My Last Post….. And That’s The Way It Is

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

In September 2005 I started this blog and over time, I wouldn’t have dreamed it would become as read and visited as it has. Originally, this was simply a cathartic writing experience, learning about myself along the way. Before long, it turned into an online resource and Pills Don’t Teach Skills was experiencing 100,000 visitors a month. It spawned a book of the same title and I’ve connected with people all over the world. Most importantly and due to no strategic plan or vision of grandeur on my behalf…..I ended up helping a lot of people. That has been the most rewarding experience of this blog.

In life we must choose our battles, which for most people boils down to time. In my life, I’m fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to learn and grow a lot over the past years and I need to focus on other challenges now. With a career, supportive friends and wonderful family…..I’m a lucky man and life has simply reached a point where I’m too busy to maintain this blog any further. To everyone who I have crossed paths with over the past 7 years here, it has been a pleasure meeting, speaking and connecting with you. I will continue to leave this site up on the Internet over the long-term, I feel there are some great lessons and resources that can bring value to many. ADD/ADHD can be overcome and managed. Have the courage to challenge yourself and succeed, whether you have ADD/ADHD or not.

With that, I bid you adieu. I’ll borrow some words from the legendary news broadcaster Walter Cronkite that he signed off with every night and at the end of his last broadcast with, “And that’s the way it is.”

Thank you to:
My kids Jackson & Valerie for inspiring me every day
Pete Quily, ADHD Coach Web
Dr. Gabor Maté Web
Dr. Holly Prochnau, Ph.D.

 

 

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ADHD Survey – Give A Little Bit

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

From guest bloggers, to doctors, to different people all over the world……I’ve had some great opportunities to connect with a lot of different people through my blog. I recently was contacted by Vincent Cram, a fifth year psychology student studying at the University of New England Australia. Vincent is asking for some help with a study he is conducting on ADHD. It’s an online survey and will take about 20 minutes of your time. As Supertramp sang in in their 70′s hit song, ““. Your support and participation would be appreciated and who knows, it may contribute to the great cause with ADHD. Click here for the online survey

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ADD/ADHD – Your Schedule, Your Life!

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

I stumbled upon a three year old blog post on ADDitudemag.com called Take Control of Your Schedule! Take Control of Your Life! by Marla Cilley today. Just goes to show you that a good post with helpful content will stand the test of time. It has a lot of Shares, Likes and email forwards. With summer just about here, I thought this article offered some good tips on better managing schedules.

Mornings, summer and school schedules have come a long way since the 1950′s, which inspired the picture I added to this post. Change is good!

“Two simple routines to help you and your family adjust to new schedules – at the start of summer or back-to-school time. This is the time of year when parents start thinking about helping their children readjust to schedules.  The brilliance lies in having the mundane aspects of life taken care of, so you can relax and have some fun. Isn’t that what we all want? Too much of the time, we are beating ourselves up because we overslept and the kids are late to school again. Learn to establish the daily routines that will enable us to enjoy life…and leave the guilt behind.

Before-Bed Routine. This will help cut down on morning panic.
1. Lay out your clothes for tomorrow.
Don’t try to decide what to wear in the morning, while everyone is rushing about. As you lay out your clothes, let your children see you do it. Set a timer and turn it into a game.
2. Gather everything that you’ll need to walk out the door in the morning.
Set up a “launch pad” by your front door. Encourage family members to use it for backpacks, projects, briefcases, and so on. If you set the example, your children will begin to use the pad too.
3. Go to bed in time to get enough sleep.
Admit it, you are trying to function on too little sleep. This has to stop! Establish a bedtime for everyone in the house, including yourself. When you get the rest you need, you set an example for your children – and give them the reward of a parent who is not grouchy.

