Focus and Chill - productivity tactics for AuDHDers and other neurodivergent folks

Welcome to episode #24 We’re thrilled to be joined by nobody today! Join us while we discuss some interesting topics, from meditation chairs to cleaning and more!

Questions

1. Power of pause - how to remember to pause when the stakes are high
2. Equipment as a crutch - meditation chairs
3. Writer’s block - Joey’s tips + our own processes
4. Managing emails
5. Using Pocket
6. Cleaning

Joey’s post on meditation

https://thepluckyjester.com/2023/01/26/meditation-has-a-marketing-problem/ 

Welcome to episode #23 We’re thrilled to be joined by Lizbeth Sanchez today.

Lizbeth comes with a diverse background as a Community Coordinator, Communications Specialist, Tutor, Assistant Lead, Private Educator, and Assistant Producer. Through her various roles, she has gained valuable experience in organizing events and resource fairs, providing guidance, creating engaging social media content, conducting surveys, delivering lessons and activities, and overseeing production activities. Lizbeth has also excelled in recruiting volunteers and members, establishing strong partnerships with vendors and non-profit organizations, and ensuring proper recognition for sponsors and donors.

Academically, Lizbeth holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a minor in Mass Media from Fresno State University. Her knowledge extends beyond her academic achievements, as she possesses extensive expertise in the fields of education and psychology. Currently, Lizbeth is actively pursuing additional education to enrich her background further.

Questions

1. Can you tell us about your experience with neurodiversity? When did you realize that you weren’t neurotypical? What challenges did you face? What is it like now?
   1. Very bored during school
      1. Hid books under the desk
   2. Got in trouble in high school - would zone out during boring classes
   3. Mum afraid to seek diagnosis - didn’t want her to end up in special ed
   4. Teachers said it couldn’t be ADHD because she read a lot
   5. Part of the issue might be the learning styles
      1. Need more visual
      2. Need more discussion
   6. University: 
      1. Coped without medication
      2. Misdiagnosed with anxiety
   7. Diagnosis 
      1. Assessment paid for by health insurance - $300 out of pocket. $5k without insurance.
   8. Environment:
      1. Spain better suited - later start, siesta
2. What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
   1. ADHD coaching + education support for primary students
   2. Studying to be an occupational therapist
   3. Social media, graphic design, website development
   4. Putting science-backed information out there
      1. Exercise
      2. Meditation
      3. Fish oil
3. How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. Hike
   2. Travel
   3. Putting content out there
4. What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. 4.30 am Wake up
      1. Coffee + meds
      2. Check social media trends
   2. 5 am Meditate for 30m
   3. Affirmation podcast for 3 mins - shame reduction
   4. 6.30-7.30 Go to the gym
5. What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?
   1. Low fi music (binaural beats)
   2. Planner/Writing stuff down 
6. COMMERCIAL BREAK
7. What is one habit you'd like to remove from your life (either a bad habit or one that takes up too much time)?
   1. Perfectionism with graphic design
8. How do you switch off at night?
   1. 8 pm-8.30 pm go to bed
   2. Preparation
   3. Take melatonin 2hrs before
   4. Massage chair
   5. Listen to podcast
   6. Shower with meditation music
   7. 
      
9. What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. Exposure therapy
   2. ADHD friendly workplaces
   3. Podcasts
      1. ADHD experts
      2. What the ADHD
10. Where can people connect with you or find your work?
    1. LinkedIn
    2. Instagram
11. Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Embrace your ADHD - accept who you are

Welcome to episode #22 We’re thrilled to be joined by Andrew Simpson today. Welcome to the show Andrew!

Andrew Simpson is the founder and CEO of Aether Automation Inc., a Zoho expert based in British Columbia, Canada. With a passion for Zoho's efficient systems, he transitioned from being a partner to focusing on development. Andrew has a diverse background, having previously worked as a Marketing Manager at Kingman Industries, where he doubled the company's monthly revenue in six months. He also co-founded 80/20 Media, implementing social media marketing strategies for clients.

