Steve Gundy Coaching - Blog

To Be Left Handed is to be Right Minded

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:48:23 -0500

"To be left handed is to be right minded."
Richard Land, President, Ethics & Religous Liberty Commission

About 15% of the population is left handed. Although most items in the world are set up for right handers, left handers have distinct advantages. They are more athletically inclined, have more spatial awareness, & think quicker. A study at Lawrence University in New York said "true" left handers who favor their left side for physical activities have two times the problem-solving skills & a higher IQ than right handers.

Remember that living life with ADD/ADHD is about how you're thinking and what you're doing differently without even realizing it. Just like the left hander you have distinct advantages that are waiting to reveal themselves to you. Understand that when you're trying to solve an attention problem you're likely paying attention to the problem in your right hand with the answer lying in the palm of your left hand.

The Best Show in Town!

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:38:29 -0500

Date night, no kids, and an open road to the local cinema to see the next blockbuster! We got our tickets. Ready, get set, and..."Honey could you wait just a moment while I freshen up in the bathroom? Oh you gotta be kidding me sweatheart the movie's gonna start! I know honey, just give me a minute and I'll be right out."

Anyone familiar with me knows patience is not my virtue. In fact, waiting for anything can be excruciating. During such times I have to find creative ways to focus my attention on something interesting, so my moods don't overtake me.

I was standing near the hallway when someone spotted my lanyard and keys. They must have thought I was a cinema employee because a patron came to me handing me her ticket and asking me to direct her to the movie she came to see. My first thought was, "I don't work here." But then I realized how much fun I was suddenly having. I obliged her. "Right this way mam." About 15 people later my wife comes out of the bathroom to find me working my second job. She says, "Are you having fun yet?" It made for a good laugh that otherwise could have turned into a meaningless argument. Sometimes the creative ADD mind can be the best show in town.

ADD/ADHD: Your Life, Your Work, Your Way!

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:53:11 -0500

There are countless assessments, personality tests, and screening tools all over the Internet that give you a lot of information about your general interests, strengths, weaknesses, tendancies and on and on and on... But does it really get to the heart of who you truly are? Does it bring you to a genuine understanding of how you instinctively work?

Those assessments, personality tests, and screening tools and strategies "experts" offer have been developed and recommended based on how you and everyone else similar to you are the same. The assessment, test, tool or strategy works if you fit who the expert, generally speaking, has in mind.

Do you find yourself sincerely trying strategy after strategy and falling short of the result you wanted? If you're not hitting the mark you had in mind, please my friend, don't beat yourself up for that. When strategies are developed and marketed to the public it's designed to work for approximately 20% of the population it's meant to serve, leaving 80% behind to wonder what's wrong with themselves. I can't begin to tell you how many different oranizational systems and strategies I bought and tried only to conclude I was a loser because it should have worked. I mean, it was designed for me. Right? Not necessarily!

Understanding your preferred learning style and the secondary styles of learning that influence that preferred style implies that you are different and unique. How you use that style to your advantage is the key. For instance, an individual who prefers to talk out loud to organize his thoughts (i.e. Verbal Processor) may have a secondary aural learning style. This individual may incorporate music as a way to verbally process information. The next verbal processor may find one or many different people to verbally process information with because they have a secondary social learning style. Do you know what your personal learning style combination is?

After you hone in on your specific style, now is the time to think about what tool you will use. Writing, recorders, files, journals, singing, drawing, etc. are all tools that can be effective, but only if they are a good match for your specific learning style combination. The right tool in the right context for your learning style will help your get the result you're looking for when you work. It's interesting how experts first direct you to the tool without asking you to consider how you're different. Remember, it's your life, your work, your way. It doesn't rest in the hands of a self proclaimed, expert tool man or marketer. If you want someone who is genuinely interested in you and how you insticntivley work, then download the "ADD Processing Style" (Upper right hand corner of this page) and call me for a FREE SESSION. Together, we'll discuss what's been revealed to you and how to use that to your advantage.

Best Wishes Friends,

Steve Gundy, MSW, ACG
Attention Coach

Mickey Makes Me Laugh!

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:07:45 -0500

Realize that no one really truly knows what they're doing. Take it easy on yourself. The next time you feel less than the know-it-all chattering in front of you, strip him down to his underwear, listen to his words sound like Mickey Mouse, and then respond in your mind saying, "You don't know what you're talking about... do ya?" I guarantee after you hear Mickey speak you will laugh.

"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse." - Walt Disney

ADD/ADHD & the Co-Pilot Within

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:14:53 -0500

ADD and life can sometmes be a paradox. You're flying a plane one minute executing barrel roles and loop to loops. Then, suddenly, you find yourself scattered & out of control trying to read your flight instruments while steering franticly to stay on course. Coaching enables you to touch that co-pilot inside that guides you to a safe landing. Think about that for a second. Coaching touches the best part of who you are and doing amazing things when the real you shows up, regardless of what the ADD may look like. Safe landings to you my friends!

