At First Glance, It Would Seem That Positive Thinking And Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Have Nothing To Do With One Another

But many of us with ADD develop negative thinking patterns because we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This negative outlook then makes it even harder for us to manage those challenges and move forward.

Practicing positive thinking allows people with ADD to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time making progress, and less time feeling down and stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns:

External Pressures Like Recessions, New Competition Or New Regulations Force You To Look At Your Products Or Services And The Processes Used To Deliver Them

You move into improvement and change mode because there is no choice.

But when things are going well, the external world isn't knocking hard on your door and no one in the company seems to be complaining, it is so easy to sit back, smile and enjoy. That is certainly understandable and maybe, for just a short period of time, a necessary rest period for the organization.

Perhaps the ultimate paradox about leadership is that it is both enormously complex and ridiculously simple

We all know it when we experience it. We can easily rattle off some leadership attributes and qualities. Yet describing one's own leadership philosophy requires that we take pause and assess ourselves. And that is not so easy.

I sum up my view of leadership in the acronym RESPECT:

Responsibility

A true leader accepts the responsibility that comes with the freedom to make decisions.

To me, leadership is about being responsible for the rest of what follows in RESPECT:

 Is There Time For Learning?

I was asked recently about how much time leaders should spend helping their people in a learning organization and the impact of learning time on "close to the bone" organizations. Of course this begs the questions, just what is a learning organization and what is a leader's role in one?

There are a number of definitions available for learning organizations but here are two that cover the core concept:

1.  "An organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself". (Pedler et al in The Learning Company: A strategy for sustainable development.)
2.  "Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together." (Senge in The Fifth Discipline)