“With Time to Spare”
By Linda Walker

Yes, you heard that right! There’s a new book out for adults with ADHD, and it’s been getting rave reviews! Linda Anderson, a Master Certified ADHD Coach and the Past-President of ADDA (Attention Deficit Disorder Association) loved it! David Giwerc, President of ADDCA (ADD Coach Academy), an ADHDer himself, and a leader in the field of adults with ADHD and one of the founders of ADHD Awareness Week in the U.S. raves about it! Why, even Canadians like it!

Our own Rick Green, writer, comedian, actor and star of the hit documentary, “ADHD and Loving It!?” liked it so much, he’s enrolled in the The Maximum Productivity Makeover for Creative Geniuses Group Coaching program that the book is based on. Dr. Annick Vincent, one of the foremost recognized ADHD experts in Quebec, who appeared with me last week on the Montreal television talk show, “Les Kiwis et les Hommes” told me she couldn’t stop talking about it at last month’s CHADD (Children with Attention Deficit Disorders) conference (because, of course, children with ADHD have parents with ADHD!)

This new book, With Time to Spare: the Ultimate Guide to Peak Performance for Entrepreneurs, Adults with ADHD and other Creative Geniuses, is now available on Amazon.com.

Oh, did you notice something else? Did you notice the author’s name? That’s right! I wrote this! I sat down in January 2010 and began to write the book that had been waiting to be written. I’ve been working on it for over a year, and I packed it full of valuable, practical, difference-making advice for adults with ADHD taken right from the trenches of my own life with a husband and adult daughter with ADHD, and proven time after time in real life with my ADHD clients.

I was committed to writing a book that would both inspire and guide my readers, and after months of writing and countless edits, I had it tested by several readers with ADHD or entrepreneurial ADD. I was thrilled when the verdict came back with a resounding “YES!”

So I am proud to announce that With Time to Spare is now available in paperback at Amazon.com and in Kindle version at Amazon.com, Amazon France, Amazon UK, and even in Italy and in Spain. (Sorry Canada! We’re struggling to make it available in my home country).

To your Focus, Action, Success,

Linda Walker

You asked for it… finally, you’ve got it! I’m thrilled to announce I will be offering my ADHD Money Management course. The timing is perfect. You can take this course now and, instead of digging yourself out of a financial “Christmas hangover” in January, this year you can avoid the problem in the first place!

No More ADD Tax!!!

As you know, adults with ADHD struggle with many aspects of managing money. You impulsively make purchases you later realize were poor choices (don’t you hate “infomercials!”) You pay more parking and speeding tickets, late fees, interest charges and penalties – one of my clients calls it the “ADD Tax” – due to inattentiveness and forgetfulness. And chronic disorganization means you’re on a never-ending paper chase.

If you think a money management course will put you to sleep, let me assure you that ADHD Money Management 101 is not a snore-fest of investment advice or directions for creating the perfect budget. Let’s be honest… you haven’t done those things in the past, and you’re not going to start now. No, managing money with adult ADHD demands a completely different approach. Besides, if you’re going to invest, you’ll need to know what your financial situation is, and once you know, you’ll probably need to put some ADHD-friendly strategies for managing your money in place to build up a nest egg first.

What makes this program different? Well, first we’re going to help you take notice of your beliefs. Believe (Ha ha!) it or not, your beliefs about money are the thermostat that decides how much money you’ll make and how much money you’ll keep. If you want more, you’ve got to learn to turn that thermostat up! Then we’ll show you how your habits are keeping you from reaching your full financial potential and we’ll set you on the right track to putting in place the right systems and habits so that you can “manage” your money by setting it and forgetting it!

We haven’t offered course since 2007. Are your finances in good enough shape to wait until the next time we offer it? Sign up now and get your finances on track for a secure future. This 4-week course begins on Wednesday, November 23rd. To register right now, visit ADHD Money Management 101.

Sometimes, I feel like an ambulance driver; I seem to meet my clients for the first time in a crisis situation. Over the years, I’ve noticed, and recent scientific studies have confirmed my observations, that burnout occurs almost six times more often in adults with ADHD than in the general population. I can believe that, since many of my clients contact me because they’ve had a burnout in the past, they are on sick leave from a burnout or they feel they are on the verge of burning out. While it’s gratifying to be a “lifesaver,” (marriage saver, job saver or sanity saver, depending on the crisis!) I thought some preventive medicine might make a nice change!

Ever Wonder Why You Hear Sirens All the Time?
Considering how un-ADHD-friendly modern life can be, with the constant interruptions of cell phones, text messages, emails and less-than-monk-like cubicle farm neighbors, I’m not surprised most ADHD adults struggle to stay focused on one thing long enough to make any headway. A lack of proactive thinking in many organizations has people playing “fire fighter,” rushing from emergency to emergency, putting out fires that could have been prevented.

At the end of the day, despite working a full 8 hours (8 hours? Ha!), your To-Do list is longer than when you started and tasks you scheduled but never had a chance to complete because of the constant interruptions are now added to the pile of last-minute crises that will ensure this situation will repeat next week, next month and next year! What can you do but take work home or stay late trying to complete things at the last minute?

If It Happened Before, It’ll Probably Happen Again
If this is your reality, you are probably overwhelmed and dissatisfied with your work. If it continues like this for any length of time, statistically, you’re headed for a burnout! Many people throw up their hands and walk away, quitting, being fired or going on sick leave, but until they put preventive strategies in place, the typically situation repeats itself when they return to work!

Seven Burnout Prevention Strategies
These 7 strategies will improve your work satisfaction, reduce overwhelm and stress, prevent burnout and help you gain control of your life:

1. Take extreme self-care – exercise every day, get 7 to 8 hours of shut-eye; you’ll need plenty of sleep to stay energized and focused.
2. Strategically “schedule” your interruptions; protect your high-energy periods to ensure peak performance.
3. Schedule the right types of tasks at the right time of the day to ensure you optimize your time and stay energized.
4. Develop the habit of checking and answering emails during off-peak, less productive time.
5. Create systems to deal with repetitive but complicated activities that tend to cause crises.
6. Take a 20 to 30-minute rejuvenation break when it will do you the most good, when you are mentally and physically wiped. Soldiering on instead only makes it worse.
7. Schedule activities or appointments to force you to get out of the office at the end of the work day.

The strategies are simple, but like most simple things, they aren’t always easy to implement. Starting an exercise program is always easier if you have an incentive and you can use some of the same effective techniques to implement your anti-burnout strategies; partner with a buddy, join a class or hire a personal trainer. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach.

The Buddy System
It’s fun to go to the gym with a buddy, so you’re more likely to show up, but you know they’ll let you off easy so you don’t always get the maximum benefit from your investment.

A Group Coaching Program
Group coaching combined with training allows you to get all the benefit of the buddy system, except on a bigger scale, because you work with a small group of people who share similar challenges, develop friendships that last long after the class ends, and who encourage each other, but you also have an expert who guides you every step of the way, and pushes you to do just a little bit extra so you get the maximum benefit from your investment.

Work With a Personal Trainer
And just like at the gym, one-on-one time with a coach is expensive but effective. You schedule appointments at your convenience, work as hard and fast (or slow and easy) as you want, you get exactly the help you need when you need it and the results can be amazing.

Of course, in all cases, the results depend entirely on the investment (time, effort and money) you’re willing to make, but if you’re tired of being tired, sick of living on the precipice looking into the abyss of a total loss of control in your life, make changes now. A little prevention goes a long way.

The Maximum Productivity Makeover is a highly effective group coaching and training program in one. For more information on how it can work for you, click here.