Hacking Your ADHD

Last week we began this series on how to do hard things and looked specifically at how we define hard things and ways that we can work through some of our problems so that they can become more manageable.

This week we're going to be continuing that conversation but with a lens that focuses on why it can be so hard for us to even attempt to do hard things. We'll be looking at some of the misconceptions we have about doing hard things as well looking at how acknowledging the hard things we've done in the past can help us do more hard things in the present. Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/hardthingspart2 This Episode's Top Tips

1. We often discount our ability to do hard things from a mistaken belief that we've never been able to accomplish anything hard.
2. When we mistake failing at simple things for failing at doing hard things it can reinforce the idea that we can't do hard things. Remember, just because something is simple doesn't mean it isn't hard.
3. Don't assume the logic in your head is always actually logical. It is easy for us to make logical leaps that don't hold up to reality - slow down and examine those beliefs. You don't have to believe everything you think.

One of my favorite sayings from Brendan Mahan of the ADHD Essentials podcast is that ADHD is life on Hard Mode.

The executive dysfunction that comes with ADHD makes everything just a little bit more difficult. From doing the dishes to filling out tax returns we find ourselves needing to put in more effort than our neurotypical peers.

But what's important for us to remember is that while these things can absolutely be harder for us to do, it doesn't mean it's impossible.

Today we're going to be exploring this idea of doing hard things - what makes something difficult and how we can work on moving ourselves through that process. Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/hardthings This Episode's Top Tips

1. It is important for us to define what we find being hard because when we choose to believe something should be easy we tend not to give it the attention that it deserves.
2. Our problems can't be solved until we acknowledge them as problems - but also can't solve those problems unless we put forward the effort of defining them and acknowledging the underlying issues.
3. Define what done looks like for a task and be sure to be mindful of how that can be functional in your life.

In this episode I'm talking with the CEO and founder of the company Shelpful, Sharon Pope - we've all had times when we needed a little help getting ourselves to follow a routine and sometimes we don't have the accountability in our lives to make that happen. Shelpful is all about solving that problem of getting that daily accountability. The program works through text messaging but you know what, I'm getting ahead of myself - this is all in the interview. Be sure to go checkout Shelpful at Shelpful.com Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/shelpful

As I'm getting ready to head into the holidays I thought I'd deliver you something a bit different in your podcast player - a story.

I don't want to give anything away so get snuggled in and prepare yourself for The Dog and The Dragon by Brandon Sanderson. Be sure to go check out all of Sanderson's work at BrandonSanderson.com Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/dragon

Trimethylxanthine is the world's most popular psychoactive drug - for many caffeine is such a ubiquitous substance that calling it a drug seems like a misnomer. How could something so widely used that has so few regulations around it be a drug? But a drug is simply a chemical substance that affects our nervous system function and can result in changes to our perception, mood, cognition, and behavior. I feel like caffeine ticks the box pretty well on all those accounts.

In today's episode, we'll be exploring how caffeine works - some of its benefits and negatives and then we'll be looking at what we know about how caffeine and ADHD mix. Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/caffeine This Episode's Top Tips

1. Caffeine is a psychoactive drug whose primary mechanism is binding to adenosine receptors in the brain. The buildup of adenosine in our system is what makes us sleepy, so by binding to these receptors caffeine is able to keep us awake.
2. Caffeine has a host of benefits but having too much caffeine near bedtime can affect our slow-wave sleep and reduce our total amount of sleep.
3. There is still a lot of research that needs to be done on the interaction between caffeine and ADHD but it is clear that many people with ADHD attempt to self-medicate with caffeine.

Hey team, today's episode is coming in a bit more seriously than some of my others so I just wanted to give you all a head's up.

In today's episode, we have listener questions dealing with depression so we're going to be talking about comorbidity in ADHD and specifically, we're going to be talking about how ADHD interacts with depression.

comorbidity - this is a term that comes up with ADHD frequently enough and really what we're talking about here is two or more disorders or illnesses occurring in the same person at the same time or successively as in one condition that occurs right after the other. often when we're using the term comorbidity there is also the implication that the interaction between the two conditions creates worse outcomes for both. And the worsening outcomes make complete sense - regardless of what you're dealing with, having to manage two conditions is going to be harder than just dealing with one.

