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Excuse my ADHD...and the Skills that Help with Jeanette Graham · Authentic Living

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Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a place where we conscious conversations about
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things that really matter in our lives.
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And now here's your host, Roxanne Derhodge.
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Hi, everyone.
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It's Roxanne Derhodge, and, thanks for tuning in again this week.
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I have a colleague, Jeanette.
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Jeanette, how are you today?
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I'm very well.
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How are you, Roxanne?
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So Jeanette and I, met, we're all but both podcasters and, you know, she's she covers a
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topic, which I think is something that we see so often.
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And I I thought, you know, why not have her in on so that maybe people that are interested in
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ADHD might be able to tune into her podcast and learn a lot more.
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I'll just tell you a little bit about Jeanette and her background.
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And she her life never made sense.
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She's also like she never fit in.
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It was just different.
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And in 2017, the spring, she was, diagnosed with ADHD.
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So also, and everything start to make sense.
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She learned about ADHD and and more start to learn more about herself.
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She was different and realized didn't fit in, but that's okay.
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We're all different.
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And there's aspects of ADHD and most people, wouldn't wish to on their best friend, but
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there are also those things that made them stand out in the best way.
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Despite her hardships, she's had by success in her career and family, and I'd love to talk a
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little bit more about that.
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And she shares a journey of acceptance from our diagnosis going to a treat end and just
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juggling the daily life, on her new podcast, which I want everybody to, tune into, and we'll
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we'll include a link in the show notes for excuse my ADHD.
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So welcome, welcome.
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Thank you.
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So
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I would say that a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about what ADHD is and what it's
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not.
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So and because you've been on this journey, I obviously in my years, being in practice and
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coaching and consulting, I've come in contact with people or just people that I've had to
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work with.
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But tell tell everyone what you found out about what ADHD is.
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You've lived with it, but then you looked at it from the angle of actually getting diagnosed
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and kind of navigating treatment for it?
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Well, for me, like you said, in my bio, I never really fed in, and I was always a little bit
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different.
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So, like, my mom and I are very much alike.
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And, you know, we would do things that are considered impulsive that most people don't
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normally do.
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Like, we would stay up late, do a midnight run to Walmart because we wanted to make homemade
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Fettuccine alfredo at 1 o'clock in the morning.
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So it it's things like that.
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And little things like that all through my life.
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And in the spring of 2017, I had my 3rd car accident in 12 months.
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My husband, he had heard a testimonial of somebody who had ADHD and was listening to
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their story and had come home and told me that It was like he was listening to me.
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Like, that person up there was pretty much telling my life story.
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You know, most people think ADHD, you think of the kid in school who can't sit still
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constantly getting in trouble You don't think of the quiet introverted girl who sits in the
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back of the classroom that nobody sees.
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And that was me all through school.
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I got through school well enough that I didn't really have a whole lot of problems.
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I didn't all a's and then make all f's, I was right in the middle.
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I had a's, b, c's, d.
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So I never hit the radar at all.
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Nobody ever thought of that for me.
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Parents, teachers, doctors, no one.
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And so when I finally did go into the doctor and was diagnosed, it absolutely blew me away.
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Because everything I knew was wrong.
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I, you know, and even some physicians don't either believe in ADHD or they don't understand
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it.
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And so finding out that you don't have to just be that hyperactive kid was just kind of it was
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mind blowing to me how many different ways 88 can present itself.
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And then you also have, you know, outside of just women who are misdiagnosed because we when
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we go in, we are told we have depression.
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We have anxiety.
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But those are all comorbidities that 50% of the time occur with ADHD.
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And then you also have, I think they I read, like, 50% of people on the autism spectrum also
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have ADHD.
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So it's not just a one fits all.
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And I feel like that is what's really important is to destigmatize it and to get people to
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understand what really is going on because it truly can be debilitating at times.
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And very imperative, and I don't think there are that many people that understand that.
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So the goal my podcast is to chronicle My journey with it through treatment, through
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managing it daily, and then to also have others come on and share their stories.
