When you were a kid, did you hear a lot of stuff like:
“She doesn’t work up to her potential.”
“You’re wasting your potential.”
“If you’d just apply yourself, you’d reach your potential.”
Guess what—that kind of message doesn’t help kids!
And my guess is that it sure didn’t help you, when you were an ADHD girl just trying to make it through the schoolday.
I invite you to stop worrying about wasting your potential.
In fact, stop thinking about “potential” at all!
This might be surprising, counterintuitive advice to receive from an ADHD coach.
But if you're an ADHD woman, my guess is that you picked up this idea—that you are a “person with potential” who is “wasting” that potential— in grade school!
When teachers, report cards, or caregivers described you that way.
“Potential” is probably a very painful stick that you have been beaten with, that you have beaten yourself with many, many times since your earliest childhood.
The thing is, those teachers and caregivers were ignorant about your true nature.
They didn’t know what ADHD was. Or if they knew, they didn’t understand that ADHDers have executive functioning difficulties, and “spiky skillsets.” That we shine brightly in some areas and really struggle in other areas, ones that might seem easy for a neurotypical person.
So, I invite you to lay down the “potential” stick.
Stop beating yourself with it.
Instead of thinking,
“Oh, I had the potential to be a concert pianist.”
“I had the potential to make a lot more money.”
“I had the potential to go to law school.”
“I could have gone to grad school.”
“I could have run that company.”
“I could have started my own business.”
…Start thinking about your goals.
Because the thing about potential is, did you even wanna do that stuff?
Did you WANT to be a concert pianist?
Did you wanna go to law school?
Did you want to run that company?
Etc. etc.
That's a really important question. Because all too often, we beat ourselves up about not meeting potentials that we don’t even want.
Now, if you DO want that stuff, then great!
Then, instead of those things being potentials that you are or are not living up to…
Those things become goals.
And the thing about any goal is that if you can dream it,
You can strategize about it.
You can get help with it.
You can make incremental progress toward it.
You can even live it right now, in small ways, to prepare yourself for what it’s going to feel like when you achieve it fully.
If you’re sick to death of beating yourself up, may I suggest a different strategy for achieving your dreams?
Work with a coach, like me!
I create safe space for you to dream big.
I help you release old stories that are sabotaging you.
Together, we strategize about your next steps.
And then we manage roadblocks that come up along the way.
ADHD women who work with me find the courage to:
- Leave marriages that weren’t working for them
- Find new, way more lucrative jobs
- Step into leadership roles
- Publish books
- Start their own businesses
- Set up flexible, EFFECTIVE household routines
- Feel greater pride in their parenting
- Get into prestigious grad schools
- Unlock golden handcuffs and walk away confidently
- Revamp their work lives so they’re way more satisfying
Do you have a dream?
Write me back and tell me about it!
I read every email.
And if you’re ready to take concrete steps toward realizing it,
Book a free Discovery Call with me
And let’s find out what coaching can do for YOU.
Warmly,
Emma