Global Creative

WSJ ran an article in early April 2010 on adults and ADHD.  It was informative and accurate but hardly useful for the typical WSJ reader.  The title, “Mind Games: Attention-Deficit Disorder Isn’t Just for Kids. Why Adults Are Now Being Diagnosed, Too”, implies that the diagnosis of adults is a recent phenomenon.  It is neither recent nor a phenomenon.  While I appreciate seeing educational articles about ADHD reach WSJ readers, the author Melinda Beck, had a unique opportunity to share the ADHD experience of professionals, executives and leaders in high stakes work environments.  It’s time for a new dialogue about the challenges and opportunities facing professionals struggling with ADHD.

Luckily we at Global Creative have unearthed the missing paragraphs that hopefully we will see in articles in the future.  So you are welcome to insert this anywhere in Ms. Beck’s article (psst! You too Melinda!)

The dynamic and intense work environment of the typical WSJ reader poses added challenges.  But with thoughtful planning and implementation, one can also make high impact gains. Two factors in particular can wreak havoc on a professional’s best laid intentions: transitions and overwhelm.

On the Outside: Transitions

Think about the number of demands, actions, requests a creative professional cycles thru each day.  Moving from one task to another an individual must pivot and change direction and their mode of work.  Shifting from strategic planning to rapid action completions to deep dives into complex projects requires flexibility, dexterity and a keen sense of timing.  These pivot points are temporal, organizational and spatial in nature.

Transitions are particularly challenging when one has an executive function system that shifts attention too quickly or locks on to a task for too long (hyper-focus).  Individuals with ADHD can expend huge sums of energy to activate for a task and then move on to a new task.  In addition, a transition is a process and for many Global Creatives processes can have chameleon-like properties, very difficult to discern from the general background.

On the Inside: Overwhelm

Where transitions fall into the category of a ‘necessary move’, overwhelm is a state of dire consequences.  Overwhelm is a phenomenon you don’t hear a lot about in general ADHD literature.  Yet overwhelm is a very real and challenging condition that will hobble the best laid plans.  It is unique for every individual but typically it occurs when one has too much on their plate and they are not adequately addressing basic ADHD management practices.  With too many inputs to field, overworked Global Creatives can reach a tipping point sending the pre-frontal cortex into shut down mode.  The victim then must resort to ‘latest and loudest’ tactics and be vulnerable to their cave man brain.  No learning. No insights.  Just basic emotional responses to the important inputs that make up a workday.  Pressure and stress are huge players in contributing to overwhelm too.

So  note the essential transitions in your workday and keep an eye on overwhelm.  Prioritizing projects, timely completions and communicating, collaborating and delegating with key individuals will go a long way to limit the damaging effects of overwhelm and bring a sense of success in the workday.  Reestablishing self-care practices such as exercise, sleep and eating well will help manage the stress which in turn helps to manage the ADHD symptoms.  Look for more tips on managing transitions and overwhelm in the near future.

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

Washington DC, Virginia and The World

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Covey’s Seven Habits Deciphered.

Habit 1 - Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Choice

In Habit 1, Covey espouses the importance of personal choice, distinguishing a proactive life full of responsibility and choice from a reactive life full of blame and struggle.  Certainly we all need to take responsibility for our lives but for the Global Creative with ADD, a posture of choice and pro-activity can be challenging to sustain.

I’d like to address two areas Covey suggests we need to move away from – being reactive and focusing on the “Circle of Concern”.

First a word about being reactive.

Global Creatives are not reactive out of choice but more out of necessity.  “Being Proactive” requires an ability to build and sustain structure to operate through – to make plans, map visions and goals, and execute consistently.  The primary ingredient for building structure is time. Like a master woodworker’s intimate knowledge of his wood medium, building structure requires intimate knowledge of the chararistics of time – how it moves, how it works and how it doesn’t work.  For innovative ADD individuals with their global (non-sequential) processing preferences, time (the definition of sequential) is like running water always slipping away.  So building and sustaining structure is extremely difficult for the non-practiced GC, especially when dealing with overwhelm.