Morning Routine. You’ll love the peace that this brings to your morning.
1. Get up 15 minutes before the rest of the family.
As the director of the morning routine, you have to be ready. Your clothes are already laid out. Hop in the shower, fix your hair, put on your makeup, and get dressed, down to the shoes. You are going to love feeling this good. The extra sleep will help, I promise.
2. Have the kids get dressed immediately, too.
The longer their pajamas stay on, the harder it is to pry them off. Don’t worry about getting breakfast on the school clothes. That’s what napkins are for. No whining allowed.
3. Announce the time that everyone has to be in the car.
Leave the house 15 minutes earlier than normal. Factor in a grace period for traffic jams, flat tires, whatever. Being early to school is not a bad thing. It will help your child start his day on a calm note. Starting early also keeps you from rushing, which is dangerous, especially when you’re driving.

Routine and structure are not the straitjackets you might think they are. In fact, they free us up to have fun and keep chaos away from us and our children.”

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Benjamin Franklin, $100 and ADD

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

I came across a good read on Linkedin called that was linked to Business Insider, that was written by Thea Easterby is a freelance writer . Now that I’ve gotten all the proper accreditation and linking done to satisfy everyone legally and emotionally……I thought the article had some really great information in it, specifically on a few points that tie directly into ADD/ADHD like Don’t Procrastinate, Know Yourself and Be Prepared. Procrastination is one of many challenges ADD’ers could face. Knowing yourself and being prepared all tie into understanding what our strengths and weaknesses are and how we need to organize ourselves.

Perhaps Benjamin Franklin had a firm grasp on ADD a couple centuries ago? Likely not, he died on April 17, 1790, however based on the fact that we are discussing some of his points here today more that 222 years later…..I think he had some pretty good things to say. You’ll also see Ben’s image on the new US $100 bills. What a guy! Thea Easterby’s article focused on 14 action-inducing lessons from Benjamin Franklin, including:

Less Talk, More Action
Don’t Procrastinate
Be Prepared
Don’t Fight Change
Get Moving
Avoid Busywork
Give Yourself Permission to Make Mistakes
Act Quickly on Opportunities
Continue to Grow
Keep Going
Know Yourself
Don’t Self-Sabotage
Don’t Give Up
Wise Up

Mr. Franklin was way ahead of his time.

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ADD Organization With Miss Organized

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

As I’ve posted many times, organization is one of the key elements of managing ADD/ADHD. That clutter and chaos can tip the scales and create stress, hinder people’s focus and take you completely off your game is a big problem for many. Personally, I find desk clutter a real burden that impacts my ability to focus and be productive when I’m working…..so my desk is spotless, usually.

If you have ADD/ADHD and you need some help organizing yourself, you might want to check out Miss Organized, which is owned and operated by . Back in 2002, I say that like it was the golden era of yester-year, Tracy decided to open a business so people could benefit from having a passionate and professional home to assist with paper clutter, closet organization and getting rid of clutter in every room. Today, her venture has grown into some great products and services and speaking engagements.

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Berries On The Brain

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

We’ve all heard about how healthy fruit is and that we should eat it daily as part of a proper nutrition program. For me, I start most of my days with a fruit filled smoothy from my blender, including blueberries. While having my smoothy this morning, I was delighted to see an article in the Vancouver sun titled Eating more berries helps boost your brain power

For many people with ADD, the discovery of great nutrition with foods like berries have been huge steps forward in learning to manage and over come this challenge. From the Vancouver Province article today; “Women who eat plenty of blueberries and strawberries experience slower mental decline with age than women who consume fewer of the flavonoid-rich fruits, a U.S. study said Thursday. Based on a survey of more than 16,000 women who filled out regular questionnaires on their health habits from 1976 through 2001, the findings showed that those who ate the most berries delayed cognitive decline by up to 21/2 years. I would advise all my patients, at any age, to eat more berries. Berries are an easy, nutritious and delicious way to preserve brain function. Flavonoids are antioxidants that are found in berries, apples, citrus fruits, tea, red wine and onions, and previous research has shown they may reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The current study demonstrates that women who consumed the most flavonoids, especially berries, had a slower cognitive decline over time than women with lower intakes. Increasing our intakes of fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to live a healthy life.“

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How The Brain Ages & ADD

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

With ADD and our brains, time and how we take care of ourselves can impact how a brain ages. I thought this image was very interesting, the original can be viewed at termlifeinsurance.org

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Housework Doesn’t Have To Suck!

