The ADHD Skills Lab

You keep being told ADHD is genetic, but part of you suspects something in your environment is making it worse.

In this next episode of the Research Recap Series Skye and Will (Hacking Your ADHD) discuss research on environmental exposure and ADHD-related behaviors.

Together they explore what the science suggests about how certain chemicals may influence attention, impulsivity, and neurodevelopment. The focus stays on association, not certainty, and what that means in practice.

The conversation also breaks down how to think about risk without spiraling. What matters. What is still unclear. And how to approach this without adding more pressure.

What We Cover

• Why research is shifting toward ADHD symptoms, not just diagnosis
• The possible role of environmental exposure alongside genetics
• What endocrine disruptors do and why they matter for brain development
• How to interpret early-stage research without overreacting
• The gap between scientific findings and everyday decision making

Want more of Will’s work?

Visit 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.

Presented by Understood.org

You keep improving the idea instead of finishing the project.

In Wednesday’s breakdown, we showed why ADHD brains prefer ideation and discount future rewards. Today is about building around that.

This episode gives you three systems. A written decision log. A structured ideation window. And a clear threshold for when changes are allowed.

These systems help you move from “this could be better” to “this is done.”

What We Cover:

• Why ideas expand until you force a stopping point
• The system that turns decisions into something concrete
• How to keep ideation from leaking into execution
• Using future logs to capture ideas without derailment
• Why finishing requires leaving your strongest skill

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 have a good plan. But your brain keeps pulling you back into new ideas.

Skye and Robbie explain why ADHD brains get stuck in ideation.

This episode connects real-world behavior to research. ADHD brains perform well in divergent thinking. But they also prefer it. And they value immediate rewards over delayed ones.

That combination makes finishing harder than starting.

What We Cover:

• Why ideation becomes a loop instead of a phase
• Research showing ADHD strength in divergent thinking
• The preference for idea generation over refinement
• How reward timing affects execution
• Why finishing feels harder than starting

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 built something that works. Now you cannot stop working without everything feeling like it might fall apart.

Krista Mashore is a powerhouse in digital coaching. She built a $70M business after leaving real estate at her peak. She is the gold standard for fast execution and high-output growth, and her systems come directly from managing her own ADHD at scale.

We break down what burnout actually looked like behind the scenes. From selling 150+ homes a year to walking away overnight. Krista explains her “stop, snap, switch” framework, how she manages constant mental noise, and why ADHD makes fast decision-making a real advantage.

You will walk away understanding why success does not remove burnout, and what needs to change if you want to keep growing without breaking yourself.

What We Cover

• Why ADHD high performers push past burnout signals
• The moment she walked away from a $1.8M income
• How “stop, snap, switch” interrupts negative thought loops
• Why fast decision-making works with ADHD
• The real cost of building without systems

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 Krista:

YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KristaMashoreCoaching Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristamashore/ DM Krista the word BOT and she will help you find the real constraint in your business.

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’re guessing how long things take.

That guess feels reasonable.

It’s just wrong, over and over again.

In the last episode, we broke down why ADHD time blindness happens. This one is about what to do about it.

Because the real problem isn’t planning. It’s relying on estimation at all.

In this episode, Skye and Robert walk through how to replace your internal clock with systems that actually hold up in real work:

• why you can’t “get better” at estimating time
• how to use past projects instead of guessing
• how teams quietly adjust for you (and why that creates tension)
• why buffers and “extra time” don’t work
• how to build timelines that don’t collapse halfway through

If you’re tired of missing deadlines you genuinely thought were realistic, this will show you what’s actually going wrong, and what works instead.

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 think it’ll take two days.

Your team knows it’s two weeks.

And after a while, they stop saying anything.

In this episode, Skye and Robert break down why ADHD founders consistently underestimate time, not because they’re overconfident or disorganized, but because their perception of time is genuinely off.

They walk through the research behind time blindness and estimation failure, and how this shows up in real businesses:

• why your timelines feel right when you set them
• why your team starts padding estimates (without telling you)
• how this quietly damages trust and reputation
• why this problem gets worse as you scale

If you’ve ever felt like you’re constantly behind - even when you’re trying to be realistic - this will explain why.

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’re funding everything yourself, and it’s quietly slowing your business down.

Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because you’re relying on the most limited resource you have: your own cash and capacity.

Kat Weaver has helped founders raise over $70M and won 22 out of 23 pitch competitions herself. But her approach isn’t about chasing investors, it’s about using the right kind of money at the right time.

In this episode, she breaks down:

• Why self-funding creates a ceiling most founders don’t notice
• The funding options that actually make sense for service-based businesses
• Why grants are one of the most overlooked (and accessible) starting points
• How to think about money as leverage, not pressure or validation
• And how to follow through on applications without getting stuck or avoiding them

If you’ve ever felt maxed out, stuck at the same level, or like growth depends entirely on you pushing harder, this will probably hit.

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab

Connect with Kat:

DM the word “GPT” on Instagram to get Kat’s free capital calculator, designed to help founders determine how much to raise and what type of capital is best for their stage: https://www.instagram.com/iamkatweaver/

Apply to work with us: https://powertopitch.com/apply/

Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katweaver

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.

We usually think of ADHD as behavioral.

But what if some of the earliest signals weren’t behavioral at all?

In this Research Recap, we break down a large population-based study examining pain-related diagnoses in children before they were diagnosed with ADHD.

Researchers looked at over 700,000 medical records to ask a simple question:

Were children later diagnosed with ADHD already showing higher rates of pain-related medical visits?

The association was clear.

The explanation is not.

No fear-based framing.

No causation claims.

No medical advice.

Just what the data actually shows — and what it doesn’t.

What We Cover

• The design of the study and why pre-diagnosis data matters
• 14% higher abdominal pain and 35% higher limb pain diagnoses before ADHD diagnosis
• The difference between experiencing more pain vs requiring more pain management
• Theories around neurodevelopment, neuroinflammation, and altered pain perception
• Why this raises important questions without changing how ADHD is diagnosed

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 approve the direction. Then change everything at the end.

Wednesday’s episode showed why ADHD planning creates late-stage corrections. This episode shows how to stop that pattern.

Skye and Robbie break down a system built around checkpoints, prototypes, and early feedback. The goal is not better briefs. The goal is catching problems when they’re still cheap to fix.

What We Cover:

• Why late feedback is built into ADHD planning
• The 24–48 hour check-in system
• Concept reviews before real execution starts
• Why midpoint sign-off reduces last-minute changes
• How to stop teams from losing confidence

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab

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

The plan made sense in your head. It falls apart when someone else runs it.

This episode looks at research on prospective memory and verbal planning. The findings suggest ADHD impacts how plans are built, not just remembered.

Skye and Robbie explain why this creates a gap between intention and execution. And why teams end up producing something that feels “close, but not right.”

Friday’s episode will focus on systems that reduce this gap.

What We Cover:

• Why ADHD affects plan formation more than recall
• How missing detail changes execution outcomes
• Why feedback often comes too late
• The role of multi-step planning in team success

If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org’s new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.

Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab

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.