Adult ADD: Memory Blues?
Author: Tellman Knudson And Stephanie Frank

If you have adult ADD, your memory may tend to be faulty. Your brain may tend to be real creative, and so sometimes you'll be so lost in your own thoughts and have no memory of things that happen to you. No memory of things that people said, no memory of things that people did, no memory of places that you've even gone to visit when people are referencing it, until they mention just the right thing.

Does this embarrass you? Don't let it! Realize the problem. You may be busy looking toward the future and so, you may not need to spend time looking back.

That's a personal choice, of course, and it's a way of dealing with your ADD. And you have to realize that if your brain is spinning at the speed of light, paying attention to many things all at the same time, some of that stuff just isn't going to stick.

So if you are an ADDer who has memory and recall problems, there are two things that you can do. The first thing is be okay with it. The second thing is, you can learn specific techniques in order to help yourself improve, enhance, increase your ability to remember the things you wish to remember.

Tellman took a course, that came from an infomercial on TV, called Mega Memory by Kevin Trudell.

He saw it as an awesome course, and it helped him to remember his grocery list, to start remembering names and faces, to start remembering dates, facts--anything he wanted to remember, where remembering was actually important.

Mega Memory uses an awesome system of pictures and body anchoring, but it really goes much deeper. Taking the course was a conscious choice for Tellman, and after he made the choice to improve his memory, it actually got better than the memories of many of the people he knows.

He has to consistently apply the techniques he learned, though. When he doesn't, his memory goes back to normal and his brain flies off in many directions at onces, and his ability to remember important things just goes away.

So what's the big deal? I don't know. If you make a lot of money, and are very successful, if you have a very happy life, are in great shape, and your memory stinks, is that such a bad thing?

Here's the thing: There are certain things that it's really important to remember, and then there are certain things that other people think it's important for you to remember. And you gotta understand the distinction about that.

Appointments and grocery lists are important, and so is where you're going when you leave the house. You need to be especially responsible when other people are depending on you, like when you make an appointment and someone expects you to be there.

That's just polite and good business. Always write appointments down. Never trust yourself to remember things like that.

It's important when you go shopping, too. Maybe you can retain about three or four things, but if your mind goes off in another direction, you may not even recall such a short list. That means you'll be going back out the next day to get what you didn't the day before, wasting time, wasting gas, ultimately wasting money. So, before leaving your house, write what you're going out to get down. Then, you needn't worry about remembering or making unnecessary trips back to the store.

It's really important that you make extensive use of notes for the important things.

We never rely on our memories for anything---ever. We write everything down in our daily planners or calendars and we use those to remind us of what we need to do, where we have to pick up, etc. It doesn't hurt to surround yourself with linear-thinking people, either, who can remind you to do things. Make it their job, whether they're friends, family, or employees. That works out well. There's not a thing wrong in doing that.

And again, if you need to improve your memory to get better grades, if you need to improve your memory in a certain aspect of your business, just go out and take a course on how to improve your memory and presto change-o, you'll be able to use it.

 

¶ 2:14 PM