Jeff's A.D.D. Mind http://jeffsaddmind.com If A.D.D. Is A Gift...Can I Return It For Something Else? Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:14:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 JeffsAddMindhttp://feedburner.google.com The Psychology of Security http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/np_fSkPgnuU/the-psychology-of-security-997.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/the-psychology-of-security-997.htm#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:14:14 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=997 “Security is both a feeling and a reality. And they’re not the same.”

“The reality of security is mathematical, based on the probability of different risks and the effectiveness of different countermeasures. We can calculate how secure your home is from burglary, based on such factors as the crime rate in the neighborhood you live in and your door-locking habits.”

“But security is also a feeling, based not on probabilities and mathematical calculations, but on your psychological reactions to both risks and countermeasures. You might feel terribly afraid of terrorism, or you might feel like it’s not something worth worrying about. You might feel safer when you see people taking their shoes off at airport metal detectors, or you might not.”

You can read the full article here.

You may also want to read this article: What America Has Lost: It’s clear we overreacted to 9/11.

]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/the-psychology-of-security-997.htm/feed 0 http://jeffsaddmind.com/the-psychology-of-security-997.htm Your Middle Class Existence Has Now Come To An End. Hopefully You Enjoyed It While It Lasted. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/K41cWOhFy88/your-middle-class-existence-has-now-come-to-an-end-hopefully-you-enjoyed-it-while-it-lasted-7638.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/your-middle-class-existence-has-now-come-to-an-end-hopefully-you-enjoyed-it-while-it-lasted-7638.htm#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:15:24 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7638 Our popular conception of history is often at odds with the reality of history. For example, we often think that history is comprised of periods of peace punctuated by war. That is why we are often “surprised” when war breaks out in some part of the world. The reality, though, is that history is war punctuated by periods of peace. “Peace” is the miraculous event…not war. We tend to think the same way concerning our middle class existence in America. We think that we’ve lived a more or less decent middle class lifestyle and that these economic bumps called “recessions” are just anomalies. This too is at odds with the reality of history. A prosperous middle class is NOT the norm in the United States. Prosperity for the middle class is an anomaly, a glitch in the system. The majority of Americans were piss poor and, thankfully, we are heading back to those “good ol’ days.” How did this happen? Time for a history lesson.

[Note: If you are a typical American and I have already exhausted your attention span, I will sum up the remainder of this post in one simple phrase, "Dude. You're fucked." Now...go to Hooters and watch a ball game.]

World War II changed life for the American middle class because it put America in the enviable position of being the only economy not devastated by the war. We were the leaders in technology and manufacturing and, even though there were some economic hiccups, life for the middle class improved in leaps and bounds. But by the 1970’s trouble was brewing. Organized labor kept demanding and getting higher wages. The middle class was growing in both wealth and power. This was seen by some as being a major problem. Thankfully there was someone who could fix it and set things on the right course. His name was Ronald Reagan. Though senility was already kicking in, his warm, avuncular style made America feel good about itself. He was just the right spokesperson, just the right person to redefine reality and get Americans to believe it. Under Reagan we saw the how the poor, downtrodden wealthy were being oppressed and needed massive tax cuts. The effect of this was a redistribution of wealth upward. Organized labor was getting a bit too powerful so Uncle Reagan showed us how to handle that. He fired 50,000 PATCO workers, that’s 50,000 union workers fired by the President of the United States. Thus began the assault on organized labor. We were then sold the story of how we were turning into a service economy. That was a euphemism for deindustrializing the country and shipping overseas our manufacturing jobs, the very jobs which were often unionized and which paid decent wages. President Senility also convinced us that government was the enemy, that the answer to all things was private enterprise. What we are experiencing now is the logical unfolding of the topsy turvy world put in motion by President Senility. Government is the enemy (do we really need to inspect all that food anyway?); unions are terrible, corrupt organizations (do we really need those middle class wages and pensions and vacations?), and privatization is the solution to our problems.From Reagan to George H.W. to Bill to George Dubya we have continued, more or less unabated, on this path of government as enemy, privatization is the answer to our problems and exporting our high paying jobs is a good thing. In addition we continued with our tax cuts for the wealthy and have effectively reproduced the distribution of wealth we had in the 1920’s.

By the time Obama walked into office the economic system was in total collapse. Wall Street shenanigans brought it all tumbling down. The economy ran on credit for at least ten years fueled, in part, by a middle class that had little choice but to borrow money in order to maintain its middle class existence. Its high paying unionized jobs were shipped overseas and what few jobs remained were not unionized, did not pay decent wages and offered no real future.

The middle class is now in the position where it has lost much of the value of their homes, lost much of the value of their 401K’s and their pensions and lost their purchasing power. The US dollar is close to worthless and we have a total debt (13 trillion dollars) that would make a third-world country blush. In case the middle class haven’t lost enough of their wealth, their good friends, the Republicans, are setting their sights, yet again, on Social Security. Remember the idea of privatizing Social Security? Of investing it in the stock market? Well, that idea is back in slightly repackaged form.

So, in light of all this, in light of the destruction of the middle class, what’s the most important issue of the day? You know the answer. You hear about it all the time from the people who worry about the middle class day and night. The most important issue of the day is, should we allow a mosque to be built in lower Manhattan?

Are Americans the smartest people on earth or wa?

Some Additional Reading:

The Video Version of this Post

]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/your-middle-class-existence-has-now-come-to-an-end-hopefully-you-enjoyed-it-while-it-lasted-7638.htm/feed 4 http://jeffsaddmind.com/your-middle-class-existence-has-now-come-to-an-end-hopefully-you-enjoyed-it-while-it-lasted-7638.htm Does ADHD Medication Ruin Creativity? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/5D98CKxhWNY/does-adhd-medication-ruin-creativity-7658.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/does-adhd-medication-ruin-creativity-7658.htm#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:02:40 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7658 Short answer: No!

To believe otherwise is to conflate your creativity with your ADHD as if one depended on the other. When you are diagnosed with ADHD late in life you just can’t imagine life without your ADHD and, therefore, you assume that your  other qualities, like creativity, will suddenly diminish if your ADHD symptoms diminish. I can tell you that that hasn’t been my experience as of late. Admittedly, there are still things that I don’t do and should do but there are plenty of things I am doing – both the boring stuff and the exciting stuff. Most importantly, my creativity has not diminished. In fact, it is flourishing because now creativity turns into action which turns into a completed project (a post, a video) which spawns even more creativity. It is the medication along with a support system (therapy; exercise; friends and relations) that makes it all possible.

So, ADHD medication does not ruin creativity.

This post was inspired by a comment I had left on a blog post and the serendipitous event of finding the phrase “Does ADHD Medication Ruin Creativity” in the list of search terms used to find my blog.

]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/does-adhd-medication-ruin-creativity-7658.htm/feed 10 http://jeffsaddmind.com/does-adhd-medication-ruin-creativity-7658.htm News From The Not Too Distant Future http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/ofIdFGqtvww/news-from-the-not-too-distant-future-7584.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/news-from-the-not-too-distant-future-7584.htm#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:06:52 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7584 Mega Merger! Google & Verizon Become Googizon

Being hailed as the most significant corporate merger of the century, Google, Inc. and Verizon, Inc. have merged and will now be called Googizon. According to Googizon spokesperson Ishiro Honda, Googizon will be able to provide all of the top web and technology offerings for a fixed monthly price. The web and technology package will include:

Honda noted that in light of the recent acquisition of Myspace, FaceBook and Twitter, Google will include its new service Google Humanity. In addition, a Googizon customer will have access to twenty different websites:

  1. Fox News
  2. Google Today
  3. Amazon
  4. Google In The News
  5. The Heritage Foundation
  6. Home Shopping Network
  7. A Christian Nation
  8. God Hates Fags and Jews (formerly known as the Westboro Baptist Church)
  9. Alaska Today
  10. Home Schooling with Sean Hannity
  11. Google In The Future
  12. The Bill O’Reilly Show
  13. The John Birch Society
  14. Real Americans From Real America (formerly known as SarahPac)
  15. Jews for Jesus
  16. Understanding History (formerly known as “The Newt Gingrich Show”)
  17. The National Rifle Association
  18. Small Minded But Proud
  19. The World of Beck, Limbaugh and Coulter
  20. Clean Coal Technology

When asked if current internet users will be upset because they will no longer be able to access the 109 million other websites that currently exist, Honda said, “Users will be so thrilled by the superb download speeds made possible through this vast reduction of web clutter that they will not really miss those other websites.”

But not everyone is thrilled with this merger. Protesters associated with the soon to be terminated website MediaMatters.org (the MediaMatters website will not be part of the Googizon web package) were outside Googizon headquarters handing out mimeographed letters of protest. “This is an affront to the free speech rights of every American citizen,” said MediaMatters spokesperson Wadda Bunch. “However, we will not be deterred. We are already planning a Peoples’ Internet that will use standard BBS software. We are hopeful that the FCC will grant us access to the Internet backbone but, if necessary, we can make it accessible to anyone who has a dial-up modem.” The American Federation of Teachers voiced concern that so many educational resources will disappear and will be replaced by a very narrow perspective of history and the world in general. However, Googizon Education Coordinator Ima Dolt said that the Googizon offerings have been thoroughly vetted by the prestigious Texas State Board of Education who approved the final list of websites.

Some have questioned the legality of the merger and have asked the US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to block the merger until a full investigation has been completed. Both departments are expected to complete their reviews by the end of the week and many believe that the merger will not be blocked. Though two months away from assuming office, President-elect Palin, seen with Dick Cheney as they boarded a private jet, was showing enthusiasm for the merger.  “We Alaskans love mergers as do all real Americans,” she said.

On a related topic, see this video:

]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/news-from-the-not-too-distant-future-7584.htm/feed 3 http://jeffsaddmind.com/news-from-the-not-too-distant-future-7584.htm Paper-Based Planning for the ADHDer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/0rnLiQS0lQ0/paper-based-planning-for-the-adhder-437.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/paper-based-planning-for-the-adhder-437.htm#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:11:26 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=437 The ADHDer’s difficulty with visualizing time, along with the (inevitable) boredom that comes with the task of planning, turns this activity into a dreaded nightmare. However, I’ve recently adopted (created, one might say) a multi-part system that has helped enormously with this boring but essential life task. It allows me to plan my days and weeks. It allows me to capture most everything that runs through my head (and that’s A LOT OF STUFF). And it allows me to feel like I’m on top of things.

FYI: The Fall 2010 issue of ADDitude Magazine is dedicated to my ADHD-inspired planning methodology. More information is here.

The Delta Planner – Your Life On Paper

There is no such thing as the perfect paper-based planner. Like any tool – be it a planner or a cordless drill – it’s only a useful tool if you consistently use it. So, over the years I’ve had DayRunners®, PalmPilots® and so on. (I wrote about this issue in 2007.) However, I seem to always return to paper. Putting something on paper – whether it is handwritten or printed from the computer – has a greater sense of “reality” than when it is only on (in?) the computer.

Some time ago, during my quest for that perfect paper-based planner, I came across The Delta Planner. It seemed a bit off-beat and that was probably part of the attraction. Unlike a regular calendar which may be read from top to bottom and/or from left to right, this calendar reads from the bottom up. When you reach the top you reach the end of the week. In the image below, Monday is at the bottom of the page, Friday is at the top. Saturday and Sunday are the two shaded squares towards the top left. The rest of the page is basically free space. Fill it in as needed. You can designate a space for your to-do list, for jotting down notes or  phone numbers or just about any information you need to record.

delta_planner1.jpg

The Pocket Diary

For a short period of time I tried to use The Delta Planner as a means of keeping track of projects and sales opportunities. That failed miserably. I could not pack all the information needed into the small boxes for each day. I then thought about having a section of the planner dedicated to projects and sales but, there can be five projects and fifteen sales opportunities all going at the same time. How was I to track it all? I decided to try a pocket diary. This is a small book with just ruled pages. It’s not a calendar. It’s not any sort of planner. It’s just a diary.1

A sample page is shown below. I date the entries and then leave space for notes. The notes are reminders of the next step for a particular project or sales opportunity.
open_book.jpg

What’s nice about the pocket diary is, well, it fits in my pocket. It’s small enough to go in a shirt or pants pocket.

closed_book.jpg

Ya Gotta Be Free

I believe that what’s made it possible for me to continue using these items is their free-form nature. The Delta Planner is, for the most part, able to be used in almost any way you want. The only constraint, and it’s a minor one, is the actual layout of the days. (You need to have some constraint in a calendar…or it wouldn’t be a calendar.) But the remainder is open for your use. You can adapt the open spaces of the page to whatever you feel you need (a to-do list? Sure…go ahead. A call list? No problem). The diary is also free form. No constraints at all. It’s also small and portable. I always have it with me and can always jot down thoughts and ideas.

