Marketing With ADD - How Do You Manage It?

It's easy to lose sight of the big picture, especially when you like to take on a new challenge. Why not set up some goals -- if the "profit" site makes "x" amount of money, then you can fool around in another niche, or set up a new blog. Don't forget that making money isn't all that easy, look at how many people are still trying to find ways to do it. Maybe you can do a WSO on the ones that you use to make some cash. Just a thought...

cheers

Another thing to consider is that if you have sites making money you could scale them up. I find too that I like to go chase shiny things a lot too which can kill the focus bug. Some things that help me are keeping lists. Usually I hate listkeeping but lately it has come in handy. I know I have a certain amount of freetime available so I make lists for things I know I want to accomplish on my days off. You could do simple lists like plan a day or possibly two days out of the week working on scaling up your profitable sites and then maybe 3 days out of the week starting new projects. Something like that can help you stay focused and you can even break it up-2 days new stuff 1 day old stuff 1 day new stuff 1 day old stuff etc to break the boredom.

Another idea if you really don't want to work on the ones that are bringing you money anymore is flipping them. That way you don't have to feel guilty about neglecting them if you really have no desire to work on them anymore. Hope that helps :-)

Yeah, I've tried the list keeping thing but most of the time I forget I made the list and forget where I left it and when I go lookin for it, I find something that distracts and forget what I was looking for and go on and start doing something else.

Today alone, I got a great idea, according to me, started working on and it and now I have left it midway and decided to edit around something I started last week. lol

I am considering the flipping option, I have over 100 domains now because of my "I have a great idea, let me buy a domain for it" impulse buying. Most of time I remember which sites I have when I get sales from them. Every day I am reminded of a domain I have that I forgot I had lol

You give those of us with ADD a bad name!

I have one word for you: spreadsheets.

I live and breathe spreadsheets, otherwise I wouldn't know what I have and where it's at in terms of development, advertising, revenue, etc.

Oh - and more coffee. It's the drug of choice for self-medicating ADDers.

I think you might need to get medicated. You sound like you have adult ADD. Those this happen to you with other things that are NOT related to IM? Do you have trouble following multiple tasks? You obviously have a focus issue.

Although it may seem like something funny, ADD is a real chemical imbalance in the brain and you may need medication in order to focus. Who knows maybe it is not that serious but you should not disregard it. And BTW txconx, coffee really isn't a remedy for ADD, it can actually worsen it. Then you will end up having ADHD (caffeine will get you hyper)!!!

I can't do spreadsheets, they drive me mad but I have to deal with them on a daily basis. I wouldn't be able to organize myself around spreadsheets.

I can do multiple tasks at the same time, the more the better imo. It does happen with stuff that is not IM related. especially when driving! I am driving and suddenly find myself spaced out. Haven't had an accident, ever! *knocks on wood*

About coffee and txconx, I find that I can focus more after a cup - just had one 10 minutes ago and already wrote 2 articles!

Ugh, I made that mistake once. I abandoned a project I'd slaved over, and was JUST STARTING to make some money from it, in favor of another shiny business model because I thought it'd be more lucrative. When that didn't pan out (long story), I pretty much lost my mojo for a long time.

Now, though, with more resources at my hands, I can take this project I've been working with and scale it towards - SQUIRREL!!

OMG my greatest obstacle to success has always been my inability to remain focused.

Here is a good article for those seriously afflicted with online ADD

Short Term Goals – The Lifeblood of an ADD Blogger | Scribble Scratch

Sharing this "ADD" characteristic, I have never bought into the "disorder" part. People are simply different. Sure a researcher can say that it's the result from a different chemical composition in the brain - but "different" vs. "normal" is extremely subjective. People have different blood types and Rh factors. Because a significantly higher percentage of the population has a type O positive type vs. those with an AB negative type, does that make the AB- folks "not normal"? Maybe to the O+ folks. I have an extremely difficult time accepting any diagnosis of any "condition" based primarily on behavioral observation. Hell, half the medical and research community can't even decide if it really is a "disorder". There are theories that even exist that it may be an evolutionary characteristic that led to adaptive behavior that allowed humans to excel as a species... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...tool=pmcentrez

The World Health Organization says that it's not a psychopathology, but that it represents inadequacies in an educational system or dysfunction in a family unit. http://www.euro.who.int/document/MNH/ebrief14.pdf

Some researchers make a direct link between ADHD and creativity. http://www.healthcentral.com/adhd/c/...dhd-creativity

Others, like James Chriss in his book, Social Control: An Introduction, claim that it's completely invented.

I'm a hardcore student of Neuro Linguistic Programming, and when you start examining the cognitive theories behind representational systems and environmental frames, it's easier to reframe the discussion as an issue of how one manages their own mind within an environmental context.

Really creative, highly aware people can be easily distracted because of their natural curiosity and inherent tendency (and gift) to abstract and chunk up or down on any object level.

Using a drug to alter someone's representational system based on the theory of what is normal in chemical imbalances could be doing someone a favor, or destroying the next Malcom Forbes or W.A. Mozart - depending on the expectations and demands of their environment and the purpose and goal.

Why, the "experts" in the medical community can't even decide which drug approach to take. Some say that it should be a stimulant... others say that we should use anti-psychotics to inhibit dopamine. Neither have shown to be a "magic bullet" and ALL of the drug-related treatments pose tremendous risks of other side effects and consequences.

I am thankful that my parents never medicated me, but instead had the wisdom to put me into a different educational program in early childhood (Montessori) and continued to help me balance my environment to optimize my natural abilities and support my deficiencies. Isn't that the essence of parenting? Hell, let's quit doing that crap... screw that... it's too hard... give em' a pill.

