Discover how Turbo Thinkers© can leverage mindfulness for enhanced productivity and well-being. Learn to harness neurodiversity, challenge assumptions, and embrace uncertainty using Dr. Ellen Langer's research. Explore practical strategies to reframe challenges, shift perspectives, and actively notice new things. Unlock your potential for creativity, focus, and intentional living in this guide to mindful productivity for neurodiverse individuals.

Last week, while visiting the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), I was immediately captivated by the exhibit "John Scott: Blues Poem for the Urban Landscape" in the Great Hall. Scott's monumental woodcut prints, which capture the very soul of New Orleans, confronted me in a stimulating and thought-provoking way. As I studied his work, I couldn't help but notice how his creative process embodied the concept of "spherical thinking," a non-linear approach to simultaneously looking at the past, present, and future. This idea resonated with me as a Turbo Thinker, and I began to see parallels between Scott's artistic mindset and the way our minds work.

To create each print, Scott carved into the surface of large sheets of plywood with a power saw and routing tools, creating lines and forms that are impressionistic yet visually imposing. The composite nature of these prints exemplifies Scott's jazz-inspired explorations of spherical thinking. Like a jazz musician, Scott improvised, riffed, and layered elements to create a cohesive whole that tells a story — in this case, the story of New Orleans.

Here in New Orleans, I often hear the question, "So you're basically a therapist, right?" Well, actually, no, I am not. As a credentialed ADHD coach, I work in collaboration with therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other medical professionals.

There has been a significant amount of recent buzz surrounding executive function skills. You may have come across discussions about them in relation to children facing difficulties in school, resulting in behavioral issues in the classroom and struggles to complete homework.

Every brain develops in its own unique way. Executive function skills develop throughout childhood, usually with metacognition as the last in early adulthood, but so many factors come into play including genetics and environmental factors.

As Turbo Thinkers©️, we have a tendency to overcomplicate things. Our ideas grow larger and larger, and our to-do list becomes longer and longer. Our minds race ahead with countless possibilities, both positive, leading to Fantasyland, and negative, delving into The Dark Side. Furthermore, we often believe that we must execute every step on our own, thinking that anything less would be considered cheating. But how true is that?

What if we shifted from believing we have fixed brain traits to focusing on dynamic processes that lead to growth and development? What if we moved from labeling people with generic terms like ADHD and instead focused on specific conditions unique to each individual? What if we explored the protective factors of resilience to embrace and build upon our strengths?

Most of my clients have achieved incredible success. Although the outside world sees them as high achievers, they often suffer from imposter syndrome. They feel that they do not deserve success because either it came too easily, “by sheer luck” they would say, or because they have masked the inordinate amount of effort, discomfort and even pain they endured to get there.

Woe is me, I have ADHD. I get it. Yes it’s hard... and? You've done hard things before. You can do them again. Yes. You may, at times, have been driven by the fear of consequence. But, if you think back to your most meaningful accomplishments, they were most likely driven by genuine interest and curiosity. Turbo Thinkers thrive on novelty, fun, and intrinsic motivation. They are turned on by just the right amount of challenge combined with a sense of intrigue.

In several of my sessions last week, my clients discovered the importance of communicating boundaries. Some are back in their childhood homes with their parents, some are visiting relatives, and others are expected to attend a plethora of holiday events while hosting a house full of guests. As Turbo Thinkers, we can get overwhelmed by these situations and fall back into automatic pilot, which feels like crisis mode.

As Turbo Thinkers, we spend a lot of time living in our heads. Because of our super creative imaginations, we fabricate fascinating fables and alternate realities that are just so believable. In fact, we are sometimes like floating heads, with no connection to our physical bodies, as our minds race into the future and experience catastrophe, rejection, and pain in all sorts of ways. We fly through different scenarios of doom, like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, only none of the endings are happy.

For us Turbo Thinkers, a little bit of meditation can go a long way. I like to think of my meditation practice like sitting with a cute, curious, cuddly puppy. The puppy sits in front of us, then wanders away. It can waddle or pounce or spring, but it’s so cute! It’s in its nature to wander off. We gently pick it up and bring it back. It will surely wander off again, and we simply pick it up and bring it back. Such is the Turbo Thinker’s mind. It wanders off.

Some of my clients thrive in social settings. They love to meet new people, spark conversations, and connect with others. Socializing is a mechanism that satiates their curiosity. However, some of my clients experience social anxiety instead. The idea of a holiday party gives them the heebie-jeebies from head to toe. The negative thoughts related to the event can become so intense that they can literally make themselves physically ill in order to not attend.

This time of year provides even the most disciplined of Turbo Thinkers with deadly distractions and temptations. There are so many delicacies to taste and sip, so many presents from which to choose! Our devices push content at us that convinces our brains that we should be spending money and lots of it… because look at how much we can save! Since when did Black Friday and Cyber Monday become a commercial bonanza starting the day after Halloween?

According to Dr. Russell Ramsay, anxiety is the #1 emotion experienced by people with ADHD. He defines it as: “the intolerance of uncertainty.” What can we do when our brain type is consistently inconsistent? We certainly don't enjoy the feeling of worry, so our #1 emotional issue is how to tolerate discomfort.

I just came back from the grocery store and I’m still reeling from the displays. The towers of cranberry sauce and stuffing mix one would expect, but also Christmas chocolates and eggnog! All of them are shouting at me, “The holidays are here! And you aren’t ready!” My Turbo Thinking brain has gone into overdrive: the meals, the parties, the presents, the travel, the people, the pets, the food, the drinks, the kids, the money, the house, the work, the things to fix, the things to buy, the exercise, my parents, their health, my doctor’s appointment, cancer….Bam!

I often notice common themes among my clients over the course of the week. This week, besides guilt over Halloween candy consumption, I have heard both panic and shame over not being productive enough. There are only two months left! The holidays are around the corner! I should be doing more! Where does that “should” come from? Who says so? How is that judgmental voice of your inner critic serving you? What do you even mean by “productive”? By whose standards?

Last month I got to catch up on a lot of reading, both fiction and nonfiction. I finally got around to reading Circe, by Madeline Miller. Set during the Greek Heroic Age, it is an adaptation of various Greek myths, most notably the Odyssey, as told from the perspective of the immortal witch Circe. In case you didn’t notice, our society seems to be obsessed with the idea of immortality too, as we seek eternal youth. But we are human and we are mortal. Fortunately, with wrinkles comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes gratitude. We can be grateful for every moment that we do have on this Earth.