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:

1. Every morning before starting the day tell yourself something ‘good’ is going to happen today.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

“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.

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’.