

Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
TruStory FM
Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright offer support, life management strategies, and time and technology tips, dedicated to anyone looking to take control while living with ADHD.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 23, 2023 • 34min
Shame's Greatest Hits: Self-Compassion and ADHD
We're continuing our conversation on self-compassion and ADHD with a walk through the garden of shame. You know that garden, the one with the plants we nourish and carry with us, the blooms we sniff regularly, all laced with the poison of regret and self-doubt. This week, we're tearing up that soil.The conversation starts with a recap of concepts from The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, as well as Neff's TEDxTalk, "The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self Compassion.". Quick reminder of the three core elements presented by Neff and Germer:Self-KindnessCommon HumanityMindfulnessThe biggest challenge to overcome, which we seem to struggle with universally, is the idea that just letting go of negative feelings is hard. You can't just read that in a book or hear it in a podcast and suddenly do it. But more important than that: it's ok for it to be hard to find yourself underneath all the shame. You're in there. And as long as you keep talking about it, one day you'll get there.
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(03:39) - Shame
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Mar 16, 2023 • 37min
Why Self-Compassion is Necessary When Living with ADHD
Why do you treat yourself worse than you would treat a dear friend?That's the central question of today's conversation and it centers on our ability to muster self-compassion, a practice of treating ourselves well when we need it, rather than thinking of ourselves only in terms of our struggles.The conversation starts with a walkthrough of concepts from The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, as well as Neff's TEDxTalk, "The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self Compassion.". Central to the conversation are the three core elements presented by Neff and Germer:Self-KindnessCommon HumanityMindfulnessWe walk through each with examples today, and take a tour of the interconnected elements of anxiety and depression that sidle up next to ADHD on this journey toward self-compassion, and review how that impacts the ADHD brain. From there: Tools to build the muscle of self-compassion before you hit an ADHD storm!
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(02:14) - Support the show! Become A Patron
(04:36) - Self-Compassion and ADHD
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

16 snips
Mar 9, 2023 • 46min
Aron Croft Brings ME into Building your Business with ADHD
The last time Aron Croft was here, he shared his story of his education and personal background meeting ADHD reality. But you know what else? He built a successful Fortune 500 career and a highly successful training business teaching his 8% Productivity Habit, which helps ADHDers complete what we like to call clogging tasks, those tasks you've put off for months, and need more than simple willpower to get them done.He's back with us this week to share how the ADHD reality meets the business world and how you might find success by pivoting a business school classic model for your own needs.We're talking about the 4PM model: Product, Promotion, Pricing, and Process come together to illuminate the M, Market Fit. But Aaron argues that ADHD business owners need a second M: the ME Fit. Listen in as we explore how to prioritize the Me Fit into your operations, how to figure out what your Me and Market Fit really is, and how to use this model to decide if your best business inspirtation is really a good fit for your hard work.Learn more about Aron at FreeADHDTraining.com and check out his TikTok summary of 4PM2 here!
(00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast
(04:47) - Introducing Aron Croft
(09:01) - The Four Ps for ADHD
(16:08) - The Round-Robin
(36:29) - Prioritizing the Me-Fit
(40:15) - What if you're not an entrepreneur
(43:17) - Learn More
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Mar 2, 2023 • 38min
Morgan Hancock on ADHD in the Military and Success as an Entrepreneurial Troublemaker
Morgan Hancock calls herself a troublemaker. This week, you're going hear about her being a troublemaker in high school. And again in summer school. And again in the Army.And then you're going to hear how she was diagnosed with ADHD and channeled that restless energy into commercial real estate, motherhood, and her passionate advocacy of the arts, including her art-focused bourbon charity, Bourbon with Heart, Inc.Morgan joins us this week to talk about her experience doing all those things living and working with ADHD.
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(02:26) - Support the Show • Become a Patron at https://patreon.com/theadhdpodcast
(05:21) - Introducing Morgan Hancock
(12:23) - Making the Turn with Attention
(19:16) - Bourbon with Heart
(25:51) - A look at systems
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Feb 23, 2023 • 48min
Getting Unstuck and Speaking ADHD Truth to Power with Maggie Isely
Maggie Isley is a designer, coach, and speaker. She’s the co-founder and creative director of 929 Studios, where she works with businesses around the world to form cohesive brand identities. She is also the co-founder of Be Unemployable, a podcast and educational brand for neurodivergent entrepreneurs with our new best friend of the show, Jamie Cutino. Maggie joins us today to talk about her work with neurodivergent entrepreneurs and how to get unstuck in our professional growth.In her recent TEDx Talk, she discussed her revelation that business plateaus are rarely just business problems. Working exclusively with a neurodivergent population, she found a connection between people becoming stuck in their own professional growth and their current state of healing from past trauma.
