The ADHD Skills Lab

Understanding why ADHD happens can feel like chasing a moving target. This study adds a biological angle most people haven't considered.

We discuss a prospective study examining whether maternal inflammation during the second trimester is associated with ADHD symptoms in children later in life. Researchers measured cytokine levels in 62 pregnant women and followed up on ADHD symptoms in 68 children using teacher and parent reports.

The study suggests there is an association between those inflammation markers and later ADHD symptoms. It does not establish cause. The sample was small, blood draws were not standardized by time of day, and the researchers framed this explicitly as preliminary work to identify what warrants deeper investigation.

What We Cover

• What cytokine levels are and why researchers used them to measure maternal inflammation
• Where the methodology falls short and why the researchers themselves framed this as preliminary
• Why future research in this area needs a systems-based approach rather than adding more pressure to mothers

 Want more of Will’s work? Go check out HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe to his YouTube channel

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Description:

Presented by Understood.org

You don’t have a lack of focus. You have too many ideas pulling it in different directions.

This episode builds on Wednesday’s breakdown of ADHD novelty bias and shows you how to actually manage it without shutting it down.

Because the goal isn’t to stop having ideas. It’s to stop them from constantly disrupting execution.

You’ll hear how to treat novelty as input instead of immediate action, how to capture ideas so they stop feeling urgent, and how to create a buffer between what you’re thinking about and what your business actually does.

Right now, every new idea feels important. And when your attention shifts, everything else follows.

This is about keeping the ideas, without letting them take over.

What We Cover:

• Why novelty needs a system, not suppression
• How capturing ideas reduces the urge to act on them
• The “novelty as input, not strategy” approach
• Why your team follows your attention automatically
• How to create a buffer between ideas and execution
• Why most ideas lose urgency if you don’t act on them immediately

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

You keep switching direction mid-project, and now nothing in your business is fully built.

In this episode, we break down ADHD novelty bias and why new ideas don’t just feel exciting. They feel urgent, important, and hard to ignore.

You’ll hear how this shows up in real businesses. The team is aligned, work has started, and then a new idea comes in. It sounds better, feels right, and within days everything shifts. Six months later, you’ve got multiple half-built projects and no clear direction.

This isn’t random. Research shows ADHD brains assign higher reward value to novelty, even when it works against long-term goals.

We also look at the other side of it. Why boredom feels almost painful, why sticking with one direction gets harder over time, and how this pattern quietly impacts growth, team focus, and execution.

This isn’t about lack of discipline. It’s about understanding the pattern that’s driving your decisions.

What We Cover:

• Why new ideas feel urgent instead of optional
• How novelty bias overrides long-term plans
• The “half-built business” pattern many founders fall into
• Why teams follow the founder’s attention automatically
• The link between boredom, disengagement, and switching
• When novelty is useful and when it starts breaking the business

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

Getting diagnosed with ADHD explains a lot. Then it starts explaining too much.

In this episode, Nir Eyal breaks down what happens after that initial relief. When ADHD stops being useful information and starts becoming your identity.

He shares how that shift can quietly limit effort, create anxiety loops, and turn every struggle into “this is just how I am.”

This isn’t about ignoring ADHD. It’s about understanding the difference between what’s real and what you’ve started to believe about it.

Because those beliefs don’t just describe your behavior. They shape it.

You’ll hear how to separate facts from interpretations, why beliefs are tools not truths, and how small shifts in how you think can reduce friction and make action easier.

What We Cover:

• Why ADHD diagnosis brings relief, then can create new limits
• The difference between a label and an identity
• How “this is just my ADHD” becomes a stopping point
• Why beliefs increase or reduce effort before you even start
• The difference between pain and suffering in focus and work
• A simple way to question beliefs that aren’t helping

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

Connect With Nir Eyal

Book: geni.us/beyondbelief

Website: nirandfar.com

Instagram: instagram.com/nireyal

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

Bad environments can train ADHD entrepreneurs to second-guess themselves long after they leave those environments behind. Brandon Smith shares how years of struggling in school, standardized testing, and constant negative feedback shaped the way he saw himself, and why finding practical work completely changed how he viewed his ADHD brain.

