Harness Your Adhd Power

Hello, everyone. This is not Dr B. This is Maya Brewer, and it is Dr B's 100th podcast episode for Living Beyond ADHD.   So, I am here with Dr B.  I'm a student and a freelance writer.  And when I say student, I mean student of Dr B's ADDventures In Achievement Program.  So welcome to your own show, Dr B. Well, are you ready?  I'm ready.  Let's do it. Awesome.  So, it is your 100th podcast episode. Wow, that's quite a milestone. So, Dr B, how do you feel about reaching this milestone? In this episode Dr B talks about: Her 100th episode milestone Her background and educational journey Attempting to get a diagnosis of ADHD The separation of ADHD and Executive Function Skills The importance of getting a "knowing" not knowledge The best way to achieve what you want in life The 5 elements woven into AIA-FS Real hope and transformation Gifted Underachievers become Empowered Achievers   Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome AD

In episode 098, I talked about being the Gifted Underachiever and the 5 pivotal elements to become the Empowered Achiever.  While I was creating that episode, it occurred to me that there are many traumatic life experiences, big and small, when we don't have well-developed EF skills.  We need to acknowledge them, in light of our underdeveloped EF skills, so that we can embark on our extraordinary healing journey, and manifest the pure potential contained within us. It’s not enough for us to develop our EF skills and strategies.  That’s one piece of the puzzle.  The other pieces have shown themselves to me over the past 5 years and are now essentials in the program.  The 5 elements woven into the AIA-FS journey are:  an EF Assessment, identifying and releasing limiting beliefs and outdated identities, acquiring pre-skills, developing EF skills and strategies, and maintaining your achievements for a lifetime, because everything in life requires maintenance.  This unique, transformative 7-month journey flushes o

When I refer to “gifted” adults, I am not talking about I.Q.  I am talking about something more important, which is gifted temperament.  Additionally, a lot of the challenges you experience could be due to being a gifted adult, since there are many similar challenges with ADHD as with giftedness. According to Reis and McCoach (2000), gifted underachievers typically have low self-esteem, low self-concept, and low self-efficacy, which refers to your belief in your capacity to implement behaviors necessary to produce specific performance outcomes.  Put another way, it’s your belief in your ability vs. your actual ability.  And, whatever you believe is true about you, is true, whether or not it really is.  Can you relate? I’ve worked with thousands of adults over the past 30+ years and most of them are “Gifted Underachievers.”  Many are professionals, working in various industries, such as law, medicine, research, project management, entertainment, creative arts, social sciences, education, biological sciences, b

Did you get up this morning and have to stop and remember who you are?  Like in the movie “50 First Dates” where Lucy had to watch a video of her life every morning because her memory was damaged from an accident?  Most likely not how your mornings start.  Habits are great when they are shortcuts that save us time and benefit our lives.  When they are destructive and remnants from the past, we need to get out of the habit of doing them. It’s the same with who we are and how we are.  We are in the habit of being us.  And that means it saves us time and we don’t have to consciously think about who we are and what we will be doing or not doing.  It just happens automatically courtesy of our subconscious mind and all the habits stored there. In this episode Dr B talks about: Gaining awareness about yourself Human systems ICD-11 codes for impaired executive functioning Playful exercises Learn about 13 Signs Weak Executive Functioning Is Holding You Back Find out what you can do about your weak executive function

If you’ve ever been disappointed or frustrated with the information or care you’ve received for your mental health and well-being, stay tuned. Carl Jung said, “I feel it is the duty of one who goes his own way to inform society of what he finds on his voyage of discovery.” Jung’s quote inspired this episode.  I feel it is both my duty and moral obligation to share with you what I’ve found out that I trust will benefit you and help you create a better quality of life.  So, here’s some hard truths here in the USA:  In this episode Dr B talks about: DSM-5 for diagnoses ICD-11 for insurance billing and diagnoses Lack of appropriate training in mental health field Learn about 13 Signs Weak Executive Functioning Is Holding You Back Find out what you can do about your weak executive function skills even without a diagnosis Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find focus, gain confidence, and a newfound freed

The title of this episode is a real question I am posing to all of my listeners.  If you knew that you would not fail once again to achieve your desired outcome, what would you do?  Would you tell yourself that’s not possible because you always fail?  Or, would you be curious about what makes that opportunity different from all the other ones – to wonder how is it possible that failing isn’t an option? If you’re curious to know more, please listen carefully.  And after you do, if you want to know even more, take action and go look at the link in the show notes.  And after that, take one more action which is reach out to me with any questions you have.  Please don’t wait for this opportunity of a lifetime to pass you by because you weren’t curious enough to take the next couple of steps In this episode Dr B talks about: How you can avoid failing and succeed The right scaffolding support and guidance Timing is essential for change Act now so you don't miss the AIA opportunity that ends January 20, 2022 - link

