I never thought I’d hear my name in the same sentence as Oprah’s, but Maya has done it this week in her journey to ADHD Success. I must say I’m honored. Here’s Maya….
As I listen to my fellow ADHD Success Club members on our weekly Skills and Action calls with Dana, I hear my own voice in their words. I, too, know the frustration of seeking perfection in myself and in my systems. I, too, work counter-intuitively seeking complex systems while needing simple systems. Oh, we’re complicated beings in need of simplicity, and I, for one, know that if I’m not careful I will get in the way of my own success.
This week I had the pleasure of garnering wisdom from the words of two women who truly know what it takes to be successful: Dana Rayburn and Oprah Winfrey.
This week Dana’s words as she coached another club member on the Action call resonated with me, “Your vision of a perfect world does not align itself with ADHD. We don’t do absolutely clear spaces and you need to accept who you are and how you are wired. Quit fighting it because those are lost opportunities that are clogging the system and getting in your way. You’re focusing on what you’re not doing instead of focusing on the life you want to create.” Dana went on to explain how it takes a lot of time to build consistency in new habits and that change happens a little bit at a time. Seriously, I know she is right even as I find myself spiraling into a sort of vortex of negative talk about what I’m not doing and about how chaotic my world seems right now as this school year is almost over and I find my teacher plate so overloaded.
If you’re following my ADHD Success Club journey to success, you know that my journey has had it’s ups and downs. The work right now is difficult because organizational habits and routines are among my greatest struggles. Yesterday I had the honor of hearing Oprah Winfrey speak at my niece’s graduation at Agnes Scott College and her words as she talked about moments of struggle in her career when she was flailing. She explained that her change came with a paradigm shift of looking at what she had instead of what she didn’t have. She advised the audience, “You move forward by taking the next right step. You don’t have to know all the steps. Just the next right move.”
That’s the beauty of the ADHD Success Club. It’s really about taking the next right move. As Dana talks with us, she individually meets us where we are on the calls and she helps each of us figure out our next right steps.
As the school year comes to a close, I know my next right step is to close out my year with reflection. Instead of haphazardly shoving my entire classroom into my desk, file cabinet, closet, and car, I need to pause and “visualize neat” for next year and think about how I can organize things so that what I use most is easier to get to and involves less steps to put away. Then, I need to look at the where the clutter is and isn’t and think about what needs tweaking, what needs trashing, and what merits keeping. Then, I can pack in such a way that I’m prepared for my next right move later this summer as I tweak my systems. One step at a time as I continue to focus on the life I want to create: a life of simplicity aligned with what my brain needs as I make my next move.
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