"Johnny is getting bad grades because he won't read his textbook and talks all the time"

Maybe Johnny is an auditory, experiential social learner being forced to make his brain function in a manner that isn't appropriate for his representational system and sensory acuity.

So, let's medicate Johnny so he behaves like all the other kids and gains acceptance within OUR standardized system of what we theorize is the normal, acceptable frame of learning and order.

Hogwash.

It's frightening to me that a bright, curious child is usually diagnosed and medicated for "ADD" (or whatever the label du jour is these days... they can't even stick to a label) only after that child demonstrates "behavioral problems" within the context of a traditional, public education classroom setting. It's wholly subjective, and quite a spectre when we have public ed teachers, in all their illustrious koolade drinking, making diagnostic recommendations to parents and administrators based on their personal tolerance for classroom behavior and performance.

Does anyone even find it curious that the public policy of "No Child Left Behind" provides federal funding to school districts for students that become classified as "learning disabled" with a diagnosis of ADHD, and that the stampede to jam kids into the requisite IEP (Individualized Education Program) opens up funding only after the kid has been given a medical diagnosis and put into treatment... usually prescription pharmaceuticals marketed by for-profit corporations with one of the largest political lobby efforts in the US? If the solution is an Individualized Education Program, then why aren't we simply treating each kid as a unique individual, and building a unique system of support around them to enhance their natural abilities and support their deficiencies? Do we really need to drug our children when the entire problem is organizational in nature... and the end result of this policy proves it to be so?

Had I "been like all the other kids" I wouldn't have been programming mainframes at 8 years old and doing catalog automation programming consulting work at age 15 for a radio broadcast network. I would have been prescribed a drug, and quietly behaving in a normal public education cookie cutter stamping machine, quietly learning how to become a programmed robot in the government-industrial complex.

Someone's "ADD" is only an issue for the others who control a particular environment frame or context, and expect an orderly compliance to that environment. The individual with "ADD" runs into trouble when they're forced into an environment where their "ADD" negatively impacts their ability to meet the expectations established by those who control the environment. The proverbial square peg in a round hole... or something... The boundaries and expectations of that environment can vary, which can also be a determining factor in someone actually even being assigned the "scarlet letters" ADD... This angle is starting to gain a lot of interest, and has been the subject of other discussion in the psyche community. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...tool=pmcentrez

So, in a professional setting, if you don't own the company, it's hard to justify your intellectual tangents and demand that your employer provide you with an adequate support system that will not only maximize your creativity, but help you leverage the things that you do and discover for the profitability and benefit of the entire company.

Nope... it's deliver the expected results with the resources we provide you, within the system that we've established, or you cannot be a part of this organization.

And that's fine too.... if you're able to understand these things and find the organization or build your own that can benefit from your talents because there's an appropriate support system.

It's not so fine if you're unable to eat because you don't have a paycheck or can't deliver something to market that generates revenue.

For me, being keenly aware of my purpose at all times becomes very important. Building frameworks that support me are extremely important as well.

Answering the question, "Is what I am doing now a critical task in achieving my overall objective? Or is it simply to satisfy my own academic curiosity?", helps me constantly prioritize and delegate.

I know how to get a project started, build the appropriate measurement and management controls into the thing from the start... and then when to hand it off to let someone else deal with the monotony of day-to-day routine management.

Recognize your strengths and faults for what they are. Build a framework around you that optimizes your strengths, and supports your faults.

/rant

Whats great about Internet Marketing and having ADD, is that because I am actually doing and creating things I'm interested in, I can hyper focus on it. I can burn through reading about something I'm interested in and quickly learn the material, and then apply it. I can create products from ideas. Speaking of ideas, I have literally thousands of them, and the notebook to prove it.

When I get to details I am not interested in, such as API programming or something that does not really interest me, I outsource it.

I feel that my ADHD has helped me form the wealth that I currently have today.

One word: Adderal

From my ADHD friend, he told me that besides adderal, marijuana helped mellowed him down and helped him focus. That drug depends on the person and how they react to it.

But once again: Adderal

The upside to ADD is "Hyper focus," learn how to use it to your advantage.

One of the best brain foods for attention and concentration problems is fish oil. Not any old fish oil, though.

Cheap fish oils, for me at least, come with three major problems:

1) they tend to stink
2) they taste appalling
3) they give you 'reminders' all day (nasty, fishy burps)

A top quality fish oil has none of these problems. I can recommend Eskimo3.

For vegetarians, a suitable high quality flax seed oil such as Barleans is a great alternative.

Many brain related issues are do to omega 3 deficiency in the diet. Fish oil and flax seed oil are excellent sources of omega 3 essential fatty acids which are proven to be excellent for brain health.

Abdul.

It seems to me that more and more people are being diagnosed with ADD.

What a pile of horse sh*t.

Too many people believe what their doctor or pysychiatrist tells them about this.

I don't know why. Perhaps it makes them feel better being "labelled" somehow. Perhaps they wear it like a badge of honour or something.

Now don't misunderstand what I am saying.

Sure people may have trouble focusing or feel down or depressed or anxious or whatever.

Drugs don't solve the problem. They just mask the symptoms and don't handle the real causes.

There are a wealth of websites about this issue.

Don't forget that pyschologists and drug companies invent disorders so that they can sell more drugs.

Don't take my word for it, do your own research.

I am not trying to piss anyone off. If it does that is not the intention. I am trynig to help you.

Take it or leave it.

Sam

Check out Tellman Knudson who attributes his success to his ADHD and says it was an advantage ... that he gets more done than the average person because of it.

ADD - ADHD symptoms - ADD test

I've no personal experience so can't comment.

Good luck!