Learn to Thrive with ADHD Podcast

If you're going to spend your time and money on ADHD coaching, it's reasonable to want to know whether there's any evidence that it actually helps.

I'm an ADHD coach, but my experience with my clients isn't the same thing as scientific evidence, and I don't want you to take my word for it just because I'm a coach. So I went looking at the research to see what we actually know.

This is part 3 of my six-part series on ADHD coaching. Today we look at what the research tells us, what it doesn't tell us, and how you can tell whether coaching is making a difference in your own life.

In this episode:

• What it means for ADHD coaching to "work," and why my first question is "works for what?"
• What a March 2026 study of 12 individual coaching sessions for adults with ADHD found
• Why the lack of a control group matters, and what we can and can't conclude
• What happened six weeks after coaching ended
• What earlier research, mostly with college students, tells us
• Why "promising" is the word I'd use for the research right now
• What should actually change when you work with an ADHD coach
• What ADHD coaching can't do
• What to think about if you've tried coaching and it didn't help
• How to tell whether your coaching is working, and why getting better at doing it on your own matters

Research mentioned in this episode:

• Ahmann, E., Saviet, M., & Otto, M. (2026, March). Coaching for Adults With ADHD: A Prospective Study. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/15598276261432960
• Ahmann, E., Saviet, M., & Otto, M. (2026, August). Coaching for Adults With ADHD: Gains at a Six-Week Follow-Up. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/15598276261473877
• Parker, D. R., Hoffman, S. F., Sawilowsky, S., & Rolands, L. (2011). An Examination of the Effects of ADHD Coaching on University Students' Executive Functioning. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 24(2), 115–132. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ943698
• Álvarez-Godos, M., Ferreira, C., & Vieira, M. J. (2023). A systematic review of actions aimed at university students with ADHD. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1216692

Try this: If you're working with a coach, ask yourself: What is different now that wasn't different before? Be specific.

Missed part 2? Ep 141: Do You Need an ADHD Coach, a Therapist, or Both? https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/adhd-coach-or-therapist/

Next week: How much does ADHD coaching cost? Is it worth the investment? And how do you know whether you're choosing the right coach?

I'm reopening my group coaching program in November. Join the waitlist to hear when enrollment opens. On the same page, if you'd prefer one-on-one coaching, you can book a consultation with me: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/services

Not ready for coaching? Join my free weekly newsletter for practical ADHD tools and ideas you can use in your everyday life: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/weekly

Coaching isn't a cure for ADHD, and it isn't a replacement for medical care or mental health treatment. The 2026 study looked at 12 individual coaching sessions, so its results can't be assumed for every coaching program, including group coaching.

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You've decided you want some help with your ADHD. You're ready for support. But now there's another decision: do you need an ADHD coach, a therapist, or both?

If you're not sure what the difference is, you're not alone. One explanation I hear all the time is that therapy focuses on the past and coaching focuses on the future. I've never liked it, because it isn't accurate. The real differences have more to do with the type of work being done and the professional's role.

This is part 2 of my six-part series on ADHD coaching. Today we look at the differences between coaching and therapy, where they overlap, and how to decide what kind of help makes the most sense for you.

In this episode:

• Why "therapy is the past, coaching is the future" doesn't hold up
• Starting with what you actually need help with
• What an ADHD coach helps with, using a workweek that falls apart by Wednesday
• What a therapist helps with, and why therapy can be very practical
• Where coaching and therapy overlap: emotions and executive function
• How the same problem, like missing deadlines, can have different causes
• Working with a coach and a therapist at the same time
• Professional qualifications and boundaries, and why recognizing limits is a good sign
• How to decide where to start, and questions to ask before you begin

Try this: Before you decide who to call, ask yourself: What am I struggling with, and what kind of help am I looking for?

Missed part 1? Ep 140: What Does an ADHD Coach Actually Do? https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/what-does-an-adhd-coach-do/

Next week: Does ADHD coaching actually work?