Questions

1. JN: Can you tell us about your experience with neurodiversity? When did you realize that you weren’t neurotypical? What challenges did you face? What is it like now?
   1. Late teens? It’s breaking up for me
   2. Tough graduating high school
      1. Math was tough
         1. Because needed to show the steps
   3. Challenges
      1. Dropped out of uni
         1. Studying long hours tough
   4. Audiobooks > reading
      1. Allows for more visual stimulation
      2. 
         
   5. Founder
      1. Suits ADHD because so many new things
      2. When processes set in, becomes more challenging
2. JC: Tell us about your work (anything that isn’t a top secret)
   1. Mostly sales and marketing: Aether Marketing
      1. Very good at programming
      2. Lots of calls with clients - better able to focus than if it’s emails
      3. Internal comms: Zoho Cliq
      4. Clients = other Zoho partners
         1. Deluge/node JS development
3. JN: How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. YT channel
      1. Political protests
      2. Polytopia
      3. John Madden
      4. 
         
4. JC: What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time? 
   1. Get up/shower/teeth
   2. Accountability buddy call 
      1. Landmark course 3 years ago
      2. What am I resisting?
      3. Who am I going to be?
   3. Walk to the office
   4. Focus Bear office morning routine:
      1. Exercises (squats etc.)
      2. Plan what to do that day
      3. Use Notion
   5. 6:30 wake up
      1. Scroll for 30 minutes
5. JN: What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?
   1. Brain dump tasks and then prioritize 
      1. Rank by Value per hour
         1. Go into leverage score
            1. 5 high value / 1 low value
               1. Arbitrary
            2. Value / estimated time
   2. Calculate the score at the end of the day
      1. Allows analytics over a given period (e.g. over the last year)
      2. Helps spot trends:
         1. Supplements
         2. Emotions
6. JC: What is one habit that you have removed from your life (either a bad habit or one that takes up too much time)?
   1. Swearing: every 3rd word
      1. Client-facing docs: unf*ck your process
      2. An employee suggested that swearing might not be good
7. JN: How do you switch off at night?
   1. Finds sleep difficult
      1. Supplements
         1. Lunar mind (trypto, serotonin)
         2. Takes a fairly consistent time, via alarm
      2. Without them, he would be staying awake until the next day 
   2. Any more stuff on switching off? Mainly talking about the morning routine
   3. Sleep 
      1. Fairly consistent sleep time
         1. Motivated by performance tracking
8. JC: What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. Notion: 
      1. keeping score template
         1. Not necessarily shareable
      2. Goal setting
      3. Grocery shopping template
   2. Philosophies: 
      1. Heidiger - honor your word: 
         1. Accountability buddy
         2. Increases output
      2. Performance is derived from the integrity
         1. His word drives his delivery. Doesn’t want to break his word
9. JN: Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-simpson-aether/
   2. Gumroad profile
10. JC: Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Add me on LinkedIn

Welcome to episode #21 - Joining us today is the incredible Alex Wait! With ADHD as a part of his journey, he's dedicated himself to making a difference in the world through social justice work. Through his company, Epics Productions, Alex helps people share their powerful stories to create change. As the host of The Epics Podcast, he amplifies the voices of marginalized communities, ensuring everyone's story is heard. Empowering and humanizing individuals who are often overlooked, let's give a warm welcome to Alex! Hey Alex May the 4th be with you!