  1. I was initially attracted to this pocket diary for, well, its aesthetics. Small, compact, easy to hold.
]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/paper-based-planning-for-the-adhder-437.htm/feed 3 http://jeffsaddmind.com/paper-based-planning-for-the-adhder-437.htm There Is No Time http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/t-ItEolu79c/there-is-no-time-the-end-of-the-middle-class-in-america-7531.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/there-is-no-time-the-end-of-the-middle-class-in-america-7531.htm#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:29:46 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7531

Arianna Huffington. The progressive movement needs you badly. They need you now. Your website gets an enormous amount of traffic. Please dedicate your entire website to your new book Third World America.1 Please get other progressive voices on the website. We need Ed Schultz. We need Tom Hartmann. And if we have to beat him over the head to make him see the errors of his past and to get him on a true progressive path, we need Bill Clinton. And we need Paul Krugman and we need Howard Dean and others.

Arianna. I am pleading with you. We need you to bring all these people together, to get them to talk as one voice. Tucker Carlson has a new website and Glenn Beck has a new website. They are lining up their guns. We must stand against them and against all the voices of ignorance and hate. We must stand up to Newt Gingrich and his new Contract On America. We must stand up to Bill O’Reilly. We must stand up to Fox News and Rupert Murdoch’s ongoing stupidification of the American people. We must stand in opposition to the brown shirt, lock-step Republican mentality that has destroyed the middle class. We must stand united in spirit, in voice, in economic and political and social policy. You have the power to bring these voices together.

As Lou Reed had said:

This is no time for Celebration
This is no time for Phony Rhetoric
This is a time for Action
because the future’s Within Reach
This is the time

Please, Arianna. This is the time. We need you to act now.

P.S. Arianna. I have one more request. Please remove from your website the charlatans who claim that people are immortal. Please remove all the nonsense of Hollywood movie star druggies from your website. You are diluting your message by placing your message next to such nonsense.

  1. See also the list of eleven books predicting the collapse of the middle class.
]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/there-is-no-time-the-end-of-the-middle-class-in-america-7531.htm/feed 4 http://jeffsaddmind.com/there-is-no-time-the-end-of-the-middle-class-in-america-7531.htm He Said / She Said: Examining the ADHD Life – Answering Questions About ADHD, Parts I & II http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/S4Iqty4M5qc/he-said-she-said-examining-the-adhd-life-answering-questions-about-adhd-parts-1-and-2-7353.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/he-said-she-said-examining-the-adhd-life-answering-questions-about-adhd-parts-1-and-2-7353.htm#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:37:24 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7353 The latest in the He Said/She Said series is a set of questions with short, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant answers. After viewing the videos, you may want to tackle answering the questions and providing your answers in this post’s “comments” section. After you post your comments, you may want to see what some others said on Zoë’s blog.

Enjoy the videos!!

Part I

(Having trouble viewing the video? Click here and watch it on YouTube)

THE FIRST 9 QUESTIONS:

  1. Which famous ADHDer would you most like to be?
  2. Which is your least favorite ADHD symptom?
  3. Which is your favorite ADHD symptom?
  4. What’s your ADHD anthem?
  5. What’s worked best for you in treating your symptoms?
  6. How is your ADHD a curse?
  7. What’s the worst thing anyone has said to you about ADHD?
  8. How is your ADHD a gift?
  9. What would your life be like if you didn’t have ADHD?
Part II


(Having trouble viewing the video? Click here and watch it on YouTube)

THE LAST 8 QUESTIONS:

  1. Do you have a favorite ADHD outfit?
  2. Do you have a favorite ADHD book?
  3. Do you have a favorite ADHD activity?
  4. What do you do when your ADHD is getting the best of you?
  5. How do you slow yourself down if you are going at hyperspeed?
  6. What are your “comfort” foods?
  7. Have you ever read something about ADHD that was so bizarre it was funny?
  8. Describe ADHD using no more than five words.
]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/he-said-she-said-examining-the-adhd-life-answering-questions-about-adhd-parts-1-and-2-7353.htm/feed 4 http://jeffsaddmind.com/he-said-she-said-examining-the-adhd-life-answering-questions-about-adhd-parts-1-and-2-7353.htm The Diabetic Life of the ADHDer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/EEYKFu61U1I/the-diabetic-life-of-the-adhder-7483.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/the-diabetic-life-of-the-adhder-7483.htm#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:21:01 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7483 No. I am not diabetic. But I want to draw a parallel between the diabetic’s and the ADHDer’s life.

