaker, Mark Katz presented an inspiring talk about resiliency we felt you needed to hear.  You probably already know that resiliency means having the ability to roll with the punches.  But what you might not know is that the more resilient you are the more likely you are to be successful.  Katz knows what he’s talking about when he says resiliency is an important quality of success.  Katz wrote the book on resiliency:  On Playing a Poor Hand Well: Insights from the Lives of Those Who Have Overcome Childhood Risks and Adversities.

Do you see your intelligence as fixed?  Our society puts a lot of value in IQs.  Just about everyone has their IQ number written down on a report in a file cabinet somewhere.  But what if we told you that’s all it is, a number?  There is a growing body of research that indicates your attitude is a more important indicator of success than your IQ.  In fact, students who see their as fixed are more likely to give up when they encounter challenges.  But students who believe that hard work pay off, are more likely to achieve their goals.

In a July 6, 2008 New York Times article detailing her research on the power of attitude on your future success,  Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck says, “People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes.  But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

An ADHD coach is your own personal cheering session

If you have ADHD you’ve probably had people tell you that you won’t be able to achieve your full potential. or you aren’t trying hard enough.  Or maybe they’ve offered to help.  If you just did it their way, you’d be successful.

What if we told you figuring out what to do isn’t the problem.  Figuring out how to master yourself is?  The problem is the ADHD brain works differently than everyone else’s.  This is where an ADHD coach can help.  ADHD coaches know that the same approach doesn’t work for everyone.  As the old saying goes, if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t blame the foot!  ADHD coaches work with people just like you, every day, and help them find solutions that work for them - not for their parents or friends.  They’ll help you work with your urge to procrastinate, be accountable, study smarter not harder, assess your time, prioritize, and stick to your plan!

But most importantly, an ADHD coach will give you your own cheering section.  They’ll tell you “you can do it!” and “don’t give up” even in your darkest hour.  And having people in your life encourage you is the foundation to building your confidence and your own “can do” attitude.

If you’re discouraged or need a boost in your attitude, sign up today for a coach.  Don’t go it alone.  Let a coach help you turn your attitude around and get back on track to achieving your dreams!

What do you think?

We’d love to hear from you.  Do you believe in the power of positive thinking?  Does your attitude have more to do with your success than you IQ?  And what do you do to keep going even when you’ve made mistakes?

Guest blog by Edge coach, Beth Prosser

You know that water is essential to life. But did you know that even mild dehydration impairs your ability to focus? Estimates are that 75% of us are chronically dehydrated, so it’s likely that this applies to you.
Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to get a drink. By that time, you’re already mildly dehydrated. Here are some other warning signs:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Dry mouth, throat, and/or lips
• Dark urine
• Heat intolerance
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• If, when you pinch the skin on the back of your hand, it drops back slowly

Don’t let dehydration affect your ability focus

Here are 5 easy ways to keep dehydration from affecting your focus:

1. Make getting a drink part of your break routine. Keep a bottle of water in your backpack so it’s convenient wherever you are.
2. Bring a water bottle with you every time you get in the car. Finish it by the time you get to your destination.
3. Set a daily goal, and use a checklist to track the amount of water you consume. You may be surprised at how little you’re actually drinking.
4. Watch your caffeine intake, since caffeine actually dehydrates your body.
5. Keep lemon or orange slices in the refrigerator and use them to add flavor to your water.

I’m not suggesting that water can cure ADHD. But staying well hydrated gives you one more way to fight it.
I had a dreaded “brain shutdown” in my martial arts class the other night. I also had a headache, less energy than usual, got lightheaded after a few strenuous drills and failed the skin pinch test. Looking back on the day I realized that I had consumed very little water. Was the brain shutdown a coincidence? I don’t think so. I guarantee I’ll be well hydrated for the next class.
Have you ever found that your attention lags when you are dehydrated? We’d love to hear from you

You’ve probably already noticed that we’ve been publishing a lot of articles lately about getting ready for school.  By the end of next week nearly every school in the country will be back in session.  For college students who have just left home for the first time it can be a stressful and exciting time.  Now is the time to put good habits into place so you don’t come up short at the end of the term!

In an interview with About.com’s ADHD blogger, Keath Low, Edge Foundation’s Executive Director, Sarah Wright, offers seven strategies to help any college student keep on track to achieving their goals.

1.       Start the day on time.

2.       Work with the urge to procrastinate

3.       Study smarter, not harder

4.       Schedule your study time - treat it like it’s a paid job

5.       Plan your time (assess & prioritize) to keep track

6.       Stick to your plan

7.       Find an ADHD coach

For more details and ideas about how to do each of these strategies and more, check out our “For Students” Category.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the Edge Foundation blog to get weekly insights and the latest news about successfully living with ADHD.

It’s August and school is just around the corner.  For lots of students this time of year is filled with anxiety.  You know the feeling - that nagging feeling that something’s just not right.  Or you are having dreams about showing up in class in your underwear and there’s a big test already underway that you’ve totally forgotten about. Going back to  is a big adjustment for anyone, but when you have ADHD there are a few extra steps you can take to make sure the year ahead is everything you hope it will be.

ADHD and college:  a challenge you can handle

There are lots of great articles out there about the skills you need to survive at college.  (We’ve listed a few of our favorites at the end of this post.)  Successful students usually have four main qualities that help them achieve their goals:

• Sticking with things even when the going gets tough (a.k.a. perseverance),
• Ability to delay gratification and focus on the big picture,
• Time management and organizational skills, and
• Striking the right balance between fun and work.

However, these particular skills don’t come easily to student with ADHD. Organizational problems, impulsivity and time management issues are actually the hallmarks of living with ADHD. You think, “If I just get this special planner, I’ll become efficient and never forget anything again.” Or you promise yourself, “Next time I’m going to start working on my class reading at the beginning of the term instead of cramming it in right before finals.”  It’s so easy to think, “If I just make myself do this…” it’ll be fine.” But what if we tell you’ve been going about this totally backwards?  What if making yourself be motivated or organized isn’t the solution, but figuring out how to master yourself is?

Self Mastery is the key to achieving your dreams

Self mastery:  identifying and using the tools and skills that work with your personal strengths to achieve your goals and be successful.

College is often the time where you need a new set of skills - or maybe just a tune up - to cope with ADHD.  Why now?  In your life before college, high school and your parents together gave you built-in structure and accountability.  But in college you have a lot of unstructured time and you are totally in charge of making all of your decisions.  Want to stay up late partying?  No problem. It’s a beautiful day and you want to skip classes to go play. No problem. You are head of your sorority’s social committee and in the marching band and have a job so you can keep your financial aid. No problem, that is, until you are just too tired or simply run out of time to finish the big paper that’s due. There’s no one, except yourself, to tell you where your responsibilities lie.  Without self-mastery, it’s easy to let poor time management and organizational skills drag you down; it’s easy to miss that right balance between fun and work; and it’s easy find yourself living out your nightmare of showing up to an important test totally unprepared.

For most college students with ADHD the problem is not so much in knowing what to do, but in getting it done.  As one student said, “I know how to plan. My problem is very simple; I just don’t follow my plans. I need help making sure that I do what I say I am going to do instead of getting sidetracked.”

An ADHD Coach helps you get into your groove and keeps you on track

One thing you can always rely on with ADHD is that it is consistently inconsistent.  That means there are days when everything goes great, and other days you can’t seem to get out of your own way.

Your friends or family probably get frustrated and say things like, “If you’re so smart, why can’t you just handle it?”  And when for whatever reason you don’t, they say you are lazy, or unmotivated, or not living up to your potential.  And maybe you begin to believe them.

But what if it’s not because you aren’t trying the right things?  After all you are probably already trying pretty hard - or at least thought you were.  What if the problem is having a brain that just works differently, and so you need a different approach, a different groove, to managing these every day responsibilities?

This is where an ADHD coach can help.  ADHD coaches know that the same approach doesn’t work for everyone.  As the old saying goes, if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t blame the foot!  ADHD coaches work with people just like you, every day, and help them find solutions that work for them - not for their parents or friends.  They’ll help you:

• Work with your urge to procrastinate
• Be accountable
• Study smarter not harder
• Assess your time
• Prioritize
• Stick to your plan!

Find a ADHD coach now, so you are ready to go in the fall

ADHD coaches bring amazing life experience to their coaching.  They have a passion for working with young people who might have ADHD. Many coaches have ADHD themselves, or love someone who does, or both,  so they really get it.  They know what works, and what doesn’t.  And they won’t try to make you fit into an organizational system that isn’t right for you!

One of the nice things about an ADHD coach is they all work on the phone.  This takes transportation right out of the equation.  You can start working with your coach right now, and because you don’t meet in an office, you can “take your coach with you” when you go off to college.  You get to your appointments just by picking up the phone.  Because there’s no commute, you can easily fit your appointments into your schedule.  And, by virtue of a phone/email relationship, you stay in much closer touch with your coach than you would if you had to go to an office.  This extra contact can make all the difference in being able to stay on top of things.

Think about getting started even before you leave for college.  Those first few weeks are guaranteed to be overwhelming, and your coach can help you stay on track.  The numbers show that in college it’s surprisingly easy for students with ADHD to fall behind.  Getting your first term grades and finding you’ve tanked is a Christmas present no one wants to get.  So, start thinking now about getting ready for the fall.  If we’ve convinced you to look into getting an ADHD coach to help you keep it all together, we hope you’ll consider one trained by the Edge Foundation.  All of our coaches have met the rigorous standards set by the Edge Foundation and completed training for working with students and young adults with ADHD

So, are you ready to learn more?  Sign-up today and take the first step to getting your life under your control, and finding your edge!

Making the transition to college easier

• Learning Disabilities: Stepping Up to the Challenge
• 18 Critical Factors For Successful Post-Secondary Transition

ADHD self-mastery tips and skills

• Managing hyperfocus
• ADHD and sleep
• Fidgeting can help you focus
• ADHD and anxiety
• Treating ADHD and exercise

We are pleased to offer this guest post on ADHD healthy habits from Edge Coach, Beth Prosser.

How is it possible that someone with ADHD can focus for hours on something that’s interesting?  It’s a common misconception that people with Attention Deficit have a deficit of attention.   It would be more accurate to say we have trouble paying attention appropriately.  This intense concentration we sometimes experience is called hyper-focus.  It’s the other extreme.  Sometimes it’s as inappropriate as not being able to focus at all.

The ideal solution is to arrange your life so that the things you tend to hyper-focus on are things that bring you closer to your goals.  For example, if you are an artist, it would be advantageous to get lost in a painting and oblivious to the world for six hours.  But if you’re an accounting student and you have a final exam tomorrow morning, getting lost in that painting is probably not going to result in a good grade.

Here are seven strategies to help you manage ADHD hyper-focus:

1. Identify the types of activities you tend to hyper-focus on.
2. Don’t start any hyper-focus prone activities close to bedtime, or before doing something you’re likely to procrastinate on.
3. Make it a point to be aware of your mental state at all times.  We often don’t even realize it when we’re hyper-focused.  Being aware of when you’re in it is the first step towards getting out of it.
4. Practice being fully present.  Use mindfulness exercises to stay in the here and now.
5. Use timers and alarms to be cognizant of how much time has elapsed since you started the activity.
6. Change your physical position to help break a hyper-focus as soon as you recognize it.
7. Plan milestones in your projects.  Stop every time you reach one.

Hyper-focus can be a wonderful gift if it’s used constructively, for things we truly want to focus on.  It can be a curse if we hyper-focus on things that don’t matter at the expense of everything else.  Controlling it is the tricky part.

Editor’s note: Do you hyperfocus?  We’d love to hear what you are passionate about and what do you do to keep the rest of your life in balance.

This month we are pleased to feature an interview with Robert Tudisco, Edge Foundation Board member. Tudisco is a practicing attorney, an adult diagnosed with ADHD and has served on the Board of Directors of CHADD and ADDA.  As a freelance writer, he has been published in both Attention! and ADDitude Magazines and is a frequent resource for the media about ADHD and disability advocacy.

Edge:  You’ve been a leader in the disability community for the 10 years since you were diagnosed with ADHD.  What are the ADHD projects you are most excited about these days?

Robert Tudisco:  I am excited about the work that is going on at the Edge Foundation to provide scholarships and subsidized coaching for college students with ADHD.

When young students leave the structure of home and high school they often find themselves floating along in college without structure, accountability and the ability to advocate for themselves. For individuals with ADHD, this is a recipe for disaster.  Edge Foundation coaches establish the structure and accountability that is crucial for these transitional young adults.

Edge Foundation is also making significant strides in establishing a scientific basis for the efficacy of coaching which has been lacking in this field as well as a means of standardization through their own coaching certification program.

Edge:  So I imagine a coach can be helpful to a student in assessing whether or not they want to disclose they have ADHD or keep it private.  Do you have an opinion on whether students should come out about their ADHD or not?

Robert Tudisco:  Actually, I do not see it that way at all.  A coach can be very helpful in helping a student understand their specific needs due to their ADHD and help them self report and seek supports in a post secondary environment.  Under the law, it is always an advantage for students to self report their ADHD.  In fact, under Section 504 and the ADA, post secondary students are required to self report and ask for services if they are to have any protection from discrimination about their disability.  Disclosure for students is therefore a must.

Disclosure of ADHD in the workplace is more complicated than when attending school

When students enter the working world is when the question of disclosure becomes more delicate to resolve.  In the first instance, most employers do not accept federal subsidies and employers with less than 50 employees are exempt.  Additionally, for an employment claim, the disabled person also has to prove that they are otherwise capable of performing the job.  Disclosure becomes even more complicated with respect to certain types of businesses where there is much competition for advancement and traditional stigmas can hold an employee with a disability such as ADHD back from advancement.  Here, a coach can be particularly helpful in guiding a client toward a career that better suits their ADHD where their particular work style and creativity can maximize their effectiveness and also how to seek support without necessarily disclosing something that may be seen as a negative.