Questions

1. JN: Can you tell us about your experience with neurodiversity? When did you realize that you weren’t neurotypical? What challenges did you face? What is it like now?
   1. Not diagnosed until 20 (relatively late in life)
   2. Went to college but not knowing what to do
      1. Spanish
         1. With difficulty came disengagement with content
      2. Syllabus Math?
   3. Wasn’t doing great in school
      1. The turning point was when he missed the exam entirely
         1. Realised it was a form of hyper fixation
         2. Feeling terrible shame
            1. Any advice for people in a similar situation to overcome the shame to get help?
               1. Took a lot of work
                  1. Building up a stronger opinion of oneself
                  2. His wife is a great ally. They help each other out
                     1. They hold each other accountable
               2. Everyone has to try a few things and see what tactics /strategy works for them
                  1. Accept that it might take some trial and error
                  2. Accept that no tool is going to be the silver bullet
                  3. Accept that it won’t work forever
      2. Parents offered to pay for therapy
         1. Therapist diagnosed with ADHD
            1. Helped connect a lot of dots
            2. Gave a more sensible lens to understand 
               1. Created space for success
               2. Lean into the positive sides of ADHD
2. JC: What "work" projects are you concentrating on? 
   1. Business:
      1. Podcast Epic Podcasts (weekly on Fridays)
         1. Social justice focus: bring on diverse guests to encourage shared dialogue
            1. Uniquely placed because people accept podcasts can still be long form
      2. Epic Productions: 
         1. Helping not-for-profits/causes to produce podcasts
   2. Restaurant work (selling margheritas) to pay the bills:
      1. Fast-paced?
3. JN: How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. Listening to podcasts while biking
      1. Loves Colorado, conducive to outdoor activities
   2. Hanging with kids
      1. Throwing rocks into the water
      2. Building Lego
         1. Star Wars sets
4. JC: What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Challenges:
      1. Tricky with restaurants over the weekend/TV - late nights
      2. Desire to spend more time with kids means not much freedom in the morning
   2. What works
      1. Don’t buy a second car: take kids to school on an e-bike - builds exercise into the morning
         1. Prefer biking over running
      2. Get on the floor with kids: wrestle with them, go to the playground
      3. Play with dog
5. COMMERCIAL BREAK
6. JN: What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?
   1. Accountability
   2. Experiment with different options (Won’t work forever)
   3. Using AI
      1. ChatGPT
         1. Writing intros/outros for podcasts
   4. Using lists and spreadsheets
      1. For everything
      2. On Google Sheets
         1. Having status bars
         2. Because decentralized, anyone can see it baked into accountability
      3. Motion: time-blocking software
      4. ToDoist
7. JC: What is one habit you'd like to remove from your life (either a bad habit or one that takes up too much time)?
   1. Writing bedtime stories for kids using ChatGPT with moral messages (“Don’t throw rocks at your brother”)
   2. Star Wars content creation wormhole
   3. Tool creep - spending too much time setting up new apps/setting up new lists
8. JN: How do you switch off at night?
   1. Wearing blue light glasses at night (trying it out)
      1. Not consistent
   2. Uses some medication
   3. Listen to an audiobook (good segue into the next)
      1. Mainly fiction, things that are familiar
         1. Harry Potter
         2. LOTR
9. JC: Listening to Audiobooks going to sleep: What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. Shelf help: books on habit formation
   2. Podcasts work better - auditory information consumption
      1. Sports-related (escape)
      2. Armchair expert
10. JN: Where can people connect with you or find your work?
    1. @epicspod 
    2. epicspodcast.com
11. JC: Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Do your best to have grace for yourself
    2. You’re not going to be great at it initially but you’ll get better
    3. Trust is something you have to practice
       1. We don’t trust ourselves
    4. Find community
       1. E.g. Facebook groups for Dads with ADHD/Adult Men with ADHD
       2. Follow neuro-distinct influencers

Welcome to episode #20 We’re thrilled to be joined by Avigail Gimpel today.

Avigail is the author of HyperHealing, The Empowered Parent’s Complete Guide to Raising a Healthy Child with ADHD Symptoms (a #1 best seller on Amazon), and HyperHealing, Show Me the Science!  

She earned her graduate degree at Touro College graduate school for Special Education. She married Daniel Gimpel in 1998 while teaching in an inclusion classroom. She developed a successful intervention program for her students struggling with ADHD symptoms. She and Daniel emigrated to Israel soon after their marriage.  Avigail earned advanced degrees in teaching children with Dyslexia and cognitive education for children with ADHD symptoms. She built a teacher’s training program which she teaches at Hertzog College. She lectures in schools and to parent groups across Israel. In private practice, she educates parents to become ADHD coaches to their children.

