Hacking Your ADHD

Hey Team!

This week I'm talking with Dr. Jolene Brighten, a naturopathic doctor, women's health educator, and author whose work focuses on hormones, reproductive health, and the ways hormonal changes can affect women across their lifespan. She's the author of Beyond the Pill and Is This Normal?, and her newest work, ADHD and Women, coming out October 6th, explores the intersection of hormones and ADHD in women.

I know hormones and ADHD is a topic we've explored before, but Dr. Brighten was a delight to have on the show, and this conversation went in all kinds of directions. So yes, we talked about how hormonal shifts across your life affect ADHD symptoms, why medication can sometimes feel less effective at different points, and some of the ways those changes may show up differently for women with ADHD.

But we also got into the much more practical question of what you actually do when you know your brain isn't going to perform exactly the same way every day, like externalizing executive function instead of trying to remember harder, building small pleasures into the day, and recognizing that sometimes the best intervention isn't the full protocol, it's finding the smallest lever you can actually pull.

Dr. Brighten's Book ADHD & Women: https://drbrighten.com/adhd-and-women/

Dr. Brighten's Website: https://drbrighten.com

Dr. Brighten's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjolenebrighten

Dr. Brighten's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrJoleneBrighten

Dr. Brighten's Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drjolenebrighten

Dr. Brighten's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drbrighten/

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/314

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

1. 1. With ADHD it's often said that we know what to do, but have trouble executing on those ideas. For something like exercise, the best idea is then to work towards making it accessible. Instead of focusing on getting the biggest result, we can look toward what we actually enjoy doing and can sustain, even if for just a little bit, we're going to see far more consistent results.
   2. It's important to remember that everything has a cost, even if we're not noticing it at the moment. These costs can compound when we're not paying attention and lead us to wonder why doing just one simple task can leave us exhausted. This doesn't mean that we necessarily need to be doing less, but it does mean we need to pay extra attention to what something is actually going to cost us.
   3. Our brains are not meant to be at peak productivity all month, and that applies doubly if you experience a cycle. As Dr. Brighten says, "that is [just] how you are physiologically designed." This means that it's important that we're giving ourselves grace and letting ourselves block out time on the calendar for when we're not going to be at our peak (and again, we do not need to be at our peak all the time, or even most of the time; it's called the peak for a reason).

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 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 Evaluating Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD: A Review of Current Methods and Issues. And this paper is a narrative review that surveys the current landscape of ADHD diagnosis, where the DSM criteria came from, how they've evolved, and any known problem areas that are in there.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/313

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 Dr. Jennie Byrne, a board-certified psychiatrist and neuroscientist with over 20 years specializing in high-achieving professionals and adults with ADHD. She has a PhD in Neurophysiology and an MD from NYU with her psychiatry residency at Mount Sinai (pronounced SIGH-nye). Now she runs Constellation PLLC, a concierge telepsychiatry practice where she helps busy professionals manage their ADHD. In her most recent book, ADHD in Professionals: Embracing Your Brain, Dr. Byrne examines how ADHD shows up at work, and why some individuals thrive while for others everything looks great on paper, but underneath they're struggling.

In this episode, we consider why the idea that "you're too high functioning to have ADHD" isn't a diagnosis and how often that same high performance at work can lead to a crash at home. We also play with the ideas of using anxiety as fuel and the costs that come with that, how productivity advice built for neurotypical brains can backfire for us and our environmental fit can make all the difference.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/312

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

1. 1. Your environment can play an important role in managing your ADHD, but it can cut both ways. A brain that loves working fast and connecting dots could easily be an asset in a high-stress fast-moving environment like the ER, OR or ICU. But then that same brain could fall apart when stuck in front of a pile of emails. Finding the right fit for you allows you to get the results without paying an extra cost you never intended to.
   2. While it is possible to use anxiety as a fuel to get stuff done, it often comes with a physiological cost. And it's important that we acknowledge the cost because it's too easy to let ourselves fall into the trap of letting anxiety provide all of our extra motivation which can then lead to chronic stress, health problems, and even a shorter lifespan.
   3. The idea that you're "too high functioning" to have ADHD often comes from a training gap and it is not diagnostic. High achievers are often able to hold it together at work but then fall apart at home, so it's important that you are able to express the totality of your existence with ADHD and find a clinician that is up to date on the current research.

Hey Team!