Our creative approach to getting things done is to set up structures outside ourselves so all we have to do is respond or react to make things happen.  Where GC’s get in trouble is not always being proactive about the things we respond to. This is when a Global Creative can fall prey to the “latest and loudest”.  Worse yet, GC’s are allowing others to prioritize their daily action items.  How often do you look at your email first thing in the morning?  And yet you have plenty of important items to address.

Event Planner

A useful intervention is to develop short but effective proactive planning sessions mapping out structure points or events to react to.  A good friend of mine first signs up for a triathlon (the event) then begins to train.  The key is to stake the event far enough in advance and chip away at the preparation.  Likewise with work projects, staking events such as planning meetings with colleagues on a regular basis can create some necessary structure and accountability to get the task done (and you get credit for being the proactive one setting up the meetings!).

Proactive Posture

Remembering to remind the brain (R of REBEL) of a proactive posture can be helpful too.  GC’s can easily slip into a reactive posture on their heels playing defense and waiting for the next input to respond to.  This posture or stance can lull one into a false sense of general contentment.  Noticing your posture and shifting into a more proactive one can be encouraged by simple questions and our old friend the Fire Chief.

• What do I need?
• What may I be missing? (What do I not know?)
• What do I know?
• Who can I tap?
• What does a proactive stance look like here?

Next week we take a look at “Circle of Concern” stuff.  If you have time brush up on the Serenity Prayer.

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

Washington DC, Virginia and the World

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Many global creatives (innovators with ADHD tendencies) can really get stuck on timely execution.  ”I can’t seem to pull the trigger, Cam!” is something I often hear.

Many coaches and productivity gurus like Covey, not familiar with ADD, tend to exacerbate this situation by focusing on ‘just pulling the trigger’.  They speak of discipline, desire and necessary risk.  This is understandable when clients are dealing with just hesitancy or resistance.  ”Just Do It” is an effective strategy to move clients into action.  As an accountability and completion specialist, I often resort to this approach especially when clients get stuck in the “Why?” hole of excessive thinking.

Brain Perspective

When we hyper-focus on the act of pulling the trigger we can fail to notice the trigger itself.  In considering ADD, we have to appreciate the underlying neurobiology.  ADD makes us less aware of processes .  Moving into action or pulling the trigger is but one phase of a process (time is a process too).  How can you pull the trigger when the trigger has not been assembled!

So when you get stuck around pulling the trigger, pause and take a look at your trigger! (Expand the Mind from REBEL)

• Map out this action as part of a larger process.  When we get curious about something (even processes)we tend to find out answers .
• Let go of the “this will be boring” self-talk.
• Set aside 15 minutes to look at what goes into a reliable trigger.
• What resources have you not thought of yet?
• Better yet, look at this with someone who appreciates the value you add to your organization.  Brainstorming with others can be greatly beneficial.

In conclusion, use your global creative skill set to look beyond the trigger to pull the trigger and “Just Do It!”

Comments welcome or email me to maintain confidentiality

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

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A good friend who is also a global creative is a small business owner running a service company out of his house.  Ted is a one man operation so if he is not working he is generally not making money.  He is also an amazingly generous individual – almost to a fault.  If a friend makes a request, Ted will often drop what he is doing and help his friend in need.  To exacerbate the situation Ted owns a pick-up so people are always asking him to haul and drop off stuff.

You can see how these two identites compete for Ted’s attention with ‘generous friend’ often winning out over ’successful business owner’.  This is not an uncommon challenge for global creatives in general especially if they are master responders allowing others to dictate their daily intentions (more on the Responder here)

Covey and Allen refer to these as roles but I prefer identities.  Identities speak more to who you are (father, husband, professional, provider) than a role that you play.  I’ve been focusing on rediscovering and reinforcing identities with my clients recently.  CG’s have a tendency to not only forget the name of the game in the middle of a good hunt (or distraction) but also forget their best identities.

A number of factors can contribute to this.  A fallible memory and limited inhibition (impulsivity) certainly do not help.  Throw emotion  into the mix (would you rather help a buddy or bill a customer?) and you can see how we arrive here.