Questions

1. Experience with neurodiversity
   1. Special education teacher which exposed her to neurodiverse children
   2. Had 6 kids all with ADHD
   3. Significant research into the causes of and solutions for ADHD 
2. What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
   1. Author of two books for parents of children with ADHD/adults with ADHD
   2. Coaches parents and groups to help them with ADHD-related challenges
3. How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. Scuba diving/rappelling with her kids
   2. Walking/CrossFit/running/weights
   3. Learning
4. What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Morning walk + exercise
5. What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?
   1. mantras/self-talk
   2. Exercise - intense exercise gives her 2-3 hours of productivity
6. COMMERCIAL BREAK
7. How do you switch off at night?
   1. No screens
   2. Time with family
8. What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. Mad in America - Robert Whitaker
   2. Functional medicine
   3. Dr. John Radey - exercise
   4. Why we sleep - Matthew Walker
   5. Reset Your Child’s Brain
9. Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. Website: https://www.hyperhealing.org/
10. Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Don’t beat yourself up. Accept yourself and have hope that things can get better.

Welcome to the Focus and Chill podcast, a show dedicated to discussing productivity tactics for Neurodiverse individuals. Join us as we interview guests with lived experience of neurodiversity and solid productivity skills. We're your hosts, Jeremy and Joey.

Joey is a creative coach who helps ambitious projects come to life through the power of habits and focus. Jeremy is a Neurodiverse software developer and startup founder, creating habits and focus software for people with ADHD.

This podcast is sponsored by Focus Bear, a habit and productivity app that makes healthy habits and deep work effortless. Say goodbye to distractions and hello to focused productivity. The app guides you through your habits, blocks unrelated websites and apps, and even reminds you to take breaks. Check out the app at focusbear.io.

In this episode (Episode 19), we discuss our personal habit journeys and the challenges we've faced. We explore ways to overcome disruptions to our routines. Joey shares his experience with AI technologies and disruptions to his sleep. Jeremy talks about his recent trip and how it affected his schedule. Join us as we navigate these challenges and find solutions.

If you're a creative individual looking to bring your ideas to life, Joey can help. His project aims to help imaginative people like you turn their creative dreams into achievable daily habits. 

Welcome to episode #18 We’re thrilled to be joined by Michelle Markman today. Michelle Markman is a neurodivergent life coach in Orange County California. She is a late-diagnosed autistic adult and has faced and overcome many life struggles and dark nights of the soul. She is also a solo world traveler and adventure seeker; has taught herself to drive a manual transmission car, ride motorcycles, solo camp and hike, rock climb and conquer several high ropes courses. She has led Outdoor Trips with her University and a group she founded Outdoor Mamas; a group focused on getting moms and kids outdoors. She studied abroad in Europe and traveled to Africa solo to climb Kilimanjaro the world’s tallest freestanding mountain. Welcome to the show Michelle!

