Talk about your tomorrow…

Thinking about the future

I realised something didn’t quite work with my frontal lobes when I read a book called “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert.

A funny and interesting book about how we plan for our own happiness. As I read about our ability to imagine our future, using mankind’s relatively newly evolved frontal lobes, I kept thinking “but I can’t do that!”. I simply can’t imagine my future, it seems silly, unreal but after many serious attempts I know it is a function I lack.

I read the book some six months or so before I diagnosed my own ADHD and it was a significant contributing step in my figuring it all out. But now I know it is not just me, many people with ADHD have a problem with this future thing!

I can’t imagine my future

Most people with ADHD have some difficulties imagining, planning or conceiving of their futures. I stress “their future” because paradoxically many people with ADHD are extremely advantaged in making connections and seeing patterns, so that they can predict “the future”: whether market trends, upcoming pop bands or to invent breakthrough solutions.

Nevertheless we struggle more with our own future goals and dreams, in part because of our low self-esteem, past failures and set-backs but usually because we do not imagine our tomorrows.

Talk about it

We do however like to talk, in fact the majority of people with ADHD are very verbal processors – we do our thinking “out-loud”. So find a buddy, a friend, relative, coach, partner or loved one that wants to help and “talk about tomorrow”. Talk about what you might achieve, where you might go, where you might live. Get your buddy to encourage you to talk big: optimistically, hopefully and positively about the future.

If we don’t dream, we don’t hope then we don’t change or make progress. As a coach, I always encourage my clients to “talk about tomorrow”.
ADHD Coach, Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis is an ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over 15,000 hours and 18 years of experience in coaching over 500 ADHD executives, ADHD business professionals and ADHD creatives. Andrew ran a major ADHD support group and an ADHD diagnostic clinic for a while. He is an ADHD specialist backed with business expertise from a twenty years career in software, from roles in programming, through marketing, sales and to running a few software start-ups. His ADHD insight is personal, with decades understanding his own ADHD experience and in bringing up his ADHD daughter. He has published his writing primarily via this website, with interactive ADHD courses in development.

Read more...

ADHD at work
Great talk on genetic influences from Steven Pinker
ADHD at work
Probably the most important vitamin of all is for some of the year the hardest to get naturally.
ADHD at work
Here is a video giving my more integrated, experienced based perspective of ADHD
ADHD at work
If you the only person in your company doing your job, the only person in your “department”, then maybe you are ADHD.
ADHD at work
I am still waiting on robots to do the dishes and AI to do all of my admin
ADHD at work
One of my weirdest ADHD strategies
ADHD at work
Changes you might request at work to mike your ADHD work life easier
SimplyWellbeing logo
Copyright © 2024 SimplyWellbeing
Website designed, written and created by Andrew Lewis, using Wordpress and Oxygen
49 Station Road, Polegate, East Sussex, BN26 6EA
Association of Coaching
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram