Focus and Chill - productivity tactics for AuDHDers and other neurodivergent folks

Episode 57: Chris Cameron

May 25, 2024

Guest Chris Cameron, expert in process automation, shares his journey with neurodiversity and strategies like calendaring and journaling to overcome challenges. He discusses embracing neurodiversity in business, evolving productivity techniques, and mastering time management amid parenthood.

36:31

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Chris Cameron

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Quick takeaways

Chris Cameron emphasizes breaking stereotypes about ADHD and advocating for increased awareness of diverse neurodivergent experiences.

Chris Cameron highlights the importance of individualized coping strategies, such as calendaring and setting timers, to effectively manage neurodivergence.

Deep dives

Chris Cameron's Realization of Neurodivergence

Chris Cameron discusses his journey of realizing his neurodivergence, particularly ADHD, and how the pandemic period highlighted his unique coping strategies and signs of ADHD from childhood experiences, such as excelling in tests but struggling with homework. He emphasizes the importance of breaking stereotypes surrounding ADHD and advocating for increased awareness and understanding of diverse neurodivergent experiences.

Embracing Spiky Skill Sets

01:38

Managing Energy and Mindfulness for Peak Performance

01:22

Introduction

3min

Navigating Neurodivergence and Coping Strategies

5min

Embracing Neurodiversity and Automation in Business Processes

16min

Evolving Productivity Techniques and Communication Strategies with ADHD

4min

Mastering Time Management and Productivity Amid Parenthood

8min

Welcome to episode #57 We’re thrilled to be joined by Chris Cameron today.

Chris Cameron is a Workflow Engineering and Process Automation Expert with over a decade of experience. He founded Satellite, a company dedicated to helping small businesses optimize their operations. He also teaches people with executive function barriers how to overcome them using AI, no-code automation tools, and productivity strategies. His work is driven by efficiency, innovation, and empathy, ensuring technology serves people.

QUESTIONS

Can you tell us about your experience with neurodiversity?
1. When did you realize that you weren’t neurotypical?
  1. During pandemic
    1. Felt more on top of things
      1. Other people were struggling
      2. Realized later
        He was responding well to chaos.
  2. Having a child
  3. The above two things prompted him to investigate further
  4. In school was the kid that
    1. Didn’t
      1. Do homework
      2. Study
    2. But always performed well
2. What challenges did you face?
  1. Late to start things
  2. But learning new things about it all the time
    1. Different ways to approach things.
  3. Time blindness
    1. If something isn’t on the calendar, then it doesn’t get done.
  4. Underestimating
    1. Tries to journal and self-analysis and reflect on what is working and what isn’t
3. What is it like now?
  1. Wanted to talk about it so that other kids wouldn’t fall through the cracks
    1. Not simply be dismissed as the hyperactive boy stereotype.
    2. See through the coping strategies and masking.
4. What neuro-exceptional strengths are you leaning into now?
  1. Tolerance for frustration
    1. Depending on the cause
      1. Lower than usual
        E.g. repetitive tasks
        Filling out tasks
      2. Higher than usual
        E.g. Solving aggravating problem
        Coding a solution
What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
1. Consultancy doing business process automation (Satellite)
2. Educational workshops (https://learnwith.cc) for ND people to learn how to automate processes
  1. Building out course material
  2. Tutoring (e.g. how to set up automation)
  3. Workflow optimization tool (free tool to figure out how to improve your processes)
How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
1. Investigating new tools (physical and computers)
2. Spending time with family
  1. 2.5 year old
What do you do to optimize productivity during your working hours? What is some unhelpful productivity advice that doesn’t work for you?
1. Calendaring + notes (so don’t forget)
2. Timeboxing (worked for a while but then hated it)
3. Time tracking
  1. Started for client billing as a freelancer
  2. Tracking how much time spent on personal projects too
  3. Helpful to calibrate estimates (e.g. grocery shopping seems like it should only
4. Adapt tools to how people work rather than bending people to make the tools work
  1. Velja
    1. E.g. default zoom calls to a specific browser
    2. E.g. always open Trello in the Trello app
5. What works for a few months, can’t expect it to work forever
  1. Theories about cycling
    1. Novelty is attractive
      1. Adaptation / habituation
COMMERCIAL BREAK
How do you manage communication with neurotypical folk?
1. Variable NT tolerance
2. Having different personas
  1. Work Chris
  2. Real Chris
  3. Is he consolidating these?
3. Establishing good rapport
What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
1. For a while, he had a tightly planned morning routine
  1. Previously, 2-hour time block in the morning
    1. Exercise
    2. Meditate
  2. Adaptability helped in transitioning to parenthood.
2. Being a father led to a need for flexibility in the morning (e.g. kid wakes up early and needs you right away)
  1. Self-care for self
  2. Get son ready (change, feed him, take him to daycare)
  3. Do maintenance tasks (meditation, exercise, writing)
How is your sleep? How do you switch off at night?
1. Parenting
  1. Terrible sleep doesn’t last forever.
    1. It’s tough when the kid doesn’t sleep at all.
2. Energy management (more productivity stuff)
  1. Know when you have peak energy
  2. Being mindful of when being sleep deprived.
Where can people connect with you or find your work?
1. https://learnwith.cc
2. X: learnwithcc
3. LinkedIn
Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
1. Webinars
  1. Get people to attend.