8 Illuminating Insights Into ADHD: Making Sense of Your Brain

An epiphany is a sudden revelation — an “aha” moment — that often strikes after you’ve adopted a new perspective.My goal as an ADHD coach is to help people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) view their condition differently.

When they finally get to me, I know they’ve not yet experienced this “aha” moment because their stories are almost all the same: They’ve tried it all — to no avail — and they’re drowning in strategies for managing their life with ADHD.This is when I can step in to help them reach a crucial epiphany: They’ve been looking at the roots of their ADHD challenges — from procrastination and motivation to prioritization and productivity — all wrong.Here are the most important ADHD insights I’ve collected and shared with my clients over the years to help them separate their symptoms from themselves and reach their goals.Every time we think, we engage our executive functions — a set of cognitive processes that allow us to plan, organize, remember information, and initiate action on a goal.

For people with ADHD, thinking is effortful and difficult because these underlying executive functions are impaired. That’s why the ADHD brain’s reaction is to seek escape when thinking is too taxing, even if it’s directed toward a desired goal.[Get This Free Download: Secrets of the ADHD Brain]I spend a lot of time helping my clients acknowledge that this tendency is at the root of most ADHD-related challenges.

Managing ADHD is more about making thinking easier, which reduces escapism and facilitates goal-directed behavior.Just as thinking is effortful and difficult due to executive dysfunction, so too is self-regulation.