This week I'm talking with Dr. Megan Anna Neff, an AuDHD clinical psychologist, author, and educator. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from George Fox University, which she completed the same year that she was diagnosed as autistic. Dr. Neff has moved away from traditional clinical practice to focus on creating research-informed, lived-experience-centered, and emotionally resonant resources and training through her platform Neurodivergent Insights.

In our conversation today, we discuss her diagnosis, how ADHD and Autism tend to run in families, and the ripple effects that can happen from there. We get into sensory processing and its role in burnout and self-regulation. We also hit on interoception, alexithymia, and self-care, and round things out with some frameworks and ideas on how we can work with our brains. It's a conversation of identity and self-attunement that I really enjoyed.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/311

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

1. 1. Alexithymia, sometimes called emotional blindness, is a trait where you can have difficulties processing or describing your emotions and is often felt in ADHD with the experience of going from 0 to 100 with an emotion. While this can feel impossible to work on in the moment, learning to name your emotions and tracking how you feel through socio-emotional training can provide measurable improvements.
   2. Self-care starts with figuring out where you're at, but most advice on self-care often assumes that you already know what you need. With ADHD and poor interoception that can be a hard read. When we're feeling dysregulated, often our first step needs to be checking in with ourselves, and as Dr. Neff suggests, creating more sensory predictability.
   3. Masking can train you out of listening to your body because it is a learned way of suppressing yourself. While this insight won't necessarily fix what's going on here, it gives you a starting point to notice when you're not listening to your body because you're just not noticing, versus when you've trained yourself out of it.

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 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 "Psychological Implications of Exclusion in Individuals with ADHD Symptomatology." That's a hard word there. This study asked a deceptively simple question: when people with ADHD symptoms are socially excluded, do their bodies respond differently than those without ADHD? And so basically, what we're talking about today is RSD, or Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, which is something that a lot of people have really started to resonate with, but there isn't a ton of research on yet. And I think this is a great place for us to kind of dive in on that research. So let's get into it.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/310

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 James and Sam Brown, co-authors of Focus: The ADHD guide to productivity that actually works - James is a science communicator with a PhD in Biomedical Science, and 20+ years in academia and Chair of the adult ADHD charity ADHDadultUK. Sam, also known as Mrs. AuDHD online, is an Executive Administrator with ADHD-informed PA expertise, an ADHD coach, Director and Secretary of JBHD Ltd, and a Trustee of ADHDadultUK. Together (with Alex Conner) they co-host The ADHD Adults podcast. As both of them were diagnosed as adults, they use their lived (but evidence-based) experience with late diagnosis to help others navigate their own ADHD and Autism.

In this episode we spend some time talking about their book and the very ADHD process in which it was written. But we also cover the gamut of boundaries (both with ourselves and others), the need to keep doing and how hard it can be to give ourselves credit or accept it from others. This is a deep episode where the themes of self-acceptance and how that swirls through burnout plays a big role. And of course we also discuss all the usual ADHD shenanigans and how some days the ADHD just wins.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/309

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

1. 1. The things we say no to are often just as important as the things we say yes to. With ADHD we often run on a default mode of saying yes to every interesting thing that we come across, but we simply don't have the time or capacity to say yes to everything. By choosing what we're saying no to, it gives us space to really embrace the "yeses" in our lives.
   2. While setting and maintaining boundaries with others can be difficult, it is often even harder to set them with ourselves. Playing directly with what we say no to, James says: "it's sometimes healthier to accept it may be a passion project now, but ask yourself, is it going to be in three months' time when you're stressed with everything else?" It's okay to let things go and change your mind about what's important.
   3. Try Sam's three-at-a-time rule. With two master lists (work and "side quests"), pull three tasks and focus on just doing those three until they're done. Once complete, move them to a done list, and you can move on to the next three. But also remember to periodically go through and delete what's no longer important in your lists. We all build up to-do's that no longer need to be and can be let go of.

Hey Team!

This week I got a chance to catch up with my good friend Brendan Mahan and talk with him about his upcoming book, Overcoming the Wall of Awful. Brendan is one of the first people I got to know in the ADHD space and I feel lucky to have done so because for one he's just an awesome guy, but also because his approach to ADHD has always just felt so real and coming from a place of lived experience. Brendan is the host of the ADHD Essentials Podcast, a board member of the Men's ADHD Support Group and the Director of Professional Resources for Calmer Con: Boston - and also one of the few people I know who gets me to sit down and listen because it's always worth hearing what he has to say.

Today on the show we're going to be talking about a book that Brendan spent a decade being asked to write. After finding his co-writer, Alex Hughes Capell, Brendan brought us the book we've been waiting for. So for those of you who are unfamiliar, the Wall of Awful is a concept that Brendan developed to explain the metaphorical emotional barrier that builds up over time and makes starting basic, everyday tasks feel nearly impossible. Or, in simpler terms, the barrier that keeps us from starting what often feels like a simple task, such as doing the dishes or starting our homework.

In our conversation, we discuss the ways that we build up these walls and also ways that we can work on getting past these walls (and what doesn't work). We also dive into the distinction between burnout and the wall and get into the nitty-gritty of the Wall of Awful.

If you'd like to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/308

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD

This Episode's Top Tips

1. 1. Worth restating here, the Wall of Awful is a metaphorical emotional barrier that builds up over time and makes starting basic, everyday tasks feel nearly impossible. And it's important to acknowledge that we can build this wall from both real and perceived failure.
   2. While smashing through our walls by activating through anger or anxiety often works, it's not always enough to get us completely through the wall. So while it may get us started it doesn't always get us to the finish line. As well, smashing often comes with a cost in terms of relationships, both to ourselves and to others who are hurt in the process of smashing through the wall.
   3. It's important that we're able to distinguish our walls from preferences and boundaries. While our walls are built out of the emotional response to failure, preferences aren't built out of failure. It may be something we don't like doing but we can get past it without reaching for our wall tools. And boundaries are choices that we make not out of our sense of failure but instead our sense of who we are.

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 and dive into what that paper says, how it was conducted, and try to find any practical takeaways. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called "The Experiences of Adults with ADHD in Interpersonal Relationships and Online Communities: A Qualitative Study."

This study looks at how young adults with ADHD navigate real-world interpersonal relationships, how they mask their symptoms to fit into a neurotypical world, and what happens when they turn to online platforms like TikTok and Facebook.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/307

https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link

https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube

https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

We're diving back into the vault today to bring you a foundational episode on one of my favorite ADHD strategies: Automation.

We all know the struggle—if it's interesting, we're all in. If it's boring? It's nearly impossible to start. Because so much of "adulting" is inherently repetitive, automation allows us to frontload our work so our "future selves" don't have to rely on willpower alone.

Top Tips from this Rebroadcast:

• Frontload your effort: Save time and brainpower by making decisions once and letting tech handle the rest.

• Systematize first: Learn why reducing steps in a task is often more important than the gadget you use to do it.

• Automated Accountability: How to let your teammates know you've finished a task without having to remember to send that "done" email.

• Smart Home, Clear Mind: Exploring the possibilities of smart speakers and sensors to keep your household running on autopilot.

Support the show on Patreon

Find the show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/automation

Hey Team!

Welcome back to a special encore presentation of Hacking Your ADHD.

I'm dipping into the archives this week to bring back an episode that has only become more relevant since it first aired. We're talking about misinformation—a topic that feels like it should be easy to define and identify, but as we know, the ADHD brain loves a rabbit hole, and not every rabbit hole leads to the truth.

We've all seen those posts online where we roll our eyes and think, "How does anyone actually fall for this?"

But here's the kicker: that exact feeling of immunity is what makes us vulnerable. When we think we're too smart to be fooled, we stop looking for the subtle stuff. We stop looking for the information that "rhymes" with the truth—the kind of stuff that's just close enough to be believable but just far enough off to be dangerous.

With the explosion of ADHD content on social media, we have more access to help than ever before, but we're also swimming in a sea of oversimplifications. Today, we're revisiting the rules of engagement for evaluating what you see on your feed.

Revisiting the Top Tips:

As you listen to this rebroadcast, keep these three guardrails in mind:

1. Credibility is Key: Always verify the source, especially when it involves health or medication. It's easy for a "fact" to go viral when it's wrapped in a relatable meme, but relatability doesn't equal accuracy.

2. Look for the "Why": Most misinformation doesn't come from a place of malice; it comes from oversimplification or well-meaning errors. People (including me!) make mistakes. Being vigilant doesn't mean being cynical; it just means being careful with your mental health.

3. The "Compared to What?" Filter: To get the full context of any advice, ask yourself: Compared to what? Is this tip a universal truth, or just something that worked for one person in one specific context? Focus on the big wins that actually move the needle for you, rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae.