Translating ADHD

Asher and Cam dive deeper into the Adrenaline Response Cycle, exploring the Delay phase that preceeds the Intense Activity phase. Last week they explored the Crash-Recovery phases, so the hosts thought it wise to look at the phase that so many of us with ADHD spend lots of time grappling with. In common circles this is referred to as procrastination, but hosts Cam and Ash prefer to not use this language because it doesn't get to the root of the dilemma. They share several examples of how Delay can play out from doing everything but the urgent task to doing much more than the specific challenge. Ash reiterates the distinction between constructive and productive  work. Cam shares how our contextual wiring can wreak havoc when fueled by fear and urgency, playing out catastrophic scenarios or taking us to valley moments. Both hosts talk about how pause, disrupt and pivot can be useful during the delay phase and the power of acceptance. Episode links + resources: Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher More on ARC from Cam’s Blog Adrenaline Response Cycle (image below) For more of the Translating ADHD podcast: Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com

Ash and Cam continue to look at the dynamic nature of boundary creation and management by revisiting the very popular Adrenaline Response Cycle from Episode 4. The hosts share how our boundaries naturally adjust as a result of our current mode of activity. For so many of us with ADHD our daily mode is governed by the ARC Model – when we are beholden to the urgency of the current big signal. This urgency elicits an adrenaline and dopamine response that allows us to access our task management network and engage with our work. Ash and Cam actually focus more on the periods of the cycle other than the intense activity period, when we are enjoying a state of hyper-focus. Asher shares how he has learned to develop healthy boundaries around his own recovery periods, distinguishing healthy recovery time from post-crash recovery time. We often put so much focus on production and hyper-focus , we don’t realize the cost of a prolonged crash/recovery sequence. Ash reshares his Hoth rebel base metaphor for recovery periods he had little agency over. Finally, Ash shares a personal example of how he actively managed boundaries around a big signal that in the past would have had him jettison all other obligations and commitments and would result in a big crash and long recovery. He discusses effectively communicating needs, clarifying ‘the ask’ and managing expectations, all the while seeing himself ‘in the picture’. Episode links + resources: Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher Rebel Base Hoth Metaphor Episode More on ARC from Cam’s Blog Adrenaline Response Cycle (image below) For more of the Translating ADHD podcast: Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com

Asher and Cam revisit boundaries after their initial boundary discussion way back in episode 25 almost three years ago. The hosts discuss why it is so hard for those of us with ADHD to establish and maintain boundaries, and they share ways to create boundaries that can work for a brain wired for context. Ash and Cam bring an inside/out approach to boundary development by asking the listener to think more about what they are defending than what they are defending against. The podcast concept of seeing oneself in the picture can be subjective and difficult to quantify. They introduce the concept of the ‘performative judge’, an inner critic character that focuses on everything related to doing and nothing to do with being. This performance judge along with one down can set us up for difficult boundary management. Ash shares an example where a client uses metaphor concepts of saving money to illustrate effective time and boundary management. Both hosts discuss the power of perspective, and that pausing to create space can be helpful. Cam talks about creating space between ourselves and that performative judge, and Ash shares another example where the client creates space between the ask and the reply. Lastly the hosts discuss the vulnerable spot we can find ourselves between new awareness and new actions to change and how we can protect ourselves through boundaries. Episode links + resources: Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher For more of the Translating ADHD podcast: Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com

Ash and Cam continue to explore the roles and other factors that contribute to the dynamic that can create dysfunction and associated drama in our relationships. Cam distinguishes dysfunctional moments from the more serious dysfunctional people and relationships. If we can pause, disrupt and pivot around these moments, we can lessen the dramatic outcome. Asher introduces the idea of the executive function tax when confronted with new environmental factors. Cam brings Positive Intelligence, a new tool to the podcast, to explore more roles that can contribute to dysfunction. When we are more aware and more curious of these patterns, we can have agency to alter our outcomes. Cam and Ash explore several examples to illustrate how these saboteurs can play off each other.  Episode links + resources: Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher https://www.positiveintelligence.com/saboteurs/ https://www.susandavid.com/ For more of the Translating ADHD podcast: Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com

  Co-Hosts Ash and Cam continue to explore relationships and the drama related to them, looking at specific ADHD situations and distinctions. They dig deeper into the Karpman model introduced last week and look at the internal factors that can contribute to external dysfunction and drama.   Those of us with ADHD can focus on getting a need met to the detriment of a larger dysfunction, focused on the immediacy of the need and missing the subtle yet damaging effects of a prolonged dynamic that doesn’t work. Ash and Cam look at the dynamic between victim, prosecutor and rescuer to illustrate this phenomenon. When we start to bring curiosity and nuance, though, to how we show up in our relationships, we can start to create change.   The hosts focus on internal roles and stories we can attach to recognizing that change can only occur when we address our own stuff first. Ash shares different examples of how each Karpman role can show up, including how we can conveniently put the “Neurotypical“ in a prosecutor role. The hosts share specific strategies to start to create awareness, including looking at the energy consumption of playing specific roles and exploring ‘next level emotional work’. Remember to seek professional therapeutic help from an ADHD specific counselor if exploring this topic is too difficult on your own.   Episode links + resources:   Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher   Karpman Drama Triangle   For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:   Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com  

  Asher and Cam launch a new episode arc on relationships and ADHD. Relationships have already been covered in episodes 83-86 but the cohosts revisit relationships to explore specific ADHD challenges when we interact with the people around us. Today’s episode centers on drama.   The hosts orient listeners to different factors that contribute to drama - that drama is a big signal (episodes 109-110) that can elicit a strong emotional response and challenges with emotional dysregualtion. When we explore those emotions and look at the stories associated with those emotions, we can start to find traction to change dramatic outcomes.   The hosts share a number of tools from the emotional pool (episode 92) to the Karpman Drama Triangle. With ADHD we can assume all roles of the triangle moving quickly from victim to prosecutor to rescuer or easily jump into someone else’s emotional pool. Both Ash and Cam share stories of how roles, environments and internal one-down stories can trigger an over-sized emotional response.   Episode links + resources:   Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher   Karpman Drama Triangle   For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:   Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com  

  Asher and Cam make an easy transition from last week’s episode on needs and self-actualization to a focus on ADHD and purpose. The hosts share how purpose is a product of the work that happens in the action/learning model of coaching. As clients identify and operate out of strengths and start to see themselves in the picture, they begin to get insight into their Who. A client’s Who is their sense of identity and, as Asher shares in the episode, those of us with ADHD can struggle to connect to this concept for a number of reasons.   The hosts continue to discuss how learning about one’s self opens the door to their bigger purpose or their sense of Why. Asher shares a client story of how a client’s purpose was revealed through the coaching process. Cam shares from his own experience the obstacles we can face getting insight into our purpose. The hosts discuss how insight into purpose can lead to prioritization and motivation and leave the listeners with an exercise to start to get more clarity into their purpose.   Episode links + resources:   Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher   For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:   Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com  

  Asher and Cam finish their exploration of important ADHD distinctions around basic needs as they delve into self-actualization needs from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow argued that people have a need for fulfillment at this highest level. ADHD disrupts this desire in a number of ways. Never short in the creativity department, ADHD people are prone to a scattershot approach when it comes to creative expression. Distractibility, activation and sustaining effort all conspire to thwart creative expression to meaningful completion points. We can also be hampered by our contextual wiring, cherry picking data to reinforce a limiting belief.   Cam shares his own example of how he used to use contextual Why Me? questions to avoid taking action in areas that really mattered to him. Yet self-actualization is possible with ADHD. Asher shares how exploration of a client’s Big Agenda is a part of the coaching process and is key to a sense of fulfillment. The hosts use the metaphor of a house foundation to illustrate how strong foundational elements - discovering one’s Who, operating from strengths and building one’s ADHD knowledge - contribute to self-actualization and a life that fits.   Asher and Cam share numerous client examples of the path to creative expression and having a bigger positive impact. They discuss the significance of choice, priority and journey thinking as one becomes more clear in their purpose. Finally, they discuss how having a bigger impact can become a big signal to the detriment of other important needs and priorities.   Episode links + resources:   Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher   Cam's Hierarchy of ADHD Needs   For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:   Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com  

Cam and Asher continue to explore important ADHD distinctions around basic needs as they delve into esteem needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy. Maslow argued that people have a need for appreciation and a recognition of their efforts. The specific ADHD distinction of self-compassion addresses the efforting aspect here and the universal question those of us with ADHD ask - Why do I not do what I know I ought to do? To live with ADHD is to live with this disconnect between a desired intention and the efforts and actions that support that intention. Bringing empathy and self-compassion to our efforts can mitigate the intense emotions (and emotional dysregulation) of the judgment of our inner critic and judgment from others. Doing so opens the door to curious exploration and creative solutions - key to the strength-based coaching model.   Ash shares an excellent client example around keeping a guest room clean enough to be ready for house guests. When the client brought self compassion to herself and the situation, it opened the door for Ash and his client to develop creative solutions and helped his client connect to a positive motivator for addressing this dilemma. The hosts leave listeners with some practical exercises to bring more self-compassion to their efforts and actions.   Episode links + resources: Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher Cam Gott’s Hierarchy of ADHD Needs For more of the Translating ADHD podcast: Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com

  Cam and Ash continue to explore important ADHD distinctions around basic needs as they dig into belongingness and love needs. Humans will often seek out connection more so than other basic needs, especially those in the self care arena. The need for acceptance and validation can be a giant big signal for those of us with ADHD. It feels good to be at the service of others but in overextending or seeking external validation, we can lose sight of ourselves - our own authentic Who.   The hosts talk about the importance of self acceptance and how uncovering strengths and operating out of a strength mindset can lead to self acceptance. Asher shares how in our One Down perspective we can feel a need to make up for… - to make up for our perceived challenges and weaknesses. He shares an example of a client who thinks they need to be more like The Politician - someone in the client’s workspace who exudes confidence and competence in the moment. Leading with strength-based coaching, Ash and his client discover how his own strengths can support his goals and show up as a capable and confident leader, but true to his own authentic self.   The hosts talk about how the blame sponge (episode 107) can make it difficult to distinguish supportive people and communities from those who are not. They discuss how boundary management begins with self acceptance. Cam shares about his own need for validation years ago and how he was able to come to a place of acceptance, see himself in the picture and operate from a place of strength and resilience. The hosts leave the listeners with a few practices to explore this all important need of belongingness and love.   Episode links + resources:   Join the Community | Become a Patron Our Process: Understand, Own, Translate. About Cam and Asher   Cam Gott’s Hierarchy of ADHD Needs The Six Cs Episode   For more of the Translating ADHD podcast:   Episode Transcripts: visit TranslatingADHD.com and click on the episode Follow us on Twitter: @TranslatingADHD Visit the Website: TranslatingADHD.com