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Because when you read a story, you feel an attachment to it.
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But when you actually hear it and you can hear a person's true emotion behind it, I think it
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strikes a deeper cord.
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Mhmm.
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And it sends a truer mess message.
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Sorry.
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Yeah.
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Sure.
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So what I'm interested in is we have the stereotypical kind of perception.
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So let's let's start there and you said there's different ways.
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Like you said, hey.
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Most of us have been somewhere in the middle going to school.
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We've got in trouble.
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We can be impulsive as teenagers you know No.
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I was a very impulsive teenager.
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Okay.
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But sometimes people say that's being a teen.
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Right?
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Mhmm.
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Exactly.
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Some qualities that you're describing that I think I don't know about the listeners, but I
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would think, oh, I could kinda see that sometimes I've kind of experienced those
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things.
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Yep.
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I had a conversation actually with someone.
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I'd gone to Ireland back in July, and I met somebody on a bus, and we were talking about
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that exact same thing.
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He was asking me about I don't even remember how we got on the subject, but he was asking me
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about the different symptoms.
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And as I telling him, he's like, oh, well, I'm this sometimes.
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And, yeah, I do that.
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I do that.
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And I had to keep explaining to him, yes.
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Everybody has some of these symptoms some of the time, but the key factors are, have you
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always had these symptoms?
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And do they affect every aspect of your life?
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So it's not just, okay, I can't remember appointments for doctors at home.
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It's I can't remember appointments at home.
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I can't remember appointments for in meetings at work.
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It it affects everything.
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It's, you know, and it it's kind of Attention deficit isn't really accurate, I think, because
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we can pay attention.
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The fact is we pay attention to everything.
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And that's the problem.
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It's more of a focus issue.
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It's more of a you know, and it's interesting.
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I had, a situation with a consulting, situation.
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And so I said to the person in the room, right, because I know with me, I I need if I'm
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writing, for instance, because I'm a writer, I need dead comm, but sometimes I need music or,
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you know, depending on what I'm creating.
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And he's just trying to explain to me, what it was like to have ADHD and he which he had.
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He said, your voice is competing, and he started to lit a nice, everything that he was
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hearing.
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There was little crackles that I didn't even hear there were, like, barely something outside
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of the room and, you know, the fan kinda maybe going two doors over.
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The I had to literally slow my senses down and focus just to be able to hear what he was
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hearing.
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Because, like, right now, I can hear the traffic going outside even with my headphones
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on, and I have to make sure that I focus
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Right.
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And what he what was telling for me, Jeanette, is that he said, and your voice is equally as
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as loud as those other sounds.
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Mhmm.
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And I said, when I said, wow.
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I said, so, you know, I know sometimes with me, if I'm, you know, had a long day or whatever,
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and I just need complete silence.
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He said, well, just think of it that sometimes you can never get silence.
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No.
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Because even when you're in a silent room, you can still hear the air conditioning.
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You can steer here all the noises outside.
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So you never really have that true complete silence.
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I was actually recording an episode about a week ago I had the door shuts.
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I had my headphones in and everything was fine, but I could still hear people talking outside
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of my house.
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And it was distracting me.
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And I would have to stop and get up and see what was going on because it was bothering me
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so bad.
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So So let let's talk about how that impacts your ability to connect.
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Right?
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Like, when you're not stabilized, say with whatever you need to take to get stabilized
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conversations with your partner or your children or, you know, at work or what's what's
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that like if if that's happening?
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Okay.
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So I'm at home and I'm talking to my husband.
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If my kids are at upstairs in another room and starting an argument, automatically, my
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attention goes to that.
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Yeah.
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And a lot of times this causes trouble in our relationship, and we've had issues with it
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because he feels like I'm detached.
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And I don't care, which is actually opposite of what's going on.
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It's just that I'm hearing him, but I'm also hearing what's going on elsewhere.
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And my brain is bouncing back and forth.
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If I'm having a meeting in my office with coworkers, I'm discussing whatever we're
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talking about But then if I hear somebody across the hall in the kitchen, I start I'm in
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the middle of that conversation.
