Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast

The thing about routines is that they’re as easy to break as they are to start, no matter how well they were working for you. With ADHD, it’s so simple to move to another task blindly that without developing a real muscle around task switching awareness, it’ll only take a few missed steps to forget you had a routine in place at all.

This week on the show we’re talking about routines… those we’ve started, those we’ve broken, and how we can work to change our definition of success in our routines so we’re not so deeply tied to the perils of consistency.

We’ve been working hard over the last few weeks to talk about how we define success. The lesson, from your own contributions, is largely that we as a group need to get better at it. We’re stuck in a place where success, to us, means defiant win. But the space between our big wins can feel like a chasm. And the isolation and judgment that comes with ADHD can make that chasm unusually dark.

That’s why the success stories today are so important. Because in each, no matter how dark they begin, they reveal an effort to celebrate the act of movement, of taking action, of trying something new. We applaud everyone who wrote in, called in, or even thought about reachout out to us to share a success, and encourage you all to keep pushing through, to leap the chasm and find your own success.

We’re off for the month of July. See you right back here in August!

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

Acknowledging our successes is not an easy thing to do for many of us — and it's even harder when wading through the judgment of ADHD. So how do you celebrate your successes and pat yourself on the back? This week on the show, we’re talking about how we go about defining and cataloging success, how we frame our own pride in our accomplishments and set the stage for a whole episode devoted to your success stories next week!

Email your successes to [email protected] before Wednesday, June 20th!

How can you tell the difference between a legitimate reason you’re not able to do something and an excuse that you’ve started telling to get yourself out of it? Strange as it may sound, we’ve gone to the Oxford English Dictionary for help and — spoiler — that just made things worse! Nuances of language, culture, and context aside, we push through today to offer a framework for approaching excuses through logic, building the muscles that allow us to see when we’re not being honest with ourselves, and learning to live by fact and truth — as hard as that is for us to do sometimes.

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

Do you have FOLI? Never heard of it? Don’t worry, we hadn’t either. But if you’re living with ADHD, once we tell you about “Fear of Losing Interest,” we’re pretty sure you’ll be able to relate. Credit to one of our fantastic listeners for coining the acronym, we’re thrilled to be able to talk more about it today and spread the word!

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

If you're living with ADHD, you know what it's like to feel misunderstood. That isolation can lead you to a place where advice like, "you should just get out more," is tough to take seriously. Today on the show, we're talking all about loneliness.

But first, an important safety tip: 1Password 7 for Mac was released this week which offers direct access to a new tool that you need to know about — whether you use 1Password or not. That tool is HaveIBeenPwnd.com and it’s going to help you stay on top of data breaches hacks — and keep your user accounts safe.

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

We’ve seen a flood of comments about expectations over the last few weeks and they all seem to zero in to the same general area: the to-do list is out of hand. But it’s more complicated than just having too many things on your list. In fact, your overflowing to-do list likely has more to do with your lack of practice in estimating time for individual tasks, and lack of a system to visually connect your work to the time you have available to do it. Today, we’re talking all about that, plus a plug that can help you free yourself from the self-judgment and shame that comes with feeling like you’ve failed when you can’t check everything off your list each day!

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

What motivates you? That’s the principal question around rewards, and it’s harder to answer for folks who are living with ADHD. The complications of reward systems are many; are you taking care of yourself? Do you remember to reward yourself? Do you question whether you “deserve” a reward? Does the reward actually keep you motivated to continue to move forward on your projects? This week on the show, we’re talking about reward systems and ADHD and have some terrific suggestions from our brilliant listeners that you can try to keep yourself motivated and happy!

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

James and Jules Ochoa are back! The OTHER dynamic duo in ADHD podcasting have just wrapped their first season of The Complex, a podcast that approaches ADHD through the lens of a fictional apartment complex and it’s many ADHDer residents. They’re here today to share a bit about their experience and lessons learned in approaching the ADHD community through a podcast platform.

For more background on the show head back to our show, episode 331.

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast

We’re going back to our roots this week with a trip down organizing lane! That’s right, it’s our ANNUAL SPRING ORGANIZING episode! Trouble getting started? Trouble finishing? Trouble narrowing down how to start? All that and more as Nikki and Pete revisit their tolerations and share strategies for overcoming the practical and emotional hurdles of tackling spring organizing with ADHD!

Links & Notes

Thank you for supporting The ADHD Podcast on Patreon! — https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast