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Randy Henderson ADHD Coach

Late-diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type). I work with college/university students, creative folks, and life-long learners of any age. We hold a space of compassionate curiosity where you can uncover your deep strengths and tell a new story of yourself defined by your best moments, not your inner critic.

Featured Post

What does “careless mistake” mean to you?

ADHD resources worth sharing Hello friend! I've been thinking about how neurotypical and neurodivergent folks might understand the concept of a “careless mistake” differently. When I hear an error called a careless mistake, it hits me fully in the chest. It feels like a judgement, an accusation. What do you mean I didn’t care? I cared very much. In fact, I was making every effort not to make a mistake. I think neurotypical folks fall into an “if I can do it, then you can do it” assumption....

ADHD resources worth sharing Happy wintertime! I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but for the past few years I’ve set an intention, choosing a word or phrase as a reference point. It’s like a compass heading I can check if I feel like I’m beginning to drift or become unmoored. This year’s intention is to “thin the beets”. It’s my reminder to take imperfect action. Its origin? At Thanksgiving, I had to gather some beets from my father’s garden for our harvest meal. My dad is a host for the...

ADHD resources worth sharing Hello friend! Imagine being stuck in worry, rumination or choice paralysis and being able to take 10 or 15 seconds to pause, and upon your return, you can see from a fresh perspective. Wouldn't that be awesome?? Yes, it would. It would be some awe. Awe — that feeling of goosebumps and chills that might make us lift our heads, with tears collecting in the corners of our eyes, and whisper “woah” — can help us unstick from self-judgement and return to curiosity....

Hello friend! Picture this: summer afternoon, a tall glass of lemonade, and my July newsletter to spark your inspiration. Let's talk accountability! Accountability Is Not a Dirty Word We have an unhealthy relationship with accountability. As ADHD folks, we’ve had more than our fair share of being “held accountable” for things we’ve forgotten, deadlines we’ve missed, emails we wish we hadn’t sent, and projects we haven’t finished. It’s no wonder that we could be repelled by the idea of...

Greetings my friend! In this month’s newsletter, I want to share with you a free resource I’m making available for download on my website. A short while ago, I saw this post on an ADHD support group I follow: “Whenever I try to start reading a book, I read a few sentences, my mind wanders, I forget what I read, I go back. I give up. Someone suggested audiobooks. I listen, my mind wanders, I forget what I heard, I go back. I give up.” A couple days later, I saw a similar question in another...

Greetings my friend! A topic that comes up frequently with my coaching clients is how to stick to routines, and what to do when we’ve fallen off track with using a tool (planner, to-do app, alarms, etc) — especially if that tool was working well for us in the past. There’s often a lot of self-judgement for this lapse. Why can’t we just stick with the system that was working?? Why does it seem to get stale? In this month’s newsletter, I want to offer an alternative to the usual emphasis on...

Greetings my friend! Where has the time gone!? It's nearly April! What makes us feel urgency? How do we anticipate the future? How do we motivate ourselves to do the things that will benefit us in the future (but not now)? How do we decide which of those things will be most important? How do we focus on those things and avoid distraction? This list of questions sounds a lot like the list of executive functioning skills from my second newsletter. What ties them all together? Dopamine. We hear...

Hello friend! Are you feeling well rested? If you were given an extra hour in your day (magically you got 25 while everyone else got 24) would you use it for activity or would you use it for sleep? If I was asked this question a few years ago, I’d have been firmly on the side of squeezing in more activity. Honestly, I resented my need for sleep. I put it off as long as I could and got by with as little as possible — although, once I let myself get to bed, I didn’t want to get up. I hit snooze...

Happy New Year my friend! The new year often prompts us to imagine transitions and fresh starts. A question that I frequently hear is “what jobs are best suited to ADHDers?” Are you thinking about a change in your job? Are you wondering how other ADHDers and neurodiverse folks have found employment that suited them? I’ve been listening to the podcast How’d You Get THAT Job?! from Understood.org. So far they’ve interviewed 38 different neurodiverse folks about their jobs and career paths...

Why are the holidays so stressful with ADHD? - Part III Welcome to the third and final installment in our trilogy of (re)sources of overwhelm during the holidays! Revisit Part I here and Part II here. Emotional Overwhelm For many of us, gathering with friends and family is a cherished part of the holiday season. Feeling the belonging of our family and community is a vital part of our well being as a social species. And perhaps because so much of our sense of personal safety is tied into our...