Best Identities also help to reinforce our level of confidence reminding us that indeed we are up to the task.  They also give us a better option than less-than-stellar identities that can step in when our guard is down (Shiny Object Chaser, Day Dreamer, Walk-by completer)

Steps to Reinforcing Identites

• Name your best identities with appropriate qualifier (successful business owner, for example)
• List attitudes and actions that support this identity (confidence, vision, cultivating new clients/work, billing customers)
• List what happens if you do not regularly step into this identity (stagnating business, loss in visibility)
• List what happens if you do regularly step into this identity (regular completions that contribute to building business)

Posting your best identities prominently to remind the brain (R of REBEL) is a good idea.

Some of mine

• Add Value Coach
• Successful Business Owner
• Knowledgable Trainer
• Generous Collaborator
• Loving Husband and Father
• Olympic Biker (well not really, but it gets me on the bike!)

These are identities I strive for.  I am not successful all the time but having these accessible gives me useful  focal points.

Enjoy!

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

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Often people come to coaching struggling with an overloaded ‘plate’ of mounting tasks and actions.  ”I just need an extra hour, Cam!” is often the lament.  In addition to letting the mundane pile up, Global Creatives love adding new projects, rarely turning down requests.  The inability to say “No!” is not a character trait (or flaw).  It is related to challenges around prioritizing tasks, projects and requests.  Global Creatives can really struggle here and will often just resort to urgent tactics or the “latest and loudest” approach.

Recognizing we have a glitchy prioritizer (we can make a case for just about any intention) doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prioritize.  The term ‘limit scope’ refers to this prioritizing process not only necessary for timely completions but also necessary for maintaining our sanity!

Recently I’ve been talking about picture frames with my clients.  Frames are a great metaphor for limiting scope, helping demarcate the area where one chooses to make a difference.   This last phrase is important because the struggling GC often has the mindset of “I can do it all!”  Once we let go of this impossible frame of mind then we are free to choose where we focus our attention.   When we actively limit scope we can trade in urgnecy as a motivator and develop tools such as choice and creativity (What makes a global creative a global creative!).  I’ll speak to how limiting scope ultimately leads to ‘mastery’ in a future blog entry.

So if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed then draw a frame around what is essential.  Distinguish the stuff inside the frame from stuff outside the frame.  Natural forces (and colleagues) will try to move items from the outside to the inside of the frame.  Notice this and practice the gentle “No thanks”.  Better yet, confirm your priorities with those who count.

One of my favorite expressions…

When you say No to one thing, you say Yes to another!

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

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I really feel lousy today.  Both my kids are sick which makes quality sleep nearly impossible.  On top of that, I’ve caught some version of their crud.  And yet today I will exercise.

I will exercise because I know myself well enough to know what I am like without exercise.  Today I teach my class and I make a point to exercise prior to the class.  After aerobic exercise, I just show up more present and add greater value to the training experience.

For years scientists have known the short term benefits of exercise-increased energy, attention and focus being among them.  It’s well known of the good brain chemistry that results from an exercise event.  For the Global Creative, exercise also provides a valuable structure in the work day.  When I ride my bike it frees me from the daily onslought of minutia so I can entertain bigger more important thoughts and ideas.

According to a recent New York Times Article scientists are seeing evidence of longer term benefits from aerobic exercise.  The aerobic part is key.

Here is an excerpt:

Why should exercise need to be aerobic to affect the brain? “It appears that various growth factors must be carried from the periphery of the body into the brain to start a molecular cascade there,” creating new neurons and brain connections, says Henriette van Praag, an investigator in the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging. For that to happen, “you need a fairly dramatic change in blood flow,” like the one that occurs when you run or cycle or swim… – Gretchen Reynolds, NY Times Magazine, 9/20/09

So get out there are build some extra brain cells!

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

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This is a review of each component of REBEL,  a process I use to help clients with ADHD  get things done.

Today’s blog looks at the second E of REBEL: Exposure to new experiences.

Let’s focus on three distinct areas.

Plan Differently

Execute Differently

Review Differently

By ‘differently’ I mean have a new experience.

Plan Differently

Global Creatives can approach planning in an All or Nothing manner.

They can spend ample time in planning phase not leaving enough time for execution.  These expert planners can struggle with initiating for task and ‘perfectionism’.  They often struggle with Inattentive Type ADHD and cobbling enough energy to activate for task.  They are the ‘vision without action’ folks.

