What do you want to do in life? How do you want to live your life? What can you do to live in alignment with your values? These questions get at your mission in life. It is important to have a mission in life. It serves as a guide for making decisions on both the big things in life and the little things. Knowing what you want to accomplish is going to be key to living a fulfilling life.

When I was in school, I never thought I was an exceptional mind. I thought I was just an average student. Yet, my mother always pushed me to do better than I was doing. She believed in me, but I did not believe in myself.

That experience is sadly common for those of us with ADHD. We are told by others we have so much potential, but we fail to live up to the expectations of others. As a result, we stop believing in ourselves. This is a tragedy because many of us with ADHD are extraordinarily gifted.

Last week, I discussed the troubles with impulsivity. This week’s blog post covers the flip side of that discussion. Yes, impulsivity can cause some troubles, but it can also be a fun side of ADHD as well. There are ways of harnessing your impulsivity and using it to your benefit.

The filter that tells you not to say something stupid, mean, or unnecessary does not operate as well when you have ADHD. This leads to saying something you later regret. I remember one time in the 7th grade, I was desperately looking for my homework from the night before. I was digging through my folder, trying to find it. My teacher was talking about the assignment, and I could tell it was getting close to where I needed to prove I had done it. Finally, my teacher reminded us that we should have just left it in our notebook, and I shouted, “Oh, that’s where I put it!”

One of the guiding principles of Reset ADHD is “If it’s not fun, it won’t get done.” I try to make my coaching fun and engaging. I want to make sure my clients are excited about coaching and trying the strategies we discuss in our coaching sessions. There is a very good reason for this: The ADHD brain loves fun!

Stop me if you have heard this before. You wake up, hit the snooze button a couple of times, roll out of bed, rush to get ready, and run out the door with only coffee for breakfast. I am sure I do not have to tell you that this is not the ideal way to start the day. A reset on your morning routine would be wonderful.

The most obvious benefit of a reset is a fresh start. Things can get stale if you work at them for too long. Pausing and hitting the reset button allows you a fresh start. You can approach what you are working on with a new perspective and can have a better chance of success.

I talk a lot about hitting the RESET button on ADHD. In fact, I named my coaching practice after that. I firmly believe in hitting the RESET button and starting again with strengths-based strategies. However, there can be a temptation to power through when things get tough. It can be difficult to know when is the proper moment to hit RESET. I have compiled some times when hitting the RESET button would be beneficial. But, these are not the only times when hitting RESET would be advantageous. There are more, and I hope you recognize those moments when they arise.