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(02:12) - Support the show• Become a Patron!
(03:31) - Group Coaching is Here!
(04:30) - Sponsor: TextExpander!
(07:56) - Introducing Maggie Isely
(14:25) - Boat anchors are temporary
(23:47) - What about the data?
(27:37) - Trauma and Self-Awareness
(34:17) - Pattern Recognition
(35:57) - Maggie's Coaching
(40:08) - Taking Advice
(43:31) - Provoke Yourself
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Feb 16, 2023 • 53min
Building Your Day when You’re the Boss
It's not easy to get out of bed every day with your eye on building and growing your own business. Whether you have people depending on you as a part of your own team, or you're working as an indie contractor, the responsibilities, emotional, and intellectual weight on you as a business owner is simply different than it was when you went to work for someone else. This week, we're talking about the experience of owning your day. We talk about the pros and cons of hustle culture and the value of time blocking. We talk about finding the support you need to get the work done and the challenges to memory and organization that come from the outside -- the state, licensing entities, and regulators. It's not easy, being the boss, but it's incredibly rewarding if you find your way forward. From two people with more than a decade each owning their own businesses, we bring our hard-won experience to you this week.
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(06:14) - Getting Down to Business
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Feb 9, 2023 • 44min
ADHD Entrepreneurs ❤️ Business with Occupational Therapist and Coach Jamie Cutino
At first blush you might think that ADHD would hinder your chances to successfully start a business, but this week's guest has something to say about that. Jamie Cutino offers occupational therapy based coaching for women with ADHD and sings the praises of ADHD as a bouquet that can truly benefit the entrepreneur.Jamie Cutino is a Master of Occupational Therapy and founder of Outsmart ADHD and co-founder of Be Unemployable, an educational brand and podcast for entrepreneurs. We talk about her journey discovering ADHD in the face of trauma in the family, her work as an Occupational Therapist and how that practice helps with ADHD. We lean into rejection sensitivity and how we can heal through normalizing past rejection to get through future rejection.Check out Jamie's TEDxCWRU talk here.But most important we dissect what it takes to pull apart the lessons of your ADHD and how it can help you when starting and running a business, and where the sharp edges are for you to care for as you march your way toward being unemployable!
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(03:03) - Support the show: Become a Patron!
(05:09) - Group Coaching is Open: Winter-Spring 2023!
(08:06) - Introducing Jamie Cutino
(09:09) - Being an Occupational Therapist
(16:09) - Entrepreneurs ❤️ Business
(19:15) - Rejection
(25:05) - Adjust to the Miss
(28:15) - Being the Boss, Fighting the System, Embracing the Energy Swings
(31:43) - Celebrating the ADHD
(33:25) - Early Lessons
(39:15) - Be Unemployable
(43:27) - Learn More
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Feb 2, 2023 • 1h 17min
Eating Disorders & ADHD with Special Guests Dr. Roberto Olivardia and Paige Kinzer
Nikki's daughter is in recovery from an eating disorder, a condition that impacted her emotionally, physically, and made for some dark times in the family. She also lives with ADHD. It turns out, those two things are frustrating bedfellows.Trigger Warning: This episode describes the experiences of a minor living with an eating disorder, as well as exploring the details behind eating disorders and its relation to ADHD. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you don't have to go through it alone. Help is available: National Eating Disorder Association Helpline: (800) 931-2237 Trigger Warning: This episode includes a brief discussion about suicide. Listener discretion is strongly advised. If you or someone you know is engaging in self-harm or contemplating suicide, there are people who want to help. Please reach out: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): Dial 9-8-8 to talk or send a text to 988 If you are outside the US, please click the link to find a helpline for your country http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.htmlWe've got something of a special show this week, one that is — we hope — as impactful and educational a conversation for you, as it is personal for us.Nikki's daughter is in recovery from an eating disorder, a condition that impacted her emotionally, physically, and made for some dark times in the family. She also lives with ADHD. It turns out, those two things are frustrating bedfellows.In fact, research has shown that those with ADHD have a greater risk for developing binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa than their peers without ADHD and a 2007 Harvard study found that girls with ADHD were almost four times more likely to have an eating disorder than those without ADHD. Why is someone with ADHD more likely to have an eating disorder? That's our work this week.To help us out, we've invited Dr. Roberto Olivardia to join us. Dr. Olivardia is a Clinical Psychologist and Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In his private psychotherapy practice, he specializes in the treatment of ADHD (particularly with comorbid disorders), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and in the treatment of eating disorders in boys and men.He graciously agreed to talk to Nikki, and our very special guest, Nikki's daughter, Paige, who shares her experience in her own voice.Learn more about Dr. Olivardia and check out his book, The Adonis Complex: How to Identify, Treat and Prevent Body Obsession in Men and Boys.