If a diabetic does not admit they have diabetes, if they try to live like everyone else by eating sugars and carbs, they will literally kill themselves. To survive as a diabetic you need to alter your diet. You need to, in many cases, take insulin. But you can lead a normal life but it is a normal life defined-for-a-diabetic. You can eat certain foods and you need to avoid certain foods. You need to watch your body’s signs for changes that may require food or drug changes. You can be like everyone else…but different.

If an ADHDer does not admit they have ADHD, if they try to live like everyone else by emulating their behaviors, they will metaphorically kill themselves. To survive as an ADHDer you may need to alter your diet and, in many cases, take drugs. But you can lead a normal life but it is a normal life defined-for-an-ADHDer. You can engage in certain activities and you may need to avoid certain activities. You need to watch your body’s signs for changes that may require food or drug changes. You can be like everyone else…but different.

]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/the-diabetic-life-of-the-adhder-7483.htm/feed 5 http://jeffsaddmind.com/the-diabetic-life-of-the-adhder-7483.htm Your Precious Email…Bah…Humbug! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/CVjaRHq321g/your-precious-email-bah-humbug-7394.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/your-precious-email-bah-humbug-7394.htm#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:18:38 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7394 You know those 8,422 precious emails that you are saving in your Inbox?

Do you really need them?

Sure, you feel attached to them. You want to hang on to them because they represent fleeting moments of thought, of time but, really, do you need them? They just clutter up your Inbox and create anxiety.

“OMG!! What if I lose those emails? I gotta back them up!!” Before you know it you are spending more time on backing up those emails instead of doing productive work, like responding to new emails and deleting old ones.

Yes, that’s what I said…DELETE THOSE EMAILS!!

“But, but, but…they are important,” you reply.

Are they really that important? Are they so precious that you must keep them forever?

Well, you don’t need to keep them forever and I will show you how to figure out which emails to keep and which ones to delete.

I will share this secret with you FOR FREE!! That’s right!

For a limited time only, YOU can get my Inbox cleaning tips FOR FREE!!

This offer is NOT available in stores!

Are you ready?

Here’s the secret.

You really ready?

Here goes…..!!

The Secret To An Empty Inbox

If the email you are saving is important then you should print a copy of it. If you don’t think it is worth printing then it is not worth saving.

That’s it!! Simple, isn’t it? And you may be wondering, “Why does this work?” Well, when you print out the email you are likely to think, “Hmmm…that ink cartridge cost me X dollars and, damn it, I burn through ink quickly. Do I really need to print this out?” Printing the email forces you into a cost-benefit analysis. If you are willing to spend a few pennies on an email to print it out, then that email is probably worth saving so, don’t delete it.

But print it out anyway.

As a backup.

Just in case.

]]> http://jeffsaddmind.com/your-precious-email-bah-humbug-7394.htm/feed 9 http://jeffsaddmind.com/your-precious-email-bah-humbug-7394.htm Latest Issue of ADDitude Magazine Is Dedicated To Jeff’s ADD Mind http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JeffsAddMind/~3/9Q74zsWIH_g/latest-issue-of-additude-magazine-is-dedicated-to-jeffs-add-mind-7208.htm http://jeffsaddmind.com/latest-issue-of-additude-magazine-is-dedicated-to-jeffs-add-mind-7208.htm#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:40:47 +0000 Jeff http://jeffsaddmind.com/?p=7208

Proposed design for the cover of the Fall 2010 issue of ADDitude magazine

I’m pleased to announce that the entire Fall 2010 issue of ADDitude Magazine is dedicated to Jeff’s ADD Mind. In this issue you’ll find my article, “My New Normal,” appearing on page 31 of the magazine (it also ends on page 31). It offers a look at my eclectic (some might say “gifted!”) organizational methodology. To round out the issue the editors included some fluff pieces written by lesser known authors such as John J. Ratey, M.D. and Ari Tuckman, Psy.D., MBA. If you decide to purchase a copy of this issue, I’ve been told that this issue has been shipped to the bookstores sporting a mundane cover design. (See below)

And Don’t Forget! Check back soon for my cross-country tour schedule. I’ll be reading selections from my one page article.

The ridiculously uninteresting cover design they used for the Fall 2010 issue

P.S. Despite the tongue-in-cheek nature of this post, I really do have an article on page 31 of the Fall 2010 issue of ADDitude Magazine.

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