Hey Team!

I was recently thinking about some of the ways that ADHD can manifest in seemingly opposite ways. One moment, we're laser-focused, and the next, we're completely derailed by the tiniest hiccup.

In this episode, we’ll be exploring the idea of the dichotomy of ADHD. How it can feel like even our symptoms are inconsistent. We’ll be looking at how our ADHD brains can take us from hyperfocus to total distraction, from being impulsive to utterly paralyzed, and why sometimes we thrive in chaos but crumble over minor setbacks.

And we’ll also be looking at how while many of these ideas may feel like they are in total opposition, that they may in fact have a similar root cause.

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Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/193

This Episode's Top Tips

1. Realize that many of the dichotomies of ADHD actually come from the same source, such as hyperfocus and being unable to focus both stem from a lack of ability to regulate our focus.
2. Often, when we encounter one of these dichotomies, we need to work on reframing what’s going on so that we can apply an appropriate strategy.
3. Regardless of what you’re doing, but especially when you are over-functioning, it’s important to take care of your needs.

Hey Team!

While AI has become a buzzword that has lost much meaning, there are still many use cases that can help with our ADHD. One of the places that I have been enjoying exploring is how I can outsource some of my executive functions to these applications so that I can save my brain for the important stuff.

In today’s episode, we’ll first examine executive function so that we know what we’re really working with here. Then, we’ll explore a number of tools that we can use—from large language models (LLMs) to tools to help with your calendar, and even smaller tools fit for goblins.

Also, before we get into anything about AI, I do want to make a quick disclaimer about some of the ethics of using these tools and also how they were created. While these tools can be great in assisting with what we create, it’s also important that we’re still doing our own work and not passing off what LLM did as our own work. I have been using some of these tools to help create episodes, and even cite some of the ways I am doing so in this episode. But what I’m not doing is feeding a prompt into an LLM and just using that. That would be lazy, irresponsible and not something that anyone wants. However, just because I’m not doing that doesn’t mean that other people aren’t—this is something to particularly look out for with new books about ADHD that aren’t coming from established authors and creators.

Additionally, there are ethical concerns about how the training data for many of the LLMs was obtained. This is especially a concern in regard to the lack of content used to source this material. This has been seen more in terms of art and how those models are trained without the artist's knowledge, but it also applies to written word. While I still have been using these systems, I think it is important that we encourage more ethical sourcing of training data and only using data with consent.

If you’d like to send me a question answer on the show feel free to head over to hackingyouradhd.com/contact and click the orange button

Support me on Patreon

Ask me a question on my Contact Page

Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/192

This Episode's Top Tips

1. We can better understand executive function through the lens of self-regulation. There are three core areas that we can look at here: working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control.
   
   
2. Tools like LLMs can help us create starting points for our work. By prompting the LLM to ask us questions instead it can help us better think through our problems.
   
   
3. When looking to add a new tool to your repertoire, think about what problem it is going to be solving for rather than just looking for the new shiny.

While ADHD is described as life on Hard Mode, that phrasing got me thinking about what would life look on easy mode. And more importantly, how can we make our lives feel more like that?

In this episode, we’re going to explore what life on easy mode might look like and discuss actionable strategies to shift the dynamic of living with ADHD so that it doesn’t always feel like an uphill battle. How we can take steps to shift our ADHD from making life a struggle to something more manageable. From simplifying routines to harnessing the power of small changes there are a lot of ways that we can work on dialing down that difficulty.

If you’d like to send me a question answer on the show feel free to head over to hackingyouradhd.com/contact and click the orange button

Support me on Patreon

Ask me a question on my Contact Page

Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/191

This Episode's Top Tips

1. We can use the focusing question from the book The One Thing: "What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?" to help us identify not only what would be most impactful for us to do, but what we should prioritizing
   
   
2. With the focusing question, we can also leverage the Domino Effect. We often don’t need to focus on the big things that we need to do but rather on the small and significant tasks that can set off a chain reaction of success, making other tasks easier or unnecessary.
   
   
3. Focus on progress, not perfection. Aim for small, consistent improvements rather than drastic changes, and celebrate every small win along the way.