For an ADHD professor, it can be incredibly difficult to balance all your responsibilities. You might be able to take care of your teaching and administrative tasks just fine – those have deadlines after all – but it can be incredibly difficult to prioritize your writing as well. At least, that’s what it was like for Victoria, an ADHD academic I got to work with as her ADHD writing coach.
When we started working together, Victoria was frustrated with her writing process and struggled with managing her time. Over the five months we worked together, however, she saw tremendous progress, resulting in the publication of an article on a much faster timeline than she was used to.Â
The challenges of an ADHD professor
In our free 1-hour intake meeting, Victoria was very clear on what she wanted to achieve—and it might sound familiar to you! She wanted to publish academic articles more regularly, work towards a book project, and achieve full professor status. But it was tough to still believe in her ability to do so. Her writing happened in bursts of productivity followed by long lapses in which she focused on other areas of her academic work. As such, she felt she was not consistent enough to actually achieve the publication resumé she dreamt of. What’s more, she felt it was challenging to break down big writing projects. Instead, she’d bounce between the big, overwhelming picture, and the detailed, sentence-level view. There was a lot going on, so she didn’t know where to start.Â
Our first session
Luckily, I did! Using the tried-and-tested coaching technique of “simply asking questions,” I quickly saw core problems and potential solutions starting to emerge. On a practical level, we soon realized that Victoria’s perfect writing time would be the mornings, so we started designing a morning writing practice for her. We also went through all the projects that were percolating in the back of her mind to choose her number 1 priority. But during this investigation, I realized something else as well: the relationship Victoria had with her writing practice had turned sour. And I realized that healing that relationship really had to be our priority moving forward.Â
A soured writing relationship
There are too many ADHD academics and other ADHD writers who are in the same position. Their writing practice has become marked by shame and guilt, which aggravates all the common ADHD challenges when writing – time management, impulse control, motivation and all the other executive functions.Â
But motivation is really key here. I have a whole toolbox full of motivation strategies. But none of those will work if your relationship with your writing has turned sour, or even toxic! It’s nearly impossible to motivate yourself if even thinking about your writing practice makes you feel shame and disappointment with yourself. Despite popular belief, we aren’t actually motivated by negative feedback. But more on that in the YouTube video below.Â
Finding joy in the writing process
Instead of telling Victoria to just “try harder,” a strategy that all of us have tried at some point in our lives, I started helping her find joy in her writing process. To do this, I recommended some of my favorite strategies to her.Â
- First, we changed her writing location, so it would be more comfortable for her and would be a place she wanted to spend time.Â
- Then, we started removing some of the pressure, by setting clear writing goals that were input-based, rather than based on output. For Victoria, this meant writing 30 minutes for 5-6 days a week. If she finished her 30 minutes, it didn’t matter much she had written or edited. She had achieved her goal.Â
- We also worked on making her perception of her writing practice more positive, by coming up with ways to playfully engage with the topic of her priority project.Â
- In our biweekly coaching sessions, we focused on celebrating successes, making sure to acknowledge everything she achieved on the way.Â
And these strategies worked!
From defeated to delighted: Victoria's breakthrough
Victoria’s university had agreed to pay for our sessions for only 5 months. And when this period ended, she was a radically different person than the one I had met months earlier.Â
Not only had she submitted her article to two journals, we had also designed her schedule in such a way that she could make progress on a book as well. What’s more, her writing practice was transformed. In her own words:Â
Working with Susanne has transformed my relationship with writing in significant and measurable ways. When I first started working with her, I had a sour relationship with the academic writing that is required of me for my career. I was struggling to find enough motivation and focus to write an article about a research study I had completed. I was feeling very defeated. Working with Susanne over the past 5 months, though, I have not only completed the article but, more importantly, I have created a daily writing practice in which I engage joyfully.
And it didn’t end there! Only a month after our 5-month journey together ended, she sent me another email, in which she wrote:Â
I just wanted to share my good news with you! I received an email this morning from the second journal I submitted my article to and I got "accepted with revisions"!!!! I can easily do the revisions they are requesting! I'm so delighted that this project will finally be published!  I just wanted to share my good news with you, since you played an important part in my writing of the article—and in creating an ongoing change in my relationship to writing! The work you do makes an important difference!
It’s emails like these that make my work so fulfilling.
Improving your writing practice as an ADHD professor
It’s incredible to realize that in only 5 months Victoria went from being a defeated ADHD professor to being delighted, joyful, and having an article accepted for publication! What’s more, she now has a sustainable writing practice that will help her develop her future projects with much more ease as well. Though we will do more work together in the future, these five months were enough to see a radical transformation in both her career outlook as an ADHD professor and her self-esteem. What’s more, she’s now much more capable of contributing to her institution’s rankings, by producing articles at a much higher pace!
That really is the transformative effect of having an ADHD writing coach in your corner. Between the regular check-ins, personalized strategies, and just having someone to bounce ideas off of – academic coaching for ADHD professors can help you become just like Patricia: full of excitement about not only writing, but also your academic future.
What’s next?
If you’re an ADHD academic struggling to find joy and success in your writing, I invite you to download my free guide, “ADHD Writer’s Toolbox.” This guide will provide you with practical tips and insights to help you transform your writing journey, just like Victoria did.
You can download your free toolbox here.
I’ll talk to you soon!Â
Warmly,Â
 – Susanne
