Break Through Your Walls of Awful With the Power of Reflection

Reflection is more than looking back. It can help us better understand ourselves, recognize patterns, make more intentional decisions, and navigate the challenges that can come with our individual neurodiversities.

But knowing we should reflect and knowing how to reflect usefully are two very different things.

The Five Ps of Reflection E-Book gives you a simple framework to get started.

In this free downloadable e-book, Brendan Mahan walks you through the Five Ps, a practical tool you can use to build greater self-awareness, strengthen emotional intelligence, and better understand the thoughts, emotions, and experiences that shape how you move through the world. The framework is just the beginning.

See where it takes you.

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About Brendan

Brendan has used his groundbreaking Wall of Awful™ model to help millions of people better understand themselves and the challenges they face so that they can accomplish their goals, both large and small.

Overcoming the Wall of Awful, Brendan’s first book, brings his model to the world with a degree of depth and nuance that he has never before shared outside of his coaching programs. It publishes September 1, 2026, from Balance.

LISTEN TO BRENDAN’S PODCAST

As host of the ADHD Essentials Podcast, Brendan has spoken with hundreds of experts in neurodiversity and mental health. His insightful questions, warmth, and intelligence have led to him becoming a highly regarded interviewer.

Brendan is a board member of the Men’s ADHD Support Group, and is the Director of Professional Resources for Calmer Con: Boston. He is formerly a member of the Influencers and Advocates Committee for the International Conference on ADHD. 

On the personal side, Brendan has been married to his wife since 2004 and is the father of identical twin teenage sons. He is a black belt in Kempo Karate, a comic book collector, avid D&D player, and he and his wife are reasonably-skilled West Coast Swing dancers.

Overcoming the Wall of Awful

A groundbreaking, practical guide to accomplishing your goals and thriving in life, written for people with ADHD, autism, trauma and anxiety.

Pre-order Your Copy Today
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Praise For the Wall of Awful

“Brendan Mahan gives language for something I see constantly within the neurodivergent community: how shame, dread, and old wounds pile up into emotional avoidance. Warm, science-grounded, practical, and unmistakably built for the ADHD brain.”

“Getting things done is rarely about the task itself. It’s everything wrapped around it: past failures, self-doubt, and the quiet pressure that builds over time. With The Wall of Awful, Brendan Mahan names the invisible barriers that make it difficult to begin and shows readers how to get unstuck with practical strategies that work with the brain rather than against it”

“’Overcoming the Wall of Awful’, is an awfully good and needed guide for living well for adults with ADHD and anyone else who sometimes finds many aspects of daily life insurmountable. In user-friendly ways Brendan Mahan distills a mix of professional and firsthand experiences and coping wisdom that empowers readers to take the next steps towards recognition, acceptance, and change that will improve lives, including yours.”

“Each chapter offers powerful insights about the bricks built into your Wall and innovative strategies for dealing with them. With helpful cheat sheets and appendices full of useful information, ‘Overcoming the Wall of Awful’, does more than what the title promises. It delivers the hope and solutions that neurodiverse people need.”

“Brendan is our guide to find both a way to climb our own personal Wall of Awful, and a path to move from stuck to thriving.”

“If you’ve tried all the strategies that should work but don’t, then ‘Overcoming the Wall of Awful’ is the book for you. Brendan Mahan not only helps you identify why you’re getting stuck, he offers the strategies, support, and compassion to get you going. As he says, this book will get you to the good things in life.”

“WHERE HAS THIS BOOK BEEN?! If you are a neurodivergent human, the term ‘The Wall of Awful’ doesn’t need much explanation, even if this is your first time encountering the phrase. We’ve all experienced it—that struggle to get started and do what we need to do. Now we have the instruction manual we have all been waiting for. Concise, compassionate, neurodivergent-friendly, and totally accessible.”

“This book brilliantly and compassionately breaks down how every one of us can develop our own Walls of Awful, irrespective of any one diagnosis. Even more, it offers practical tips to nonjudgmentally analyze our personal walls so we might create toolboxes to put a door in it, climb it, or smash it (only if we absolutely must)!”

“I’ve read plenty of books that explain why your brain won’t cooperate; this one really helps you get unstuck. The Wall of Awful finally gave me language for something I have been struggling with for years, and it gave me a way to finally deal with it.”

“They call it ‘writer’s block’ for a reason… almost every writer I know has experienced it, and has struggled with finding a way to address it. The Wall of Awful is a perfect metaphor and a simple, clear, even fun solution for addressing it. I’d share this with all my clients.” 

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© 2026 ADHD Essentials - Brendan Mahan