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In my head.
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And so it it's a lot of bouncing in and around.
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And Having ADHD, it also there's other things to interrupting people.
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It's like my brain is going so fast that I feel like I can anticipate what's gonna be said, and
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it just comes out.
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And that that would be viewed as, you're being rude or you know, you're you're talking over
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people because you know better.
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All those things I would think would you'd be kind of judged
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you know,
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to some degree.
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Yeah.
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And this has been a real problem again, you know, with my relationships at home, especially
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because my husband feels like You know, I do it on purpose.
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Right.
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Right.
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And he tries to be as understanding as possible, but You know, he's had to put up with
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me for 17 years.
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I'm sure it's probably getting pretty old, but, you know, I try.
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I I have to consciously focus on not doing it.
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Because otherwise, it just comes out.
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So is there some skills that you've learned that has helped to be able to try to, you know,
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be able to, I would say channel a bit more to be able to kind of, you know, if your husband
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wants to talk about you know, maybe some difference that you had the day before.
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The last thing he needs to know is that you're thinking about the kids who are about to, like,
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probably have a little bit of a toggle over there.
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He wants your your your your attention even if it's for 5 minutes.
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Mhmm.
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Yeah.
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One of the things I try to do Unconsciously, I I kind of I don't grind my teeth, but I clench
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them.
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And that helps focus me I fidget a lot with the piece of fabric or just whatever pencil
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anything I have.
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I fidget But it focusing on those things helps me to, I guess, stay in the moment And not
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because otherwise, I'm like, either I'm counting I have to count in my head sometimes
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too to make sure that I'm not over talking somebody when they take a breath.
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Because when you have ADHD, you're just you're you wanna get it out because whatever thoughts
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in your head You have to get it out because if you don't, our working memory, that executive
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function, that working memory is so bad.
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That you'll lose whatever train of thought you had.
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And hence why we're probably trying to interrupt because you're thinking if I don't if
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I don't if I don't give this up, I'm gonna lose that.
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Yeah.
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And that's part of it.
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And it's hard to explain that to people because you're really not being rude on purpose.
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It's not purposely done.
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It's not a case of you know, you should no matter why are you doing this.
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It's it takes practice to build on those skills, you have to literally focus on not
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interrupting people and focus on being direct in that moment with them, looking them in the
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face, and anytime you want to look at something else, you have to remind yourself consciously
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to stay in the moment.
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So it's work.
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It's hard work.
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Unlike most people who just it's kind of automatic.
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So, you know, for any of us to stay mindful, it's a hard it's a hard job.
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Right?
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Mhmm.
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Yep.
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And you don't have those other variables kind of coming at you.
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Right.
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But for you to have to do it, it's you you're talking about tactile.
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Like you said, you know, you know, the maybe the I don't know if the fidget spinners would
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help or something tactile, but I know with, sometimes when people are in the spectrum, they
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do a lot of tactile therapy with them.
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Does that make does that make sense?
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So, but if you think about our senses, sites don't taste that smell.
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A lot of times, if we're, you know, connected from the present, touching something helps.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely.
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And I think that's where a lot of that comes from.
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I'll start picking at my pants or a shirt or something, and that helps me.
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Okay.
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So what is it like with your kids because kids will be kids.
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Yeah.
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And how how old are your children?
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So I have twins that just turned 6 and they're girls and I have a ten year old boy.
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Wow.
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So they're all pretty active and they keep me going But, you know, with the ADHD, it's,
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again, it's work to sit and be engaged with them all the time, like, just sitting and
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trying to play with them.
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I find myself constantly doing wanting to do something else.
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Not that I don't love being there with them and playing with them.
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It's just it's this physical need to get up and do something else.
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Wow.
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So you have to, again, the same strategies that you're talking about, obviously, with your
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partner, you're you're and kids aren't gonna get it.
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Right?
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Right.
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No.
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They don't under and why mommy look at why isn't mommy looking at me?
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Why isn't mommy
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paying attention?