Achieving your goals is connected to how well-developed your EF skills and strategies are, and if they’re not well-developed, well, you know the rest of the story. And I get it.  Getting the right help for yourself is a Catch-22.  It’s challenging because the very skills you need to help yourself are the skills you’re missing.  And, there’s plenty of resources in the world that offer you a piece of what you need, but not all of it.  How do I know?  Because I was offered a piece here and there for years, and I just got fed-up with the absence of a solution – not a band-aid or a quick fix – but an actual solution to what I was missing and wanting to achieve.  A real solution after so many failed attempts at improving the quality of my life - and none of those pieces helped me get where I am today.  I am not the exception here.  It’s not like “oh, you could do it Dr B because of all your training and education in psychology.”  No - It was my curiosity and my absolute determination that drove me to find the answe

Hearing that ADHD is a gift is hurtful and confusing to many adults.  In my Facebook group, whenever we create a post about ADHD being a gift, many members are angry because they don’t experience their ADHD as a gift at all. And, they are right.  Without well-developed Executive Functions skills, the gifts of ADHD aren’t available.  If you don’t take steps to more fully develop your EF skills, you could be locking yourself out of access to your creativity, unique problem-solving abilities, associative thinking, and seeing the possibilities in so many things in life.  And, you could be locking yourself into a lifetime sentence of underachieving, overwhelm, poor relationships, and so many other quality of life-threatening experiences. Whether you are self-diagnosing or have received a diagnosis, there is so much that you have the power and control to change about the quality of your life IF someone would just tell you so.  Well, that someone is me.  If you want to leverage your ADHD, keep listening. In this epi

80% of the new students coming into the ADDventures In Achievement Foundational Skills program feel powerless over their current behaviors, are filled with self-loathing, and feel like an impostor - having lived with so many challenges their entire life.  They constantly look over their shoulder least they be found out. In today’s episode, I’m focusing on feelings you’re probably familiar with, and how shining a light on these feelings, and the beliefs that feed them leads you to heal your needless suffering.  Hiding your challenges and feelings only makes things worse, not better.  You feel bad about what you aren’t yet able to do and feel worse because you’re hiding.  You’ve turned this into a moral issue when it is just the under-development of some of your EF skills.  And being able to share what you are thinking and feeling about yourself in the safety of our program community provides you with the opportunity to release the shame and guilt you’ve been carrying for years and kept to yourself.  The love a

I have something a little different for you today.  I did a live video last Friday, and people said it was great, so I turned it into a podcast episode so you all could benefit as well. As you may have heard me say before, you don’t have to have a diagnosis or even suspect ADHD to have under-developed EF skills.  The developmental energy that was intended for their development could have gotten derailed by depression, anxiety, addictions, traumas, illnesses and more.  All of these conditions, including ADHD can create a developmental derailment that leaves you with the EF skills of a much younger person, and all the responsibilities of an adult who needs well-developed EF skills to create the quality of life we all deserve.  I trust you will find the following information beneficial, and if you do, you will find an important link in the show notes that you will definitely want to click and take advantage of right away.  A great opportunity awaits you, that is, if that’s of interest to you. In this episode Dr

It’s true – goal setting can be detrimental to your success…if you set goals the way most of us have been taught to set them.  If you’re intrigued, stay tuned. Goal setting is typically an external process, where you are targeting something outside of yourself that you want to achieve or change.  All of your focus and attention is on achieving your external goal.  One example could be, “You want to lose 10 pounds in 10 days.”  Your focus is on the scale and what you are eating and your exercise routine; all things outside of you because what you want to achieve is outside of you – right?  Nope.  It isn’t.  What you want to achieve comes from inside of you and that’s where you need to focus.  That’s where your goal setting needs to be focused, otherwise, you won’t be able to achieve or keep the achievement of your external goal.  One reason this happens is because your goal isn’t congruent with your identity.  Your goal is for your behavior or a tangible thing, and not for your being or identity.  Your goal do

When you set a goal, you are setting a direction for yourself.  And setting a direction can change the course of your life; it depends on the goal that you set. In my 50s, I wrote a goal on my flipchart one day that I wanted to have a positive impact on the lives of at least a million people in my lifetime.  I had no idea what that goal really meant nor how it would unfold when I wrote it that day. Then, many years ago, I found an anonymous quote online – “Set a goal so big that you can’t achieve it until you grow into the person who can.”  Okay…  I had set a goal so big that I couldn’t even imagine how I could achieve it, however, the quote said that I needed to grow into the person who could.  At the time, I had no idea what that meant – grow into who and how? Looking back, I can see that the combination of the goal I wrote and the quote I found were the stimulus for me to grow into who I have become and am BEING, which is allowing me to fulfill my goal.  As Steve Jobs said, “we can only connect the dots lo

If you could get yourself to focus when and where you need to AND could shift your state or feelings so you feel like doing things you’ve planned, when it’s time to take action, would having those skills change your life?  If you’re like other adults I’ve asked over the years, the answer is a resounding yes.  But how? You are where your attention is.  What you focus on grows.  You are the meaning maker in your life.  Your feelings are a direct result of your thinking.  You create your own reality; we all do.  So…are you ready to harness your focus before your dreams gently slip through your fingers or you run out of steam and just quit?  I hope so. Today I’m talking about one aspect of embracing your Superpower and becoming the visionary of your life.  That’s right - developing your Foresight and Conscious Focusing so you can connect with your ideas about how things can be different for you; how they can actually improve.          Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is

