22 February, 2023

Mastering your ADHD mind is vital for you to lead an exciting and successful life. Your continuous search for dopamine rewards often leads to erratic behaviour that is not good for your long-term dreams and goals.

Your conscious ADHD mind is extremely powerful and will deliver whatever you constantly think about, the good, the bad and the ugly. 

To develop mental strength, you first must be aware of what you are thinking. Most people’s thoughts are negative. These negative thoughts prevent you from achieving your goals and dreams. 

The negative voice, the inner critic running your life, must be silenced. 

Step 1 Building mental strength starts with self-discipline. You need to respect and trust yourself to build your self-confidence. Set yourself some 30-day challenges and track your results each night in a journal or 30-day Challenge Calendar. Once you get past the first week, you will find you want to keep going and not break the chain of unbroken days. 

For example, Set a challenge to go for a walk or to the gym and exercise for fifteen minutes five days a week, no matter how you feel, no excuses.
For example, Invest fifteen minutes each night reading or watching something educating and implement one thing you learnt the next day.

Step 2 Each day, extend yourself and do one thing beyond your comfort zone. Push yourself further than you think is possible and do something more than you would typically do. Accept there will be some physical or mental pain and use that, knowing you are getting mentally stronger. Start small and build upon each step at your own pace. No one is watching, and don’t compare yourself to others. You are only competing again yourself. 

Step 3 Push through procrastination. Use your mental strength to do one thing you have been putting off. Daily select one small task you can complete in five to fifteen minutes. Set a timer and train yourself to start without expecting a perfect outcome. Give yourself a small reward for executing the process.

Step 4 Know things will fall apart despite your best efforts. Don’t stress about it. Give yourself a minute to split the dummy, then take a deep breath, relax your body and mind and let the emotions go. Learn from it and move on. Alter the meaning your give to the event and see if you can find anything positive in the situation. See challenges as opportunities to learn and grow.

Step 5 Defeat distractions. Your ADHD brain thrives on distractions, the shiny object syndrome. Your search for dopamine overrides the need to focus and concentrate on necessary but tedious tasks. You need mental strength to direct your energy to help you focus and stay on track to complete the project in the allotted time frame. Remove all unnecessary clutter from your office, car, and home life. Remove the temptations in the car, office, pantry or social media arenas. Think big, start small, and remove one thing from each of these areas. Put it away for a week and see what happens.

Step 6 Be 100% committed to building your mental strength every day. It is one of the keys to unlocking your potential and living the life you desire.