Questions

1. JN: How does your neurodiversity impact your productivity both positively and negatively?
   1. Diagnosed at 27 yo
   2. Brother diagnosed with autism + ADHD
   3. Didn’t think she was neurodivergent
   4. The social definition of disability: disability only contextual
   5. Working from home
      1. Ability to take frequent breaks
      2. Setup your environment for success
2. JC: What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
   1. Mentioning WFH being a game changer, 
   2. Relationship coach for late-diagnosed neurodivergent individuals
   3. Writing a book
      1. Combination of her story and experiences and how she uses those to help others with relationships and communication
      2. Preparing structure
3. JN: How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. New toddler mum
      1. Hiking
   2. Adventures
      1. Kilimanjaro
         1. Surrender to the climb
4. JC: What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Toddler has made it more challenging but still prioritizes
      1. Before toddler - early 5 am start with yoga, journaling
      2. Really heartwarming to hear how having a toddler has changed her life
   2. Gratitude Journal
   3. Exercise
      1. Cycling
      2. Yoga
   4. Hot chocolate (not coffee)
5. JN: What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?
   1. Setting up environment for success
   2. Schedule everything
      1. Breaks
      2. Lunch
      3. Exercise
   3. Written task list
   4. Managing hyperfocus
      1. Breaks but sometimes if you’re in the flow it’s hard to break
6. JC: How do you switch off at night?
   1. Structure and routines
      1. Strict bedtime routine
         1. Watch show as family
         2. Bath/shower
         3. Camomile/lavender tea
         4. Blackout curtains + sleep mask
         5. Having some alone time
      2. Needs 9 hours
      3. Morning routine sets the tone for the day, Evening routine sets the tone for the next day
         1. Can talk about insidious sleep deprivation awareness (the more deprived you are, the less likely you are to know you are)
7. JN: What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. Books:
      1. Neurotribes
      2. Unmasking Autism
      3. Martin Seligman/Flow author
   2. Apps
      1. Todoist
      2. Alarm
      3. Trello
   3. Common romantic relationship themes for clients? E.g. “Be yourself, everyone else is taken” (assuming romantic relationship coach)
      1. Don’t mask
      2. Have hobbies outside the relationship
8. JC: Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. michellemarkman.com
   2. Neurodivergent Relationship/Social Support Forum
9. JC: Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
   1. It gets better
   2. Embrace your strengths

Welcome to episode #17. We’re thrilled to be joined by Kori Tomelden today. Kori is a late-diagnosed ADHD and autistic mom raising a neurodiverse family. She uses her internet presence to share her neurodivergent life in a neurotypical world.

1. JN: How does your neurodiversity impact your productivity both positively and negatively?
   1. 2019 looking for strategies to support autistic daughter (ASD L3) who was becoming adult
      1. Already doing many of the strategies to support herself
      2. Entire life been told too sensitive/emotional - “highly sensitive person”?
         1. Is HSP actually codeword for ASD/ADHD?
   2. Diagnosis process:
      1. Rabbithole of self diagnostic tests
      2. ADHD inattentive/ADD showed up
      3. Professional diagnosis offputting: financial/waitlists
      4. Pursued evaluation in case medication was required
      5. Unexpected additional diagnosis of ASD L1
      6. Diagnosis in 2020
   3. Medication for depression and open to medication
   4. What would life have been like if diagnosis earlier
      1. Help with sensory overload
      2. Social skills
2. JC: What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
   1. Communications Specialist (social media) part time job
   2. Entrepreneur/coach ( https://koriathome.com/ )
      1. Helping parents
      2. Since 2017
3. JN: How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. Work life balance: hard cut off time (stop using laptop and phone)
   2. Watch:
      1. Documentaries
      2. Jeopardy
   3. Gardening
   4. Crochet
   5. Cats x 3
4. JC: What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Coffee
   2. Prepare launch for daughters
   3. Drop daughters to school
   4. Laundry
   5. Cats
   6. Medication
   7. Ease into workday
   8. Phone on Do not Disturb from 8am to 4pm
   9. Emails - check for urgent responses
   10. Check google calendar
   11. Check Asana - project management list
   12. Start working
5. JN: What do you do to optimise productivity during your working hours?
   1. Challenges:
      1. RSD
      2. Catastrophising
         1. Contingency plans for contingency plans
   2. Strategies that don’t work
      1. Time boxing
      2. Excess planning
   3. Strategies that work
      1. Mondays = CEO day
         1. Planning week ahead
         2. Checking calendar
         3. Educational and development time
            1. Audible + note taking
      2. Pomodoro technique
      3. Block scheduling
      4. Triggers to break out of hyper focus
         1. Playlist
      5. Focus Music for boring tasks
         1. Opera
      6. Time tracking: Toggl
      7. Themed days
6. JC: What is one habit you'd like to remove from your life (either a bad habit or one that takes up too much time)?
   1. Games
   2. Facebook on phone
   3. Online shopping
7. JN: How do you switch off at night?
   1. Hard stop
8. JC: What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. Apps
      1. Toggl
      2. Asana
      3. Google Drive + Google Calendar
      4. Canva
9. JN: Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. Instagram: https://instagram.com/nostalgicneurodivergent  
10. JC: Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Be gentle with yourself, be forgiving, you’re only human.

