The "wiring" of adult ADD makes it difficult to become and stay organized, concentrate when necessary, and manage time and projects effectively, among other things. You've probably tried to improve upon at least one of these areas many times in your life with little or no success.

Standard advice and strategies for things like organization and time management don't always work for adults with ADD. "Help" that comes from someone or something (like a book) that doesn't take your ADD into account can be worse than no help at all because, if you are unable to make the advice work for you, it feels like failure. It feels like there is something wrong with you. It's yet another setback after trying really hard to make the wrong advice work.

And even when you do find good help from an ADD coach, therapist, or resource, change and improvement don't always come as quickly as you'd like. It takes time to overcome years of working against your ADD. Learning new patterns and strategies is a process. Feeling like you're finally on track doesn't mean that you won't experience setbacks. You will. Everyone does. It doesn't mean that you've failed.

The real challenge is not learning the new, ADD-friendly patterns and strategies, because that can be done. The real challenge is moving beyond the inevitable setbacks.

Setbacks have a tendency to lower your self-esteem. And low self-esteem can rob you of the motivation you need to make improvements and stay on track.

The best way I know to overcome a setback--in any area--is to build success in another area. Here are some examples:

If you experience a setback in your organizing goals, then you might choose to work on maintaining an exercise routine.

If you experience a setback in time management, then you might choose to work on strengthening a friendship.

If you experience a setback in getting 7 or 8 solid hours of sleep each night, then you might choose to focus on making healthy meal choices.

It really doesn't matter which area you choose to build success in, as long as you choose something that you know you can make progress in. Success in any area will pump up your self-esteem. Then, when you feel good about your success and accomplishments again, you'll have the necessary energy and motivation to pick up where you left off when you experienced that setback.

Setbacks don't have to lead to failure. Setbacks can be temporary. You can overcome any ADD-related setback by building your self-esteem.

Copyright (c) 2008 Jennifer Koretsky