Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast

The ADHD diagnosis can be as confusing as it is illuminating, unlocking doors in yourself you never knew to be closed. Just as it is a journey for you as you learn to live with these new words that suddenly describe you, it is as much a journey for those who love you. Parents, siblings, and others who care about you will experience a range of emotions as they, too, learn about your diagnosis. This...

ADHD Coach Caroline Maguire is back! She’s a coach, author, teacher, and speaker with a special focus in social skills supporting kids — and parents of kids — with ADHD. She’s just about to celebrate the release of her new book, Why Will No One Play with Me?: The Play Better Plan to Help Children of All Ages Make Friends and Thrive and we’re thrilled she came back to share the story of the book, a...

Adult diagnosis of ADHD is, by all our evidence on this show, an enormously liberating thing. We learn so much about ourselves, put a clear and cogent frame around our experience, that we can truly change the way we relate to the world around us. There's baggage that comes to this experience late in life, however: many of us live in a culture that puts outsized value on achievement and success in...

For many of us, our relationship with Dr. Edward Hallowell, M.D., Ed. D., started with his best-selling 1994 book, Driven to Distraction . He's the author of 20 books on various psychological topics and is a highly recognized international speaker on ADHD, focus, productivity, and beyond. He’s the founder of The Hallowell Centers, and has been featured as a guest expert across the media landscape,...

This week on the show, Nikki takes to the mic to interview Pete and Tommy Metz III about their podcast, ‘What’s That Smell?’ Over the last three seasons of WTS, Pete and Tommy have learned a lot about sharing their anxieties with the world through the podcast, and about helping others to laugh in the face of their own fears. Today on the show, we’re going to hear what that journey has done for the...

Optimism is about more than just parading around happily all the time. It’s a worldview that has direct and powerful connections to your social group, your productivity, and your very own health! This week on the show, we’re talking all about optimism. You’ll understand the kind of language you might be using that becomes the pessimism trap, you’ll learn about recent research connecting your world...

By the age of 12, children with ADHD hear 20,000 more negative messages than their peers. Those messages are teaching lessons about self-esteem, courage, confidence, initiative, and decision-making that become deeply rooted in their identity. That's kids, but what happens to those kids as they grow up? 20,000 negative messages grows exponentially as we move into college, or our first jobs, our car...

Language is an important factor in how we integrate ourselves with the world around us. It determines our worldview and can go a long way toward determining how well we succeed in what we’re trying to accomplish toward our goals but simply giving us the intrinsic motivation to keep moving forward. To set yourself up for success, you might want to explore whether you’ve adopted a growth mindset, or...

A mind map can be a truly transformational personal tool for integrating new information into your system — and your memory! With a little exploration and practice, you can learn how to develop a mind map that presents information the way your brain actually interprets it, through concepts, images and ideas. What is it that makes mind maps such a unique tool, and what do you need to learn to make...

That little voice in your head? The one telling you that you have no business doing what you're doing? That's the resistance. And you can tell it to shove off. This week on the show, Nikki and Pete review some of the reasons you might be feeling the resistance. Sure, you might be accustomed to calling it procrastination , but is there more to it than that? Have you reflected on the underlying cond...

Our community is full of learners — students of all stripes. But the act of learning is different for those living with ADHD. It puts new pressures on different parts of the brain. Sitting and digesting new information is a challenge over long periods, and building a map to structure your own learning path in an environment of uncertainty can cause deep anxiety. Whether you're pursuing a degree or...

You're busy enough as it is. But what happens when you're offered a new project, grand opportunity, great chance to show off? How do you know if you can afford to say... yes? Today on the show, Nikki breaks down the process you can use to shed the stress of saying yes, and build strong and confident boundaries that help you decline with love. From crafting smart priorities so you better understand...

Living with ADHD is a mystery. Sometimes, we’re completely present and aware of our symptoms, sure. But most of the time, we aren’t completely aware of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, or the impact our symptoms are having on others… until we’re thrown in a laboratory. Today on the show, Pete shares his experience in just such an environment. A perfectly benign social engagement offers the op...

