Translating ADHD

This week we are taking a pause to discuss our plans to make anti-racism a part of the culture of Translating ADHD. Both of your hosts believe that silence is complacency, and that we have a responsibility to use our platform to speak out against racism and to amplify the voices of our Black colleagues doing great work in the ADHD space. Here's the plan: Financial Support for Anti-Racism. We launc...

When we are at choice as adults with ADHD it can make difficult tasks easier and help us shift from a perspective of being free from pain to one of being free to do what matters. Today, we talk about how seeking relief from your level 1 symptoms works but can't sustain a long term management plan. Enter freedom and choice. Episode links + resources: Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About C...

Have you ever found yourself believing that if you could just start with a "clean slate", things would be different? Today, Shelly and Cam ask our listeners to examine clean slate thinking. We look at the circumstances that compel us to want to start over and the appeal of a clean slate as an answer to complexity or overwhelm. We also dig into our own experiences to discuss the past damaging behav...

  Because we struggle with things that seem "easy" for most people, those of us with ADHD tend to develop the belief over time that there is something inherently wrong with us. Taking it a step further, we often try to hide our differences by bending over backwards to blend in with the neurotypical majority. Today, Shelly and Cam ask our listeners to question the limiting belief that having ADHD m...

Because our brains are wired differently than the neurotypical majority, those of us with ADHD can often fall into the trap of believing that we are not doing things right. Today, Cam and Shelly use client examples to demonstrate how the "I'm not doing this right" mindset can show up in friendships and work relationships. We then discuss how these clients were able to shift their perspective from...

Today, Cam and Shelly come back to our conversation on resources to discuss how we can better utilize the supportive people in our lives . We discuss how we as adults with ADHD often resist asking for help because we view it as a sign of weakness. We then ask listeners to consider the perspective that together, we are stronger. Episode links + resources: Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. Ab...

Today, Cam and Shelly discuss a guiding philosophy that Shelly lives by in her own life and uses frequently with clients: Let It Be Easy. We discuss how we as adults with ADHD often get in our own way, over-complicating problems or approaching them from the wrong angle. We then give examples of how we and our clients have used this philosophy to find the "let it be easy" approach and how listeners...

As coaches, we use The Big Agenda to help our clients understand the bigger reasons they are working to create change and to link the work they are doing to positive outcomes, and to provide signposts that we are on the right path. In today's episode, we discuss how listeners can begin to consider what defines their own Big Agenda, and how we use our clients Big Agendas to provide signposts on the...

For those of us with ADHD, distractions are a struggle. When we are distracted by a compelling thought or idea, we are often not only taken off task but taken down a rabbit hole. In today's episode, Shelly and Cam discuss a model for managing distractions so that we can reach the completions that matter to us. Episode links + resources: Cam's Blog: The Six Cs Our Process: Understand, Own, Translat...

As we do the work of adjusting to this temporary new normal, we often feel like we are at our mental and emotional limits. This week, Cam and Shelly open up about our own experiences in this unique time, including what we are aware of and what we are working to adjust. Episode links + resources: Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Shelly For more Translating ADHD: Visit our webs...

As our world shrink and our access to other people is limited, there is a need for us and the people in quarantine with us to set healthy boundaries so that we don't sacrifice our own well being to meet the needs of those in our households. This week, Cam and Shelly discuss setting boundaries and managing expectations both in the context of quarantine and in general as adults with ADHD. Episode li...

This week, Shelly and Cam continue our discussion of ADHD experience in the context of the current coronavirus pandemic. Though the pace of life may be slower for many of us, our bandwidth is being stretched by uncertainty, powerful emotions, and the effort of trying to find our new normal. Using Cam's DAM model, we discuss how to manage the mental and emotional overload brought on by these uncert...

This week, Cam and Shelly discuss how different clients are experiencing the slow down in the pace of life as they practice social distancing amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As the number of urgent items that need our attention decreases, our clients are turning our attention to activating on items that are important but not urgent. Using several recent client examples we discuss how our...

As coaches, Cam and Shelly are working with clients on managing the many disruptions caused by the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The individual challenges are as unique as our clients, the individual impacts they are experiencing, and their individual ADHD experience. In today's episode, we bring that conversation to our listeners by discussing what we and our clients are working throug...

As adults with ADHD, we often do do not see the many resources available to us. However, when we are operating from a place of strength, we can start to identify and access those resources. In today's episode, Cam and Shelly discuss the importance of approaching resources from a place of strength, identify several areas in which to look for and identify resources, and give examples in a few crucia...

This week we continue the conversation around strengths by looking at Shelly's client Sally and her limiting belief that she had to "pass as neurotypical" to be successful. Cam and Shelly break down how Sally shifted from this limiting belief to a strengths based perspective. We also discuss why this shift is so important and why it is often the place we begin with our clients. Episode links + res...

This week we turn our attention to tapping into our strengths as adults with ADHD. Cam and Shelly break down why we are strengths based coaches and discuss how accessing and leveraging strengths is a powerful way to help our clients create the change they are seeking. We then cap the conversation by discussing how accessing and leveraging strengths helped one of Cam's clients turn a scenario at wo...

  As adults with ADHD we often have a black or white view of hyperfocus. On one hand we see it as a powerful elixir or superpower that allows us incredible focus and productivity. On the other, we know that hyperfocus can distract us from what is important by dragging us down Alice in Wonderland style rabbit holes. In today's episode, Shelly and Cam discuss how to create awareness around hyperfocu...

As adults with ADHD we often view time as the enemy, because many of the effects of ADHD look like poor time management. Today, Shelly discusses her experience working with neurotypical adults and adults with ADHD in the areas of time management and breaks the differences in experiences. Shelly and Cam then distinguish time management challenges from ADHD challenges. We also discuss how effects of...

Transitions are difficult for those of us with ADHD. Often we can become stuck in one of two gears: the neutral gear of "the planner" or the 5th gear of "the doer" with little access to the gears between the two. This inability to access other gears tends to keep us stuck in either a pre-action or reaction mode. In today's episode Cam and Shelly discuss how to identify which gear you tend to be st...

Those of us with ADHD experience time differently. To complicate matters, our perception of time can vary based on individual ADHD manifestation and a number of outside factors. Today Cam and Shelly discuss some of the ways in which they and their clients experience time differently. We also discuss how to begin developing awareness of your own experience of time as an adult with ADHD so that you...

As adults with ADHD we respond well to urgency, but not necessarily to importance. This often leads to us failing to act on the things that are important to us but will never be urgent; items such as career and business goals, self care goals, and self improvement goals. Today, Cam and Shelly discuss why these items are so difficult for us to get to action on as adults with ADHD, and how we can ob...

This week Cam and Shelly continue the conversation around ADHD and negative self talk by exploring how we have each shifted in this area over time. We each discuss a recent scenario in which ADHD caught us off guard, what the consequences were, and how we were able to manage both the situation at hand and our ADHD tendencies. We then reflect on what might have gone differently prior to having done...

  As adults with ADHD we can be our own harshest critics. In today's episode, Cam and Shelly explore negative self talk in the context of our cause and effect metaphor. Using examples from our own experiences, we discuss the causes behind our negative self talk, the impact negative self talk has, and how to start shifting the signal to a more balanced and realistic view of ourselves and our experi...

In this continuation of last week's episode, Cam and Shelly use examples from their own experiences as adults with ADHD to further illustrate both the difficulty and the importance of getting to cause with ADHD. We also offer alternatives to the metaphor we've been using to illustrate the relationship between cause and effect and the impact of ADHD, and we expand on our existing metaphor to set up...