Today we'll be looking at which comorbidities can affect ADHD, take a closer look at depression, and then talk about ways that they can interact and we can work on treating them. Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/depression This Episode's Top Tips

1. ADHD had a plethora of comorbid conditions and it's important to see know how they interact to properly treat your mental health issues.
2. Depression has one of the most common comorbidities with ADHD and it's estimated that 70% of adults with ADHD will at some point be treated for depression.
3. When figuring out how we want to approach treating comorbid conditions it's important to figure out who's driving the bus. Symptoms from each condition can exacerbate other symptoms and by figuring out whose driving the bus you can work treating the root cause of your issue.

The ADHD brain has a strange relationship with thinking. One of my biggest gripes is that it often feels like I can't ever turn my brain off. No matter what I'm doing, I'm thinking about something. I could be washing dishes, but I'm thinking about what else I need to do before I go to bed. I could be walking to get the mail, and instead of wondering what's in the mailbox, I'm thinking about a conversation I had three years ago. Even when I'm trying to meditate, I'll often find myself thinking about what it means to be meditating. I'm not really sure that thinking about meditating while meditating is actually meditating - but hey, I'm still putting in the effort, it's called a practice for a reason. But just because our brains are whirring away doesn't mean that we're producing quality thoughts. Today we're going to take a dive into how we can better direct our brains. We'll be looking at why we should stop multitasking. The value of critical thinking and then explore ways that we can improve that thinking. Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/criticalthinking This Episode's Top Tips

1. Stop trying to multitask. Multitasking reduces the efficiency that we can perform any task and prevents us from really thinking through our problems.
2. Critical thinking is valuable because it helps us make hard decisions and it makes us harder to manipulate.
3. Ask yourself more questions to improve your critical thinking skills. Always challenge your assumptions.
4. Find ways to help facilitate your thinking time such mind mapping or taking a walk.

In a lot of my episodes, I have touted the virtue of asking questions - this is something that is embedded deeply in my philosophy. When we engage ourselves and others with curiosity we are able to solve problems more quickly and with better answers.

One idea that I see pop up frequently is that questions are more valuable than answers - to some extent I agree with that idea, but I think it's a bit too hyperbolic. It feels like it stems from the counter-intuitive branch of self-help whereby saying the opposite of what people think you can get them to engage more. It gets clicks, but it doesn't always produce the best advice. Nonetheless, to get great answers you often need great questions.

Your answer isn't going to matter if you're asking the wrong question, so it's important that we take the time to figure out if we're asking the right question. With ADHD we often want to just jump into the action and start doing - but this means that we need to be even more vigilant that we're asking these questions so that we know we're going in the right direction.

But how do we ask great questions or even good questions? What even makes one question better than the other?

In today's episode, we're going to explore that question as well as looking at the how and when of question-asking.

Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/questions

Hey team this week I'm jumping on some listener questions - if you'd like to leave your own question for me to answer on the air just head over to HackingYourADHD.com/contact and leave me a message

In today's episode, I'll be answering a question about procrastination and how we can work on getting past issues of low confidence, and then we're going to be dive into some ways we can take breaks when our mobility is a limiting factor.

Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/lq3

Often when I think about productivity I envision something like a well-oiled machine - everything fits together, everything has its place and when it is running smoothly it produces amazing results. But the part that my imagination doesn't usually pick up is a few important words - well-oiled machine... what does it mean to be well oiled - well, for one thing, it means that there is someone maintaining the system. It means, that left to its own devices that the machine would break down - and for a machine like this, it means it's either running at peak capacity or not at all.

As you can imagine this isn't exactly the route we want to be going - we're going to have setbacks in life and we're going to have times where we have to do less - we're not machines.

In today's episode, we're going to be exploring this idea of capacity, as well as how we sometimes go above and beyond, and then also how we can work on building some slack into our systems. Support me on Patreon Connect with me on: Twitter Tiktok or ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/buildingslack This Episode's Top Tips

1. Always doing more isn't always our best option - it is easy for us to overreach our capacity and find ourselves doing more than we're able to handle. Once we get past capacity we're more like to drop the ball on everything we're doing. Giving ourselves breathing room isn't being lazy, it's a way for us to focus on what's most important.
2. When we're in times of crisis many people with ADHD can thrive by using their surge capacity - however, our surge capacity is limited and we can only access it for so long before we start burning out.
3. We can add more capacity to our schedules by adding more slack to our calendars - that is buffer time that allows us to "pick up the slack" when we're running overtime on something unexpected or just need more time to finish something than we thought we would.