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Why is mommy doing something else while she's, you know, supposed to be playing with me?
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So it's a hard it's a hard balance.
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And I guess it's you can maybe tell the ten year old that maybe mummy gets distracted
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sometimes, but the six year old ones are gonna go, they have no clue what you're trying to
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say.
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It's really Right.
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Mom mommy, I need you.
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You're you're not paying attention.
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What's wrong with you?
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Mhmm.
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So it's so you've learned strategies that you continue to use all the time.
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Yeah.
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What what kind of things affect it?
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Like, you know, does diet affected?
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Does exercise affected?
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What kind of things have you learned?
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Like, so maybe talking about how you maneuver the system, and maybe what kind of things or
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strategies that you've found that has been most helpful for you or just from others that you've
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interviewed.
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And and and I know you would probably continue to be a lot of people and have used a lot of
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different things.
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So what I have found that works for me, probably one of the best things is exercise.
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Because it helps you with that dopamine and need that dopamine fix in order to focus.
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That's one of the issues.
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It's because ADHD is a neurological deficiency of hormones.
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It's the serotonin and the dopamine that you need and you're not getting.
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So exercising helps release more of the dopamine.
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I do jogging and yoga.
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Yoga helps relax and
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calm me a lot.
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Just focusing on the
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breathing and the movement I am probably more focused when I'm
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doing yoga than just about
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any other time during the day.
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Running is good because it helps me release some of the energy that I have at the end of
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the day.
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I don't have a whole lot of hyperactivity, but I do have some and the running helps get some
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of that out.
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And it helps me think.
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So when I come home, I can focus on doing the things that I need to do.
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I can get the laundry done and do the laundry and not get caught doing, you know, oh, I threw
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the laundry in and started it.
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I moved on to dishes.
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I moved on to something the dishes are half done, and then I moved on upstairs.
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And whatever I was doing up there's half done, and I'm coming back.
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And it's been, like, 5 hours, and I've still got laundry in
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So there's a pool of things of could be pools of things of unfinished tasks because you kinda
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you you
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You saw something and you thought, oh, that has to get done and you kind of
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That's probably one of the easiest descriptions of what ADHD does to you is trying to clean a
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house because
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it it is so hard.
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Most people can get it done in flowers.
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They go room to room to room.
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Boom.
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They're done.
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They vacuum the dust.
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They clean the bathroom.
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They're done.
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For me, let's say I start I said, with laundry.
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I'm throwing the laundry in, oh, there's a ball on the floor.
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I need to take that up to the kids room.
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That's where it goes.
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So I get to the kids room.
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The laundry started, so that's fine, but I get to the kids' room and I put the ball up and I'm
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like, ugh, this needs to be organized.
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So I start organizing it.
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And then I find something that doesn't belong in there, and I take it to say their bedroom.
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And I'm in the bedroom.
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I'm putting it up, and the next thing you know, I'm reorganizing their closet.
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I'm getting stuff out for goodwill, and I haven't vacuumed anything.
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I haven't dusted anything.
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I haven't really straightened up the playroom like I was going to, and I still have laundry
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downstairs.
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And it's probably been 3 hours.
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Wow.
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I've done nothing.
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And then the next thing you know, okay, I'm like, alright, I'm gonna do this.
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And I start cleaning the room.
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I get their bed made.
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I go to get the vacuum, but on the way to get the vacuum, I forget something I need in my
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bedroom.
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And I'm in my bedroom.
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I'm like, I gotta go to goodwill.
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So then I'm pulling things out of the closet and I'm making a goodwill bag.
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Laundry's been done for 3 hours.
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It needs to be switched over to the dryer.
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Still sitting there.
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I could have a dish.
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You know, the sink could be full of dish water and dishes that's now cold because I've let it
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sit for so long.
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And still nothing else is done.
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And so my husband used to came home, he'd asked me what I've been doing all day.
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And, like, I've been cleaning the house.
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He's like, no.
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Nothing.
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So I'm like, oh, well, I'm deep cleaning.
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That was always my excuse.