ADHD Perfection: Disrupting Judgmental Thinking

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:16:38 -0500

Nothing is perfect and there is no perfect plan. We all know that. But how often do we find ourselves falling into the belief that just short of perfection is failure? Is that true for you? What's underneath that kind of black & white thinking? I can personally relate it to prejudging a result that, in reality, isn't even there. Yet, in my mind, it has already happned. That's fear and it's like a train ride to nowhere, hoping for a stop that never happens. That kind of fear is the greatest source of procrastination I'm learning, even today, to overcome.

When you realize you are riding the train of perfection then derail the train. This means disrupt the thinking pattern that says, "I can't...until it is perfect." and judges what you will accomplish. A thinking pattern disrupt can look a lot of different ways. Here's a few to get your creativity flowing for something that is unique and works for you:

1. Write the judgement down on paper, then wad it up and throw it away. Do it until your trash can if full.

2. Call yourself and dump it into your voicemail. Leave it there, listen to it later, then erase it after you have rephrased it with an alternate perspective or something more positive.

3. Ask yourself three questions and give yourself an honest answer: What's the best thing that could happen? What's the worst thing that could happen? What's the realistic thing that will happen? The answer to the 3rd question will help you gain a more realistic perspective on you and your situation.

4. Come up with as many alternate results as you can to the negative result you are attached to. Ask trusted friends for an alternate perspective on this. Record them saying this on a digital recorder and play them back over and over and wait and listen for the result that speaks truth to your situation.

The fear of failure is really about making a perfect plan only to realize you fall short when you don't get perfect results. The truth is when the result you have in mind doesn't turn out exactly the way you wanted, the result is not a failure. It's a result that was meant to be revised. If we start looking at what we want for results in terms of being an evolutionary process that involves revisions, then we set ourselves up for taking action and moving towards the vision we hold near and dear to our hearts rather than riding the train of perfection to nowhere. On the other side of those revisions is a beautiful diamond, but remember that even once a lump of coal has formed into a diamond, the diamond still has flaws. The point is the lump of coal stuck to it's job, allowing the process to continue.

Your Average is Their Excellence!

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 21:38:16 -0500

George Elliot: "The important work of moving the world forward doesn't wait to be done by perfect men." Many times I have hesitated because it wasn't good enough or not ready and then I remembered that my average is someone's excellence. What are you hesitant to do, finish or put the final touches on? Your audience is longing to hear from you!

ADD Intensity: Shift Your Attention into Overdrive!

Fri, 28 May 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Kick your ADD intensity into overdrive! Like, I just got done grilling 15 chicken breasts and 8 pork chops old school style. Grilling, cutting, & chopping engaged my focus & physical energy, so I only add sides to meals lickity split! A weakness is nothing more than a strength in its wrong context. Where does your energy thrive? How can it create productivity for you this week and pay dividends with your time?

What's Obvious About the Top 10 List of Obvious Solutions?

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:48:56 -0500

This is a great radio segment that articulates my coaching philosophy and approach to working with clients. Jeff Copper, Attention Coach, is a trusted colleague and friend of mine. The application: When the solution that should work isn't working, then pay attention to how you're different, so the solution meant for you is revealed.

Call Steve at 574-855-1800 to set up a FREE 30-minute coaching session and begin the process of transforming your differences into your solutions!

What's the Path to Focused Prayer when you're Under Extreme Pressure?

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:01:58 -0500

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling frantic and desperate. "God, are you there?" I don't know what to do. My mind is caving in. I've tried everything I know to do and it isn't working. Help me!"

Does it feel that way? Are you doing everything you can only to find yourself at the end of what you know to do? This experience is especially true for those with attention challenges. When pressure is mounting, work, marriage or financial trouble can feel excruciating. We're desperate under the weight of it all. Simply put, extreme pressure brings us to our knees!

What does it look like to experience God's presence? Pause with me and ponder for a moment not the question itself, but the process the question suggests. Who we are as a reflection of who God is creates the focus we need when we communicate with Him. This is crucial if we are going to truly experience God's presence amidst the extreme pressure our trouble inflicts.

Many people focus their attention on what they believe the act of prayer should be. I was taught growing up that clasping my hands with my head bowed and eyes closed was the accepted method of prayer. Unfortunately, as an adult with ADD, that method didn't create focus. It created a power nap! Needless to say, that was not my intention and the method of prayer I was using was a distraction.

My path to focused prayer was revealed to me when I pondered on a night I was experiencing the tremendous weight of a circumstance I could not bear. In my anguish, I instinctively lied on the floor and started speaking my inner dialogue. The more I spoke out loud, the more I felt God was listening. Now, with intention, I physically lower my body and speak out loud as a way to create the focus I need, so that I can truly experience God's presence.

The process of entering God's presence is the path to focused prayer. It's based on how you do it individually. The next time prayer is urgent pay attention to what's happening when you pray? Where are you? What do you hear? What are you feeling? Where in your body are you feeling it? If we shift our attention to the process, we will create the focus that draws us into His presence. Knowing our unique path to focused prayer relieves the pressure and enables us to" ...approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

The Creator can reveal how you were meant to connect with Him if you pay close attention to how He designed you. Want to accelerate that process? Call us today at 574-855-1800 for a FREE session.