Paddling Upstream: Build an ADHD Dream with Relentless Intent

by Mark Mills

Have you’ve ever watched your intentions evaporate between “I’ll do it today” and “Why can’t I just do it?”

Rest assured, you’re not lazy. You’re paddling upstream.

Paddling Build an ADHD Dream with Relentless Intent will become one of the top self-improvement essentials for people who want real change without pretending it’s easy and without some high-level guru giving academic advice that even neurotypical people have trouble implementing.

This book is self-help AND growth. It’s a book for the brilliant, exhausted, often-misunderstood mind, especially attention deficit disorder adults (ADHD/ADD), whether diagnosed or not. If you’ve lived with executive dysfunction and a lifetime of starting strong then stalling out, this book meets you with equal parts honesty, humor, and hard-won hope.

Mark Mills addresses what so many people quietly burnout, inconsistency, shame, and the fear that you’re “failing at life” because he has carried those demons, too. Then he gives you something sturdier than motivation - relentless intent - a practical way of thinking that helps you keep showing up. You’ve heard lots of self-help and motivation buzzwords. When have you heard of relentless intent?

The author, maybe like you, grew tired of motivational books, managers and directors, and well-meaning friends and family saying, “just try harder.” So, this isn’t one of those books. It’s a book about developing follow-through by focusing on your dreams. It’s about building a life that fits your brain rather than the other way around that everyone else seems to teach. Each chapter is about a ten-minute read describing one doable stroke at a time.

If you’re looking for books that help you make yourself better, you have a deeply spiritual way of looking at the world while not overly religious, and you want to pursue serious goals while taking the world less seriously, you’ve found the right place.

Inside, you’ll find bite-sized reflections, practical perspective shifts, and memorable self-improvement quotes to help feeling like executive dysfunction is a character flaw and start working around itTurn setbacks into school, failures into missed basketball shots instead of believing they are verdicts convicting yourself of unworthiness. You can exit the self-shame spiral.Create traction when motivation disappears by building tiny, repeatable steps into a habit that actually sticksRebuild trust in yourself after years of “almost,” “not yet,” and “why can’t I?”Stay spiritually grounded without feeling boxed into a specific tradition or belief systemPursue a big dream and a busy life at the same time without burning outIf you’re tired of paddling harder while drifting backward, this is your reminder that you’re not broken, and you’re not alone. You can learn to work with your mind, not against it. Work with your dreams, not trapped inside them. Build the kind of steady persistence that lasts.

Pick up Paddling Upstream and start building your ADHD dream with relentless intent … today.

599 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 9, 2024

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