I'm reopening my group coaching program in November. If you'd like to hear when enrollment opens, join the group coaching waitlist on my Services page: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/services

You can also join my free weekly newsletter, where I share practical ideas and tools for managing ADHD in your everyday life: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/weekly

This episode is for education only. It isn't medical or mental health advice. If you're having suicidal thoughts or are concerned about your immediate safety, please seek urgent mental health support (call or text 988 in the U.S.) rather than relying on coaching.

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You know you need to use your calendar. You know breaking big projects into smaller steps helps. You've probably heard a hundred times that routines are good for ADHD.

But knowing all of that doesn't mean you're actually doing it. That gap is one of the most common things I hear from adults with ADHD, and it's one of the reasons people look for ADHD coaching.

I talk about coaching all the time on this podcast, but I haven't spent much time explaining what it actually is. So this episode kicks off a six-part series on ADHD coaching: how it works, what you can expect, and how to figure out whether it's the right kind of support for you. Today we're starting with the basics.

In this episode:

• What ADHD coaching actually is: a collaborative process, not someone running your life
• Why the problem you notice (like always running late) often has something different going on underneath
• The gap between knowing and doing, using bedtime as an example
• A walk-through of what a coaching session can look like, and my Review, Revise, Recommit framework
• Why coaching is more than accountability
• What people work on with an ADHD coach (it's not only time management and organization)
• Why ADHD-specific knowledge makes a difference
• What coaching isn't: it doesn't replace medical care, diagnosis, medication management, or mental health treatment
• What progress looks like, and how to tell whether coaching could help you

Try this: Think of one area where you already know what you need to do but you're having trouble following through. Instead of looking for another piece of advice, ask: What have I tried? What happened? What could I change next time?

Next week: ADHD coaching vs. therapy.

Read the blog post: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/adhd-coaching-session/

I'm reopening my ADHD group coaching program in November. If you've been thinking about getting some support with your ADHD, see my coaching options, book a call, or join the group coaching waitlist on my Services page: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/services

Would you rather start with some practical ADHD tools and ideas you can use on your own? Get on my email list: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/weekly

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CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

Have you ever gotten a ton done one day, and then a day or two later you couldn't get started on the exact same thing? It's so frustrating, because you know you can do it. You already did it.

In this episode, I talk about why performance can be so inconsistent with ADHD, and why that doesn't mean something is wrong with you. Something changed. I'll walk you through how to notice what was different on the easier days, how to stop using your good days against yourself, and how to plan for the harder days with minimums and maximums.

Key takeaways:

• Inconsistency is a real part of ADHD. Researchers call it intra-individual variability: your performance can vary from one time to another, and people with ADHD tend to show more of it.
• Swap "What's wrong with me today?" for "What was different when this was easier?" Energy, stress, sleep, clarity, deadlines, interest, and how much is pulling at your attention can all change.
• Your best day is not your new minimum. Use good days to learn what helps you, not as proof you should always be able to do more.
• On a harder day, look at what's missing and make just one adjustment: clarify the first step, ask someone to check in, or give yourself 20 minutes instead of two hours.
• Set a minimum and a maximum so you have another option besides doing everything or doing nothing. The amount changes, but you're still moving forward.

Find your patterns with the ADHD Performance Pattern Finder, a short interactive quiz that builds your personalized plan: https://www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/patternfinder

Read the blog post: https://learntothrivewithadhd.com/adhd-inconsistent-performance/

A short ADHD coaching series is coming soon. I'll share more when it's ready.

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CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

Coach Mande John got on a coaching call last week feeling mentally and physically exhausted - a high-energy new puppy, big projects in motion, and the sense that everything was taking more out of her than she had to give. She got off that call with more energy and a clearer head. Nothing in her life had changed. The puppy was still there. The projects were still there. So what shifted?

This episode is about ADHD mental energy: the difference between what's actually happening and everything your brain adds on top of it. Mande walks through why ADHD already takes so much energy to manage, why cognitive fusion (a concept from Russ Harris's The Happiness Trap) can make a passing thought feel like a fact, and why reframing "I have to" as "I choose to" changed how heavy her puppy, her projects, and her ADHD systems felt — without making any of them easier.

