Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

Okay, so you did a bunch of learning and self-reflecting and you suspect you might have ADHD. Now what? The process of getting an ADHD diagnosis can, ironically, be super inaccessible for the ADHD brain, so I wanted to do an updated re-release of my episode on how to seek out a diagnosis for those of you who don't know where to start.

Whether you're afraid that you won't be believed by your provider, that you'll be accused of drug-seeking, or that you won't be able to remember anything you wanted to say in the moment, I've created a checklist of adult ADHD symptoms based on the DSM-5 and Russell Barkley's Adult Scale that will help you discuss your experiences with confidence.

I'm not a doctor, but I know how your brain works because I share it, and my aim with this episode is to give you the framework and the courage to fight for the medical support you deserve.
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Resources:

• spyhappy.me/adhdprofslist

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

I've always had a general idea of what an occupational therapist does, but I didn't realize just how many areas of ADHD they can help with until I invited occupational therapist Vanessa Goreklin onto the podcast.

As a licensed OT, Vanessa's work focuses on helping ADHDers live their lives to the fullest while harnessing their unique skills. She may not have ADHD herself, but both her son and husband do, which has given her real-life experience in understanding ADHD.

Vanessa works with her clients to develop skills in everything from basic self-care to executive functioning to exercise, taking into account that the ADHD brain has different needs, motivations, and ways of doing things than a neurotypical brain.

She says, "The neurotypical world is for people who stand in line and color in the shapes just so, and are very, very good at showing up and doing exactly what they're supposed to do. And that's not people with ADHD, who can do what they're supposed to do but they have new and creative and wonderful ways of doing it."

Vanessa believes that occupational therapy can be a key to unlocking the potential of people with ADHD, and my hope is that our conversation gets people talking about all the ways occupational therapy can be a wonderful support for ADHDers through every stage of life.
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Resources:

• Website: vanessagorelkin.com
• Instagram: @humanist_therapist

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

This episode is a little different from how I usually do things, but this story was so moving and has such a unique tie-in to ADHD, I knew I had to share it.

Renee Grewe, who is the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors, recently received a translated copy of her grandfather's journal that details his capture and imprisonment by Nazi soldiers and his miraculous and courageous escape. Renee believes that the details of her grandfather's escape are indicative of him having undiagnosed ADHD and that this was the very reason that he was able to survive all of it.

During our conversation, Renee shares about her own ADHD journey and how she moved past learned helplessness before reading sections of her grandfather's journal, which details his imprisonment and harrowing escape and outlines the aspects of his story that show bravery, empathy, quick thinking, ingenuity, hope–all strengths of ADHD.

This story is so moving because, in all of the horror, there is something so hopeful and uplifting about it; it serves as a reminder that when we are really put to the test, it's amazing what we can accomplish.
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Resources:

• Instagram: @reneegrewe

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

There are so many great ADHD podcasts out there that deliver the latest research and feature leading experts, but I think that what makes this podcast so different and valuable are the stories.

Hearing about the lives and internal thoughts of other ADHD women who seem to have it all together from the outside reminds us that we're not alone in our self-doubt. It also shows us that if even the most successful of us still struggles under the weight of imposter syndrome, maybe the problem is our thoughts telling us that we aren't good enough, rather than a reflection of our actual abilities.

My guest this episode, author and sales expert Shianne Sampson, is a perfect example of why these stories matter. From the outside, Shianne is a confident and outgoing sales leader whose hard work has led to incredible success, but no matter how many accomplishments she has under her belt, that imposter syndrome is always there to make her feel like she doesn't deserve it.

In our conversation, Shianne shares the ADHD strengths that shine in the sales world, the specific challenges that can lead to imposter syndrome as you climb the sales ladder, and we chat strategies for tackling the self-doubt, starting with celebrating our accomplishments.

Shianne's story is a great reminder that imposter syndrome grows in the shadows of shame, and the more we shed light on it through vulnerability and connection, the less power it holds over us.
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Resources:

• Website: shiannesampson.com
• LinkedIn: Shianne D. Sampson
• Her book: Triage - Sales Coaching by Shianne Sampson

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

When I first started this podcast, I had so many creative ideas and big ambitions for how to connect with other ADHD women, but actually executing my ideas consistently was a whole different story.

Even though I was drowning on my own, I couldn’t imagine hiring someone to help me with the tasks I was struggling with. What if their work wasn’t up to my standards? Could I really afford to do that? Where would I even begin?

It wasn’t until digital marketing strategist Jen Lehner came along with her program Front Row CEO that I was finally convinced that not only was it possible to hire help, it was a necessity if I wanted to grow my podcast and achieve my goals. So, I finally caved and hired a virtual assistant, and I haven’t looked back since.

Being ADHD herself, Jen knows how easily all the little tasks can start to snowball on us until we’re left buried under a pile of overwhelm and shame. Getting a virtual assistant completely changed her relationship with her business, her home life, and most importantly, her family, because it allowed her to focus her time and energy on the work she’s brilliant at and take the rest off her plate.

Jen now helps others navigate the process of hiring a VA, including how to find quality candidates, what tasks you can delegate to a VA (it’s more than you’d think!), and how to establish and maintain open communication.

If you’re drowning in overwhelm but don’t feel deserving of a virtual assistant or don’t know where to start, I know Jen’s guidance and encouragement in this episode will give you that push you need to take the first step, just like it did for me.
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Resources:

• Instagram: @jen_lehner
• 160 Tasks you can outsource to a VA: jensprograms.com
• Front Row CEO program: frontrowceo.com
• Join our Front Row CEO Masterclass:

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

ADHD and trauma overlap quite a bit in how they affect the brain, so much so that clinicians often misdiagnose one for the other.

So how do clinicians distinguish between ADHD and trauma when both impact the same areas of the brain and can cause similar symptoms?

And moreover, what happens when ADHD and trauma co-occur, which they so often do, due to the inherent trauma of growing up with a differently wired brain?

This solo episode I’m diving into the research on how trauma impacts the brain and nervous system, how untreated ADHD can lead to trauma, and where to start with treatment when you have that oh-so-wonderful combo of ADHD and trauma.

Just like with ADHD, trauma is never your fault and your symptoms are not moral failings or character flaws to be hidden away.

Shame is a component of both trauma and ADHD, and the more we shed light on it, the easier it is to eradicate it. In other words, what is sharable is bearable.
______________

Resources:

• What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

When ADHDers are faced with a problem, we often try to either go around it or develop new strategies to get better at it. My guest this episode, author and money mentor Denise Duffield-Thomas, has mastered the art of stepping back from the problem and determining whether she can eliminate it altogether, which is the foundation of her “keyless life” philosophy. Born from the idea to literally go keyless by installing keypads on the doors after losing her house keys so many times, Denise’s keyless life philosophy is all about protecting your mental energy by automating, delegating, or removing the difficult-to-manage tasks that drain you the most, rather than trying to muscle or self-improve your way through them.

Her philosophy is so supportive of ADHD brains especially because it’s rooted in forgiveness and self-love—the antithesis to the shame and self-sabotage many of us carry around. Join our wonderful conversation to hear the ways Denise uses this philosophy to set herself up for success and lean into her ADHD strengths, her shame-free approach to money management, how to live a life of abundance without the burnout, and more.
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Resources:

• Website: www.denisedt.com
• Instagram: @denisedt
• Twitter: @denisedt
• Facebook: Denise Duffield-Thomas

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and make it work for you? Learn more about my patented program, Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy here: programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

Sign up for "5 Days to Fall in Love with Your ADHD Brain" here:

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

It isn’t a stretch to say that imposter syndrome likely takes up space in most ADHD brains (and how could it not when we’re constantly feeling like we aren’t reaching our potential?), but there’s an extra layer of self-doubt that comes with the vulnerability of putting yourself out into the world creatively. Artist and entrepreneur Katie Hayes always felt drawn to art growing up and knew she had a great talent for it, but she never considered that she was good enough to turn her art into a full-time creative career.

It wasn’t until 2019, after a college degree and a career in higher education that was gratifying but never felt like her ultimate calling, that Katie said “screw it” to imposter syndrome and started her printmaking business, New South Pattern House. She discovered that the more she aligned herself with her purpose and pushed herself out of her comfort zone, the less imposter syndrome she felt calling herself an artist, until one day it was gone completely.

Katie may have taken the long way to follow her dreams, but she believes that she wouldn’t be where she is today if not for the detours, which gave her invaluable knowledge and helpful ADHD strategies that she incorporates into her business and her art every day. Katie’s winding journey on the way to living unabashedly as an artist is an inspirational one and a great reminder that it’s never too late to become who you truly are.
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Resources:

• Instagram: @newsouthpatternhouse
• Website: newsouthpatternhouse.com
• Shop Wallpaper and Fabric: spoonflower.com/profiles/katie_hayes   

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup

___

Parenting activist and author Debbie Reber had a difficult time with the structure of school growing up, so when her son Asher also started struggling to have his unique learning needs supported in the classroom, she knew she had to do things differently. Incorporating expert advice and a strengths-based philosophy, Debbie started creating the resources she wishes she’d had when she was younger. After much collaborating and fine-tuning, she found an approach to teaching that supported Asher’s ADHD learning needs and encouraged emotional intelligence and self-understanding.

What started as an alternative approach to schooling for her son eventually transformed into Tilt Parenting, an educational resource aimed at helping parents who are raising differently wired children do so from a place of confidence, connection, and joy. Debbie founded Tilt Parenting because she knows how isolating it is trying to navigate a system that wasn’t built for differently wired brains, and she wanted to help other parents avoid the same painful roadblocks she and her husband encountered. For all the parents of differently wired children who are feeling hopeless about finding the right supports, Debbie’s story will give you encouragement that a different way of parenting and educating is out there and possible.
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Resources:

• Website: tiltparenting.com
• Instagram: @tiltparenting
• Twitter: @tiltparenting
• Facebook: Tilt Parenting

Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message

If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift

Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?

ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.

That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy

Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com.

Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2

Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com