I pursued an ADHD diagnosis with many professionals, only to be refused an assessment with two and granted an assessment with one who decided there was nothing significantly amiss with me – just a little anxiety. Seriously?!  The two that turned me away said it would be a waste of time (whose time?) to assess me and the one that did, asked questions and did testing that would never have confirmed a diagnosis because they weren’t properly trained to assess me as an adult woman.  It was very discouraging. Peri-menopause was the great equalizer.  When my brain function went offline, all the skills and strategies I had successfully used prior to that hormonal shift stopped working for me.  I had developed my EF skills well enough to get my education and successfully serve clients in my private practice, however, my skills weren’t developed in the methodical manner I developed them after “my cognitive fall.”  What a gift that time in my life was for me, and what was to transpire as a result.   Developing your Exec

You may not know if being free of negative self-talk is going to be right for you.  You may not know if you’re going to be SO happy with your new-found freedom that you’ll have to email me and tell me about it.  You may not know if this transformation is going to be really fun and exciting.  And, if it’s not as wonderful as others have experienced and you want your previous negative self-talk life back, you can re-create that life again – although you may want to give your new-found freedom a little time before you decide.   Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find focus, gain confidence, and a newfound freedom in your life! My mission is to put an end to the worldwide needless suffering of adults with ADHD and those with under-developed Executive Function Skills - whether from ADHD, chronic depression or anxiety, trauma, addictions or chronic illnesses.  And, you don't need a formal diagnosis to know

So many of us grew up without the opportunity to become the person we want to be.  Whether our homes were filled with trauma or addictions or those who raised us were just missing the essential executive function skills to be able to pass them on to us, we didn’t get them.  And so, it goes.  Generation after generation of kids are growing up with under-developed executive function skills; the very life skills that are necessary for successful “adulting.” Some of you believe it’s too late for you to develop these skills or that it will take too long.  The fact is, it’s never too late and in our 7-month journey together you will make significant changes – from the inside out - that will change your life.  To me, that’s a relatively short period of time considering the lifetime many of us have spent without these skills and the difference that having them makes. Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find fo

There's a lot of trauma that occurs as a result of not knowing what the source of our challenges are. And then so many mixed feelings when and if we get diagnosed, everything from a huge sense of relief, and having an explanation for entire life experiences, to a deep sadness over the missed opportunities. And we're left wondering what could have happened if we had known sooner?  What if the bigger issue with all the problems that we adults with or without ADHD have is because of the not knowing - the lack of a diagnosis and all the trauma that results from living with the unknown, or the unnamed explanation? Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find focus, gain confidence, and a newfound freedom in your life! My mission is to put an end to the worldwide needless suffering of adults with ADHD and those with under-developed Executive Function Skills - whether from ADHD, chronic depression or anxiety, tra

Forgiveness is a gift.  We can give this gift at any time - to ourselves or to others.  It’s our “get out of jail” gift card – releasing each of us from a prison of our own making.  When we refuse to forgive, and choose to hold onto mistakes and use them against ourselves or others, we are setting ourselves up for a miserable life.  How many times do we need to relive the pain of the past before we’ve experienced enough pain or misery? To forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward ourselves or to others for a mistake or harm caused.  To forgive doesn’t mean I forget or condone; it simply means that I stop poisoning myself with my past mistakes or the harms done to me by others.  And, as I said in the previous episode, “for things to change, you have to change.”  I had to learn how to forgive, let go and move on.  You also have to learn how to forgive, let go and move on.  If not, you could stay stuck forever. In this episode Dr B talks about: What is the point in forgiving myself, the damage is alr

Jim Rohn said - "For things to change, you have to change." It seems very obvious when you think about it, for things to change, you have to change. I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately. And it's taken on a much deeper meaning for me, because he didn't say, for things to change, you have to change things. What he said is for things to change, you have to change. I understand now that means that I have to change in whatever ways are necessary for things to change for me, whatever those things are; and if I don't change, which is an inside job, then things in the outside world are not going to change for me. So, for things to change, you have to change. In this episode Dr B talks about: Common limiting beliefs Counter-examples to limiting beliefs Upgrading your identity or sense of self The importance of celebrating your wins Enrollment opening in March for the ADDventures in Achievement Foundational Skills program  Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is th

Feeling overwhelmed isn’t automatically a positive or a negative experience; it depends on the emotion and on the meaning you give to the emotion you’re feeling.  You could be overwhelmed with gratitude and self-love or overwhelmed with grief and shame. The meaning I give overwhelmed is that it implies “too much” or “more than someone can comfortably handle.”  Is that you? Every time I imagine what life is like WITHOUT well-developed executive function skills before the pandemic, and then imagine it during this pandemic, the impact just 10x’d itself in terms of the negative overwhelm and impact that it is having on your lives.  And so many of you are telling me exactly that. The good news? Executive Function skills can be learned, no matter what age you are.  No matter where you are located in the world.  All it takes is the right training, strategies and support.  In this episode Dr B talks about: What it takes to stay out of overwhelming feelings Strategies for shifting your feelings The importance of cele