Hacking Your ADHD

This week I'm joined by Amy Marie Hann, better known online as The Activated ADHD Mama. Amy's an ADHD coach, community leader, and author who specializes in helping ADHD moms wrangle the boring, repetitive tasks that tend to bury us, things like dishes, meal planning, and remembering to call in prescription refills. In our conversation, we talk about why traditional productivity advice often doesn't work for ADHD brains and why these mundane tasks can create so much stress and shame. We dig into some of Amy's strategies that helps people build realistic systems to make those things easier and how starting with just three daily tasks can create stability when your brain constantly craves novelty. We talk about capacity, executive function burnout, and how to reframe self-care and rest as functional tools instead of guilt trips. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/253 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips Work on designing your routines for your actual capacity, not your fantasy capacity. Pay attention to your natural energy rhythms and give yourself permission to do less when you're depleted. It's often not about how long a task takes but about how hard it feels. Build self-compassion by celebrating when you complete these high-resistance tasks and noticing the effort you've put in. There is a distinction between rest and numbing, so we need to plan intentional rest that actually restores our energy. ADHD rest is often about lowering stimulation, not eliminating it. Try for something gentle but engaging enough that your brain doesn't go looking for a dopamine hit elsewhere.  

Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today, I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series, where we take a look at a single research paper—what it says, how it was conducted, and what practical takeaways we can find. In this episode, we're discussing a 2022 paper titled "TikTok and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study of Social Media Content Quality." It got quite a bit of coverage when it came out, and I thought it'd be good to revisit it—not because TikTok is back in the news, but because it raises some interesting questions about ADHD information online. Before we get started, I'd love to hear what you think of the Research Recap series. If you have feedback or a paper you'd like us to cover, head to hackingyouradhd.com/contact. New Research Recap episodes come out every other Friday. If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/HackingYourADHD If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/252 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey Team! Today I'm joined by Alex Bellitter, Senior Manager of Coaching at Shimmer, an ADHD coaching platform that's guided over 75,000 sessions. If this sounds a bit familiar, I also did an interview with Shimmer's CEO, Chris Wang, last year - but of course in this episode, we're covering a lot more and while Shimmer is mentioned it certainly isn't the focus of what we're talking about here. But back to who we're talking with today. Alex holds a Master's in Psychology and is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. She's passionate about building a neuroinclusive approach to coaching and helping people redefine what success looks like for their unique brains. We get into what burnout really looks like for ADHD brains and how the "grind it out" mindset backfires every time. Alex shares how resilience isn't about powering through and we also unpack the ideas of capacity, how we burn through future energy, and why rest, play, and flexibility are actually key parts of productivity. Plus, we get into ADHD inertia, smart scaffolding, and that tricky process of rediscovering your strengths when your brain insists you don't have any. If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/HackingYourADHD If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/251 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips We often overfill their schedules, not just with work, but with everything, because when we see "blank space," it can look like laziness or wasted time. But leaving unscheduled blocks gives us breathing room and time for the unexpected. This means it's important that we're making sure keep at least some white space on our calendars. We can fall into the trap of treating rest like a reward for finishing everything, but rest is part of the system that keeps us going. Taking time to rest isn't laziness; it's maintenance that we sorely need. External structure, such as reminders, alarms, notes, and accountability partners, can often help ADHD brains thrive, but a lot of us carry shame around using these supports. We're not "cheating" the system by building one that works for us. These scaffoldings allow us to grow stronger over time without collapsing under pressure by giving us the support we need.  

Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series, and we're talking about a paper called Creative Thinking in Adolescence with Attention Hyperactivity Disorder. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper, dive into what it says, how it's conducted, and try to find any practical takeaways for you. As this is a new series, if you have thoughts or feedback, let me know — you can head to hackingyouradhd.com/contact and send me a message. New episodes of Research Recap come out every other Friday. Alright, let's get on with the show. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/250 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey Team! This week I'm talking with Kara Cruz, a licensed marriage and family therapist and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional with over 15 years of experience supporting women through life transitions. Kara's work focuses on the intersection of ADHD and reproductive mental health—helping women navigate the complex terrain of hormones, identity, and self-trust. In our conversation, Kara and I dig into how ADHD symptoms can change and intensify across different hormonal stages - puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause - and what that means for real-life functioning. We also get into how ADHD in women often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as anxiety or bipolar disorder, and how learning to track your cycle, protect your energy, and build realistic routines can make a world of difference in your adhd management. And I want to emphasize that even if you don't have a cycle there is still a lot to get out of this episode, when I was working on the top tips for this episode I had to cut a few because there was just so much good stuff. I had a great time talking with Kara and learned a ton, I think you'll love this episode too. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/249 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips ADHD symptoms don't exist in a vacuum and hormones can crank them up or turn them down. And this can be greatly impacted depending on your stage of life or if you have a cycle, and then where you are in that cycle. Burnout is often a side effect of saying "yes" too many times when your brain and body are already maxed out. Protecting your energy starts with noticing when your capacity dips and giving yourself permission to scale back. It's important to create these boundaries so that you are protecting the version of you that you that you still want to be at the end of the week. A big takeaway from Kara's work is that your body will tell you what's up, tight shoulders, clenched jaw, fatigue, restlessness are all early warnings that your system's running on fumes. Building quick body check-ins into your day can help you catch burnout at a "three" instead of waiting for it to hit "ten." Managing ADHD isn't only about planners and meds; it's also about repairing your relationship with yourself and the shame that has built up from ADHD struggles. That means recognizing how years of undiagnosed or misunderstood ADHD may have shaped your self-esteem through shame and self-blame and learning to separate your symptoms from your worth. And with that last tip, I just want to remind everyone, yes, you are enough.  

Hey team! Today I'm talking with Nick Jonsson, a best-selling author, executive coach, and co-founder of Executives' Global Network. Nick is the author of Executive Loneliness: The 5 Pathways to Overcoming Isolation, Stress, Anxiety & Depression in the Modern Business World. His work focuses on helping leaders tackle isolation, burnout, and addiction while finding healthier, more sustainable ways to succeed. Now I realize that doesn't seem particularly ADHD focused, but I thought that this would be a good interview to take because adults with ADHD have a substantially increased risk of substance use disorders. And so while Nick's work doesn't specifically cover ADHD, there is still a lot that you can glean from it. In our conversation, Nick shares his own journey through loneliness, denial, and alcohol addiction, and how vulnerability and connection became essential tools for his recovery. We dig into practical strategies for opening up in safe spaces, replacing harmful coping mechanisms with meaningful activities, and creating accountability systems that support long-term well-being. We also touch on how social media and other modern habits can quietly feed into loneliness, and what it takes to build resilience against them. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/248 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips Frame recovery as replacement, not deprivation. When looking to break out of unhealthy coping mechanisms, be they alcohol, social media, or some other addiction, deliberately plan what will give you that same connection without the negative costs. Having planned positive alternatives like exercise, hobbies, or group activities can make all the difference in following through with your intentions. Watch out for the "gray zone" of addiction; you don't need to wait until hitting rock bottom to start changing habits. If you are questioning your relationship with alcohol, social media, or other damaging habits, take the time to reflect on what is really driving those habits. Remember, you don't have to make something worse before making it better. When you can, volunteering in support groups or mentoring others not only helps them, but it can also reinforce your own sense of belonging and purpose.  

