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The post Coaching Tips & Motivational Thoughts to Make Your Day a Bit Brighter! appeared first on JST COACHING & TRAINING.

Then, we hit the inevitable stretch of road that can only be described as the middle of nowhere with sparse vegetation, winding hills, and cracks and crevices carved throughout the road. Our imagination wanders, conjuring up a vision of what travel through that same rugged territory would have been like 100 years ago. The mountain washes that we barely notice now were giant obstacles for those that traveled before us. It was dangerous to navigate and added days to the trip as they maneuvered their way forward.

Travel that we easily accomplish now in a day required weeks or months along with the requisite supplies that included a lot more than Red Vines and Dr Pepper. Horses, mules or oxen were also part of the equation which added the additional layer of challenge that we no longer face. When your horse “broke down” there was no AAA to call for rescue from a cell phone while you waited in the air-conditioned car.

I was reminded of the gratitude I feel for modern inventions as we easily cruise through those long, desolate stretches by an interview with Eckhart Tolle by Oprah on the hidden source of all stress. Tolle says that all stress comes from resisting the present moment and wanting the moment to be different from what it really is. A negative situation like getting a flat tire, is only negative because we resist what “IS”. Tolle believes that all stress is resisting the present moment.

We train our coaches to manage stress in themselves and in their students, as they will inevitably be working with stressed-out students. I have rarely met a student who is calm at the end of the term! What greater gift can we give students than helping them let go of stress by acknowledging what “IS” and working together to creating their plan for success from that point forward?

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The Founders Award for Distinguished Service to the Professional ADHD Coach Community was instituted in 2011 to honor those who have made a unique, impactful, selfless contribution to ADHD coaches, ADHD Coaching, and/or the ACO. Honorees of the ACO’s Founders Award together represent a Hall of Fame for the ADHD Coaching Profession.

Founders Award History

ACO co-founder and founding board member Ken Zaretzky came to the ACO Board of Directors in 2010 with the idea of creating an ACO outstanding service award and naming it for fellow founding board member, Glen Hogard. Sadly, Ken died in early 2011. Desiring to honor Ken and his vision for an outstanding service award for the profession, the Board initiated The Glen Hogard Award for Distinguished Service to the Professional ADHD Coach Community, and presented the inaugural award to Glen Hogard himself at the 2011 conference in Chicago, IL.

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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

The Marshmallow Test: Why Self-Control Is the Engine of Success

(The Marshmallow Test is also recommended reading for our Coaching Children with ADHD, Executive Function and Behavioral Challenges course)

You may also like our new Tools page – Take a Look!

The post Reading List: Jim Crow, Undoing, and Marshmallows (…among other things!) appeared first on JST COACHING & TRAINING.

The ICF defines coaching as: “Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. A professional coach helps people improve their performance and enhance the quality of their lives.

Coaches are trained to listen, to observe, and to customize their approach to each individual client’s needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client. They believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach’s job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has.”

ADHD coaching is defined as: “ADHD Coaching is a collaborative, supportive, goal-oriented process in which the coach and the client work together to identify the client’s goals and then develop the self-awareness, systems, and strategies – the skills – necessary for the client to achieve those goals and full potential” Sarah Wright ADHD Coaching Matters: The Definitive Guide. Pg. 22

ADHD coaching embraces the ideals and core competencies of both life coaching and ADHD coaching. This approach provides the structure and strategies needed to create success for clients with ADHD/EF (executive function challenges), while honoring the clients as creative and resourceful individuals. In ADHD coaching, we hold our clients more accountable and usually have a tighter plan with more frequent contact than in general life coaching. Meeting with clients with ADHD/EF occurs at least once a week, which is more often than in many life coaching or executive coaching programs. We integrate check-ins into the process to help clients with ADHD/EF avoid the common “out of sight, out of mind” trap that often derails the consistency required to build strong habits.

Coaching is:

• Action oriented and future focused. Clients with ADHD/EF tend to live in the present moment so work done in coaching to build strong connections between daily choices to the trajectory of future goals is valuable.

• Supportive while being non-directive which strengthens cognitive skills. Clients who build these cognitive skills become more self-determined and empowered to choose the outcome of their lives.

• Supporting clients in shifting their perspective of reality which enhances the ability to learn from challenges and take pride and ownership in their successes.

Coaching is an incredibly powerful force in increasing overall life satisfaction and creating fulfilling results both personally and professionally.

Ready to pursue a coaching career? Get details on Empowering Students Through Coaching or add ADHD Coaching to your skillset with Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD

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• With an ICF Credential, coaches demonstrate not only knowledge and skill, but also a commitment to high professional standards and a strong code of ethics.

• Anyone serious about building or maintaining a coaching business should pursue an ICF Credential and become part of this well-respected group.

• All ICF Credential-holders complete rigorous education and practice requirements, providing testimony to their commitment to excellence in coaching.

Research Proves the Advantages of Holding a Credential

2012 ICF Global Coaching Study: shows credentialed coaches reported a higher-than-average income worldwide compared to non-credentialed-coaches, with the exception of the Middle East and Africa.

2010 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study: shows that clients who worked with an ICF Credential-holder were more likely to be satisfied with their coaching experience and recommend coaching to others.

2010 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study: shows that 84 percent of adult consumers who had experienced a coaching relationship reported that it was important for coaches to hold a credential.

Empowering Students through Coaching starts next week!

Empowering Students Through Coaching is a comprehensive course that gives you all the training you need to apply for an ICF ACC credential through the ACSTH path.

Coaching Teens and College Students with ADHD or Coaching Children with ADHD, Executive Function and Behavioral Challenges are fantastic options for earning CCEUs toward a coaching certification, recertification and to develop your coaching skills.

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Earlier this year there was a study published on homework assignment completion rate of student with ADHD. We will talk about the findings a bit later but first take a look at this:

This is a fantastic graph that was shared as part of the study that highlights all of the distinct actions that are needed to successfully complete a homework assignment and turn it in. It is no wonder that a student that is impacted by ADHD and has challenges with Executive Functioning would struggle with this.

In order to be successful with homework, students must accurately record assignments in sufficient detail, bring home the necessary materials, plan ahead for the completion of work (i.e., not procrastinate), complete work efficiently and effectively (i.e., stay focused and complete work accurately), and bring the completed work back to school for submission.

There is a whole lot of Executive Function action involved in that!

As Student Coaches with advanced ADHD tools, we know how to help students break down the cycle and find the gaps in their processes. Many students are frustrated by the last step, when beautifully done homework that a lot of time and effort was spent on is left sitting on the kitchen table the day it is due.

The first study aims were to examine whether students with ADHD in this sample were completing significantly fewer homework assignments in comparison to the teacher-reported classroom average, and to evaluate consistency across teachers in reporting these data.

The next study aim was to evaluate the longitudinal importance of homework assignment completion in predicting the grades of students with ADHD.

The final study aims were focused on examining potential reciprocal associations between assignment completion and GPA over time and to explore malleable factors that might longitudinally predict these outcomes.

You can see the results of the aims of the “Longitudinal evaluation of the importance of homework assignment completion for the academic performance of middle school students with ADHD” study HERE

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Life comes at you fast…

• School
• Work
• Kids
• Parents
• Romantic relationships or lack thereof

Not to mention the un-fun adult tasks that need to happen day in and day out.

It is easy to slip into living unconsciously. Functioning like a robot moving from one task to the next and no stopping to question WHY?

WHY are these tasks that are filling up our day worth doing?

If you don’t know your WHY then you need to take a moment right now and answer those 3 important questions before you read further.

READY?

Good! Now that you have your WHYs, you can  move out of unconscious robot living with the Rocking Chair Test.

The Rocking Chair Test is a simple, yet very effective, way to check in on how congruent your life is. When our WHYs don’t match the values we hold closest to us, the mismatch creates frustration, stress, and other unpleasant feelings. When we are living unconsciously, we can never quite pinpoint the source of these jarring, incongruent emotions. However, they start to dissipate once we start taking actions in alignment with our values.

ROCKING CHAIR TEST

Imagine that you are in of your life. You are sitting in a rocking chair on a wide porch with the warm sun and a slight breeze blowing. You close your eyes. Think back over what you have accomplished through the years. Notice what feelings come up.

Happiness? Regret? If Only? Satisfaction? Why did I?

Many people answer that their biggest regret is that they have  traded precious time for money in a job they didn’t like.  They know that they have more to contribute to the world but do not know how to break out of doing what they have always done. Over half of their day is spent engaging in  “necessary evils” which leaves them drained and with little energy left for the people and thing they love.

If that sounds familiar, we have great news for you. You can love your job and contribute to the world while making a living. You can control your own destiny and end your day feeling that you made a difference in a life, in your community, in the world. You can give hope to future generations through coaching!

(NOTE: Want to know why people across the world are so passionate about Student Coaching and have no doubt that their Rocking Chair Test is ACED? Check out Why Coaching for Students now.)

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However, meditation is a fantastic tool for keeping down the mind clutter and moving forward with your goals. As coaches, we are all about incorporating such tools into daily life that set you up for success and support you in being the best version of yourself. We also challenge the default assumption that meditation requires a “blank mind”. Certainly, we would not advocate anything that is unrealistic or does not set up you for success so suspend that thought for a moment and keep reading.

Mindful Meditation is a great way to get the benefits of meditation and become more consciously aware of how you are living moment to moment. The more aware you are of what your current reality “IS” the more you are able to affect changes in your life.

Psychology Today defines Mindfulness “as a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.”

The part we love most about that definition is “without judging them good or bad”. People with ADHD are their worst internal critics and commonly battle overwhelm and depression that block them from moving forward.

Dr Mark Bertin has joined with JST to offering Mindful Mediation for those with ADHD or those who love and work with people impacted with ADHD. The course is instructor-led but recordings are available for those who choose to go at their own pace.

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