Simon is a husband and father of two based in Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Simon is also the Founder of Mindful Men, a therapy practice that is dedicated to supporting men with mental illness and disability. Simon’s passion for mental health comes from living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Depression, Anxiety, and Burnout throughout the last 30 years. 2022 marks 10 years since Simon finally opened up and got help for mental illness, and he shares his story to inspire other men to share theirs.

1. JN: How does your neurodiversity impact your productivity both positively and negatively?

• Seeking help with mental health is the hardest part, “Real men are tough”
• Have got help from psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.
• Prescribed medication but found that mindfulness
• OCD:
  • From 8 years old
  • Obsessive thoughts that must be extinguished by action
  • 1hr per day of actions
  • Behaviours/performances:
    • Humming
    • Checking locks
  • Get things to “Just Right”
  • Exposure-response therapy

2. JC: What "work" projects are you concentrating on?

• Social science degree
• Fifteen years in public service
• Masters of Social Work
• Accredited mental health social worker
• Mindful Men
  • Started as a social media platform
  • Private mental health practice: ACT (acceptance commitment therapy)
  • Value Elicitation - what would your values have you do?
  • Podcast

3. JN: How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?

• Two kids (6 y.o. and 3 y.o.)

4. JC: What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?

• Have to be careful about routine with OCD
• Freeform:
  • Morning Run a few times per week

5. JN: What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?

• OCD leads to strong drive around perfection - have to be careful
• Wabi sabi - beauty in imperfection
• In business, go with the flow

6. JC: What is one habit you'd like to remove from your life (either a bad habit or one that takes up too much time)?

7. JN: How do you switch off at night?

• Reduce tech usage
  • Leave it in the kitchen
  • Self talk “I’m tired”
• Reading books 

8. JC: What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?

• “Sand Talks” 
• “Chasing Excellence”
• Mindset
  • 1% better

9. JN: Where can people connect with you or find your work?

• mindful-men.com.au

10. JC: Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?

• It’s ok to not be ok - find someone you feel safe to talk to

Amanda Horswill is a digital editor, content and SEO strategist with more than twenty years of experience across a variety of roles in the publishing sector. She also happens to have ADHD, an adult diagnosis that’s changed her life for the better.

