Hey team,

I’ve recently been thinking about task initiation a lot, but while working on the first draft of this episode, I realized that there were a few ideas that were important to explore first.

So in this episode, we’re going to be exploring some ideas of executive dysfunction, but then we’re also going to be getting into stuff surrounding our mental and physical health and then how we can work on our systems that help keep everything in order.

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Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/145

This Episode's Top Tips

1. We need to recognize and respect our physical and mental states - it crucial that we’re kind to ourselves and acknowledge that we’re not always going to be at 100%. We don’t always need to pushing ourselves and it’s important to we’re giving ourselves time to recover.
2. It’s important that when we’re build the systems in our lives that we look at making them simple and effective. We want them to be able to work even on our bad days and that means we need to lower the barrier to getting started on them.
3. One great way that we can implement systems with our ADHD is through checklists and creating designated places for things to go. Again our systems are there to help make our life simpler and streamline the things we need to get done.

This week I’m talking with Star Hansen, a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO©) and Clutter Whisperer on a mission to help you banish your personal Clutter Monster. Her methodology focuses on helping you take control of your stuff and create a life you’re truly proud of. Star looks at the deeper meaning of your stuff to help you figure out why you feel overwhelmed by your clutter in the first place. Star’s best-selling book, “Why the F*#@ Am I Still Not Organized?”, has inspired countless individuals to tackle their clutter head-on and find lasting solutions.

In our conversation, we discuss the significance of having clutter-free spaces and the impact it has on mental and emotional well-being - how clutter can create stress, affect decision-making, and hinder productivity. We also delve into the emotional attachment people often have to their belongings, how clutter can impact relationships, and how clutter can highlight personal values and emotional struggles.

Check out Star's Freebies (including a copy of her book)

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Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/148

This Episode's Top Tips

1. Fresh starts can help us let go of our past performance and embrace our new self.
2. We can effectively create motivation with financial incentives, but often that isn't enough for us to follow through on some of the things that we really do want to do. We also need to create reminders and a plan on how we want to accomplish our goals.
3. Don't try and do all the new things at once - pace yourself and create a plan on what you want to do first. Try and focus on doing the things that by doing them will make everything else easier.
4. We need to be flexible with our plans because we are going to hit speed bumps - while we can't plan for everything we can work on ways to help us get back up when we get knocked down.

Hey Team!

In today's episode, we’re taking a deep dive into the transformative power of automation with Chris Cameron, a workflow efficiency consultant specializing in helping neurodivergent individuals harness the benefits of AI and automated tools. Chris shares his personal journey with ADHD and how technology has played a pivotal role in managing daily challenges.

From practical learning to creating inclusive support systems, Chris discusses how specialized automation can alleviate everyday pressures. We also get into a number of topics about AI and how we can integrate some of the services to help alleviate some of the woes of executive dysfunction.

Whether you're a business owner, content creator, or someone looking for practical solutions, this conversation is packed with actionable insights that promise to simplify and enhance your life.

Check out Chris Cameron at learnwith.cc
or connect with him on Twitter

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Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/187

This Episode's Top Tips

1. Start small with automation, using simple tools and gradually integrating more complex systems as comfort with technology grows. It can be easy to be overwhelmed if we try to start out with too much.
2. Easy places to start with automation include using email filters to automatically help reduce inbox clutter and tools like Google Calendar or Calendly to automate scheduling and preventing double bookings.
3. Regularly update and maintain automation tools to ensure they continue to serve your needs effectively, much like gardening.
4. Use AI tools to break down large tasks into manageable steps, helping overcome task initiation barriers.

Hey team!

I’ve been working on this episode for quite a while now and was kind of worried it would never be finished, but I managed to salvage what was useful and polish it up quite a bit.

Today, we're discussing long-standing goals and how we can create systems that help us achieve them. I’m really interested in exploring this topic at length, so I expect this won’t be the only episode we have discussing systems.

In this episode, we'll be diving into the tools and strategies that make our ADHD work for us, not against us, and I'll share some of my own experiences along the way with developing these systems. We’ll also examine how we create systems and what really goes into making them work the way we want them to.

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Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/186

This Episode's Top Tips

1. Plan with your natural habits in mind rather than striving for unrealistic perfection. Work on developing systems that you can rely on, even when you're not at your best.
2. Avoid overly complex systems that can create more points of failure. Remember that executive dysfunction affects our ability to follow through with our best intentions. By simplifying our systems, we can lower the bar for entry and make it easier to get started.
3. Understand that no system will be perfect, and it is important to adjust and maintain it as needed. No system is going to “fix” our ADHD, and that shouldn’t be our goal when building our systems.

Hey team!

I had a listener write in recently asking about finding purpose and how they just feel like their life is a bit of a mess. They don’t know what they want to do and they feel like everyone else has it together. So in today’s episode we’re going to be exploring these ideas, while at the same time questioning if these are even the right questions that we should be asking. I’m going to dive into a number of ways that I don’t have my own life together and we’ll also be getting into self-determination theory and how we can apply that to looking at what we want to do with our life.

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Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/185

This Episode's Top Tips

1. No one always has everything together. Don’t compare your lowlight reel to someone else’s highlights—everyone struggles, even if they aren’t advertising it. It’s unrealistic to think that we need to have everything together all the time; just focus on doing what you can.
2. Tasks like managing emails are ongoing processes, not one-time achievements.
3. Self-determination theory’s principles are autonomy, competence, and relatedness—all of which are incredibly important for us to cultivate in managing our ADHD.

Hey Team!

This episode we’re doing something a little bit different, I’m going to be sharing an episode from another podcast that I think you’ll enjoy.

It’s called ADHD Aha!, hosted by Laura Key. It features candid stories from people who share the moment when it clicked—their ADHD Aha moment—when everything started to make sense—that they, or someone they know, has ADHD.

I recently checked out a few episodes like the one with Caren Magill where she shares her story of going from dropping out of high school to now managing her own ADHD and working as an ADHD coach. And it’s great listening to this episodes and hearing these stories because of how so many of the experiences and emotions the guests talks about mirror my own.

And I was recently a guest on the show, chatting with Laura about my own ADHD Aha! moment, which is what I’m sharing with you today.

In the episode, you’ll hear about managing emotions, organizing tasks, executive dysfunction, and mastering daily routines.

Be sure to checkout ADHD Aha! on your favorite podcast player.

https://lnk.to/adhdahaPS!hackingyouradhd

One of the questions that I’ve been getting a bit more frequently recently is just trying to understand where to get started with ADHD - and I think this is a question that a lot of us have because there is just so much out there on ADHD and it’s hard to know where even to begin thinking about what you might want to be doing.

In today’s episode, we’re going to be exploring this idea by first looking at some of the areas that ADHD entails, how that knowledge can boost your ability to manage your ADHD, and also take a look another look at the Wall of Awful.

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This Episode’s Top Tips

1. ADHD is a spectrum disorder, meaning that you are going to have a variety of symptoms to varying degrees. Your ADHD is unique to you, and how you treat your ADHD is going to be a matter of figuring out which symptoms are affecting you the most.
2. One of the hardest parts of ADHD is getting past our internalized messaging around who we are - if we haven’t taken the time to work on accepting how our ADHD affects us, then it is easy for us to blame our problems on ourselves as personal failings instead of accepting how our ADHD can hold us back.
3. The Wall of Awful is the emotional impact of repeated failure, and it makes activating on tasks even more difficult - there are 5 ways people try to get past the Wall of Awful, two don't work, and one works but is damaging to our relationships and then two that work - the two that don't work are staring at it or trying to go around it - the one that works but is damaging is trying to hulk smash through the wall - the two that work that we want to focus on are climbing the wall and putting a door in our wall.

Hey team!

In today’s episode we’re joined by Dusty Chipura, a passionate advocate and ADHD Coach, to explore the nuanced world of ADHD and pregnancy. With her personal and professional experience we will be looking into the challenges and questions that often come up with this subject.

There is a huge gap in what we know about ADHD and pregnancy and it can be hard to find good information. Dusty is an outstanding coach and a font of knowledge in this area. Even if you aren’t pregnant or planning on a pregnancy soon this episode is well worth listening to.

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Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/184

This Episode's Top Tips

1. It’s important to recognize the gap in ADHD research related to women and pregnancy. This means that you need to be aware of what the current research suggests. This also means that you will have to be more of an advocate for your needs during pregnancy because it’s possible that you will be more informed about ADHD and pregnancy than your caregivers.
2. With that in mind there is a need to prioritize building a support system, including healthcare providers knowledgeable about ADHD as well as community support for emotional and practical assistance.
3. There is a likely impact of ADHD on pregnancy-related executive functions, such as organization and time management, and so it will be important to develop and employ strategies or tools to mitigate these challenges (this is where a support network can come in extra handy).