Next Level Transition Consulting

Failure is part of the learning process. Don’t be afraid of it, embrace it. The most important thing to do is to get back up again. Confucious said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” I read recently that some companies actively look for employees who have great failures in their backgrounds along with great successes. The rationale is that these are people who are willing to take risks and who have the flexibility and the capacity to learn from their failures. It’s not fun to fail though, and it’s hard to…

Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. —Victor Frankel I love Victor Frankel’s quote, but it is true? Many diverse thinkers, including me, struggle with negative thoughts and emotions. Learning disabilities, autism, depression, ADHD, and other brain differences can make every day functioning more challenging for us. But can we learn to be more positive? Should we try? Some research has been done to try to determine if we’re born with negative or positive…

What is “normal”? For years I believed that a normal person is one who does not need extra help. As a diverse thinker I have needed a lot of extra help. The equation was simple: I need extra help, therefore I am not normal.  And therefore, I am worth less. Only broken things need to be fixed. This creates a terribly ironic, unproductive cycle for diverse thinkers. We often do not want to use the coping strategies that could help us because we want to feel “normal”, but it is using the coping strategies that will help us function more…

As a diverse learner, you will, at times be a challenge to the people you interact with regularly; your co-workers, romantic partners, friends, family, supervisors, business partners.  Being a challenge isn’t unique to diverse learners……everyone is a pain sometimes. However, we tend to make mistakes that others might view as careless or lazy, but are actually the result of the unique way our minds process the world. We may make these mistakes fairly often, even though good coping strategies can help to minimize their frequency and consequences. We will always have gaps in our functioning.  Learning disabilities, autism, and other…

When speaking to managers or co-workers about what you need to learn, remember to focus on the way you learn, not the way you don’t. Follow these helpful tips to get the help you need to perform at your best. 1) Emphasize your learning style, not your learning differences 2) Stay away from negative terms (e.g., can’t, won’t, not able, bad, etc.) 3) Speak using affirmative terms (e.g., can, will, I do, good, better, etc.) What to say: I learn best when I am given clear examples, and sometimes, I need to write things down. What can I do to…

Diverse thinkers are people who see the world with a creative perspective unrestricted by neuro-typical convention. We think differently. We operate differently. We create differently. In short, we fill in the gaps that typical minds leave empty. Learning differences, ADHD, autism, mental illness, and physical differences are our strength, not our weakness. Through our struggles, we are forced to ask hard questions about who we are, what we are made of, and what we are willing to do to be successful. We can use this to create a thoughtful and meaningful drive to actualize change, to stay motivated to put…