(00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast
(05:08) - Dr. Olivardia's Opening Perspective on Eating Disorders
(08:22) - Eating Disorders versus Disordered Eating
(11:48) - Body Dysmorphic Disorder
(14:32) - ADHD and Eating Disorders
(20:24) - The Blur of Diagnosis
(22:19) - Welcome Paige
(27:20) - A Disordered Relationship with Food
(33:37) - Social Media
(44:12) - It's not the person, it's the disorder
(01:00:52) - Recovery & Nutrition
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Jan 26, 2023 • 45min
Setting Smart Boundaries Around your Use of Technology
Parts of this episode contain discussion about addiction and/or substance abuse. If you or someone you know is dealing with addiction or substance abuse, there is help: Substance Abuse National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357)How’s your phone? Good? You might just have it in your hand right now, right? Well, if you’re in the camp that feels your phone behavior is getting in the way of, you know, living your life, the community comes to the rescue today.Along the way, Pete has a bit of a rant on using the word "Addiction" when describing our use of technology. Yes, he feels strongly about it. No, he's not an Addiction expert. But he does have some people who are experts who are as frustrated as he is about the use of the word. Our collective hope today, though, is that you hear a different perspective that might give you a new lens through which to view your own use of technology without reducing your agency when it comes to getting it under control.Special thanks to Matt Raekelboom for giving us permission to use the audio from one of his TikTok videos in this week's show. You can check out our last episode with Matt here, and if you don't have a social media issue you're trying to get under control, visit his Insta here.Links & NotesThe Social DilemmaReederWhat is RSS?One Sec AppNews Feed EradicatorAmazon KindleDay One Journal
(00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast!
(03:07) - Support the Show: Become a Member!
(04:07) - Sponsor: TextExpander!
(06:46) - Group Coaching Updates!
(07:47) - Problem Devices
(12:09) - Pete has a (potentially) irrational rant about "Addiction"
(22:59) - Maladaptive Behaviors and ADHD
(24:49) - Standing Up to the Algorithm
(30:57) - One Sec
(33:21) - Removing Apps, Deleting Accounts
(35:19) - News Feed Eradicator
(36:07) - Retraining Your Brain
(37:21) - Using Lock Screens
(40:13) - H.A.L.T.
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Jan 19, 2023 • 44min
A ‘New’ New Year’s Resolution!
Is this the year to work harder, get tougher, and go further? Maybe, for you, it is. We’re not here to judge. But if you’ve struggled with traditional resolutions and using the new year momentum to make significant change in your life, then we’re here to present an alternative. Emily Ladau shared her perspective on FUN goals as an alternative to SMART goals on Mastodon (link) pointing to her full piece on WaPo. How well does her perspective as a disability rights advocate translate to the neurodiverse? Turns out... pretty well. Listen in and see for yourself!
(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(02:44) - Support the Show! Become a Patron
(04:38) - NEW New Resolutions?
🎓 College Coaching for ADHD Students is Now Enrolling!Starting college with ADHD? Don’t go it alone. At Take Control ADHD, we offer two personalized coaching options to help students thrive both academically and emotionally. The Roadmap Planning Package includes two pre-semester strategy sessions to build custom calendars, break down big assignments, and create ADHD-friendly systems for success. For ongoing support, our Weekly Coaching Package offers one-on-one accountability throughout the semester to stay focused, flexible, and in control.Learn more and find the right fit at https://takecontroladhd.com/college.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★