If you’re trapped in the negative feedback loop – vicious cycle – downward spiral into the ADD demoralized stuck pit – You Can Get Out !!
1. check yourself for the negative self talk . Identify it and counter it.
2. pick the smallest easiest task you could do. Let go of the ‘hardest part first’ principle for a moment.
3. break that task into small steps and pick the smallest and easiest one.
4. (optional) if needed, call an understanding friend and tell them what is going on and what you plan to do. You are looking for encouragement and also making a committment.
5. do the small step. (If you can’t, you haven’t broken it into small enough steps. )
6. give yourself applause and a pat on the back. Stop the negative critical self talk- Of Course it shouldn’t have been hard, but it was, and you did it!
7. repeat the process. You have broken the ADD cycle and you’re on a roll! You are coping.
OK, you can’t clean the kitchen. It’s too much. You’re stuck.
But maybe you can do the dishes. Or maybe not.
But you could wash one fork . Yes, you could.
But if not, get the soap out and set it on the counter. You can wash the fork tomorrow.
OK, you have a lot of big important things to do and washing one fork isn’t going to take care of them. Right! But washing the fork is doing something and you weren’t doing anything, you were stuck, and that wasn’t helping anything either. Now you are interrupting the vicious cycle paralyzing negative feed back loop. You are unstuck.
Good for you !
doug
Inertia: an object at rest tends to remain at rest; an object in motion tends to remain in motion.
one brick at a time
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thank you for your comment!
lots of people do negative self talk, especially those of us with add
it is damaging
the first step is to be aware of it
i’ll do a post on it soon
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thanks for this one. negative talk/self-deprecation is always a big challenge for me to rid myself of. gotta break that cycle.
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your mom maybe just din’t understand ADD
thanks for the comment
doug
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I once told my mom I would wash the fork tomorrow, she wasn’t as positive as you.
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