The ADHD Skills Lab

Many adults with ADHD struggle with tools that seem simple at first but quickly become overwhelming. Dashboards full of icons, systems that require too many clicks, and constantly changing interfaces can quietly drain focus.

In this episode of ADHD Skills Lab, Skye and Robbie explore practical ADHD work systems that reduce visual overload and make digital tools easier to navigate.

Earlier this week, they explored research on object recognition memory in ADHD and why visual systems like software interfaces can create unexpected cognitive load.

This episode focuses on what to do about it.

They walk through practical ways to simplify work systems, stabilize digital environments, and design tools that support ADHD focus instead of constantly disrupting it.

Start with Wednesday’s research episode before this one. This conversation builds directly on the findings discussed there.

What We Cover

• Why constantly changing tools create friction for ADHD brains
• Designing stable digital systems that reduce cognitive load
• How visual clutter quietly drains focus
• Practical ways to simplify your work environment

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.

Why does a simple software update suddenly make everything feel impossible to use?

In this Research Recap, Skye and Robbie break down a meta-analysis examining object recognition memory in ADHD.

Object recognition memory helps your brain recognize visual information like icons, folders, faces, and layouts. It’s what allows you to quickly identify the right button in a menu or remember where something lives inside a complex interface.

Researchers reviewed 28 studies involving children and adolescents with ADHD to examine whether object recognition memory differs from neurotypical controls.

Skye and Robbie walk through:

• How researchers test object recognition memory
• What the data actually shows about ADHD and visual recognition tasks
• Why visually complex systems like software interfaces can feel cognitively heavier for ADHD brains

No hype.

No miracle cures.

No “just try harder.”

Just what the research shows.

Then tune in on Friday, when Skye and Robbie return to this study and explore how these findings might translate into practical strategies for navigating tools, systems, and visual environments with 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.

When creative work gets hard, most people with ADHD assume something’s wrong.

Wrong idea.

Wrong project.

Wrong career.

In this conversation, Andy J. Pizza (author, illustrator, and host of Creative Pep Talk) breaks down the moment his work completely dried up — and why that crisis forced him to stop winging it and start creating strategically.

We talk about perfectionism, rejection sensitivity, creative droughts, collaboration fights, and the uncomfortable shift from “I hope this works” to “I’m building this on purpose.”

This isn’t about hacks or hustle.

It’s about understanding that hard and bad are not the same thing — and sometimes the difficulty is the point.

• Why “hard” is often a sign of growth, not failure
• The shift from exploratory creativity to strategic authorship
• How perfectionism and RSD quietly stall creative output
• Rebuilding after a six-month career drought
• Why collaboration feels like conflict (and why that’s normal)

Connect with Andy: on his website or follow him on Instagram @andyjpizza

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.

Business owner with ADHD wanting operational clarity and focus? 
Click here to book a session with Skye.
https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com for a operational clarity session!

More adults with ADHD start businesses than the general population.

But here’s the part nobody talks about:

Research shows ADHD is positively linked to entrepreneurial attitudes and startup behavior…

and negatively linked to post-launch outcomes, performance, and wellbeing.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Robert Waterson break down a 2025 meta-analysis on ADHD and entrepreneurship - exploring why hyperactive types tend to start, why inattentive types may struggle more with scaling, and where the “ADHD is a superpower” narrative falls short.

This episode is about what happens after the excitement of starting.

What we cover:

• The difference between entrepreneurial attitude, startup behavior, and post-launch outcomes
• Why hyperactive ADHD is linked to action (but also burnout)
• Why inattentive ADHD may struggle with scaling and follow-through
• The myth of brute-force hustle
• Where the “ADHD is a superpower” framing conflicts with the data
• Why systems - not motivation - change outcomes

If you’ve ever felt amazing at starting… and exhausted trying to sustain - this one’s for you.

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

Business owner with ADHD wanting operational clarity and focus? 
Click here to book a session with Skye.
https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com for a operational clarity session!

Why does focus feel like forcing a rusty machine to start… instead of flipping a switch?

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a randomized placebo-controlled study examining how brain networks behave differently in adults with ADHD.

This episode isn’t about recommending medication.

It’s about something more fundamental: the push-pull relationship between the brain’s default mode network (daydreaming, internal thoughts) and task positive network (focused attention) — and what happens when that switch doesn’t work automatically.

If you’ve ever tried to white-knuckle your way through work, this episode will feel deeply validating.

What we cover:

• Why ADHD brains struggle to “automatically” switch into focus
• What brain scans reveal about default mode vs task networks
• How this study compared medication-naive adults with controls
• What changed in network activity during treatment
• Why brain-difference evidence reduces self-blame

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.

You can be successful on paper and still feel stuck.

In this episode, Skye talks with entrepreneur and investor Kassidy Warren about leaving the corporate “safe path,” taking real risks, and the identity shift required to stop playing small. They unpack rejection, procrastination, reinvesting before results, and what it actually means to turn pro — especially with an ADHD brain.

If you’ve built something stable but know you’re capable of more, this one will hit.

What we cover:

• The hidden cost of corporate stability and “golden handcuffs”
• Why procrastination is fear in disguise
• How to handle rejection without shrinking
• The mindset shift from amateur to professional
• Acting before you feel ready — and why waiting keeps you stuck

Business owner with ADHD wanting operational clarity and focus? Click here to book a session with Skye. 

https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com for a operational clarity session!

