Hacking Your ADHD

Talking about video games so much last week got me thinking about games a lot and so I ended up getting a new game for myself called Stardew Valley. The game was originally released in 2016 but because it was so popular it has been released for a bunch of other systems - I got my copy on the Nintendo Switch. In Stardew Valley you escape the hustle and bustle of the city by moving to a farm you inh...

I've played video games since before I was able to read - although that statement loses some of its weight once you find out that I didn't learn to read until I was in 4th grade - you know, dyslexia and all. Nonetheless, video games have been a part of my life for a long time. I mean, games are so ingrained in me that while I am writing this, I am listening to video game music - it's excellent for...

This week we're going to be jumping - yeah, jumping because we're talking about exercise. I hope you're ready for some Jazzercise - but if that's not your groove I've got some other options for you as well. Somewhere in our heads, we all know that exercising more is something we "should" do, but it feels like the easiest thing in the world to put off. I mean just because when I look out my window...

This is the second part of the series on how to better manage your smartphone with your ADHD - you don't have to have listened to part 1 to listen to this episode, but if you like this episode I'd definitely recommend going back and listening to last week's episode as well. In that episode, we covered how we can limit the distractions that our smartphone can present and also how to make it easier...

I've been carrying around a smartphone in my pocket for more than 10 years - I started off with the first iPhone and have since gone over to Android, dabbled with the Windows Phones for a few years and then ended back up with an iPhone again. Through my years with my phone I've learned that it can be a great asset and help me with a number of my ADHD difficulties; however, I've also felt the dark...

Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/habits This week we're going to be exploring the power of habit and how small changes to our routines can have a big impact. One of the easiest ways we can help our ADHD is by working on routines and habits. It's easy to let our default habits run our lives but when we consciously choose what habits we actually want to cultivate we aren't hamstringing...

Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/TheONEThing In this week's episode, I am going to be going over the book The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan - I was introduced to this book by Eric Tivers through the ADHD reWired Coaching and Accountability groups. I can't remember if it was required reading or just strongly encouraged when I took the groups, but the messages in this book...

Find show notes for this episode at HackingYourADHD.Com/DearADHD Thanks for joining me for the very last episode of 2019 - in this episode, I'm writing a letter to my ADHD. This is an exercise I got from Eric Tiver's ADHD reWired Coaching and Accountability groups. I'll be honest, I wasn't all that keen on writing a letter to my ADHD when I first heard about the exercise, but it was surprisingly r...

Be sure to check out the full show notes at: HackingYourADHD.com/planning2020 Today we're going to be working on planning out our 2020. If you haven't given much thought to planning your year before I think you'll get a lot out of this episode - planning is one of those things that we sometimes think doesn't play well with ADHD, but I've learned that planning is actually one of the most effective...

Today we're going to be walking through the process of how to conduct an end of year review by letting you in while I went through my own review. Head over to the show notes page to grab a copy of the Review Your Year PDF that I use in this episode: HackingYourADHD.com/2019Review Since I've started doing yearly reviews, I've realized that I'm pretty bad at looking back. Often I feel like I'm just...

Let me ask you, what's the most important thing on your to-do list? What the thing that if you did it would make you satisfied with what you accomplished today? Sometimes we've got a clear picture of what our most important thing we've got to do is - usually it's something that's due that day - maybe even something that was due, yesterday. But we can't always rely on urgency to be our guide for pr...

We all picture different things when we think about the holidays. Some people think about family and food, others think about putting up all those sparking lights and some people think about the shopping - but one thing we all probably think about is all the things we have to do. Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/podcast/holiday This Episode's Top Tips Pick and choose your events - l...

When I'm working on this podcast sometimes I wish my boss would be a little harder on me because it can be easy for me to get behind - but my boss is kind of laid back and lets me get away with more than I should - and that's probably because my boss is me. When I can't count on myself to get the things I need to turn to others to help me out. A lot of us with ADHD can have trouble turning to othe...

Last week was all about getting there and this week we're focusing on what to do when you get back. Travel disrupts our routines and habits - and we should take those disruptions seriously. One thing that I've had to learn over and over again is that ADHD makes transitions hard - and coming back from a trip is a big transition. This Episode's Top Tips Identify your routines and habits before your...

ADHD loves novelty and what could be more novel for an ADHD brain than going to a new place? While you might love the destination, getting there can be really hard for those of us with ADHD. The process of traveling some place new takes a lot of work and a lot of attention to detail that can even escape neurotypicals. Recently my wife was booking our tickets to go visit family during Thanksgiving...

Find the Full Show Notes: HackingYourADHD.com/podcast/journaling This Episode's Top Tips Journaling allows us to think through our problems and improve our emotional well being You've got a lot of options for how to journal - be it with pen and paper, digital, or an audio or video journal make sure you are choosing the option that is best for your ADHD brain.  To be successful at journaling we've...

Find the full show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/podcast/GST Today we're going to be exploring the differences between goals, strategies and tactics. Simply put: Goals are a desired result we want to achieve. Strategies are the processes we use to achieve goals. Tactics are actions we take to implement strategies. Let's take a look at an example. A while back I decided to set the goal planning my w...

It's easy to get caught up in what neurotypicals do for productivity that we can forget that we're not neurotypical, we have ADHD. And when you've got ADHD sometimes you need to do things differently because our brains are wired differently. Even though neurotypicals sometimes struggle with a lot of the same issues that we are struggling with it doesn't mean we should always be trying the same str...

ADHD can make it hard to remember all the things that you need to remember on a daily basis. Things get forgotten and we end up missing important appointments because they simply slipped our mind. While everyone can have trouble with memory, it can be especially hard on those of us with ADHD because of how memory works with executive function. When we are thinking about memory it is important to d...

ADHD can make it very hard for us to accurately tell what time it is now, how much time is left, and how quickly time is passing. This is referred to as time blindness and it creates a host of issues for those of us with ADHD. When you are unable to accurately tell what time it is, you are going to be late. When you don't know how long something is going to take, you are either going to take too l...

ADHD can make it hard for us to work on our intentions. This is even harder when we forget the things that we want to do. When you are learning about new ADHD strategies while reading books or listening to podcasts (like this one!) it is really easy to forget your intention of implementing those strategies. In these instances when we learn about a new tool, what we can do is write down our intende...