This isn't "just think positive." Mande is clear: sometimes you're just tired, and your body needs rest. But sometimes there's real tiredness, and then there's a whole extra layer stacked on top of it — and those two things need different solutions.

✅ Why ADHD already asks so much of your energy 

✅ The difference between facts and the stories we add to them 

✅ "I have to" vs. "I get to" vs. "I choose to" — and why the last one matters most 

✅ Cognitive fusion and why a thought can feel like a fact 

✅ How to tell real exhaustion from added mental weight 

✅ A simple set of questions for when something feels heavier than it should

🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube.

📄 Grab the free ADHD Energy Worksheet: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/adhdenergy 💼 Book a free coaching consultation: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/services

#adhdcoach #adhdcoaching #adultadhd #adultadd #adhdhelp

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CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

Big projects can feel especially heavy with ADHD — not because you can't do hard things, but because a "big project" usually isn't one task. It's 20 to 100 of them, and a lot of those steps aren't even visible until you've finished the ones before them.

In this episode, Coach Mande John shares how she's currently moving six big projects forward at once, using a simple framework: Plan, Build, Run. She breaks down the difference between work that just finishes a task and work that makes all future work easier — the kind of "setting the foundation" work that feels slower today but saves you from redoing the same decisions over and over.

You'll hear how Mande used this exact approach to finally remodel her laundry room (and eliminate dozens of tiny daily decisions through something called cognitive offloading), how she and her husband overhauled their gym's outdated membership system by giving the project "somewhere to live" on the calendar, and how to tell the difference between useful setup work and just decorating a project to avoid the part that actually matters.

✅ Why big projects feel so heavy with ADHD 

✅ The Plan, Build, Run framework 

✅ Cognitive offloading and why it matters 

✅ How to protect a big project from everything else competing for it 

✅ How to make today smaller without making the project smaller 

✅ Setup work vs. "decorating the project"

🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube.

📬 Subscribe to the weekly newsletter: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/weekly 

💼 Book a free coaching consultation: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/services

#adhdcoach #adhdcoaching #adultadhd #adultadd #adhdhelp

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CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

Have you ever read about ADHD and thought, "That's me" - then immediately talked yourself out of it because "doesn't everybody do that sometimes"? This episode is for you.

Coach Mande John separates ordinary distraction - the kind driven by notifications, stress, and a world built to pull your attention in a hundred directions - from what ADHD actually looks like. She walks through executive function, the DSM-5-TR criteria clinicians use to diagnose ADHD in adults, and the most common reasons people rule themselves out without realizing it ("I did well in school," "I'm not hyperactive," "I can focus for hours when something interests me").

Mande also shares her own path to diagnosis - which, for her, wasn't a big revelation but a confirmation of patterns she'd already recognized - and what it actually takes to get evaluated: who to see, what to expect, and what happens after you have an answer.

This episode won't diagnose you. It will help you ask sharper questions.

✅ Why modern life affects everyone's attention, and how that's different from ADHD 

✅ What executive function means and why ADHD is more than "can't focus" 

✅ The DSM-5-TR criteria clinicians actually use 

✅ Why not remembering ADHD as a kid doesn't rule it out 

✅ Whether you actually need a formal diagnosis 

✅ What to expect from an evaluation and how to find the right person 

✅ What happens after you know

🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube.

📬 Subscribe to the weekly newsletter: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/weekly

#adhdcoach #adhdcoaching #adultadhd #adultadd #adhdhelp

Click here for show note

Send us Fan Mail

CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

Is ADHD really a superpower? Coach Mande John has mixed feelings about that word - and this episode explains why.

Using Peter Shankman's book Faster Than Normal as a jumping-off point, Mande explores the real strengths that often come with ADHD: fast thinking, creativity, risk-taking, hyperfocus, curiosity, and the willingness to do things other people wouldn't consider. But she's also honest about the flip side — the same traits that build an interesting life can make that life harder to manage without the right support.