In this conversation, Brandon breaks down how environment affects confidence, self-trust, business growth, and leadership. He also shares lessons from building a construction company, learning to delegate, and realizing that many ADHD business owners stay stuck trying to perfect systems long before they actually need them.

What We Cover

• Why ADHD people often confuse environment problems with personal failure
• How Brandon rebuilt confidence through practical work
• Why school experiences still affect ADHD adults years later
• The mindset shift that helped him hire and delegate
• Why unfinished systems can still move your business forward

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

You feel seen by something that wasn’t meant for you.

Skye and Robbie explore whether Bluey reflects ADHD patterns or just captures behaviour accurately.

Using DSM criteria, they break down distraction, unfinished tasks, and how patterns are identified over time.

This episode sits right on the line between observation and diagnosis and shows you how to think about both.

What We Cover:

• Where observation stops and diagnosis starts
• Why realistic behaviour can feel diagnostic
• How ADHD criteria actually gets applied
• The risk of over-interpreting behaviour
• Why this conversation matters beyond the show

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

You build a new system, follow it for a few days, then quietly stop using it.

Craig Ballantyne has coached high performers across multiple industries and his approach focuses on building systems that survive real life, not perfect conditions.

This conversation looks at why most systems fail for ADHD brains. Craig explains how self-awareness, environment control, and honest constraints matter more than motivation.

You will leave with a different way to think about systems that actually hold when your brain resists structure.

What We Cover

• Why most systems fail when they rely on motivation
• How to design systems based on how you actually behave
• The role of environment in making systems stick
• Why honesty about how you learn changes everything
• How to remove friction instead of adding more structure

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

Connect with Craig:

Craig Ballantyne Coaching: https://craigballantyne.com/

Instagram: @ realcraigballantyne

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

You get a new idea and immediately want to drop everything else.

This episode builds on Wednesday’s research around ideation bias in ADHD. The research suggests people with ADHD prefer the idea phase and are more likely to move on before execution is complete.

We break down how this creates the “never-ending pivot” and why projects keep getting abandoned halfway through.

You’ll learn how to use minimum viable product thinking to actually finish things, even if your brain keeps pulling you toward the next idea.

What We Cover:

• Why ADHD brains prefer ideation over execution
• How constant pivots destroy momentum without you noticing
• Turning new ideas into small, testable outputs instead of full pivots
• Finishing projects without suppressing creativity
• How to make ideas small enough to complete before switching

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

You spend weeks building something before anyone ever sees it.

Not because it needs to be that big. Because once you start, it keeps expanding until it feels impossible to finish.

This is where minimum viable product actually matters. Not as a business concept, but as a way to stop overbuilding everything and start testing things earlier.

ADHD makes it easy to over-scope, get pulled into the wrong details, and delay real feedback. So instead of finding out what works, you stay stuck refining something in isolation.

This episode breaks down why that happens and how minimum viable thinking helps you start smaller, move faster, and avoid getting trapped in the build phase.

On Friday, we’ll show you how to apply this in real situations so you can actually ship things without burning out.

What We Cover

• Why ADHD leads to overbuilding instead of testing
• The pattern of expanding a task before it ever gets real feedback
• How minimum viable thinking cuts through overthinking
• Why starting smaller makes it easier to stay in motion
• How to recognize when you’re building instead of progressing

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

Presented by Understood.org

You keep starting new things and abandoning the ones that were working.

Katy Weber is the go-to voice behind the Woman and ADHD podcast, reaching millions of listeners and building a multi-stream business from lived experience. Her approach to growth is grounded in what actually works with ADHD, not what sounds good on paper.

She explains why ADHD pulls you toward new ideas, how pivoting too early kills momentum, and what changed when she stopped rebuilding from scratch. The conversation also covers how she used her podcast as the foundation for everything else.

You will leave with a more stable way to grow without constantly resetting your progress.

What We Cover

• Why ADHD brains pivot too early and lose momentum
• The hidden cost of constantly starting over
• How to build around one stable “core” system
• What changed when she stopped chasing new ideas
• Why expansion works better than reinvention

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab

Connect with Katy Weber:

• Website: https://www.womenandadhd.com/
• Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/womenandadhdpodcast/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katyweber.adhd/

P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 

My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.

Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 

I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.