Finding Motivation. The ultimate quest for persons with ADHD. My patients often tell me “I’m not motivated” or “I need more motivation”.  Actually, they have plenty of motivation…to do whatever they are doing, which often is not what they know they need to be doing, and on some level want to finish (or start).  Sound familiar?

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My guest today is Jeff Copper, ADHD coach and Chief Engineer of Cognitive Ergonomics, a new paradigm for addressing the primary impairment in ADHD –  Executive Functions which don’t function well.

We have to “solve problems/figure things out” many times each day. Ones like balancing schedules of 3 kids in 3 different schools with getting errands done, and getting home in time to make dinner (or to take it out of the box before it gets cold). Or how to get out the door to not be late to whatever. Or planning for college/finding a job/finding a new job

The key to finding/having motivation is to reduce the effort it takes to problem-solve. And that is the topic of today’s show. See? You’re in the right place!

Join Jeff and I as we dive into the details of finding motivation.  Listen, and learn!

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Inaccurate and negatively-biased information about ADHD bombards us from all sides, in public and professional media alike. Sad to say, most of it is just plain wrong. One recent review of information posted on TikTok concluded that only 40% of it is accurate, 60% is not. Selected stories about negative effects of medications, presenting statistics in a way that magnifies negatives, repeating outdated beliefs which have no basis in fact, examples are too numerous to count. 

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How can you find reliable accurate information? There is now an easy-to-find source, the ADHD Evidence Project – adhdevidence.org – founded by Dr. Stephen Faraone, one of the foremost researchers in the field of ADHD over the past 30 years. Join Dr. Faraone and I as we dive into the backstory of the Project and discuss how it makes accurate and reliable information about ADHD available to you. Listen and learn! 

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Find out more here about Dr. Faraone!

After earning his Masters and PhD degrees Dr Faraone began a career in psychiatric genetics in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard University in 1985. He rose steadily through the academic ranks, gaining promotion to full professor in 2002. in 2004 he moved to SUNY Upstate Medical University where he is now Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. 

The goal of the ADHD Evidence Project is to improve the lives of people with ADHD by selecting, organizing, distributing, and promoting well-researched and evidence-based conclusions about the disorder to patients, families, and clinicians. 

The basis for it is The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement published in 2021 and authored by eighty (80) world-leading ADHD experts. The Statement is comprised of 208 statements about different aspects of ADHD, from how it affects people and society to diagnosis to treatments, all supported by well-researched evidence. It points out that most cases of ADHD are caused by the combined effects of many genetic and environmental risks, that there are small differences in brain structure and function between people with and without ADHD, that untreated ADHD can cause a multitude of adverse outcomes, and that neglecting to recognize it and treat it effectively costs society hundreds of billions of dollars each year worldwide.

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Do you (if you have ADHD) find it is easier to “think out loud”, to process your thoughts by talking them over with someone? Or even just a rubber duck perhaps? If you know someone with ADHD, have you noticed that they tend to talk through their thoughts? There is good neuroscience and “ADHD science” to explain why it works so well, much of it rooted in Dr. Russell Barkley’s model of Executive Functions. Some of the toughest challenges for people with ADHD are solving problems which have many parts and are ambiguous. The goal of accommodations at work or school, to make it easier to try harder to think like a neurotypical person, are not ideal. What if that were turned upside down, and the accommodations enabled people with ADHD to use their brains in the way they function best?

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My guest today is Jeff Copper, ADHD Coach Extraordinaire, known for his ability to dig deeper and find root causes of impairments so they can be resolved. He is a Professional ADHD Coach, certified by two ADHD Coaching organizations, consultant, speaker, and enthusiastically committed to being a valuable resource for persons with or affected by ADHD. Jeff has developed a model of how to accommodate the ADHD-thinking brain which respects and preserves its amazing quality of associative thinking: Cognitive Ergonomics.

This is cutting edge info, a new way of helping those of us with ADHD brains problem-solve in the ways our brains work best! Listen and Learn!

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Find out more about Jeff’s work at www.digcoaching.com ,
in his podcast on Attention Talk Radio: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/attention-talk-radio–6403326
And on Attention Talk Video: https://www.youtube.com/attentiontalkvideo?themeRefresh=1
Note: use this link to access the chart we discuss in the podcast: https://digcoaching.com/PDF/ExecutiveFunctionEngagementContinuum.pdf

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Do you shudder when you hear the words “financial planning”? How do you answer the question “what would you like to be doing in 20 years? “ Do you wonder how you are going to be able to afford to retire and travel/have a big garden/have a woodworking shop/spend more time with family? (Pick any or add your own!) My guest today has developed strategies that fit the way our ADHD mind works; today you get to see and/or hear how to get started with one of them.

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Simi Mandelbaum, CEO of PROSPR Financial Wellness, is my guest today. She founded PROSPR in 2019 to provide education and tools for people to use in order to reduce the stress and anxiety they feel around money and reach financial success (as they define it).  (PROSPR has no “E” on purpose – no Excuses.)

ADHD minds work well with visual representation of thoughts and ideas – diagrams, pictures, maps. The PROSPR model starts with visualization of your financial success, in much more depth and detail than just a picture floating around in your head. Watch or listen (or both) as we demonstrate how the process starts, with Simi in her role as a Certified Financial Therapist (CFT) and myself as someone aiming for retirement. Listen and Learn!

Check out our video chat!