GC’s can also skip the planning process altogether opting for a ‘latest and loudest’ approach to prioritizing, relying heavily on respond mode.  These GC’s often have an excess of energy struggling to tap the brakes in a timely fashion. They are the ‘action without vision’ folks.

For both groups practicing a brief  ’review and plan’ session can make a huge difference in there day.  Ten minutes to determine your top three actions for the day can be greatly benificial.

Execute Differently

Practice focusing on small, significant completions for brief portions of your day.

Two mindsets are handy here:

Practice Mindset

Assuming a practice mindset can be helpful in managing the constant evaluation provided by our friend the inner crtitic.  When we approach actions with a practice mindset we let go of outcomes and judgments.  Think of Tiger Woods on the practice range.  He is not thinking about what may happen – success or failure.  He is focused on being present and consistent.  All that is left for him is hitting the ball.  A mix of challenging actions with fun and rewarding actions is essential too.

Prototype Mindset

The prototype mindset is thinking about version 1.0’s as opposed to 6.0’s.  We have a tendecy to accessorize our tasks adding more actions that can weigh down a decent project grinding it to a halt.  You can always add accessories later.

Review Differently

Global Creatives tend to succeed in big ways and fail in big ways. When they fail,  GC’s can really focus on the failure (the fall off the horse).  So much so that they don’t focus on climbing back in the saddle.  This is related to challenges around effective transitioning.  Reviewing Differently is bringing in the Fire Chief (curiosity and questions) as you sit on the ground brushing of the dirt.  Get curious about getting back in the saddle (there are an infinite number of ways to do this!).  Making space for reflection without judgment (Mindfulness) can really be helpful here.

In conclusion, all of us gain rich learning and insight from our own experiences.  Expose yourself to doing things differently and you’ll be the greatest beneficiary.

Enjoy!

Cameron Gott PCC

ADHD Coach

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A very interesting scientific article that makes me ask some fundamental questions about multi-tasking…

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, online August 24, 2009.

…Researchers at Stanford University found that college students who made a habit of immersing themselves in various media at once were not very skilled at tests of memory, attention and, ironically, “task-switching.”…

To view the complete article follow the link below

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE57N4UO20090824

Multi-taskers that are not good at multi-tasking?

Hmmm…

Below is an excerpt to explain their findings…

It’s possible, according to Nass and his colleagues, that heavy multi- taskers tend to have a generally “exploratory” orientation: they simply like to gather lots of information, even if that means sacrificing their performance on the task at hand.

OK, so multi-taskers with a general ‘exploratory’ orientation.  Does this sound familiar?

Sounds like possible Global Creative activity to me.

Let’s get clear on the definition of multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking is not doing 2 things at once (contrary to popular belief).  For the brain, paying attention to 2 things (or more) simultaneously is not possible!

Multi-tasking is managing multiple tasks over a long period.  This is where ‘task switching’ is an effective tool (something we Global Creatives can struggle with).

So it is clear the students in the study are not multi-tasking experts.

OK so if they are not multi-tasking experts then what are they?

I would argue that they are multi-chillin’ experts.

Huh?

The key here is the level of engagement.  Engagement has some component of pro-active interaction.  The college students are reacting to multiple inputs and not engaging each at a deep level.  They are passivley being entertained by their media toys, hence the term chillin’.

This brings us to our interest in this article.  Completion of any task demands regular engagement at a deep level for sustained periods of time. Give up the notion that multi-tasking will deliver the project to the team monday morning.  It wont!

Multi-chillin’ is a very passive sport which would fall squarely in Covey’s quadrant IV (not important and not urgent).

So why are the students multi-chillin’?

I can’t fathom a guess but I do know that many of my GC clients are prone to multi-chill.

I see multi-chillin’ as a symptom of overwhelm.  When GC’s are skipping around from activity to activity giving their brains cheap dopamine squirts (little rewards) and not getting any real traction on the most important work.

How can we manage multi-chillin’?

1. develop an awareness for it
2. consider the source(s) of overwhelm
3. make a plan to address the source
4. pull the trigger!  Engage the action that will move the ball forward
5. get to a completion point.

Cameron Gott

ADD Coach

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