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 It is about time that books for Adults with ADHD start becoming popular and not just popular, but relatively main stream. It’s estimated that 9 million people in the U.S. have ADHD in one form or another. That’s just what is estimated and the reality could be that several people you know personally have ADHD; it is probably more common than we realize. The fact is, and Nancy’s book will prove it, is that real life skills (not the medications) utilized to combat the symptoms of ADHD work for just about anyone whether they have ADHD or not, actually, skills for ADHD can make people’s lives without ADHD even better, more efficient. That’s what I believe.
In today’s world the term ADHD stands for a neurobiological disorder called Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Personally, I don’t think ADHD is anything new and I do believe it has always been a part of our human nature. It’s just that in today’s world there is a heck of a lot more organizational skills needed than, say, a hundred and fifty years ago and before. When City’s started forming there were people who naturally gravitated towards them and those people tended to do well there, but there were just as many people who stayed out in the wilderness, those who felt better and more themselves in the wilderness. In today’s world there isn’t much of a choice of staying out in the wilderness and away from civilization as we know it and therefore we all must learn to be the same and if we are not the same, well, then we have a problem and it must be corrected one way or another.
 Nancy Ratey Thankfully, we have a new book “The Disorganized Mind” by Nancy Ratey, which helps those of us with ADHD join city folk in learning their organizational skills in ways that work for us! Nancy Ratey is internationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities on personal and professional coaching for adults with and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). She holds a Master’s Degree from Harvard University specializing in administration, planning and social policy. Let’s be clear that Nancy Ratey also has ADD with a very serious case of Dyslexia! I don’t have to go out on a limb and say that Nancy knows what she is talking about or that she practices what she preaches.
Nancy has written her book from the ADDer perspective and explains to us in a very clear and straight forward manner what skills she has needed to utilize and how. She has gone so far as to even give many of these skills remarkable names which will keep you interested. I believe Nancy’s very real skills she shares with us for Self-Coaching will help a lot of us not only at home and our personal lives, but mostly in working environments, such as at your job, be it self-employed or working for someone else.
Needless to say, I highly recommend “The Disorganized Mind” for anyone with ADHD and should also be on the reading list of parents of ADHD children. Parents are coaches too and even if your child does not have ADHD Nancy’s coaching skills can be useful to you too.
What is most important to me, after talking with Nancy, is discovering that she is a person who sincerly cares about others and wants to help her fellow ADDers in any way she can and her book is part of her way. She has dedicated much of her life to helping others and you know when information comes from a person like that the value is beyond the scope any review can provide. Do yourself a personal favor and find out for yourself, you will be the main benefactor. Indeed!
**Ms. Ratey often collaborates with her husband, Dr. John Ratey, M.D., a world-renowned researcher and neuro-psychiatrist, and the acclaimed author of A User’s Guide to the Brain and the recently released Spark, as well as co-author of the national best seller Driven to Distraction. He specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Nancy and John keep abreast of the latest research and techniques for solving ADHD-related problems from both a medical and coaching point of view.**
Nancy’s book is available: HERE
Learn more about Nancy: HERE
~Bryan
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I agree that Nancy Ratey has some great strategies in this book for people with ADHD or tendencies in that direction (easily distracted, difficulty organizing or staying organized).
It seems to me that the very tendencies that would make one interested in this book might make it difficult to follow-through with her strategies without some additional help. Training the brain is key, the question is how feasible it is to do this by oneself.
As a coach, I may be biased, but I’d suggest that if the ideas in the book make sense but are difficult to put into practice, you consider getting a coach who can help you to:
- be and remain motivated
- measure progress
- explore what is working and not working
- keep oneself accountable to the change(s) one wants to make
If you have the ability to follow through on the book by yourself, fantastic. If not, recognize how difficult it can be to do something like this by oneself. I think that’s why so many self-help books, however good they are, often end up on one’s bookshelf (or under a pile of books), despite the best intentions of the author and the reader.
I’m available for this sort of coaching, and there are many other coaches out there who can help, as well. Thanks, Bryan, for your article about this book.
Reply to Jonathan SibleyThanks for the comment Jonathan!
Well, yeah, you do have a point. However, the reality is that not everyone can afford a coach and not everyone wants to have to rely on a coach. With that said, I do support coaches.
The skills that Nancy presents within her book are practical and most are easy to use. The skills are options, some you use and some you don’t. Not all self help books are created equal; however, the options and advice that are presented are practical and will save many ADDers a lot of time with trial and error through their own discoveries. It is true, we probably won’t use them all and many will be forgotten, but if only a few are remembered and used, well, that will make a major difference in the quality of life for many adults with ADHD. This book I think is also very, very useful for parents and teachers, if they can instill some of these skills early on, which could make all the difference in the world to the future of many children with ADHD.
I support personal therapy above every other option available and I believe a coach can be a major advantage, but there are those who would like to give it a shot on their own too and Nancy’s book offers valuable advice and practical skills which can enable someone to make it on their own if necessary. There may be some who cannot use any of the skills presented, for their own reasons, but they won’t know until they try and nothing is worth anything without trying first. It’s a step in the right direction – hey, we might have ADD ADHD, but we are also capable adults who must survive and such skills can be learned.
~Bryan
Reply to BryanBryan, I agree completely. The last thing I want to do is discourage someone who can implement some of these strategies and skills on their own.
What I want to suggest is that if someone finds it difficult to put the strategies into place on their own, that they realize that their ADD / ADHD might be contributing to that and that it can be somewhat of a vicious circle (for some). So, if someone can afford it, instead of beating themselves up about not being able to put Nancy’s ideas into practice, they can hire a coach to help them.
I also agree that a therapist can be a great help in dealing with related issues, such as frustration about not making progress in certain areas and with self-acceptance.
Reply to Jonathan Sibley