Until a few
years ago, the medical establishment believed
A.D.D. (the full name of the condition is
attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder or
A.D.H.D. and not all who have it exhibit the
hyperactivity symptoms so it is often referred to
as A.D.D.) was a pediatric disorder that kids grow
out of. The irony is that because it's hereditary,
many adults began to recognize its symptoms in
themselves only after it was diagnosed in one or
more of their children.
A.D.D. occurs in
3% to 5% of school-age children and about 4% of
adults. Up to 60 percent of children with A.D.D.
grow up to be adults who still have A.D.D. and
experts estimate that more than eight million
grown-ups in the United States have the disorder.
These numbers, presented by researchers from
Harvard and the World Health Organization at the
annual meeting of the American Psychiatric
Association in the Spring of 2004, mean that
attention-deficit disorder affects 4.4 percent of
the adult population, making it the
second-most-common psychological problem in adults
after depression. There is genetic evidence that if
your child has it, there is 40% chance that a
parent has it. If a parent has it, there's a 50%
chance that a child will have it.
As
many as 50 percent of A.D.D. affected people may
have another syndrome during their lifetime; most
commonly depression, anxiety disorder, learning
disabilities or bipolar disorder.
Only
15 percent of those eight million actually know
they have A.D.D.
but all are looking for a label for their lifelong
restlessness, spaciness, jumping from one subject
to the next, easily distracted from completing
tasks and meeting deadlines that adversely affect
their world of work. Some of these are "sleeper
A.D.D. people" who have gotten really good at using
their creativity and intelligence to cover the
disorder. However, when evaluated for A.D.D., they
see the cost of the incredible effort they have put
forth to get to this point in their life and the
influence of the disorder in the decisions they
have made.
Only
when they and/or the people they work with become
desperate, do people with adult A.D.D. seek
treatment and coaching help to better manage their
personal and professional lives.
Drugs can
mitigate the symptoms of A.D.D., however, they
rarely eliminate the complications of workplace
interactions. Working with a personal coach to
develop time management habits, learn
pressure-prompting techniques to meet deadlines,
and create a firm schedule to adhere to (and
partnering with a support person to keep the A.D.D.
affected person on task) helps to create the habits
necessary to stay on track. Coaches are not
therapists and concentrate on the what, how and
when---not the why.
You know A.D.D.
affected people who ping-pong from job to job; who
are good salespeople but never fill out expense
reports; who look like workaholics at their desks
until midnight but only because they don't really
start to concentrate until all of the day's
distractions are gone; who are creative geniuses
but forget to attend meetings and can't
prioritize.
A Roper poll of
adults who identified themselves as having A.D.H.D.
found that they held 5.4 jobs over the past 10
years, compared with 3.4 jobs for adults without
the disorder. The same poll found that only 52
percent of adults with A.D.D. are currently
employed, compared with 72 percent of unaffected
adults.
Wondering
whether you or someone you know has A.D.D.?
Here
is a list of symptoms:
--Fails to give
close attention to details or makes careless
mistakes.
--Has difficulty
sustaining attention to tasks.
--Does not seem
to listen when spoken to.
--Does not follow
through on instructions and fails to finish chores
or duties.
--Has difficulty
organizing tasks and activities.
--Avoids,
dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that
require sustained mental effort.
--Loses things
necessary for tasks and activities.
--Is easily
distracted by extraneous stimuli.
--Is often
forgetful in daily activities.
Ask
and answer these six questions:
1. How often do
you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a
project?
2. How often do
you have difficulty getting things in order when
you have to do a task that requires
organization?
3. When you have
a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do
you avoid or delay getting started?
4. How often do
you fidget or squirm with your hands or feet when
you have to sit down for a long time?
5. How often do
you have problems remembering appointments or
obligations?
6. How often do
you feel overly active and compelled to do things,
like you were driven by a motor?
A
genuine case of A.D.D. is no laughing matter and
can do serious damage to personal lives and
careers. For help, get a clinical diagnosis and
work with a personal coach to help you function
socially and at work.
The use of
prescription drugs for A.D.D. is rising with the
increasing popularity of brand-name versions that
last all day, limiting ups and downs of symptoms.
In a study released in September 2005 by Medco
Health Solutions Inc. of Franklin Lakes, N.J., the
use of drugs for A.D.D. rose 113% among women 20 to
44 years old and 104% among women 45 to 64, both
far more than among men. "We're seeing about 1% of
adults being treated," but four times as many are
estimated to have A.D.D., said Dr. Robert Epstein,
Medco's chief medical officer.
Find a guide,
a
coach,
a mentor
to help you along this path to become the
effectiveperson you know you can be.
For
these and other self-help books on A.D.D.,click
here.
Sources:
"Office
Messes" by Lisa Belkin, The New York Times
Magazine, July 18, 2004 and "ADHD Drug Use Among
Adults Doubles in 4 Years", The Wall Street
Journal, September 15,
2005.
Transformation
is the natural outcome when you bring
awareness to your
life.
Awareness is a nonjudgmental seeing. It is an
objective, non critical witnessing of the nature
of any particular circumstance or situation.
When we become
aware of something, it is a call to action to
change or fix what is discovered. Sometimes,
awareness itself is enough to facilitate
resolution without doing anything about what is
seen. The problem fixes you rather than you
fixing the problem.
Coaching
yourself to look for
pitfalls
that stand in the way of where you want to go
can help you become aware of and thus avoid
unintended consequences.
Only you
know what's important in achieving your
vision of success. However, we all seek
shared outcomes to provide a foundation for
where we want to be. Here is one client's
definition of the foundation for his
success:
"Have
you ever watched, listened, and felt someone
tuning a guitar or other string instrument?
That is what it is like to have the good
fortune of connecting with John Agno. He is a
living tuning fork and you're that string
instrument. Today, I have greater self
awareness, am more in step with my calling,
and better able to appreciate the journey,
including the valleys, than ever before.
Thanks, John for helping me get attuned with
my life
signature."
You, too,
can drastically increase your chances of
succeeding in business and life when you
learn
from a coach or
mentor
– someone who once stood in your place
and overcame all obstacles to earn success
and happiness.
The common
thread throughout history has been that you
learn mastery performance from the master.
Whatever quality or skill you want to
develop, you "get it" by hanging out with
people who have it.
If you are really
committed to what you want to do, let's have a
conversation about getting there from here. If your
company does not provide executive coaching,
consider contracting with an executive coach
yourself. We would be pleased to provide you a
quotation based upon an understanding of what you
seek in a coaching relationship.
Call
now 734.426.2000 (US Eastern Time Zone) or
email
me to
arrange for a free telephone consultation to
discuss where you are heading. To learn more
about John G. Agno, certified executive and
business coach, click
here.
For
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