Fidgeting is recurrent movement of one’s extremities, especially the hands and feet. In essence fidgeting is a condition of restlessness. Fidgeting is common in children and some adults with ADD or ADHD. People with ADD or ADHD tend to fidgety more when they are bored, tired, or overwhelmed. When one is fidgety, he or she tends to become more impulsive. There are ways to help manage fidgeting for restless hands. There are fidget devices.

One device more suitable for an older child or adult is the spin or worry ring. The main band is stationary but there is a secondary band on top that rotates 360 degrees forward or backward silently. This ring can be played with while on the phone, in a classroom, in a meeting, or basically anytime one feels restless. There are other ways to decrease fidgeting, using a squeeze ball or squishy ball, a koosh ball or any soft, squeezable, stress hand exerciser.

Sometimes when we feel restless we can be more impulsive in our words and actions. Often spurting out answers to questions asked in class or in a meeting, without first finishing our thought process to evaluate the relevancy of our thoughts. The words fly out before we realize what we are saying is not what we mean to say. This impulsiveness stemming from restlessness can cause academic and business embarrassment.

There are several ways to prevent this from happening. One way to slow down our verbalization of unfinished thoughts is to carry a bottle of water to our classes or meetings. When sitting in a class or meeting and the urge to pop out an idea happens, we must stop, take a sip of water and repeat what we want to say in our head. Then do this process a second time. If after drinking the water, and rethinking what we want to say we still feel our thought is relevant to the topic at hand, then go ahead and share your idea with the classroom or your co-workers.

Another technique, similar to the first one is to bring an apple or piece of fruit to your class or meeting, if acceptable. This time take a bite of your apple, and while chewing review your idea mentally. Then after you finish swallowing the bite of apple, if your idea is applicable feel free to verbalize to your group.

One more way to slow down the runaway thinking outside the box train is to keep a pad of paper and a pen available at all times. When thinking out side of the box, like many ADD or ADHD people are inclined to do, one needs a way to provide a checks and balance system. Instead of blurting out an idea to a crowd of people, we must validate the relevance of our idea.

By writing our thoughts onto paper first, we can be sure we visualize completely the idea that is currently flying through our mind at warp speed. ADD or ADHD people tend to think outside the box and have different problem solving techniques than one without ADD.

ADD people have a tendency to really think out side the box. It is not that our thinking and or ideas are not relevant, as many times our initial idea is an awesome precursor to an incredible solution to a difficult concept or problem. When our mind jumps into gear and begins to process several thoughts simultaneously, we know we are onto something good.

ADD and ADHD people are some of the most creative human beings on our planet. Many inventors and artists are or were ADD or ADHD. ADD is a gift that many people neglect to accept, but instead choose to use ADD as an excuse for not being accountable for behavior unrelated to ADD.

Although there are difficulties that accompany ADD, in reality ADD is simply a different way of processing and learning. One that may take someone a few years to figure out how best to work with ourselves, but once you identify your personal system you will know nothing can stand in your way, and anything is possible.