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

Yup, a lot of ADD’ers procrastinate and hate doing things like housework. The laundry accumulates, dishes on the counter and other tasks can pile up and get frustrating. For me, I’ve found ways to organize myself through Outlook and scheduling everything. I’ve ended up in a place where I am so organized and productive, people are shocked to learn I actually have ADD.

I recently came across a great App that can be used to help people stay on track, organized and focused called HomeRoutines. This App is designed for users of iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. It allows you to describe and follow daily and weekly routines. Each time you complete a task, you give yourself a gold star.  It allows you to give yourself a daily focus or goals, plan your most important tasks for today or this week, review how much you got done at the end of the day and manage and schedule detailed cleaning tasks in the rotating “Focus Zones”. They have adapted the popular idea of dividing your home into five, six or seven “chunks” or focus zones, on an (optional) rotating schedule. If you need some help keeping yourself on track around the house, I’d recommend having a closer look at this app. You’ve gotta love technology!

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40 Work Hours a Week is Useless

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

Oh ya, a 40 hour work week boxed into a cubicle…..shoot me now please! Like many ADD’ers, I can’t imagine the thought of sitting at a desk in the corporate cubicle all day. I need to be interacting with people and mixing my work day up to stay fresh, focused and enjoy myself. If you are going to put in your 40 hour work week, you better be enjoying yourself. If not, you may be in a toxic job.

I read a great online article recently called Why Working More Than 40 Hours a Week is Useless by  Jessica Stillman which dives into the premise that consistently working more than 40 hours a week is simply unproductive, in fact it shows this has been the case for years. Jessica notes in her article that “For many in the entrepreneurship game, long hours are a badge of honor. Starting a business is tough, so all those late nights show how determined, hard working and serious about making your business work you are, right? Wrong. According to a handful of studies, consistently clocking over 40 hours a week just makes you unproductive (and very, very tired).”

For any ADD’er, they can confirm that a 40 hour work week will suck the life out of them…….but that would be based on not working a smart 40 hour work week. Taking breaks for coffee, fresh air or lunch, pushing away from your desk, exercising and working hours that make sense for you and your life are the ideal situation, but not always reality. We all have to work, some jobs will allow a flexible approach to hours.

We all know finding the right work situation or environment is a challenge, I’ve been there too. It is however a key element in establishing the right work-life balance, which enables you to be the person you need to be at work and at home in your private life. I don’t recall hearing about anyone who died recently that had a eulogy praising the 50 hour work weeks they put in while missing out on life and not being  a part of their kids growing up. What are your thoughts?

 

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation For ADD?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Jeff Hamilton

OK, don’t judge me……but I was watching this week and saw a very cool medical treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). No, I don’t sit around the house watching the day time soaps and entertainment shows. My Grandmother keeps telling me to watch Dr. Oz, so I recorded a show and TMS just happened to be one of the topics.

TMS is a new and not widely accepted medical brain procedure, it’s a non-invasive method to cause depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain. What in the world does that mean to us common folk? Basically, through magnetic stimulation is sends weak electric currents using a rapidly changing magnetic field. It can cause activity in specific or general parts of the brain with minimal discomfort, allowing the functioning and interconnections of the brain to be studied.

It has been tested as a treatment tool for various neurological and psychiatric disorders including migraines, strokes, Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, tinnitus, depression and auditory hallucinations. Yet almost nobody has heard about it. I’m sure there could be an application for ADD/ADHD too.

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