Welcome to hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD Brain. And today I'm joined by Sky Waterson for our research recap series. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper, although today we're going to be looking at two and so it's a little something different. What we do is we try to see how the papers were conducted, try to find any practical takeaways and discuss what's going on in these papers. So the two papers we're gonna discuss today are Boredom, Proneness, and its correlation with internet addiction and internet activities and adolescence with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. And our second paper then is boredom, proneness and Inattention in Children With and Without ADHD, the mediating rule of delay aversion. So lots in there, lots to discuss. And we'll get all into that. And as this is a new series, I do wanna make sure that people know that. I would love to hear what your thoughts about it. Feel free to go to hackingyouradhd.com/contact and leave me a note about what you think about this series. I'd love to hear about this and I've really appreciated all the feedback I've already gotten for this series. So I'd love to hear more and make sure that I'm doing this in ways that you guys really like. Now, new episodes of Research Recap will be coming out every other Friday. And with that, let's get into this. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/247 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey Team! This week, I'm talking with Emmy-winning composers Kat Raio Rende and JP Rende, a husband and wife team who've written music for everyone from Elmo to the Jonas Brothers. But today we're talking about their project Aidee, a collection of songs designed to help kids with ADHD build everyday tools through music. I got a chance to listen through the album before the interview and it's honestly really great. Since having my own kids I've had the opportunity to listen to a lot of children's music, so I was pleasantly surprised with how good the songs actually are and how quickly the messages got into my head. Which leads right into what we Kat, JP and I talked about in the interview - how we can use music as a tool for memory and routines, why silly songs can be powerful ADHD strategies, and how turning everyday frustrations into sticky little tunes can lower shame and raise confidence. We also get into working with ADHD but also how to navigate working with a partner who has ADHD. We also touch on breathing exercises, dealing with shame, and the parenting tightrope of empathy and boundaries. AIDEE - Nothing Rhymes with Orange Full Album - https://www.youtube.com/@AIDEEHD Kat & JP website - https://www.earwormny.com/ If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/246 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips For our tips today, let's go through all those songs on the album, each of which is a tool in itself: Anything Else - Reminding us to check if there is anything else we need when we leave the house. Mad Mad (Jelly Belly) - which asks us to check in with ourselves when we're feeling dysregulated and seeing if maybe we just need to take a second to take care of our basic needs Put it Away - I think this one is pretty clear cut, don't put it down, put it away. Control - While one of the symptoms of ADHD is that we tend to be quite impulsive, we still have control over our actions - when you feel that impulse you can take a breath and decide if that's what you really want to do Learning More Everyday - We're a work in progress and while we'll have mistakes along the way, that's okay Breathe - when we're feeling overwhelmed it's important for us to slow down and take a second to breathe and get ourselves recenter And remember to hear all those songs just check out the Aidee Youtube channel - link in the show notes  

t for a few months now and it's definitely one that I'm always on the look out for new episodes. Rae does a great job with her interviews, asking both the basic questions to help ground the conversation, but also getting into the more nuanced issues that come with neurodivergence.  Today, I'm going to share an episode with you where Rae talks with Dr. Christine Hargrove, a Marriage & Family Therapist with a focus on neurodiversity and financial therapy that she uses to help individuals and couples understand how their symptoms affect their financial behavior. And honestly, this is a great episode - I know so many people who struggle with their finances, but more specifically, struggle directly because of their ADHD.   Be sure to subscribe to Hyperfocus with Rea Jacobson in your podcast player!

Welcome to Hacking your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper, dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try to find any key practical takeaways—stuff that you can actually use. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called Do Executive Dysfunction, Delay Aversion and Time Perception Deficits Predict ADHD Symptoms and Early Academic Performance in Preschoolers. And yeah, there's a lot in there, but don't worry, we'll be getting into all of it. Before we get started, I want to mention that this is still a new series, so we're going to be figuring out what works and what doesn't, and I'd love to hear what you all think of it. So if you have thoughts, head on over to hackingyouradhd.com/contact and let me know. I appreciate all the feedback I've already gotten, and we're definitely going to be working on organizing the episodes a little bit more to help you get the most out of every one. New episodes of Research Recap will be coming out every other Friday. And with that, let's get into it. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/245 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey Team! This week I'm chatting with Beverly Atkins, founder of Pauseture, an audio-based mindful movement platform grounded in the Feldenkrais Method. It's actually kind of funny, despite Feldenkrais not being particularly well known, this isn't the first time I've discussed it on a podcast, although the last time was on my old ultimate frisbee podcast nearly a decade ago. Anyway, in our conversation today, we discuss how Beverly spent decades unknowingly managing her ADHD by overachieving at work and ignoring her body. But we all know this story and how we all eventually hit a breaking point. Fortunately for Beverly, she stumbled her way into the Feldenkrais method. In the podcast, we dive into how these seemingly simple movements helped Beverly calm her nervous system, get better sleep, regulate her sound sensitivity, and develop an entirely new relationship with her attention. We get into how movement can rewire attention, why novelty is so important for ADHD regulation, and how she took her training and built an app that looks to specifically accommodate neurodivergent needs. I loved this episode; there's a lot of wisdom here about self-awareness, regulation, and finding what works for your unique ADHD flavor. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/244 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Novelty can help drive engagement and attention, especially when it comes to something repetitive like a daily practice. It's not about needing something stimulating in the flashy sense, but rather something that's engaging. Engagement can come in many forms, such as unpredictability, exploration, and just enough challenge to keep us curious. 2. That ability to move your attention on purpose is a skill, one that's often underdeveloped in ADHD brains. While it's easy to think of movement-based practices as purely physical, it's how you're paying attention during the movements that matters; strengthening your ability to shift and direct your attention. 3. Many mindfulness practices involve some level of stillness that doesn't always sit right with some ADHD brains. It's important to listen to what actually works for your body, rather than just what "should" work. If you find the stillness aspect of mindfulness makes you too agitated and restless, try something that has some kind of active aspect to it.  

