ADHD: Is Dopamine The Real Problem?

Day 27: The Problem

ADHD…you think the problem is Dopamine…what if it’s not?

Don’t misunderstand me. When it comes to a formal diagnosis of ADHD, Dopamine, Seratonin and Norepinephrine are often involved. (And by the way I am NOT a medical professional. Should you wish to pursue an ADHD diagnosis, you should speak with your primary medical provider.)

But what I’m asking about is the part of ADHD that’s causing you the most pain. The part that’s giving you the most trouble. The symptoms that show up for you and how they make you feel about yourself.

If I were to ask you “why are adhd tendencies a problem for you?” You may say:

• I just can’t make myself finish what I start.

• I feel so disorganized.

• It’s so hard for me to even get started.

• Before I know it the day is gone.

• I can’t find what I’m looking for.

• I work hard and don’t seem to make any progress.

• I can get so easily distracted or sidetracked.

• Sometimes I just feel so bad I don’t want to even get out of bed and do anything.

• I should want to be more involved.

• I should be better at gettiing things done.

• I’m horrible at managing my money.

The list goes on and on.

While Dopamine (and the other neurotransmitters) may be a part of what’s causing the problem.

The REAL problem is what you’re doing or not doing because of those neurotransmitters.

The REAL problem is what you’re making ADHD mean about you and your abilities.

The REAL problem is the shame that you feel and the boredom that you’re afraid to feel.

What I know for sure is that some of that, a lot of that, is actually within your control.

Say what?!

Yes, there is a percentage of ability that we all have to manage our brains better if we want to.

We have the capacity to use our brain as a tool instead of allowing it the freedom to work against us.

Come again?

Very often when we don’t manage our minds, whether we have adhd or not, our minds will work against us.

In an effort to keep us safe. This is true if you have adhd as well.

When you learn how to manage your mind effectively, your adhd symptoms will naturally be affected. They can be lessened.

You can experience your AHD in a new and improved way.

Learning to choose the way that you want to think about things will help you to better manage your feelings.

When you are actively managing your feelings, you will directly effect what you are doing (and not doing) in your day to day life.

Not sure? I’d love to jump on a consult with you so you can experience how it works.

ADHD and Procrastination: Getting Started Is Half The Battle

Day 25: Procrastination - Just Get Started

What if the key to stopping procrastination was really simple?

What if it was just to decide to stop procrastinating.

Right now.

Just decide to stop. Stop waiting for a better time.

Take a step towards what you want.

And then start. Start that thing that your brain wants to suggest you do later.

Build up the muscle of overriding your default brain.

Build up the muscle of I can start even when I don’t want to.

The muscle of I can start even when I don’t feel like it.

The first step really truly is just to decide. 

When we make it more complicated than that, we then want to put off making the change.

People will say things like,

“I’m really going to try to get it done.”

“I want to stop procrastinating.”

”Why do I always procrastinate?”

There is no room for trying or wanting if you are going to stop. You just need to stop.

It takes no sustained effort to stop procrastinating.

The effort is in the deciding.

It’s like ripping off a bandaid that’s been attached for a long time. Count to 3 and just do the thing.

Procrastination works the same way. The more you just take action without waiting, the more your brain will believe that you’re not a procrastinator. 

Funny how that works. Fake it till you make it...

Although there’s no faking needed. Just decide you’re going to do things differently.

Then do it it differently.

If you’d like help learning how to do this, you’re in luck. That’s what I do. Teach people how to stop procrastinating, and coach them on why they want to. I have a few consultations open for this week. ~Shaun

Managing The Many Thoughts Of ADHD

Day 22: The Model

I’ve introduced you to the tool called The Model. Today let’s pull together all of the pieces of it.

It’s a tool that you can use to observe and manage the many thoughts that come along with having an adhd brain.

Here’s how that would work. Set a timer and empty everything that you’re thinking onto a piece of paper. It can be topic specific brain dump or just a general one of #allthethoughts.

Once you have all of your thoughts there laid out on a piece of paper, you’ll want to choose a few that stand out to you and run a model on each one.

I’ve gone over each part of The Model in seperate blog posts that are linked below.

Step one is all about our Circumstances. What is happening around us? The facts of the matter. Circumstances are often out of our control.

Step two of The Model are the thoughts that we think about our circumstances. One word sentences in our minds. Our opinion of things. What we think about things.

Our thoughts then create feelings in our body. Sensations or vibrations that we feel because of our thoughts. Step three is all about feeling our feelings.

How we feel drives us into action or keeps us in inaction (doing nothing). Step four focuses on the things that we do or don’t do. Our Actions.

Ultimately our actions create our results. Step five of the model is to look at the results that we’re creating and decide if they’re what we want our results to be.

You can dive deeper into the 5 components of The Model by clicking on the links above.

To summarize, here’s how they all fit together.

Circumstances are all around us. They are factual and everyone in the world would agree on them.

Thoughts are what we choose to think about a circumstance.

Thoughts cause us to feel a certain way (a one word feeling).

Feelings drive us into action or inaction.

Our actions (or lack of action) creates the results that we have in our lives.

Our result in a model will always prove our thought in that same model to be true.

If you’d like to learn how to do this live and in person, be sure to sign up to receive my Free Guide Top 5 Ways to Calm Your Mind and Create Forward Motion.

I’ll be sending out an email invitation to a class I’m teaching online on exactly how to do this for yourself.

~Shaun