Novelty & the Alter Ego

Disrupting ADHD can be fun when using novelty to get to where you want to go and accomplish what you need to do! What do I mean by Disrupting ADHD? Oftentimes we think ADHD is disrupting us from getting things done and that we need to manage ADHD. So instead we are finding ways to disrupt ADHD by using exactly what the ADHD mind likes to do! Novelty is where you find something new and shiny to catch the ADHD brain’s attention and use it as motivation.

One of my most favorite ways to use novelty is through the concept of creating an Alter Ego. A few years ago, I read the book, The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman and while I read it for my own learning on how to show up in situations in my life, I found that it was a great resource to help Emily. The idea behind the Alter Ego is that you outline who it is you want to be or how you show up in certain situations and so you bring your inner hero to the surface. When creating an Alter Ego, you name the ego and how that person shows up but you also add an action to the ego such as putting on glasses.

When we set this up for Emily we decided to order blue light glasses so when she put them on she became “Student Person”. I tried really hard to get her to give her alter ego a name but she was adamant that her ego was to be named Student Person! She doesn’t wear the glasses every day which allows for this ego to continue to have some novelty and not become just a normal activity. This trick to motivate Emily has been one of our successful tricks to Disrupt ADHD.