Hey Team! This week, I'm talking with Rita Ramakrishnan, a seasoned strategic executive and leadership coach with over 15 years of experience. Diagnosed with both ADHD and Autism Spectrum during her undergrad years, Rita reframed what could have been limitations into strengths and now looks to uplift other neurodivergent women in leadership roles. Currently, she is pursuing a master's degree in neurodivergent leadership at the University of Pennsylvania, intensifying her expertise in coaching and organizational strategy tailored to neurodivergent individuals. In our conversation, we cover everything from identifying when you're dysregulated (and what to do about it) to designing teams that play to everyone's strengths. Rita walks us through practical tools like outsourcing strategically, tracking your energy to uncover strengths, and building a leadership charter so teams can work more effectively together. It's a conversation about leading authentically, creating systems that work for your brain, and how to advocate for your needs without falling into people-pleasing traps. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/243 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Try creating a Minimum Viable Routine - your baseline routine that consists of the bare minimum you need in place to function. The point of an MVR is to take those non-negotiables and lock them in, either with automation, outsourcing, or simple systems. That way, when ADHD throws a curveball, you still have the essentials covered. 2. Instead of only measuring productivity by what gets checked off a to-do list, try looking at how you feel after activities. Track when you walk away from a meeting or task feeling energized, and when you walk away feeling drained. 3. Rejection sensitivity hits hard for many folks with ADHD. A short email reply, a period at the end of a text, or even a coworker sounding rushed can feel like a personal rejection. Rita's advice is to deliberately separate yourself from the situation and try to depersonalize feedback. This reframing can help shift from identity-based thinking (like "I'm the problem") to more situation-based thinking ("this may be tough, but it's fixable").

Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD Brain.  Today I'm joined by Sky Waterson for our research recap series. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper and dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try and find any practical takeaways. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called Effects of Physical Exercise on Anxiety, depression and Emotion Regulation in Children with ADHD, a systematic Review and meta analysis. Yep. Lot, lots in there, but we're gonna get into all of it, so don't worry. Now before we get started, I do wanna mention that this is still a new series, so we're going to be figuring out what works and what doesn't, and I'd love to hear what you think of it all. So if you have any thoughts, head on over to hackingyouradhd.com/contact and let me know. I appreciate all the feedback I've already gotten and we've definitely got to work on some things to make sure they're a little bit more organized and so we'll see how that goes. We've been already implementing some of that and I am sure you're gonna love it. New episodes of Research Recap come out every other Friday. All right, let's get into it. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/242 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Today I'm talking with Danielle Elliot, a health and science journalist, documentarian, and host of Climbing the Walls, an investigative podcast from Understood.org digging into the surge in ADHD diagnoses among women—especially since the pandemic. If that sounds familiar, it's cause I did a number of ads for her show a few months back, and I just wanted to make sure that I mention that, since while I'm not getting paid for this episode, I have done work with Understood before and probably will be promoting more of their stuff in the future. Anyway, in our conversation today, we cover a lot of ground, from debunking the idea that no one knew women could have ADHD until recently, to how social media has reshaped the conversation, to why research on hormones and ADHD is still way behind. We also get into the everyday realities of living with ADHD, the default mode network, and why we need far more research into how ADHD shows up in women. It's a mix of science, lived experience, and the kind of practical reflection that can help you rethink how ADHD fits into your life. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at http://hackingyouradhd.com/241 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Instead of guessing when you've overbooked yourself, start tracking it like an experiment. For a few weeks, note each day you have social, professional, or mentally demanding activities beyond your baseline, then try and figure out how many consecutive "on" days it takes before you feel fried. 2. Downtime doesn't magically appear and needs to be scheduled on the calendar, or it often just gets eaten by other people's needs or whatever's loudest in the moment. If someone asks you to do something during that block, you can truthfully say you already have something scheduled. Treating self-care time as a legit appointment protects it from getting deprioritized just because it's "only for you." 3. A common ADHD trap is overestimating how awful or time-consuming a task will be, which makes it easier to avoid it. Try timing your tasks to give yourself actual data to challenge your brain's "this will take forever" narrative and can turn a dreaded job into something you knock out in a couple of minutes. 4. Consider hormonal factors when tracking ADHD symptoms, as hormones have a big influence on your ADHD symptoms, yet are often overlooked. Hormonal changes can affect focus, energy, mood, and even how well ADHD medication works. Tracking your symptoms alongside your cycle or other hormonal shifts can help you spot patterns and adjust strategies accordingly.

Hey team! My guest this week is Dr. Ute Liersch, a Chartered Counselling and Coaching Psychologist with over a decade of clinical experience and author of A Minimalist's Guide to Becoming Resilient. Dr. Ute specializes in helping adults navigate anxiety, ADHD, and burnout. Her therapeutic approach is integrative, drawing from modalities such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and mindfulness-based therapies. Beyond her clinical practice, Dr. Ute is an associate lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London, and holds a Fellowship in Higher Education. In our conversation, we explore the nervous system beyond the textbook fight-flight-freeze model, including how our nervous system shapes our mood, motivation, and even the way we see the world. Dr. Ute explains why so many of us with ADHD find that our sympathetic nervous system is permanently on edge and how we can work on rewiring that response. We also talk about perfectionism, attention types, and what resilience looks like in real life, breaking it down into actionable steps that fit into our schedules and ADHD brains. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at http://hackingyouradhd.com/240 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Our parasympathetic nervous system can get stuck in a permanent state of "go time." To help move our PNS back to a relaxed state, Dr. Ute suggests progressive muscle relaxation, where you are tensing and then releasing muscle groups one at a time so you can physically feel the shift from tension to ease. 2. Many of us have internalized the idea that there's something fundamentally wrong with the way we work, think, or exist. Dr. Ute suggests replacing this assumption of personal defect with curiosity: "If I weren't wrong, what would I need to feel safe?" This slight shift can open up room to problem-solve and tailor strategies to your actual needs. 3. We often talk about resilience like it's a fixed trait—you either "have it" or you don't. But Dr. Ute points out that resilience is about what you do, not what you are. It's built in small, repeatable actions that teach your nervous system and your mind how to recover from stressors. Resilience isn't about holding it together forever; it's about giving yourself enough space and recovery so you can keep going when you need it the most.

Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host William Curb and I have ADHD. On this podcast I dig into the tools, tactics and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain.  And today I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series. In these episodes, we take a look at a single research paper and dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try and find any practical takeaways. Today we're going to be discussing a paper called Time after time: Failure to identify and support females with ADHD – a Swedish population register study As this is a new series, we're going to be figuring out what works and what doesn't, and I'd love to hear what y'all think of it, so if you have thoughts, head on over to Hackingyouradhd.com/contact and let me know. I appreciate all the feedback I've already gotten and we're definitely going to work on making sure to get these episodes a little more organized and help you get the most out of every one. New episodes of research recap will be coming out every other Friday. All right, let's get on with the show. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/239 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey Team! My guest today is Dr. Jennifer Dall, a grief-informed neurodivergence specialist, ADHD coach, and educator with more than 25 years of experience. She's the founder of ADHD Holistically, and blends her expertise in education, yoga, and grief work to build a focus on the whole person to create personalized, sustainable approaches for neurodivergent brains. In our conversation today, we dig into how societal expectations and outdated research have kept so many women from being recognized as having ADHD. We explore the ways ADHD symptoms often present differently in women, the impact of masking, and the hidden toll of trying to "just keep up." Dr. Dall also shares quick, real-world strategies for tackling the everyday hurdles that come with ADHD, from taming your to-do list to breaking free of shame around getting help. adhdholistically.com If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/238 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Low-interest tasks like laundry, dishes, or paying bills often aren't just one thing. They're a series of micro-steps that might require you to switch gears, remember where you were, and re-engage. Each step is a potential stall point for an ADHD brain, especially if the task is competing with something more engaging. 2. Watch out for overstimulation shutdowns; ADHD brains can have trouble filtering out sensory input and mental noise. If we can learn to recognize when we're starting to hit sensory or mental overload, it makes it easier for us to take care of ourselves without burning out. 3. Tasks like keeping track of everyone's schedules, making sure the pantry's stocked, or managing the emotional climate of a household often go unnoticed, but these tasks are still real work and they're important. If we can give this work the weight it deserves, it can help us start seeing ourselves (or someone else in our household) as productive even when the results aren't as visible or tangible as other tasks.