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I was deep cleaning.
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But it was ADHD.
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Mhmm.
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Because you and that's one of the things I read on the boards a lot is that people will ask the
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question, what is the best way to clean this room?
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One room.
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One room.
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A normal person can get done in 20 minutes.
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Right.
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We have to have a system to do it.
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But when I've been running and I'm on my medication, then I can do it like a normal
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person does.
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Because what the medication and the running due for me is it helps even that playing field.
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It doesn't give us an advantage.
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It helps us be closer to, I guess, neurotypical.
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Neurotext.
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That's the word.
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Like, the rest of, like, the rest of us neuro whatever whatever that is.
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I mean
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Whatever that is.
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I have no idea.
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I don't know about neurotypical because it seems like all of us are we've all got our
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thing.
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Right?
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Right.
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Then, you know, with ADHD, you've got comorbidities.
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So I've also got, you know, I'm OCD.
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I am, interpersonally sensitive And then you have rejections sensitive Dysphoria, which
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comes with ADHD.
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And, you know, my emotions are all over the place.
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I pick up on other emotions when I'm cleaning a room and I'm organizing the closet, not only in
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my organized, I'm finger spacing, I'm color coding with hangers, shorts sleeve, a long slit
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It is a mess.
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My head is a mess.
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There's a lot there's a lot of going on up there, basically.
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Yes.
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So, you know, so That said, obviously, now, like you said, you have you've learned
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strategies to be able to do it.
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Let's talk about work because you you do we just got on the line and she says that she
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works in at a university medical school.
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And, I would think that that is microscopic and methodical, and I'm gonna use the word
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monotonous on in a bad way.
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So how do you get through a day?
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How did you learn?
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What skills did you have to develop to be able to be doing this position for as long as you
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have?
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Okay.
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So I What started it for me was I began working as an administrative assistant in the College
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of Public Health.
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And my boss who would drive me crazy sometimes to the point where I just wanna strangle him.
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But he was the one that actually started steering me into the trajectory and then I'm
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in.
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Submitting I started with submitting grant proposals.
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And through grants, you see all of the science that goes through in the grants.
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And you see how important it is and what kind of an impact it can make on other people's
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lives.
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Right.
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And all of a sudden, It's important.
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And what you're doing is important.
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And having that, I think, is what I do easier for me because I'm passionate about parts of
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it.
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So once I got through all of that doing, you know, grant proposal submissions, I started
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doing the post award part of it, which is the accounting and finance.
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And what's even funnier about that is I also have, I believe I have dyscalculia.
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Which is kind of a it's similar to dyslexia, but with numbers and patterns.
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But I deal with numbers every day.
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So you so you get distracted by patterns or you see?
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No.
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So I will interchange numbers.
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Okay.
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Decimal's in the wrong place, plus or minus signs in the wrong place.
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I am horrible with dates.
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If I'm going fifty five miles an hour, I feel like I'm going 30.
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If I'm going 80, I feel like I'm going 50.
25:25
So I have a distorted sense of how, like, speed I have a distorted sense of time, but that's
25:32
also an ADHD symptom, but a lot of it has to do with abilities to do math.
25:39
So algebra equations order, you know, what order do you put these numbers in to answer the
25:48
equation, where do they go?
25:49
All of that.
25:50
So, like, going through school, math was never a de I barely scrape through math, but I deal
25:58
with numbers and spreadsheets all day long.
26:01
So I have to have checks and balances in place because I am so bad at numbers.
26:05
I transpose numbers a lot.
26:08
But what I'm good at And what I think keeps me interested is that a lot of times with this
26:15
post award part of it, it's keeping It's making sure faculty are spending their money properly.
26:22
But what I have found is that I get thrown into situations where I'm the new person, and I have
26:28
to clean up something somebody has done for the past several years.
26:32
I'm really good at finding mistakes and issues and fixing them.
26:38
And it's like a puzzle for me.
26:41
So that challenge is what keeps me interested in it.
26:45
So that's the that's a pause.
26:47
It's what an amazing thing.
