Wednesday, November 28, 2007

How ADD/ADHD Affects Your Business (Part 2)

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Important Disclaimer- Please Read This :


The following information is not intended to provide any type of professional advice nor diagnostic service. If you have any concerns about AD/HD or other health issues, please consult a qualified health care professional in your community.


Last week I included an excerpt from an article written by David Giwerc, MCC, where he stated that, "...it has also been my observation that a majority of all entrepreneurs have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or AD/HD." And I also included a statement made by Terry Matlen, MSW, ACSW, "All adults have some symptoms of ADHD."

Now since we all supposedly have some of the symptoms of ADD, even if we don't have the disorder, I thought you should know what some of the symptoms are.

12 Symptoms of ADHD:
  • Distractibility
  • Impulsivity
  • Hyperactivity
  • Inattention
  • Difficulty staying on task
  • Having many projects going on at one time and rarely completing any of them
  • Irritability
  • Fail to give close attention to details
  • Don't follow instructions carefully and completely
  • Losing or forgetting important things
  • Feeling restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming
  • Difficulty falling asleep and difficulty waking up

Having some of the symptoms doesn't necessarily mean you have ADD because these same behaviors can also be caused by our hectic and overstressed lifestyles.

And as an online entrepreneur responsible for everything in your business, the ideas, the work and the end results, it's no wonder if you experience some stress.

So today let's talk about 8 of the these behaviors and some of the things you can do to overcome them.

  • Distractibility - Life is full of distractions especially when you're working at home. The best way to avoid some of these distractions is to make a quiet space for your home office and a work schedule. Share your schedule with those you live with and ask that they allow you the quite time you need to be productive. Then while you're working, work. Don't waste your time checking your email every hour or playing games.

  • Impulsivity - It's very easy to get caught up in reading about all the new services and products being launched every day and to pull out your credit card. And since I sell things too, I am not going to tell you to never buy anything. But, before you make your next purchase, stop yourself and ask yourself these 3 questions:

    Do I really need this?
    Will it help me learn more about something I need to know now or help me do something I want to do now?
    Will I really use it?

    If your answer isn't yes to all 3 questions, put your credit card away.

    Also, many people join affiliate programs impulsively because they think the more the better. Actually, joining only a few and learning how to do affiliate marketing successfully will lead you to having a successful business faster.

  • Hyperactivity - Many suffer from hyperactivity when they are under a great deal of stress. If that's the case for you then you need to do whatever it is you do to relieve your stress. Take a walk, play a game of tennis, jog, watch a movie, etc. You are not going to be productive when you're suffering from too much stress anyway so do something for your mental health and relieve the stress.

  • Inattention - If you're like me you have days when you just can't stay focused. For me, it usually means that I am either coming down with something or I've taken too much cold medication. Not being able to stay focused can really slow you down and the way I get through times like these is to work in short intervals. Rather that try to write an article, I make notes about what I want to say - take a break. Write 1 or 2 paragraphs - take a break, etc. I find that taking more breaks and letting my head clear allows me to be very productive in the short intervals I do work. Also, by having the notes of what I want to say or the list of tasks I want to do keeps me moving in the right direction.

  • Difficulty staying on task - Some tasks in internet marketing seem very big or very complicated and that makes them hard to complete. Other tasks seem to take forever and are boring which makes them hard to finish too. But just about all tasks in online marketing can be broken down into smaller tasks. So if you have trouble staying on task, break that task down into smaller, more manageable work items. Then as you complete these items, reward yourself somehow. For some, the reward can be as simple as drawing a line through the completed item. Others may require something more like getting off work a few minutes early. And then, when all the work items are finished and the big task is completed, you can give yourself a real reward.

  • Having many projects going on at one time and rarely completing any of them - Although this behavior is a symptom of ADD it is also a characteristic of a personality type. (Yes, I've taken personality type classes.) You see, some people get great pleasure when they finish projects while other get their pleasure from starting projects and don't find any satisfaction from finishing them. So if you happen to be a person who likes to start things but doesn't get around to finishing most of the things you start you need to do 1 of 2 things. You can either get a partner who can work with you and likes to finish things when you move on to another project or you can learn to finish your important projects. If you're the one who has to finish the things you start here are some suggestions to keep you on track.

    When you're hit with a new idea for another project, write it down on your list of future projects with brief notes about the ideas for this project. Keep this list handy so you can jot these inspirations down quickly and easily. Do not use sticky notes or scrap pieces of paper for each idea. Use a steno pad, a notebook, a whiteboard or something else that's big enough to hold lots of ideas and can be found easily.

    Do not start the new project when the idea comes to you. Instead, use the reward system and the above list contains the reward you get when you've completed your current project.

    When you get to a difficult part of your project and think it would be easier to quit and start another, put that idea out of your head and turn solving your problem into your new project. You've identified a problem, so start thinking of new ideas for solving it. (Putting these problems, possible solutions and what worked into a notebook is also a good idea because it will help you remember how you fixed a problem the next time you encounter it.)

    Trying to modify a characteristic of your personality can be difficult however it can be done. (While it's possible to only change it for those things that pertain to your online business, you may find that if you change it a little in other areas of your life, others may quit nagging you so much about when you're going to finish cleaning, painting, fixing, building the ???.)

  • Fail to give close attention to details - While we all make mistakes, if you find that you have trouble with details then get someone to help you. Your helper doesn't need to know how to do what you're doing, they just need to know how to check your work. In other words, if you make a lot of spelling and grammatical errors in your writing, get someone to proof read your copy. If you have trouble remembering to upload all the files and images for your site, have someone visit your site, look around and tell you if they find missing pictures or links that don't work. Having another person check your web pages, articles, autoresponder messages, etc. is always a good thing even if you do pay attention to details because they will almost always find something that needs to be corrected.

  • Don't follow instructions carefully and completely - I am not sure this symptom is written correctly for internet marketing since the instructions we get are pretty sparse and sometimes are either incomplete or incorrect. I would think "Doesn't write instructions carefully and completely" would be a better symptom.

    However, if you have trouble following the instructions for doing something then print out the instructions, give them to someone else, let them read each step to you and have them watch you do it. Then if it doesn't work there will be 2 of you who think the person who wrote the instructions has an ADD symptom - not you.

From time to time we all experience some of the symptoms of ADHD. However, these experiences don't have to control you or your business if you recognize them and know how to work around them.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Please feel free to leave comments about this tip and offer any additional suggestions on how to work through some of these behaviors.

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