Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast

Friendships are already a challenge with ADHD. What happens when you're also living with social anxiety and rejection sensitivity? We pull apart a few important lessons on the show this week, not the least of which is the following: in all likelihood, people like you more than you think they do. Is that hard to hear? Then you need to listen to this week's show.

Nikki brings an exercise and resource to help you breakdown the RSD we live with, and how to deal with the disappointment that comes when we make ourselves vulnerable to close friendships. Pete helps to catalog those friendships thanks to the work of a new book by Robin Dunbar. Check out the infographic here and listen in for more.

Links & Notes

• 5 Ways to Deal with Disappointment — Dr. Radha Modgil
• Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships — by Robin Dunbar

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

Is it common to struggle to develop friendships with ADHD? Let's just say, if you're struggling yourself, you're in good company. Struggles to manage time for friendships, develop close, meaningful ties, are made all the more difficult thanks to the bouquet of ADHD factors.

This week on the show we’re thrilled to welcome back the fantastic Melissa Orlov. She’s a leading expert in how ADHD affects relationships. On top of that, she’s an award-winning author of books including The ADHD Effect on Marriage, and The Couple's Guide to Thriving with ADHD. She’s founder of ADHD & Marriage where she writes regularly alongside a cast of incredible contributors and hosts a large community of adults learning about ADHD in their relationships.

Links & Notes

• ADHD & Marriage
• Melissa Orlov on Amazon

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

We met Sonal Singh as she was managing the virtual green room and serving as host for our session at last year’s CHADD International Conference on ADHD. Our paths had never crossed, but as we started chatting we realized just how fascinating her path had been.

She is India’s first certified ADHD coach. We think this is fascinating. What would you do if you were in her shoes, and you had the opportunity to teach all those in your sphere about neurodivergence and executive function and the entire spectrum of ADHD?

Of course, Sonal is doing much of her work with an International audience from her home in Delhi and we certainly don’t want to set her up as an ADHD savior for an entire country! But, we think hearing of her experience in this place and time can give us an interesting insight into the development of ADHD awareness as a culture, and that’s worth discussing on the show next week.

Links & Notes

• SonalSinghCoaching.com
• Exceptional Minds on Facebook
• ADHD Life Coaching on Instagram

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

Did you know focus requires focus? Yes, it sounds a touch nonsensical, but when you're living with ADHD, the act of focusing has a tendency to become unhinged. And unhinged focus can damage what you're otherwise out to find: productivity.

This week on the show we're talking all about focus, the state of mind appropriate for best focus, and how you can take care of your mind and body so that when you need to find focus, it's there.

Links & Notes

• Serene: The macOS App for Laser-Focus
• Freedom: Block Websites, Apps, and the Internet

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

Looking for focus? Like music? Have trouble focusing WITH music? We might just be able to help you out this week.

Focus@Will is a service offering focus music to help you tune in to what you’re doing so that you can get it done. Will Henshall is the musician and inventor behind the service and joins us today to talk about the tool, the technology, and how it just might be your next secret weapon in your war on distraction.

What’s different about the music? What makes it so good for focus? Will tells all this week with examples from channels across the site that help a wide range of brains to raise the noise floor and get working. We talk about entrainment, and why it can be both a useful tool for some people, and an even bigger distraction for others. Plus, we dive into a bit of 90’s music history to hear about Will’s past life as a founding musician behind Londonbeat.

About Will Henshall

Will Henshall is a Los Angeles based tech entrepreneur, inventor and music producer. He was the founding member and main writer in the UK pop soul band Londonbeat. Their massive early 90s hit ‘I’ve Been Thinking About You’ reached #1 in the Billboard chart and was the top selling single in all major territories and won him BMI/PRS songwriter of the year. In the mid 90s, he founded San Francisco-based audio tech company Rocket Network. The “DigiDelivery” media transfer system, now part of ProTools 12 Cloud collaboration, is a standard tool used everyday in pro audio production for TV, movies and music. He sold the company to Avid in 2003. His most recent start up is focus@will, a science driven instrumental music streaming service (2m users) that helps people at work and study reduce distractions and be more productive. He holds five patents, and has a new one in on the way.

Links & Notes

• Focus@Will
• Find Will on Facebook
• Connect with Will on LinkedIn

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

What does it mean to have? We’re not just talking about material possessions here, but how do you relate to having anything? Food? Space? Time? Focus? Productivity? Living with ADHD, we often live in a position of lack, of not having enough, of not being able to do enough, of scarcity. But we don’t have to live that way, and this week’s guest is going to tell us why.

Author Victoria Castle joins us this week to talk about her book, ‘The Trance of Scarcity’. She helps us understand the trap of scarcity and the transformation to abundance. Even more, she helps us revisit our own bodies and our lived experience. We talk about what we aspire to with our ADHD, and how we can redraw that map to create the role models that serve us.

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

This week, Brittany Smith joins us to talk about technology and how it fuels productivity. We talk about battling the fear that comes from new tech tools, the overwhelm from that feeling of too much technology, and how you can actually find the spark of motivation hiding in an examination of the things that de-motivate you about your tools the most!

Brittany Smith is an ADHD, Productivity, and Technology coach in Portland, Oregon. She has her MS in Cognitive Neuroscience and uses the latest tools and her love of technology to help her clients get more done, with less stress.

This week, Brittany joins us to talk about technology and how it fuels productivity. We talk about battling the fear that comes from new tech tools, the overwhelm from that feeling of too much technology, and how you can actually find the spark of motivation hiding in an examination of the things that de-motivate you about your tools the most!

Links & Notes

• Brittany Smith at Devise & Conquer Consulting
• Obsidian: A second brain, for you, forever
• DevonThink from DevonTechnologies
• Data Privacy Day at Apple: Improving Transparency and Empowering Users
• What is App Tracking Transparency and how do you block app tracking?
• Apple Shortcuts User Guide

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

It's time to get into the weeds! Plan your day like a star with a few simple guides to keep in the back of your mind. Where do you start? First things first... don't skip!

From there, it’s a piece of cake! This week on the show we’re reviewing the transition from weekly planning to daily planning; how do you take those big rocks and provide just enough detail in your time management so you’re able to get things done? Plus, we review our own individual processes for daily planning and look forward to hearing more from you!

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

Planning is a real delight. It’s one of the most fun things I can do with my precious time! When I sit down to plan, the only thing I really want to plan, is the next session of planning, which can’t come soon enough.

... said no one with ADHD. Ever.

Yeah, we know. Sitting down to plan your week is hard, and if you’ve ever been burned by missing your own plan, you might not find a whole lot of value in it. This week on the show, we’re going to make the case that maybe, just maybe, you’re falling into one of three perilous traps that have impeded your successful efforts to plan. If you can get your hands around these three, you’re off to the races!

Links & Notes

• The Taking Control GPS Program

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast

You've heard us talk about the value of accountability partners before, but what does that relationship look like? What do you ask of one another, and what can you expect?

As you’ll hear, we’re not big fans of the word “accountability.” If you’re turned off by the word, if you find it sounds a dash too much like you’re being punished or investigated, you’re not alone. In fact, maybe that’s what has been keeping you from exploring this valuable practice! We hope you love our spin on it, and that maybe after the show this week, you’ll give it a shot yourself. From finding someone you can trust, someone who can relate to your habits and adjust to your expectations, to finding someone for whom you can contribute equally, this week we’re all about building accountability relationships that work!

Links & Notes

• Clouseau v. Cato — The ultimate accountability partner!
• Focusmate

• (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast