Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast

This podcast explores the paradox of failure and how it can be embraced as a practice. The hosts discuss the concept of a growth mindset and the importance of learning from failures. They also address the challenges of reframing failure and overcoming fear of failure in the age of social media. Overall, the podcast promotes the idea of embracing failure as a path to learning and personal growth.

We’re continuing our series on gaming and ADHD this week. So far, we’ve explored how gaming ignites creativity and can expand perspectives and horizons. But what if we told you there was a game that is designed and build expressly to aid in treatment of attention disorders? That’s EndeavorOTC, the latest release from Akili Interactive. This is a company that cut its teeth on the FDA-Authorized pediatric game, EndeavorRx, the first and only prescription treatment delivered through a video game. With EndeavorOTC, they’re looking to help adults. Eddie Martucci is CEO of Akili and joins us today to talk about the game, how it works, and what it just might be able to do for you. Links & NotesLearn more about EndeavorOTCDig into the podcast Shownotes Database (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:31) - Support the Show: Become a Patron and Jump in Discord! (03:25) - Sponsor: TextExpander (05:46) - Introducing Eddit Martucci (10:22) - EndeavorRx (14:04) - Getting Docs on Board (18:54) - Playing the Game (24:32) - Meanwhile... in the real world... (32:48) - Non-prescription EndeavorOTC (37:20) - Pricing ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Professor Colleen Macklin, a game designer and Professor in the School of Art, Media and Technology, joins us to discuss games, gaming, and neurodiversity. We explore topics such as the impact of ADHD on her life, how games can engage attentional deficits and embrace neurodiversity, and the game design collective Local No. 12. Colleen shares her journey with game design and the creation of 'Dear Reader.' We also touch on the intersection of game design, neurodiversity, and ADHD, and the relevance of games in rediscovering playfulness in everyday life.

Chris Legge joins The ADHD Podcast to discuss his tabletop roleplaying game, Soft Focuses. Chris developed Soft Focuses as a journaling game aimed at simulating the experiences of living with ADHD. Players take on the role of someone with ADHD and journal their experiences, cooperating with themselves as both player and gamemaster. The first edition of Soft Focuses was released after extensive research and playtesting. It focused on recreating the core experiences of ADHD. After positive reception, Chris created a second edition, adding rules to simulate common ADHD comorbidities like anxiety, OCD, ODD, depression, and more. The new rules aimed to capture a more holistic ADHD experience. Overall, Soft Focuses provides a unique tool for building empathy and perspectives around ADHD, but also gives us an excuse to talk about role playing and the psychosocial exploration of different parts of ourselves in the process. You can find the game on Chris’ website, Lumberwood Studios.Links & NotesLumberwood Studios (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:19) - Join the Community • Become a Supporting Patron! (02:31) - Introducing Chris Legge (05:54) - How does ADHD Influence Gaming (07:48) - What is a Table Top Game? (14:52) - The Journaling Game (17:50) - Soft Focuses (29:26) - Research (33:34) - Life Imitates Games (37:34) - Learn More ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Living with ADHD often feels like a losing battle. Our brains desperately need dopamine to stay focused, but no matter how hard we try, there's never enough. Chores pile up, tasks go unfinished, and frustration mounts. But what if we could find joy in the mundane? Harness the power of play? Games have been with us since the dawn of humanity, releasing dopamine and making complex systems comprehendible through fun. In games, we learn without fear. We explore new worlds, defeat dragons, save kingdoms! Games are a refuge, a mental playground where we become the heroes of our own stories. It's time to unleash our inner hero and turn daily life into a game worth playing! Equip powerful weapons like Timers of Timing to race chores and magical Rewards of Snacking to celebrate quests completed. Seek out Fellow Gamers to inspire friendly competition. Download Apps of Destiny that transform drudgery into daring challenges!At last, release your mental shackles! With the spark of playfulness, no task is too tedious. Laundry Dungeons and Sweeping Coliseums await. Through gamification, chore becomes choice, work becomes wonder, frustration becomes fun. Let the games begin! ADHD, we're coming for you.It’s possible we’re digging in too deep on some of our colorful gamer lanuage there, but hear us out: there’s a lot we can learn about ourselves and our relationship with ADHD and we’re kicking of this, our 27th Season, with a series of conversations and interviews about the value of rediscovering play in our lives! (00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast (02:04) - Support the Show! Become a Patron at https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast (03:20) - Sponsor: TextExpander (05:30) - Our Favorite Games! (12:06) - Why Games? It's all about the dopamine (14:20) - "Games make rules fun." (23:42) - What Games Teach Us (28:15) - By the way... addiction (35:46) - Gamifying Your Day ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We want to thank all of you who took the time to participate in our 2023 ADHD Job Survey. The 63 responses provided a wealth of insight into your experiences in the workplace. Overall, the results show that while work can pose many challenges for adults with ADHD, many of you have found fulfilling jobs and developed solutions that allow you to thrive no matter what you're dealing with on the job itself.  Work can clearly be challenging for folks with ADHD, and yet many of you have found jobs you enjoy and developed strategies to cope. Your experiences demonstrate the diverse talents, interests, and perseverance of that makes this community shine. Thank you for sharing your stories—they inspire and help others navigate similar paths. Keep talking about your lives; we're listening! (00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast (03:14) - Sponsor: TextExpander! (05:40) - The 2023 ADHD Community Job Series (07:15) - Current Employment (22:37) - Past Jobs ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

"Without time, you don't have attention; without attention, you don't have time.”This week on the show, we're exploring the artifice of bureaucracy and administrative structures of traditional work, and how it can be difficult to navigate with an ADHD brain, and we have the perfect guest to help us do it. Dr. Kourosh Dini is a board-certified psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author, and musician, and most recently, he created the Waves of Focus course and community for those struggling with ADHD and other "wandering minds.”Along the way, we look at the social and administrative contracts at work, and how to positively adapt our behavior toward managers and other authority figures while dealing with anxiety, fear, and RSD. We discuss Dr. Dini's concept of the wandering mind, how it applies across domains, and the struggle of “holding it all together” for the world while deeply struggling internally. Finally, we explore the idea of “hiding” ADHD at work for those trying to find a place to fit in.If you relate to any of this, you owe it to yourself to listen to this show and check out the robust catalog of Dr. Dini's fantastic contributions to the world of productivity with kindness. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:12) - Support the Show! (03:27) - Introducing Kourosh Dini, MD (04:19) - The Wandering Mind (08:10) - What if we're out of sync? (14:33) - Adjusting to Artificial Structure (15:22) - The Visit (18:53) - Hyperfocus and Flow (23:47) - Moving to Practice from Pattern Recognition (27:57) - Risks and Stress Testing (34:41) - The Edge of Action (36:41) - Hiding ADHD ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Shell Mendelson has built her 35-year career in education and career counseling. There are a lot of career counselors, though. What makes Shell indispensable for us today is that she has ADHD herself and has spent that career helping others make career choices that reflect joy and passion for their unique ADHD brains.This week on the show, Shell brings us new insights into jobs and the ADHD brain. We talk about finding the right match, how to target those deal breakers we've been thinking so hard about the last few weeks, and how to approach discussing ADHD with hiring managers. We review what it takes to find a career coach that can help you with your unique career direction and how to work with a career coach to get the most out of the relationship.One other thing about Shell that is germane to this conversation: she was mentored by Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute?: Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success She's custodian of the methodology now and has taken it in her own wonderful direction to help the neurodiverse population. Even so, we're intrigued by just how well the Parachute model aligns to our thinking around ADHD and encourage you to check out the book. It's a classic. And Shell has an updated working for ADHD adults which should be available in the next two months. Keep an eye out!Learn more about Shell right here, and make sure to connect on LinkedIn if you're on the hunt and need a coach!Other LinksThe Damn Good Resume Guide, Fifth Edition: A Crash Course in Resume Writing by Yana Parker and Beth Brown (00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast (01:19) - Support the Show: Become a Patron and Join the Community! https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast (03:29) - Introducing Career Counselor Shell Mendelson (09:23) - What Color is Your Parachute? (15:54) - What makes the ADHD hunt hard? (18:53) - Where is ADHD in the process? (23:51) - The ADHD Disclosure Question (29:51) - The "Means to an End" Job (37:55) - Performance Plans (44:29) - Moving into the Job Hunt (49:05) - The Job Market (53:56) - Learn More ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, we’re continuing our job series and talking about deal breakers — those things that you see or experience in your job or on the job hunt that you simply can’t or won’t tolerate. We asked our listeners to weigh in on the topic again this week, and it turns out they had a lot to say. The conversation spans hard conversations on salary and overall compensation, through dealing with managers on expectations around job requirements, and we land on values, the things we can't tolerate in our work not because of what we're asked to do, but because of what the organization stands for. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the deal breaker survey and we hope you're able to listen to this and reflect on your own experience! (00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast (01:55) - Support the Show! Become a Patron at https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast (03:56) - Our Dealbreakers (11:05) - Community Dealbreakers (11:31) - Salary Dealbreakers (17:45) - Management & Job Dealbreakers (31:51) - Values ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week's episode we're talking all about red flags and warning signs in a work environment. We dig just a bit into our own stories of past jobs we've had that didn't work out so well, and looking for any red flags in the job postings and interviews. Missing deadlines? Making mistakes? Task overwhelm? We've been there. We then asked our community members to share any red flags they have experienced in previous work environments and were handsomely rewarded. We heard about red flags before getting the job and interview clues, such as long job postings, competitive salaries that are not actually competitive, and interviews that become defensive or too long. We also heard about red flags to look out for once you have the job, such as unclear work expectations, special treatment for high profile employees, and management not fostering a work-life balance. We discussed the difficulty of cultural change in conservative industries, and how harassment is often brushed off to avoid conflict. Thanks to all who wrote in sharing your stories and being a part of this series! (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:59) - Support the Show: Patron.com/theadhdpodcast (02:56) - The ADHD Book Club with James Ochoa's book: Focused Forward (04:03) - 2023 De-Clutter Challenge (05:24) - Sponsor: TextExpander (08:16) - Red Flags at Work ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★