You'll hear why self-awareness matters more than willpower, why rituals beat resolutions for ADHD brains, how environment quietly shapes how well you function, and why Mande's own two-part framework — executive function plus mind management — is what actually makes strengths usable day to day.

This isn't about forcing yourself to call ADHD a gift, and it's not about pretending the hard parts aren't hard. It's about seeing yourself more completely — not just where you struggle, but where your brain already helps you.

✅ What Faster Than Normal gets right about ADHD strengths 

✅ Why the same trait can help you and hurt you 

✅ Rituals vs. resolutions — and why ADHD brains need the former 

✅ How to design your environment instead of relying on discipline 

✅ The two-part framework: executive function + mind management 

✅ Why copying someone else's system isn't the goal — knowing your own brain is

🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube.

📬 Subscribe to the weekly newsletter: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/weekly 💼 Book a free coaching consultation: www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/services

#adhdcoach #adhdcoaching #adultadhd #adultadd #adhdhelp

Click here for show note

Send us Fan Mail

CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

This week's episode is a rebroadcast of a fan-favorite: How to Create a Great Week. Coach Mande revisits her go-to process for ADHD weekly planning — one that goes way beyond typical time management advice.

Before diving back in, Mande shares what she now understands even more clearly: your great week isn't a contract you have to prove you can follow. It's a draft — your best guess based on what matters to you, your responsibilities, and the capacity you actually have right now.

Inside the episode, you'll walk through the five steps to build your own great week: asking the important questions, identifying non-negotiable responsibilities, mapping weekly tasks, plugging it all into a week view, and creating space to evaluate and adjust. Mande also shares personal examples — from delegating dinner to timing her laundry — and the "don't miss twice" mindset that makes consistency sustainable.

Grab the free workbook to follow along at learntothrivewithadhd.com/greatweek.

Links:

🌐 Website: https://www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/ 

💬 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learntothrivewithadhd/ 

💬 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learntothrivewithadhd/ 

🔗 LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/learntothrivewithadhd

Send a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/learntothrivewithadhd

Click here for show note

Send us Fan Mail

CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together! 

You know exactly what to do. So why aren't you doing it?

This gap between what you know and what you do is called the knowing-doing gap. And for those of us with ADHD, it's not just frustrating - it's painful.

Because we're smart enough to see the gap. We're aware enough to know we're not bridging it.

But here's what most people don't realize: The gap isn't about lack of knowledge. It's about your beliefs.

In Episode 133 (rebroadcast), I break down the knowing-doing gap and the limiting beliefs that create it.

What's Inside:

✓ What the knowing-doing gap is (and why ADHD people feel it so intensely) 

✓ How your beliefs directly create the gap 

✓ Hand-me-down beliefs (where they came from) 

✓ Self-sabotage (why you protect beliefs that aren't true) 

✓ The thoughts-feelings-actions chain (how it all connects) 

✓ Fear in the gap (what you're really afraid of) 

✓ The 3-question framework (that reveals everything) 

✓ Reframing techniques (that actually work) 

✓ Practical steps (to bridge your gap)

Key Quote: "You are brilliant, creative, amazing people. You know what to do and I really believe that is what makes it painful to those of us with ADHD. Were we ignorant we wouldn't feel out of alignment with who we are." – Mande

Perfect For: 

✓ Anyone stuck between knowing and doing 

✓ ADHD people frustrated with the gap 

✓ Those who know what to do but don't do it 

✓ Anyone ready to examine their beliefs 

✓ People tired of trying harder

Resources:

📚 "I Know What To Do, So Why Don't I Do It?" by Nick Hall, Ph.D. (available on Audible) 📄 Free Knowing-Doing Gap Workbook → learntothrivewithadhd.com/freeresources/ 

Links:

🌐 Website: https://www.learntothrivewithadhd.com/ 

💬 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learntothrivewithadhd/ 

💬 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learntothrivewithadhd/ 

🔗 LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/learntothrivewithadhd

Send a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/learntothrivewithadhd

Click here for show note

Send us Fan Mail

CLICK HERE for more resources. We're on this journey together!