Faster than Normal

Peter Shenkman offers a refreshing reframe of the challenges of ADHD in this book, subtitled "Turbocharge your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain." Shenkman, a successful international entrepreneur, has identified his strengths and found solutions that help him be successful in work and relationship. Many tips are useful for anyone, with or without ADHD.

Notable Ideas in Faster than Normal:

"To truly thrive with ADHD, you simply have to have rules."

Messy Desk note: You need to have your own rules that fit your individual strengths and challenges. Shenkman's rules are pretty universal for any brain, but your specific strategies need to be tailored to you.

• Shenkman's Rule 1: Eliminate Choice Wherever Possible.

• Rule 2: Eat Well.

• Rule 3: Sleep Well.

• Rule 4: Exercise, and Do It Outside as Much as Possible.

"There are things in our lives we need to control, or else they will control us."

"Everyone has different triggers that result in either firing up their ADHD or causing them to do things that are self-destructive in some way. Focusing on what those are and learning strategies to avoid them can be a game-changer."

"Taking the time to be prepared is one of the best trigger avoiders there is."

"You can't control people. All you can do is control how you react to people."

"Focus on getting what's in your head out of your head by getting it done."

"Your goal is to set up your personal and professional life in such a way that you can avoid the negative things that can trip those triggers, while focusing on the positive ways of getting the chemicals our brains sorely crave."

Shenkman is a proponent of a tidy desk and "everything in its place" home to avoid distraction and eliminate choices for the ADHD brain, but this takes a lot of retraining if you aren't already tidy. Once you discover your Organizing Fingerprint, we can help identify strategies that work for your individual brain.