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As a parent advocating for your ADHD/neurodivergent child at their school, have you found it difficult to jump through all the hoops required by our school systems in order to get help? If there was a way to develop and maintain a collaborative approach with your child’s teachers, with the goal of helping your child succeed in school, would you want to know how to do it? Great! You are in the right place! My guest Frances Coppa, an ADHD Coach, parent of a child with ADHD, a person with ADHD herself, a former SpEd teacher and school principal, has developed a model which leads parents and teachers through the process of working together in creating a supportive environment and structure to enable your child to succeed in school, not simply in academics but in the social aspects of personal development as well.

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Listen and learn! Check out our video chat!

Resources mentioned in the program: 

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Visualize a tree, with roots, trunk and branches all visible. This is your Tree, your life past and present, ready to grow more branches, the ideas and plans and things you create with your life. The roots are the experiences you have had in your life, some good, some not so good; what have you learned from them? How have they shaped who you are today? They are the foundation for your core beliefs/passions/values, which are the trunk of the tree. The branches are the directions your life has taken with new ones growing all the time as new ideas develop into plans, new experiences give rise to new ideas…you get the idea.

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Join Michelle Raz, of RazCoaching, and I as we examine how this Tree of Life concept works. Learn how it can give shape and substance to our neurospicy ADHD lives, how you can harness the power and the vision of the Tree of (your) LIfe to shape your life into one that matches your core self and enables you to grow. Listen and Learn! 

Learn more about Michelle’s academic and personal coaching businesses at www.razcoaching.com , connect with her on LinkedIn at coachmichelleraz

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“Just can’t get started“. “I did a bunch of things on my To-Do list…not the important ones but I got a lot done”. “I’m exhausted, can’t do another thing! (5pm)”. Does this sound like you? Join the crowd! At least 8 out 10 of us with ADHD (my guesstimate, probably more than that) have said that more than once. What gets in our way? Why is it so hard to get going on things we know have to get done? 

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The answers are in Your Brain’s Not Broken, the chapter on the Murderers of Motivation. My guest in this episode is its author, Tamara Rosier Ph.D, an ADHD coach in Michigan with a wider professional background than that description might suggest; she brings the personal perspective of one with lived experience in ADHD to her work (as do I). We explore how these murderers of our best intentions derive from the processes of the ADHD mind which are different from “the other 96 percent”. Best of all, Dr. Rosier explains the Solve-It Grid, her model of how to prevent the workings of our ADHD minds from grabbing us, and how to balance our energy and focus over the day/week/month. Join us! Listen and learn! 

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Daydreaming. Spacing out. Moving slowly, takes a long time to do anything. Always tired, even if they got a good night’s sleep. They can focus, get chores and homework done, it just takes them such a long time. This is a description of a child with Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome, CDS (formerly known as Sluggish Cognitive Tempo). People with ADHD Inattentive Type can also have CDS, but not all of them do. And not all folks with CDS have ADHD either. 

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My guest today is Dr. Joseph Fredrick, a psychologist and head of the CDS Program of the Center for ADHD at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Join us as we explore all aspects of CDS, from diagnosis to treatment. How would a parent, teacher, or clinician identify the child with CDS? What can be done about it? (Hint – a good sleep routine to allow 8 hours of solid sleep is the first step! ). Listen (and watch if you can) to get the answers. Listen and learn!

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Which assignment do I work on now? Which is more important? When is that one due? These are questions every High School and college student has to answer every day. What if there was an app that consolidated all of those answers into a single list “do these today” and completing that daily list resulted in all assignments done by the due date, even long-range ones? AND it included other activities like sports, clubs, family time!

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Thanks to Nathan Hanamaika’i, that app exists! While in grad school Dr. Nate had to figure out how to complete his doctoral studies, job tasks, home chores and include personal and family time with his wife and four children. He made a spreadsheet then combined it with a calendar of due dates. As he learned more about ADHD and the challenges students have with time management, he refined his system into a composite of all the activities and tasks to be done over the coming few months for school, job, rest/restore time, personal time, exercise, and whatever else, then distilled that into day-by-day segments. Just do everything on the list for that day and due dates will be met, appointments kept, family time enjoyed!

Studyzen personalizes that for each student, using input from student, parents, school and class schedules/assignments to create the daily task set unique for the needs of the student. No more worrying about which of 5 things to do first, or at all that day! Assignments, sports, clubs, refresh time – it is possible to track it and get it done step by step. 

Studyzen is available at trystudyzen.com. Download iOS or Android version. Go for it! 

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If anyone had doubts about whether my guest or I have ADHD, in this episode of ADHD Focus we provided decisive proof that indeed we do. In a wide-ranging discussion we touched on girls/women with ADHD, student struggles with ADHD, the shame experienced by women with ADHD  due to impossible-to-meet societal expectations of a woman, a housewife, a mother, and a person with a business – in any combination of those roles. And probably more…(I was in the moment, not taking (detailed) notes). 

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Pippa Simou has “lived experience” as the mother of an ADHD child and a woman surprised by her own “late diagnosis” of ADHD as an adult. The desire to help her son cope with his ADHD in every way possible led her to in-depth reading and inquiry about ADHD. She changed careers after teaching for 20 years to one of training teachers about ADHD and coaching other parents with ADHD children, after returning to school to get her Masters in Psychology degree. She is a coaching psychologist in London (yes, the London, the city in the UK), a coach/trainer, and is developing a unique program for mentoring young teen girls with ADHD, to “give them hope, to be the voice I wish I had heard”.  

She is actively pursuing grants to fund research in ”proof of concept” for her mentoring program, the concept being that mentoring can prevent the painful “lived experience” girls with undiagnosed ADHD so commonly go through. [ If you have access to funds for this research, or know someone who does, please contact Pippa! ]

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