26:49
Right?
26:49
Because and I I really wanna talk a little bit about that because I think there are positive
26:54
things, that comes out of this.
26:57
Like you said
26:58
Oh, absolutely.
26:59
You know, because your brain is working at such a at a accelerated rate, you're able to
27:04
probably calibrate things a lot quicker than say somebody else's brain that's not I'm not
27:09
able to synthesize information as quickly.
27:12
I think one of the things that people with ADHD have is just a really special ability to think
27:20
about things outside the box, to problem solve and to be creative.
27:26
Because like you said, we do.
27:27
We think of so many things all at the same time, but we also think of things a little bit
27:33
differently and maybe kind of I think there's a little bit more sense of wonder there for us.
27:38
That we haven't totally lost yet, but it absolutely helps me in what I do because I find
27:45
things that other people don't see.
27:48
Oh, wow.
27:49
I'll find issues with the accounting.
27:53
And it's like, it's not just, oh, this number's entered in wrong.
27:56
It's The students pay, the students tuition, the students health insurance were all put in
28:02
wrong, but why?
28:04
What should it really be What should the missing piece be?
28:08
And it's taking, you know, a notice of award from a grant that tells you how to spend it,
28:13
the budget that was submitted, and the actual what was input into the system and having a
28:20
piece through all of that to find out what it should really be.
28:23
Okay.
28:24
And so I do that a lot.
28:26
It's the problem solving that I'm gonna and the job that I'm in now, I am the senior business
28:33
administrator.
28:33
So I have accountants that do the smaller work, and they bring all their problems to me.
28:38
And I help them problem solve their departments.
28:41
Wow.
28:42
That's a that's a that's amazing.
28:43
Just a thought of numbers scare me.
28:45
So and I'm not microscopic.
28:47
So the thought of what you do, it's that that's absolutely amazing.
28:51
That, you know, we oftentimes look at the negatives associated with certain things and
28:57
sometimes like I have a girlfriend and her son is autistic.
29:01
And I I've seen him I mean, he we've been friends for 30 years and I've seen this child
29:08
obviously the diagnosis and all of those things, but the amazing, he can create these
29:16
massive puzzles within the things that would take the average child probably days.
29:24
She will she would buy something and it would be done within an hour.
29:28
Oh, wow.
29:28
And I'm like, how did that happen?
29:31
Right?
29:32
Yeah.
29:32
You can't, you know, connect and and do the social kind of engagement, but there's a part
29:38
of his brain that's so high level functioning that it's absolutely amazing to watch.
29:43
So I think it's a nice perspective to look at and say, okay, this is happening, but what is
29:48
the positive that actually, the brain is demonstrating that it can achieve?
29:53
Yeah.
29:54
And there are there are some.
29:55
And a lot of people in the ADHD community, we refer to them as our superpowers.
30:01
So that ability to problem solve and think outside of the box, the creativity, and then
30:08
you have a hyper focus.
30:11
So for those who don't know, hyperfocus, so, for example, I remember living at my parents'
30:17
house, and I would get into a book that I loved.
30:21
And I would be from, on a Saturday morning, from the time I woke up till the time I went to
30:27
bed doing nothing but reading that book and being completely oblivious to anything else
30:33
going on.
30:34
I wouldn't eat.
30:35
I wouldn't drink.
30:37
The only time I would get up would be to go to the bathroom.
30:40
There's a the slight downside is is somebody interrupts you.
30:43
You get really agitated.
30:45
But you if you can use that hyper focus when you can use it.
30:51
Then, I mean, incredible.
30:54
You can get through and do incredible things with it.
30:59
But when you can't, it can be really disruptive.
31:03
Like, if you get into something and you get into that hyper focus, tell somebody, okay,
31:07
I'll be done with this in an hour 6 hours later.
31:09
You're still into it.
31:11
You
31:11
know?
31:12
Yeah.
31:12
Still sitting here at work, and I supposed to be home and had dinner.
31:15
And my husband's like, where are you at, and what are you doing?
31:18
Yeah.
