Scattered, Focused, Done — Reimagining Productivity with ADHD

Scattered, Focused, Done — Reimagining Productivity with ADHD


ADHD Adults Who Take These 5 Steps Handle Mistakes Better

July 30, 2021

DESCRIPTION:
Not all mistakes are made equal. Learn how ADHD adults use these 5 steps to better handle the 4 different types of mistakes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:

* There are four different types of mistakes.
* How you decide to respond to your mistakes depends on your preferences and the type of mistake.
* Just because other people think you made a mistake doesn’t mean you did.
* Your ADHD, of course, may be contributing to the mistakes you make.
* You can learn how to reduce some types of mistakes.

RESOURCES:
BOOK:
The Happiness Trap
Blog Post:
Do You Want to Get Rid of Your Negative Thoughts and Feelings? 
Websites:

* Mindset Works
* The Happiness Trap

TRANSCRIPT:
00:00
ADHD adults make mistakes, just like everyone else. You do or say things that produce unwanted or unintentional consequences. So how can you best handle these inevitable mistakes, as well as minimize the occurrence?
You’ve tuned into Scattered, Focused, Done – Reimagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD adults, like you, who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills, to be able to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m glad you decided to join me today on this journey to re-imagining productivity, with ADHD. So you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.
00:57
I know you may be listening to this podcast because you want to make fewer mistakes and I’ll get to that, eventually. While that may be one of your goals and something I help my clients with all the time, it’s also important to be comfortable making mistakes. Otherwise, you may be playing it too safe and not taking the actions you need to reach your goals.
According to Eduardo Brinceno, co-founder and CEO of Mindset Works, there are four types of mistakes.
A stretch mistake is one in which you could not have foreseen the consequences because you’re reaching beyond your current capabilities. This isn’t a bad thing. If you’re learning and growing, you need to reach beyond your current capabilities, right? Unless of course, you decide to only operate in your comfort level. Stretch. Mistakes are only problematic then if you continue to repeat the same mistake. You can course correct. Perhaps by upgrading your skills in whatever areas you made the mistake,
02:08
Then there are those, he calls the aha moment mistakes. You achieved what you wanted only to decide or find out later it was mistake. Typically these happened because you didn’t know any better. You know, like when you offer unsolicited advice to someone who really doesn’t want it. Oops… Of course, it’s no longer a mistake if you continue to do this.
The third type of mistake that ADHD adults find the most frustrating are sloppy mistakes. You know, like when you put in the wrong time for a meeting because you’re too distracted when they announced the time in another meeting. And then you end up missing it. These are the ones you can probably reduce by learning new strategies.
The last type of mistake Brinceno calls the high stakes mistakes, ones where the results can be potentially catastrophic. These are the ones of course you want to avoid at all costs. While these may take quite a bit of your executive functioning capacity to avoid,