AKI ONOZUKA-EVANS
Productivity Coach for Professionals with ADHD

What is ADHD/Executive Function Coaching?
How ADHD and Executive Function Coaching Works
Coaching sessions are collaborative, goal-driven, and tailored to each client’s unique traits and needs. During sessions, the coach and client work together to:
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Identify specific challenges, such as staying organized, prioritizing critical tasks, or managing time effectively.
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Delve into why, what, where, and how these challenges hinder their productivity at work, exploring hidden performance blockers that may be affecting their way of working.
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Develop implementable strategies for the coming week that help clients navigate through challenges, complementing the client's strengths.
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Set realistic, actionable goals for the following session. Depending on the effectiveness, we adjust strategies and we keep working on the next challenges.
Beyond tools and tactics, coaching offers ongoing accountability and support. This partnership ensures that clients stay motivated, adapt to new challenges, and sustain the changes they’ve made over time.
Strategies & Tacics
ADHD tactics must be customized to meet each client's goals, job responsibilities, and circumstances. A one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient for professionals because it fails to account for the individual's unique needs, such as job type and characteristics, standard practice in the industry, and evaluation criteria and standards. It is also critical to identify the source of pressure and challenges of the client's specific position at the workplace. ADHD strategies must be practical and specific to the client's existing skillset. Each client's job requirements and skills needed to advance their career must be considered.
As a strength-based coach, I aim to help clients maximize their productivity levels while minimizing unnecessary efforts. I pay special attention to the client's character and strengths to do this. To achieve this, we adopt a three-pronged approach encompassing ADHD coaching, executive coaching, and customized individual business skill development. By combining these aspects, I offer holistic coaching that empowers clients to manage their careers effectively and continue to grow.
The Benefits of ADHD Coaching
Research shows that ADHD coaching can significantly improve executive function skills, manage ADHD traits, revamp self-esteem, and strengthen coping skills to improve the overall quality of life. Clients report enhanced focus, improved productivity, and greater confidence in managing their daily responsibilities. For professionals, these gains can translate into tangible career success, such as building required competencies, leading complex, multifaced projects, and excelling in leadership roles.
Improved Executive Function Skills
Executive functions—such as time management, organization, prioritization, sustained attention, and self-regulation—are often areas of difficulty for individuals with ADHD. Coaching helps clients develop these essential skills by introducing personalized strategies and tools to:
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Stay on top of tasks and deadlines by having a better prospect of project timelines and clarity of tasks and responsibilities.
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Organize and prioritize physical tasks and psychological needs and coordinate steps and time to reach goals.
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Break down overwhelming projects into manageable steps and manage mental overload to minimize emotional shutdown.
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Understand what's necessary to complete tasks and act proactively for potential challenges. Sequence multiple tasks and delegate responsibilities while managing expectations and unforeseeable changes.
By building these skills, clients gain clarity and control, making daily challenges more manageable and achievable.
Enhanced Productivity and Focus
Maintaining focus can be a significant hurdle for those with ADHD, especially those they are not so excited about, in demanding environments where there are countless disturbances. Coaching addresses this by identifying these distractions and implementing practical solutions, such as structuring work sessions, using tools like task managers, and building systems to regain focus after interruptions. Clients often find themselves achieving more in less time, leading to more confidence in their productivity under pressure.
Reduced Overwhelm and Stress
ADHD often creates a sense of chaos, leaving individuals feeling stuck or unsure of where to start. Coaching can help reduce overwhelm by helping clients gain clarity on tasks to prioritize, create routines and processes, and tackle procrastination by understanding their current behavioral and thinking patterns. With these systems in place, clients can better manage their workload, stress levels, and emotional state to proactively avoid such circumstances where they used to shut down.
Increased Confidence and Self-Esteem
Living with ADHD can affect self-esteem, particularly when individuals feel they aren’t meeting their potential. ADDers experience frequent rumination that hurts their emotional state. Coaching helps clients reframe their mindset, recognize their strengths, and address their challenges in a constructive way. Over time, this helps them build resilience, improves self-belief, and creates a more optimistic outlook on their capabilities and ongoing growth.
Career and Leadership Development
For professionals, ADHD coaching can lead to significant career advancements. By addressing these challenges, coaching equips clients to:
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Lead teams with clarity and effectiveness.
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Manage multifaced complex projects and expectations of stakeholders
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Set and achieve long-term career goals and navigate themselves through unexpected changes in plans and circumstances.
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Understand the leadership style they can excel in by continuously searching for opportunities to build broader skills and capabilities.
This focus on professional growth helps clients succeed in building stronger leadership skills and explore opportunities to keep growing in given circumstances.
Sustainable Habits for Long-Term Success
One of the most valuable aspects of ADHD coaching is the ability to analyze challenges and continue building habits that last for their lives. Coaching focuses on creating systems and routines that are tailored to individual strengths and adaptable to changing circumstances. These skills are built through multiple sessions, and ultimately, clients become confident in dealing with new challenges they may face even after the coaching process is complete.
Improved Emotional Well-Being and Balance
By addressing the root causes of ADHD-related struggles, coaching also contributes to emotional well-being and motivation creation. Clients often report improvements in their work-life balance. Also, most clients leave sessions excited because they have found something new about themselves and now have new tactics they can try for that week. Every time they face a challenge, they can try out new strategies, turning hardship into opportunities. After having to deal with their challenges for some time, this brings such excitement to their lives, seeing an opportunity to change.
Unlock Your Potential
ADHD coaching goes beyond managing symptoms—it’s about creating meaningful change. From boosting productivity and confidence to achieving personal and career goals, the benefits of coaching extend far beyond immediate outcomes. With the right guidance and strategies, individuals with ADHD can turn challenges into opportunities and unlock their full potential.
Is ADHD Coaching Right for You?
If ADHD-related challenges are holding you back from reaching your potential, coaching can provide the structure, support, accountabilities, and strategies needed to move forward. Whether you’re looking to improve productivity, advance your career, or create a more balanced life, ADHD and Executive Function Coaching offers a path to meaningful change.
A Life-Changing Investment
ADHD coaching is not just about managing challenges—it’s about unlocking potential, building confidence, and creating meaningful change. Whether it’s mastering focus, advancing a career, or fostering better relationships, the benefits of coaching extend far beyond immediate outcomes, helping clients live more fulfilling, balanced, and empowered lives.
How Is Coaching Different From Therapy?
Coaching focuses on how you want to become in the future and how to get there. Under the client's definition of "goals," we explore what that exactly entails to reach their goals. Sessions aim to identify multiple milestones and explore how to build skills to go through the milestones. The discussions are more tactical and solution-oriented. On the other hand, therapy focuses on the past and the present. Therapists aim to understand how past experience has affected a person's current state of emotions.