Motivational and inspirational writer, Bryan Hutchinson is the author of several books about life with ADHD including the highly acclaimed, best selling "One Boy′s Struggle: A Memoir" and the author of the hilarious eBook that went viral "10 Things I Hate about ADHD"

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How to Use Rewards to Your Advantage If You Have ADHD

How to Use Rewards to Your Advantage If You Have ADHD
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If you have ADHD then you are probably familiar with the fact that incentives such as rewards help us focus and accomplish tasks. But have you considered using these incentives as an advantage? What excites you, what enthralls you and what motivates you? Take note of those things. They are important. Usually we reap rewards for accomplishing something, but the experience is too fleeting. We don’t take the time to bask in the reward and take note of it. Here are a few examples of what I mean… Is your desk covered with clutter? Have you ever cleaned it and put it in such an organized order that made you feel comfortable and proud of its appearance? If so, consider how that felt, really think about that a moment and take it in. Have you ever cleaned out your car, gave it a tune up and went on a joy ride […]

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Kate Kelly R.I.P. – What I Learned From an ADHD Master

Kate Kelly R.I.P. – What I Learned From an ADHD Master
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Kate Kelly A friend, ADHD pioneer, co-author of the book You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy?! and an incredibly positive light in the worldwide ADHD community passed away last week. Kate will be missed. She’s left a remarkable legacy. Her message of hope will carry on. She touched so many. For better words about Kate, please read posts by Rick Green, Zoë Kessler and Madelyn Griffith-Haynie. I had tears in my eyes as I read them. Kate touched them profoundly, as she did so many of us. If you’ve posted a tribute to Kate, please feel free to link to it in the comments. I wish I had known her as well as they did. Not only ADHD… I’ve wanted to write something about Kate since I heard the sad news, but my emotions were too strong to realize what I wanted to say. I waited. After reflection and rereading messages from her […]

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Why Someone Is always Better And What To Do About It (& The ADHD Factor)

Why Someone Is always Better And What To Do About It (& The ADHD Factor)
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I don’t know about you, but there are days when I wonder about what I am doing and why am I doing it. I ask myself a simple question and too often the answer leaves me wanting. That question is: Am I good enough? I know, I’ve written a free eBook on the subject and I’ve repeatedly told you that you are good enough. Still, believing it is sometimes difficult, even, dare I say, impossible. I really did write that sentence. Forgive me. Today’s post is about blogging in my case, but it could be about something else, anything else, for you. Something you’re interested in. Something you want to excel at. Something you work hard at. You pick the something. I read a lot of blogs and at the top of my list is Seth Godin’s. He’s a remarkable blogger. He’s the cream of the crop. Seth writes in a […]

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Sometimes You Must Fail To Succeed Even if you Have ADHD!

Sometimes You Must Fail To Succeed Even if you Have ADHD!
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Oops! I didn’t do it again. Recently, I wrote a post about one of my greatest phobias. In the post I told you about how I tried to ride a mountainside roller coaster and jumped off when my wife and I reached the top of the mountain just before it could begin to sail back down. It was a big mistake and I totally failed! I silently beat myself up about the failure the entire time that I was climbing back down the mountain. Yes, even as I waved at the people riding up. The people who would succeed where I failed. I told myself I wanted to try again, but I knew if I just hopped back on the roller coaster I would simply do what I’ve done so often before, I’d repeat my mistake. I failed, indeed. But I also realized something. I needed to try again, but I would need […]

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Stop Seeking Perfection and Approval, especially if you have ADD / ADHD

Stop Seeking Perfection and Approval, especially if you have ADD / ADHD
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How to stop striving for perfection and approval, that’s what this post and my latest FREE eBook is about. Special shout-out to Healthline for awarding my blog, one of the best ADHD blogs on the web! Thank you! I am a recovering perfectionist. I’ve never been perfect, mind you, not even close. But that didn’t stop me from striving to be. I always thought, somewhere in the back of my mind, that if I could achieve perfection then I would also achieve approval. It’s not that I told myself those things. No. It was behind the scenes of my thoughts that the idea was somehow planted, grew roots and those roots eventually strangled my creativity, my goals, my hopes, my enjoyment and my happiness. And, I have ADHD, too! I didn’t know that I was a perfectionist until I was diagnosed with ADHD and quite a ways into treatment. I was diagnosed with […]

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How to Stay Positive and Happy Every Day – with ADHD!

How to Stay Positive and Happy Every Day – with ADHD!

The title of this post is a question I received from a reader just the other day and I thought it would make a great blog post: How can I stay positive and happy every day? I have ADHD!   There’s a common assumption that if you have ADHD life is pretty much is going to suck every day. Heck, I bet you can prove it, too! We are quickly drawn to the ‘problems’, ’challenges’ and ‘bad behavior’. It is natural and normal.   Here’s a simple multi-part tip that I have used for the last few years and I have found it very effective: Every morning before starting the day tell yourself something ‘good’ is going to happen today. At night, as you settle in to bed, reach over to your nightstand and open a special journal. In this special journal write down the ‘good’ thing(s) that happened that day. […]

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Success, Opportunities and ADHD

Success, Opportunities and ADHD

How do you define success with ADHD? When I hear the word success I wonder what each person defines it as. I have always said success is what you define it. Here are 6 things I now have the opportunity to define as success with ADHD for me: Paid the monthly bills on time. I have automatic payments, so I don’t have to worry about most of them. There are other payments I have the opportunity to pay on time by making it to the bank on time, and I do for the most part. Made it to most of my appointments on time. It’s awesome when I am there 5 minutes early and have the opportunity to unwind first. The key is using my appointment calendar on my Smartphone and setting multiple alarms and not making appointments I may not need. Followed through on promises. Most of them anyway, […]

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The Beauty of Writing – Lessons in Writing

The Beauty of Writing – Lessons in Writing

“Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another.” Author unknown One of the most frequent inquiries that I get is about writing. It’s a funny thing, writing, you don’t have to be very good at it to do it and I am not very good at it. Some say I am, some say I am not and some are in-between.  It’s nice to hear that someone has enjoyed something I have written, and it is painful to hear that my writing isn’t all that good. Either way, I benefit from my ADHD mind in that I don’t focus on criticism too long (not all criticism anyway). It’s not that I don’t care, because trust me, I do care, but one way or the other I just keep on writing. My thoughts and fingers love to dance. For me, what’s the most bizarre, is when someone asks me […]

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To speak or not to speak, that is the question.

To speak or not to speak, that is the question.

Back in the day when I played competitive billiards I had an excellent mentor, he was highly experienced, a champion and has forgotten more about billiards and the mental aspects of winning and losing than I will ever learn, but what I did learn from him has served me well in all aspects of my life. Let me share with you one of his gems of advice: He explained to me that there are only so many shots, postures and position plays one can learn, once you’ve mastered the technical aspects of the game that’s only 25% of the game, the rest is played in the mind of the players. He further explained that when I find myself equally or even out matched in a game to be very careful with anything I say – ‘No matter what you’re feeling, thinking or what you may believe, do not speak it’. […]

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