This week, we've got the return of my friend Saman Kesh, an award-winning music video director and all-around creative force of nature, to talk about the wild and untamed internal landscape of ADHD productivity. Saman is known for his work with bands such as Kygo, Basement Jaxx, and Placebo. And most recently, his work directing Ed Sheeran's Azizam music video - if you haven't seen it, check it out, it's real cool. We get into the weeds of what makes a tool "sticky," how to lower both the hurdle and the stakes when you're stuck, and the role of friction in derailing our systems. Saman also shares how he uses routines, gamification, and a lot of self-reparenting to manage the inevitable paralysis that comes with big projects, tiny tasks, and everything in between. This one's much more of a chill conversation with friends about what works and what doesn't in their ADHD worlds. Azizam (Official Music Video) - Written and Directed by Saman Kesh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9ZpIKgyf0 If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/237 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Try reducing friction on your most important tools. Move your organizational tools (like whiteboards or to-do lists) somewhere visible and easy to access. Out of sight, really is out of mind with ADHD. 2. Lower the Stakes when a task feels overwhelming. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect or done all at once; if we can reduce the emotional weight of a task, it often also reduces the paralysis. 3. When feeling stuck, try spicing things up by using things like dice, tactile tools, or creative mini-games (like drawing a doodle or rolling a task die) to inject novelty and dopamine into your routine.

Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host William Curb and I have ADHD. On this podcast I dig into the tools, tactics and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. In this episode we're going to be continuing our Research Recap series with Skye Waterson. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper and dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try and find any practical takeaways. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) improves hot and cold executive functions in children with attention deficit‑hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-57920-3 Now if that sounds like a complete mouthful don't worry, we'll be getting into whatever in thing in there means. As this is a new series, we're going to be figuring out what works and what doesn't, and I'd love to hear what y'all think of it, so if you have thoughts, head on over to http://Hackingyouradhd.com/contact and let me know. I appreciate all the feedback I've already gotten and we're definitely going to work on making sure to get these episodes a little more organized and help you get the most out of every one. New episodes of research recap will be coming out every other Friday. All right, let's get on with the show. If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/236 https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey team! Today I'm talking with Katie Friedman and Alex Campbell, the brains and heart behind Gold Mind Academy, an ICF-accredited, ADHD-friendly training program, crafted to support ADHDers on their journey to success. And their new book, "ADHD… Now What?", aims to give you the tools you need to find a coach that is right for you and how to advocate for your needs. And honestly, I love this approach to the book because while there are a lot of ADHD coaches out there, it's important to find someone who is going to work best with you. So who are these people? Katie is a long time educator turned ICF-accredited ADHD coach and also a TEDx speaker. Alex is also an ICF-accredited ADHD coach, but also a psychotherapist and one of the first children in the UK to be diagnosed with ADHD back in 1990. In our conversation today, we explore what coaching really looks like beyond surface-level goal setting. Alex and Katie break down how understanding your strengths can lead to better self-advocacy and less burnout. We also talk about survival mode, how internalized ableism and societal "shoulds" trip us up, and why connection, with ourselves and with others, is essential for building sustainable strategies. I had a great time with this conversation and it gave me a lot to think about, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Gold Mind Academy: https://goldmindacademy.com/ ADHD… Now What?: https://goldmindacademy.com/adhd-book Katie Friedman Tedx: https://youtu.be/_G91NFmKpF8 If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/235 YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD This Episode's Top Tips 1. Work on shifting from a deficit lens to a strengths lens. We want to understand not just what we're good at but what we need in place to express those strengths effectively. 2. It's important that we integrate identity first and strategy second. For real change to happen, we need to understand and accept who we are before trying to layer on productivity tools. 3. ADHD isn't easy to manage in isolation. With teamwork and support systems, we can drastically reduce burnout and overwhelm, so it's incredibly important that we work on building connection and community.