Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with Adult ADHD

There is one thing we absolutely know about adult ADHD. We have to try different strategies and tactics to be able to thrive in life and in business. As we mentioned in a previous podcast, we need to constantly be trying differently to find what works for our personal situations. Sadly, many on social media discount many strategies and flat out tell their audiences that these do not work for people with ADHD. The bottom line is you need to find what works for you whether it's traditional advice or ADHD tactics that fit into your own personal situations. In this ADHD minute, Dave briefly discusses how those of us with ADHD can continue to analyze our personal situations and develop strategies that will help us thrive. That includes advice from people who are not in the ADHD community. Don't forget to check out Dave's new book Overcoming Burnout. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WQ17T22

Every organization needs different viewpoints, regardless of its size. To solve problems and move forward, different types of brains and thinking styles can be a tremendous advantage in any size business. Sarah Ohanesian and Jeff Gibbard join the podcast this week to discuss how they work together with different types of brains. Working together, they provide companies with productivity training. And because they each have a different type of brain, they can be far more effective than other consultants. Jeff has ADHD, and Sarah does not. Because of this, they feel they have an advantage when working with clients. Dave, Sarah, and Jeff have a wide-ranging discussion about how different brains can work well together. One of the major advantages Jeff and Sarah see is that they have the ability to work with other different brains as well as identify people who may need different approaches to productivity. They also discuss why clarity is the backbone of any business and any individual. If you are an adult with ADHD in the business world and you are not seeking clarity, you will find yourself having all types of challenges with productivity, procrastination, time management, and task initiation. What can leaders of companies take away from having different types of brains in their workforce? Sarah and Jeff answered this question. But it all comes down to different ways of solving problems. Because Sarah and Jeff teach productivity, Dave asks them for a few tips to maximize productivity in business and in life. First, recognize different people have different strengths and weaknesses. Next is to be very open about clarity. You should seek it in every aspect of your life. Honest conversations bring about that clarity and make productivity easier and teamwork much better. Also, Sarah and Jeff talk about the need to have systems in place especially when you need to manage adult ADHD. And for many, visual processing is huge for being productive so look at techniques such as mind mapping and Kanban boards. Find Jeff and Sarah here: https://getsuperproductive.com/

What are some of the common symptoms of burnout? Dave discusses three of the more common symptoms of burnout. While there are many more, and burnout is a complex and sometimes misunderstood issue, Dave discusses some of the early signs to look out for. Dave also discusses that burnout can be very dangerous if it is not addressed. But there is hope and you can overcome burnout by recognizing some of the signs. By understanding that you are heading towards burnout, you can take care of health issues that may be bothering you, stress around your career and workplace, and get your life back in order without overidentifying with your career. A reminder that Dave is the author of the book Overcoming Burnout and you can find it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WQ17T22

This week, Dave talks about managing your adult ADHD by returning to the basics. All too often we see on social media the complexities of managing ADHD. And while everyone with ADHD is different and responds to all types of strategies and methods to thrive, sometimes what is most effective is going right back to basic core strategies of good ADHD management. In this shorter episode of Overcoming Distractions, Dave talks about how to go right back to the basics of ADHD. He talks about the power of self-awareness and understanding your strengths and weaknesses. He talks about how to stay away from negative forces and groups and think for yourself when it comes to developing strategies around ADHD. Dave also discusses some mind and body such as making time to just get out and move in the power of being obsessed with your own time management. Dave also shares a couple of non-traditional ADHD tips that go right back to the basics. Looking for Dave's new book Overcoming Burnout? Check it out below. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WQ17T22

In this podcast, Dave talks about some of the causes of time blindness in adults with ADHD. Everything from the way our brain is wired, hyperfocus and flow, squeezing more things into our schedule, and other reasons. Here are a few basic ways you can keep track of time: Try your best to put everything in your schedule-professional and personal. Invite each other such as spouses to certain events Try hard not to squeeze things in when you have a free few minutes. Alarm the shit out of your life. If you're using an iPhone, take a few minutes and preset important alarms for your week. Use the sleep app on your iPhone or another device Apple Watch has its pros and cons for those of us with ADHD Parkinson's law-work expands to the time allotted so set deadlines and timeframes. Good brain health-executive functions such as understanding time get better when our brain is healthier Overcoming Burnout can be found here: https://overcomingburnout.net/ Overcoming Distractions can be found here: https://overcomingdistractions.com/

One of the phrases that bother people who have ADHD the most is when people tell you to "try harder." many of us with ADHD heard this phrase growing up, and even sort written on our report cards. But those with ADHD know better. "Trying harder" is far from a solution to improving our lives. Burnout can come from trying harder so it's important to understand how our brains operate. Laura MacNiven from the Springboard Clinic in Toronto is back on Overcoming Distractions the podcast to discuss this very topic and to offer a different viewpoint. She is the co-author of May We have Your Attention please? With Dr. Anne Bailey. People with ADHD need to try differently rather than focus on trying harder. Laura takes time to explain the core differences between trying harder and trying differently and Dave and Laura even pull the phrase apart "try harder" to understand what it actually means. Laura says that a lot can be accomplished by understanding the stories we tell ourselves. If we can reshape those stories, we have a better chance of finding different ways to accomplish the things we want. Dave and Laura also discuss what can happen if people with ADHD continue to just try harder including the effects of burnout. Laura and Dave chat about why understanding our brains as adults with ADHD and some self-awareness can go a long way and understanding how to create different ways of getting things accomplished. Laura gives some tips for understanding your ADHD brain as well as creating some personal awareness. That includes taking time to check in with yourself and to check the stories you are telling yourself. Take time to pause repeatedly to look inward. Understand what's important in life and your career and what wakes your brain up. And finally, take some time to understand when you are at your best. That can be the time of day or the part of the week where you can operate smoothly and focus on what needs to be done. Fine the Springboard Clinic here: https://www.springboardclinic.com/ Learn more about the book "May We Have Your Attention Please?" here: https://www.springboardclinic.com/the-book

In this ADHD minute edition of Overcoming Distractions, we talk about how to be a little more flexible when it comes to time management and ADHD brains. The two years of going through COVID-19 have taught us, even those of us with ADHD that we need to be a little more flexible when it comes to managing our time and our commitments. Dave takes just a few minutes to go through a few things that have worked for him and for others when it comes to trying to manage your time in an ever-changing environment. In short, doing a thorough review of your professional and personal commitments on a regular basis will help you manage time better, feel less stress and ultimately stay away from burnout. Find Dave's new book Overcoming Burnout here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WQ17T22

Are you a high achiever? And are you one of those go-getters that just happens to have adult ADHD? Even professional businesspeople and entrepreneurs can experience a whole host of distractions in their professional lives. And that's what we are talking about in this podcast episode. This week we have back Casey Dixon from Dixon Life Coaching. Casey coaches high achievers with ADHD including attorneys, professors, and many more in high-profile and demanding careers. Casey talks about what she classifies as a high achiever including some specific careers as well as some specific traits when it comes to those that are driven to succeed. Casey and Dave also discuss whether those of us in high-demand careers suffer the same distractions as other people in different industries and careers. Casey suggests that many of us need to find the tasks and projects we are good at and try hard to delegate the tasks we do not like to do. She says working on things we are not good at reduces our focus. Casey offers a number of suggestions to help high achievers with ADHD reduce distractions and gain more focus. She says even making small changes can produce high payoffs in productivity. She highly recommends that those of us who are high achievers with ADHD take a step back and think about how we are working. This is where coaching can come in where you can work with a professional to pull apart the different aspects of your professional life and create solutions. Casey and Dave also talk about reducing commitments to increase productivity. Some of us call it energy management and others call it obligation management. But analyzing your commitments can have big payoffs as well. Casey also states that we are all human and we need to pay close attention to self-care. That includes proper sleep habits, exercise and taking time to be mindful. Paying attention to these will only improve our executive functions. More about Casey Dixon: Casey is intensely focused on building top-tier training, coaching, consulting, and advising experiences for high achievers with ADHD. She created Dixon Life Coaching in response to the grievous lack of understanding and quality services for an often-overlooked population… exceptionally smart, highly-educated, wickedly-talented, overstressed, overworked, overwhelmed, successful-on-the-outside adults with ADHD. https://www.dixonlifecoaching.com/ Casey's online courses: The Mysterious Paradox of Being a High Achiever with ADHD https://register.dixonlifecoaching.com/high-achiever Live Well ADHD https://register.dixonlifecoaching.com/live-well-adhd

Are you burned out or feel like you're heading down the path of burnout? Dave announces his new book has just been published. Overcoming Burnout-Real life Strategies and Solutions for Burnout Recovery and Prevention. https://overcomingdistractions.com/overcomingburnout/ Dave wrote this book to shed new light on the topic of burnout and just how complicated the issue can be for people. He specifically covers career burnout. Dave talks about how many of us are the Co-founders of our burnout in that we brought a lot of this on our own. That may be a tough thing for us to hear but many of our habits have contributed to our burnout. Dave talks about understanding our capacity, setting boundaries, people-pleasing, and of course time management. Listen to Dave as he discusses why he wrote the book and what you can learn from the people he has interviewed. To purchase the book, go to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WQ17T22

Research has shown that adults with ADHD are more prone to addictions than others. That includes alcohol abuse and other substances. In this podcast, we will discuss why those with ADHD are more prone to these behaviors and we will also discuss how to mitigate our reliance on alcohol and other addictive substances. We have back Lara Honos-Webb, author of Brain Hacks and Six Super Skills for Executive Functioning: Tools to Help Teens Improve Focus, Stay Organized, and Reach Their Goals as well as many other books. Dr. Lara Has been on Overcoming Distractions many times and it's a wealth of knowledge in the area of ADHD. Dr. Lara Talks about how addictions such as those with alcohol and other substances not only affect those with ADHD to a greater percentage but how they have increased during the past two years of the pandemic. Lara talks about how prevalent addiction is in the ADHD community as well as why we've seen the increases recently. She also answers the question about why those of us with ADHD have more challenges with addictive behaviors. Hint, it's our impulsivity. She also discusses that those of us with ADHD are typically addicted to other types of uses such as digital addictions, our phones as well as social media. Laura discusses how addictions can affect the executive functions of anyone but in particular adults with ADHD. She discusses how our executive functions decrease but overall if we protect our executive functions as a regular habit in our lives, we can help stave off addictions. She says we must do our best to build self-confidence and self-efficacy as we try to limit our addictive behaviors. And by doing so focus on self-love versus shame to recover. Lara says that there are all different types of support groups including those that work in moderation as well as those that demand abstinence. And she describes what she calls urge surfing which is your ability to catch yourself and understand how you may be able to delay your actions. Yes those of us with ADHD are already good at delay but there is a case for making it be used in our favor when it comes to addictions. Find Dr. Lara Honos-Webb at: www.addisagift.com