Connect with Kassidy Warren

Kassidy Warren is the host of the For Your Own Good podcast, where he shares practical, direct conversations about business growth, leadership, and building companies that actually work.

If this episode resonated, you can follow Kassidy and explore more of his work here:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kassidy.warren
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KassidyWarren
• For Your Own Good on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1UfWzqSpuL685ReFGnIrgB

He regularly shares insights for operators and founders who want to move from chaos to clarity without fluff or hype.

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.

“I wasn’t failing. I just wasn’t growing.”

Adam Tasker had the career. The family. Three kids. Responsibility handled.

But privately, he knew he was drifting.

After being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, following his sons’ diagnoses, he began to look at how he was operating. Not just as a father, but as a leader. At home. In business. With himself.

In this conversation, Skye and Adam unpack:

• What actually changes after a late ADHD diagnosis
• How overwhelm escalates and why some days collapse fast
• The identity shift from practitioner to leader in business
• Delegation, emotional regulation, and being the tone-setter at home

They talk through structure, routines, communication, and the tension between flexibility and discipline in a neurodivergent household.

This episode is not about productivity hacks.

It is about responsibility, self-awareness, and learning to lead without burning out or defaulting to shame.

If you are a parent, a founder, or someone who knows you are capable of more than “going through the motions,” this conversation will resonate.

Connect with Adam Tasker, COO of High Performance Father, at https://highperformancefather.com or email him directly at [email protected] for resources and support.

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.

Looking for The Business Visibility Workshop?

Click here for details:

https://unconventionalorganisation.circle.so/checkout/the-business-visibility-workshop-wednesday-feb-18th

You don’t need a formal ADHD diagnosis for ADHD traits to affect your health, finances, or well-being.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will break down a study on subclinical ADHD - ADHD traits that fall below the diagnostic threshold - and how they impact entrepreneurs and employees.

The findings are confronting.

Across nearly 400 participants, higher ADHD traits were linked to:

• Higher anxiety
• Worse physical health
• Lower happiness
• Lower subjective financial well-being

Even without meeting diagnostic criteria.

Entrepreneurship showed some buffering effects — more autonomy, more novelty, slightly higher life satisfaction.

But it also intensified financial pressure and the self-management demands that ADHD traits can make harder.

In this episode, we unpack:

• What “subclinical ADHD” actually means
• Why “not diagnosed” doesn’t mean “not affected”
• Why entrepreneurs may feel financial strain more intensely
• How work environment fit shapes well-being
• What this research misses about ADHD management in practice

If you’ve ever thought, “Maybe it’s not bad enough to count…”

this conversation may change how you see that.

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.

If sales feels heavy, awkward, or mentally exhausting, it’s probably not because you’re bad at it.

It’s more likely because you’ve been trying to sell using advice that relies on pressure, performance, or rigid systems - the exact things that make ADHD brains freeze, overthink, or avoid the conversation altogether.

In this episode, Skye sits down with Wes Schaeffer (The Sales Whisperer) to talk about how to sell in a way that actually feels calm, grounded, and sustainable — without hype, manipulation, or forcing yourself into a persona that doesn’t fit.

This isn’t about “loving sales” or magically becoming confident.

It’s about:

• reducing anxiety around money conversations
• having something to lean on when your confidence dips
• and building just enough structure so sales stops living rent-free in your head

Wes breaks down why money talk feels so uncomfortable, how scripts can reduce stress instead of making you sound robotic, and why avoiding systems usually creates more chaos — not less.

If you’ve ever known you should follow up, talk about pricing, or ask for the sale… and still found yourself procrastinating, this conversation will feel uncomfortably accurate — in a good way.

No hustle. No sleaze. No “just be confident” advice.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why sales feels uncomfortable for ADHD entrepreneurs and what is actually happening underneath that resistance
• How to talk about money and pricing without sounding pushy or rehearsed
• When scripts and systems help ADHD brains and when they make things worse
• A calmer approach to follow-ups that does not rely on pressure or guilt
• How small sales systems reduce burnout, decision fatigue, and avoidance over time

Connect with Wes Schaeffer

• Learn more about Wes and his programs: https://12weekstopeak.com
• Free habit tracker and practical sales resources available on the site
• Text or book time directly via the site

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.

A lot of people with ADHD deal with physical symptoms they’ve never talked about - or never thought were connected.

This episode looks at what the research actually shows about ADHD and gut issues, and where the line is between association, speculation, and overreach.

ADHD usually gets framed around focus, motivation, and productivity. But growing research suggests it may also be linked to very real physical symptoms, including gut issues that many people quietly live with.

In this episode, Skye and Will break down a major research review examining the connection between ADHD and IBS - what the data shows (and what it doesn’t), and why this matters for quality of life, not just symptom labels.

No biohacks. No diet rules. Just context, clarity, and what’s worth paying attention to if you’ve ever felt like ADHD affects more than just your brain.

What we cover:

• What this large ADHD + IBS study actually found (and what it didn’t)
• Why IBS showed up - but other gut issues didn’t
• How physical discomfort can quietly compound ADHD overwhelm
• Why this research matters even if you don’t have gut issues

If you want a copy of the paper we discuss, just ask us and we will send it to you.

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.