It’s paper day! Dealing with your paper piles requires a unique approach that is more of a cousin to the four steps we’ve been practicing thus far. First thing to note: paper organizing has no end! Once you wrap your head around that, we can get started in building a system to efficiently categorize and stay up-to-date on the paper without becoming overrun by piles! Links & Notes Thank you for...

You’ve done the hard work. You’ve purged and sorted, and you’ve found a way to effectively assign spaces to your things, things to your spaces. But how do you keep those spaces and systems functioning? You turn to maintenance. Maintenance does not mean that you’re in a constant state of organizing. That would be exhausting! This week on the show, we’re talking about what maintenance is and how to...

We’ve made it! For those who have been listening to our organizing series and wondering where all the organizing is, this week is all for you! But remember, each step in the organizing process is critical — especially for those living with ADHD! — so just as you’re taking the organizing step seriously, that can only come thanks to your efforts in sorting and purging before it. This week, we’re tal...

In part 2 of our organizing series we're taking on sorting and purging. How do you handle making the tough decisions that will ultimately lead you to reclaiming your space? You build some new muscles... starting today! First, we’ve got a listener question that takes us deep into the avoidance spiral hole, and a reminder that if you haven’t invested in a password vault to keep your usernames and pa...

If you haven’t noticed, there is a lot of energy around getting organized in the air right now. Spurred on by the new Marie Kondo show on Netflix, we’re getting more and more questions about the so-called magic of tidying up and, most importantly, is this an ADHD-friendly way to handle your stuff? As you can imagine, we have opinions! This week on the show we’re digging into our roots to talk abou...

Some call hyperfocus the hidden superpower of ADHD. It’s characterized as this amazing reserve of focus that you can turn on to accomplish great things, health and wellness be damned! If you’re living with ADHD, you know what a misunderstanding this can be. Sure, hyperfocus can be a massive reserve of energy, akin to firing a glass cannon into the open ocean — it’s a reserve that too often destroy...

Does the internal chatter of ADHD really sound all that different than that of those who don’t live with it? Our guest today has been working among other leaders in the field to help find those Gremlins in our heads and quiet them down, making room for the benefits that come with the positive voices and stories we write about our own contributions to the world around us. Jane Massengill has been c...

Happy New Year! We love the turnover of the calendar around these parts because it gives us a time to slow down and reflect. We're not so much resolution people, but we do use the time to think more deeply than usual about how we motivate ourselves to change, the challenges we put in our own way, and how we can use our own efforts to fuel us to stick to the change we want to see in our lives. This...

We called for questions and you delivered! Thank you to everyone who wrote in — We hope we did your questions justice! Here’s the list, and if you use a podcast app that supports them, you’ll find you can jump around to the chapter markers in the episode to hear just the questions you’re looking for. Have there been any studies on marijuana use and teens with ADHD? I struggle with weight... I need...

We received an email from just about the best boss in the world. Why? Because she asked a question that everyone living quietly with ADHD would like to hear their boss asking. In short: How can I help? Of course, working with — and supervising — someone with ADHD is more complicated after you ask that question. Today on the show, we have tools and strategies for helping to orient your staff, your...

Do social situations exhaust you? Do you feel like your brain is working in overdrive to keep up with your environment? According to our guest this week, that’s a common refrain for those living with ADHD. Caroline Maguire is a coach, author, teacher, and speaker with a special focus in social skills supporting kids and parents of kids with ADHD. She’s here today to talk with us all about reading...

Ever wondered what happens at a national ADHD conference? OK… that’s a leading question. This week on the show, Nikki has returned from CHADD/ADDA/ACO in St. Louis and she’s got lessons to share! If you’ve ever struggled with cementing a growth mindset for yourself, shame, existing with ADHD at work, or you just want to know who’s hot right now in ADHD (that sounds weirder than it was intended), t...