Structured Success

@structuredsuccess.ca

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ADHD Coach & Academic Strategist | Guiding ADHD, autistic, and neurodivergent clients through lived experience | they/her | #AuDHD | www.structuredsuccess.ca

Artistic recreation of sinosauropteryx, a small dinosaur with brownish red feathers down it's back and alternating bands of white and brown feathers down it's tail. Photo credit: Julius T Csotonyi/Science Photo Library
Page one of the worksheet. Instructions read "for each sense below, think of specific, concrete examples of sensory experiences you find enjoyable, calming, or comforting." There are boxes for each of the following senses: Visual, Auditory, Olfactory, Tactile, Gustatory, Proprioception, and Vestibular. Additional comment on the bottom of the page reads: Try this page first without any cues or prompts. Once you feel stuck or unable to think of any more, move to the next page to find more options for your list.
A black lab, border collie mix with a black coat and white belly, sits like a human on a black sofa. Her tongue is sticking out just a little like the big doof she is.
Reddit post on the mildly infuriating subreddit titled "I forgot I had a pack of butter in my pocket so when I left work and reached for my keys this was the result" with a photo of there house and car keys slathered in butter
Instructions 1 Braindump! Write down what you’d like to accomplish or what drives you. These can be things to do right away, soon, or eventually. Example: An unsorted list of a small number of long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals, including: Win a Nobel Prize, Buy a house, Do a long run, save money, swap drinking pop for water 2 Sort! In the top box list the most aspirational items; the ones that will take the longest or feel the biggest. Use the bottom box for specific actions or steps you can complete in the short-term, and use the middle box for everything that isn’t far away, but needs some working up to. Example: A sorted list of a small number of long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals, including: Long-term: Win a Nobel Prize, Buy a house Mid-term: Do a long run, save money Short-term: swap drinking pop for water 3 Connect! Look at how the different goals relate. Connect goals that go together to create themes or groups. Example: A sorted list of a small number of long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals with arrows connecting goals in the same group. Including: Group 1: Swap drinking pop for water, and do a long run Group 2: Save money and buy a house Group 3: Win a Nobel Prize, Buy a house
Three trees are displayed. One with the long-term goal of "buy a house," the mid-term goal of "save money," and the short-term goal of "call bank about investing." The second with the long-term goal of "run a marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes," the mid-term goal of "do a long run," and the short-term goal of "swap pop for water." The third has the long-term goal of "get a bachelors degree," the mid-term goal of "apply to University," and the short-term goal of "update academic record"
Three trees are displayed. One with the long-term goal of "buy a house," the mid-term goal of "save money," and the short-term goal of "call bank about investing." The second with the long-term goal of "run a marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes," the mid-term goal of "do a long run," and the short-term goal of "swap pop for water." The third, which only has the long-term goal of "win a nobel prize" is crossed out
One of the groups from the previous steps is laid out on top of a picture of a tree. The long-term goal "Buy a House" appears on the canopy of the tree. The mid-term goal of "Save money" appears on the trunk, and the Short-term goal is blank. Beside the tree, three boxes describe the placement of the different goals. Long-term are the fruits of your labour, you have crowning achievements because the whole system is strong. Mid-term goals are your pillars, they keep you stable so you can flourish. Short-term goals are the roots or actions you can take right away. Just like a tree's roots, these actions feed your larger goals.
A sorted list of a small number of long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals with arrows connecting goals in the same group. Including: Group 1: Swap drinking pop for water, and do a long run Group 2: Save money and buy a house Group 3: Win a Nobel Prize, Buy a house
A sorted list of a small number of long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals, including: Long-term: Win a Nobel Prize, Buy a house Mid-term: Do a long run, save money Short-term: swap drinking pop for water
Example: An unsorted list of a small number of long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals, including: Win a Nobel Prize, Buy a house, Do a long run, save money, swap drinking pop for water
An overwhelming cramped page of text with hundreds of ideas, projects, and goals written down
A collage of the 5 pages of the worksheet, with the title page full size, and the other four pages 1/4 size. For a downloadable version, follow the link at the end of this thread.
A stylish finch from the finch app, with rainbow sunnies and gender fluid flag shit, holding a journal, wearing noise-cancelling headphones
Two panel comic. First panel, a girl excited announces "Okay~ I just took my meds, time to be productiv-" Second panel, two hours later: the same girl sitting in a chair, feeling locked in. "Just one more TikTok..."
A faded circle in the centre reads, with four beneath it. One reads "Cognitive Flexibility" the rest are faded and see-through
A faded circle in the centre reads, with four beneath it. One reads "Working Memory" the rest are faded and see-through
A faded circle in the centre reads, with four beneath it. One reads "Attention Regulation" the rest are faded and see-through
A faded circle in the centre reads, with four beneath it. One reads "Inhibition" the rest are faded and see-through
A circle in the centre reads "executive functioning" with four faded, see-through circles below that.
Shocked pikachu face
Bluesky posting box with "I know that f" followed by NOTHING
A very busy google calendar, colour-coded with multiple overlapping events
CAMH's mental health toolkit for the neurodivergence category with one option: "I'm supporting a neurodivergent young person"
Curious fox at the roadside
Arya Stark stepping out from rumble, fire, and ash: alive.
Screenshot from Weather Canada's Air Quality Index showing both an air quality warning and a reading of 10+ or Very High Risk
Mourning Cloak Butterfly, shortly after emerging from it's chrysalis, waiting for it's wings to set
Bart Simpson, in detention again, writing lines of "I don't have to do all of it to make progress."
A fluffy grey and white cat gently packed in an open suitcase.
Worksheet Page 4. It has the Five Zones: Regroup, Stop, Watch, Slow, and Go!, with blank space to fill-in examples of emotions you associate with each zone and your needs in that Zone
Zone 5) Go! I am happy, calm, at peace, curious, or accomplished. I need to Enjoy the moment by, for example, following the dopamine, pursuing a goal, or doing preventative self-care
Zone 4) Slow. I am understimulated, bored, sick, tired, sad, or depressed. I need to give myself kindness by, for example, consulting my dopa-menu, stimming, stretching, accepting slow progress.
Zone 3) Watch. I am stressed, worried, anxious, on edge, or lonely. I need to stabilize my mood by, for example, doing a body scan meditation, slow/gentle movement, or practicing opposite action.
Zone 2) Stop. I am angry, impulsive, scared, or panicky. I need to bring my energy back down by, for example, box breathing, cold exposure, or intense movement.
Zone 1) Regroup. I am melting down, furious, livid, in acute panic, or manic. I need to weather the storm, for example doing a grounding exercise, distraction, or retreating to a safe place.
The 5 Zones from the worksheet: Re-group, Stop, Watch, Slow, and Go!
Worksheet Page 1 Box 1) Pause. Notice that you need to check in with yourself Box 2) Reflect. Consult the chart and meet yourself where you're at Box 3) Act. Try one or more suggested actions. Even if you don't feel like it, it can still help
A teaser for a coming Zones of Regulation worksheet. Four pages, slightly purple with geometric blocks around key words. There's clearly writing but it isn't meant to be readable... yet
A note on Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria… Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) is an American diagnosis, but it isn’t given in the UK list of diagnoses. RSD includes being sensitive to rejection, and feeling an intense level of emotional pain when thinking that there has been a rejection. Whilst in recent years many people have associated RSD with ADHD, it is not thought that people experience RSD as a symptom of ADHD. However, we’ve just seen that people who experience ADHD are more likely to have had more experiences of rejection and criticism throughout their lives because of their ADHD symptoms. In addition, we know that people with ADHD usually tend to feel emotions more intensely than others. It therefore makes sense that people with ADHD might identify with the definition of RSD, but it won’t be given as a diagnosis in the UK.
Sonuga-Barke goes further, arguing that the entire decades-long quest for a biomarker has been “a red herring” for the field. He understands his colleagues’ desire to find airtight evidence for the biological nature of A.D.H.D. that could help them defend the diagnosis against those who would dismiss it altogether. “In the field, we’re so frightened that people will say it doesn’t exist,” he says. “That this is just bad parenting, from the right, or this is just a product of our postindustrial society, from the left. We have to double down because we’re terrified of what will happen to the kids who can’t get the meds. We’ve seen the impact they can have on people’s lives.” But the reality, he says, is that “there literally is no natural cutting point where you could say, ‘This person has got A.D.H.D., and this person hasn’t got it.’ Those decisions are to some extent arbitrary. That doesn’t mean that the suffering associated with A.D.H.D. is imaginary, it just means it’s on a continuum. And that is the conundrum — the empirical crisis — for A.D.H.D.”
My dog, Korra, sound asleep on my lap 30-seconds after climbing on top of me
Smaug, the dragon from the hobbit, laying on a pile of gold. Smaug is labelled "you" and the gold is labelled "ADHD Coping Strategies"
An American Pelican flying over a creek in central Alberta