1. JN: How does your neurodiversity impact your productivity both positively and negatively?
   1. Positive:
      1. Divergent/creative thinking
         1. Octopus thinking:
            1. Courier Mail - Des Houton = Spaghetti Head - tentacles going everywhere
         2. Interesting similes/metaphors
         3. Anticipating problems
      2. Hyper-focus:
         1. Early career pre-family: long hours, super intense work hitting deadlines
         2. Post dogs + mortgage + family: too much hyper-focus led to burnout - 
            1. Hyperfocus and ADHD seem like an interesting combo.
   2. Negative:
      1. Different ways of thinking leave people disoriented
      2. Three steps ahead - forget that other people don’t have the same context
      3. Identity issues with late diagnosis
2. JC: What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
   1. Solve issues that come up for writers preventing them from getting articles out there on Canstar’s WordPress site
   2. Streamlining CMS
3. JN: How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. Neurodiverse family:
      1. Son (11yo) has ASD L2 + ADHD
         1. Not stereotypical: caring, artistic but has communication challenges
         2. Special interests
      2. Daughter (late diagnosis - whole family diagnosed at time of son)
      3. De-escalation activities
         1. Cooking
         2. Garden
         3. Playing games
4. JC: What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Extra sleep
   2. Coordinated effort organizing the kids with partner
   3. Morning routine used as calming / grounding routine
   4. Start work 8 - 8:30, at home 3 days per week, from home 2 days per week
      1. Commute time used to transition between environments
      2. More difficult WFH (don’t have that transition time)
         1. Remedy: block out time to center (time otherwise spent commuting and transitioning)
5. JN: What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours?
   1. Compartmentalizing especially when the environment is messy/other people around
      1. Be ok with the kitchen looking like a trash can
   2. Channeling hyperfocus
      1. Prepare space (mental and physical)
      2. Attention props
         1. Sensory toys
      3. The right level of hard difficulty/stimulation
         1. Understimulated:
            1. Sensory toy
            2. Tea/Chocolate
            3. Loud music
            4. Make the work interesting - find the right job/figure out how to make it relevant
               1. Folding washing
                  1. Watch movies/listen to music
                  2. Try and do it really fast - beat the PB
         2. Overstimulated
            1. Calm down
               1. Reduce stimuli by working in the walk-in wardrobe where it’s silent 
               2. Noise-reducing headphones: Loop
               3. Soft jumper
               4. Write a big list of everything that is 
   3. Be ok with not knowing the answer
   4. Find the right colleagues who understand ways of thinking
   5. Medication 
   6. Therapy
6. JC: What is one habit you'd like to remove from your life (either a bad habit or one that takes up too much time)?
   1. Procrastabusy: too much time setting up the environment for productivity
      1. Following up phone calls with tradespeople
         1. Tactic: husband keeps texting until it gets done
   2. Eating chocolate
   3. Talking so much
7. JN: How do you switch off at night?
   1. Sleep has been a challenge especially pre-diagnosis
   2. Strict shutoff time for work -> transition to family time
      1. Chores/Homework
   3. Routine for son
      1. Take him up to room
      2. Answer World’s most challenging questions: “Does God exist? Does the universe have an edge?”
   4. Relational time:
      1. Dinner together
      2. Conversation with family
   5. Bedtime: 10-10:30
8. JC: What resources (books, philosophies, apps, sensory toys) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?
   1. The Highlander (only the first one)
   2. Google Calendar/apple calendar
      1. Transition to Trello
   3. Podcasts
      1. Especially meditation
         1. Even more especially sleep meditation
   4. Alain De Botton
      1. Consolations of Philosophy
   5. Adam Grant
      1. Work-Life (accessible Org Psych)
   6. Therapy
      1. Is it worth asking about the type of therapy? For listeners that have never done therapy before? Might be a bit too personal
   7. Sensory toys
      1. Textured mats (balances the rest of the body because hands get all of the stimulation)
9. JN: Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. Canstar.com.au
   2. “Letter to my 10-year self” book
   3. LinkedIn: 
10. JC: Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Be kind to yourself

How does your neurodiversity impact your productivity both positively and negatively?

So many ways, both negative and positive. 

Positive: My brain tends to go down untrodden paths and find issues or remedies that perhaps other people wouldn’t arrive at straight away. That’s very handy in publishing, as there are always technical challenges crop up, or different ways to present information to readers that make it easier to understand. Like a particular type of diagram, or a simile. 

Also, hyperfocus is excellent for writing news and content. Intense focus over a short amount of time on one subject. There are a lot of people I would characterize as having ADHD traits in journalism. It’s made for it.

Negative: My brain can get very tired and I can be exhausted easily if I don’t look after myself properly. And also I can be very annoying sometimes, with all the ideas and thoughts, and low impulse control. But I am working on it. 

What "work" projects are you concentrating on?

At Canstar, we write about personal finance, such as home loans, credit cards, personal loans, and investing. We have so much content. As well as editing and writing about it, one of my major projects at the moment is to streamline our production process and improve our content management system. 

How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?

Time off? HA. I am the mother of two neurodiverse children and my husband and I tend to just relax on the back patio when we have time off! But I like to do calming things, such as gardening, learning new arts and crafts skills, and writing. 

What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?

My morning routine usually involves hitting snooze as much as I can, and then going downstairs to help get my son off to school. I am at my desk around 8.30 am when working from home, or I go into the city twice a week to work. 

Transitions are hard for me, it takes a while for my head to catch up with my body. So I always take a few minutes to centre myself. This could be getting a cup of tea, or just sitting in place and taking a few deep breaths. 

Taking the train to work is great for that. 

What do you do to optimise productivity during your working ...