31:19
Of course.
31:19
But there have been times where it come in really handy, especially if you've
31:24
procrastinated on something to the last minute, that hyper focus that you get in because you're
31:32
it's like, I think we perform better under pressure.
31:37
I guess there's a way to look at because you just get so focused that you can just, boom,
31:42
done with whatever you're doing because nothing else bothers you.
31:46
So for the for the leaders or the employers that are listening, what kind of guidance would
31:53
they would you give them or things for them to consider when, when dealing with people that
31:57
might have, ADHD at work?
32:00
I think You need to find out what challenges them, what excites them, and help them find
32:08
ways in their job to do those things that challenge them.
32:12
Because when we're challenged and we enjoy doing something, we excel at it.
32:19
But it's those mundane boring tasks that we have trouble with.
32:25
And sometimes may need a little your time to get through them.
32:30
I think deadlines are really important and having if you're gonna give somebody a project
32:37
that has ADHD.
32:39
I think something that's really important is being available to help them break it down to
32:45
pieces.
32:46
Because when you you look at a big project and then all of a sudden you're like, oh my god,
32:50
how am I even gonna where do I start?
32:52
How do I get through?
32:53
How do I get to from point a to point b.
32:56
But then when you break it out into smaller tasks, it makes it a lot easier because then
33:03
you can do the one small thing.
33:05
And then you can do the next small thing and the next and the next.
33:08
And then before you know it, you've done something you didn't think you could do.
33:14
And I think having those small tasks are important.
33:17
So having creating the structure like if we use the analogy of the room, if you know today, I'm
33:23
gonna strip the beds and vacuum and put away the close.
33:28
It's the same analogy as at work where you have the direction.
33:32
This is what I'm going to achieve in the time period that I have.
33:34
So really, really important to have deadlines, have guidance, be be able to have, someone to
33:42
that you can go to if there is not that, chunked them parts to a project and
33:48
productivity would increase, obviously, when you're interfacing with someone like that if
33:53
they were to have that structure.
33:55
Yeah.
33:55
And I found, kind of a revised version of the Pomodoro method.
34:02
Is helpful for me too when I'm trying to transition because transitions at work can be
34:08
really hard.
34:08
So tell me what the Pomodaro method is because I don't know and for anybody listening that
34:13
don't know, what is it?
34:14
So the Pomodoro method is you take you have a timer, and it breaks down your time into 20
34:23
minute chunks.
34:24
We get 20 minutes then a 5 minute break.
34:26
20 minutes 5 minute break.
34:27
20 minutes and a 5.
34:28
And then after 4 chunks, you take a longer 15 to 30 minute break.
34:33
And you just do this throughout the day until whatever you've been working on, you get done,
34:39
or you need to transition to something else.
34:42
Right.
34:43
So I have an app.
34:45
It's called BRAIN Focus because at what I found is that the 20 minutes doesn't work for me.
34:50
Right.
34:50
20 minutes for me isn't long enough to get into something and then transition out of it.
34:57
So I do 40 minutes.
34:59
I do 40 minutes and then a 10 minute break or a 5 minute break.
35:04
And I can get more I've found that I get more tasks done on my checklist, then if I don't do
35:10
it.
35:12
Amazing.
35:12
Amazing.
35:15
I mean, kind of another thing, I guess, is I bullet journal.
35:19
I live and die by my bullet journal and Google.
35:23
For my meetings.
35:25
Mhmm.
35:26
And, you know, tasks that I have to have done at work for projects.
35:30
I put them all in my Google calendar with reminders And then I write them down because
35:35
what I have found is at least for me and some other people with ADHD.
35:40
Is it writing that physical action of writing it down helps your working memory.
35:46
It helps you remember better.
35:48
So I do both of those things.
35:50
And, I guess something else employers has so many jobs are now broken into cubicles.
36:00
That is a really hard environment for somebody with ADHD to work in.
36:04
I would think so.
36:05
That is extremely difficult.
36:09
So any way they could not have a cubicle or at least have a place that they could go when
36:14
they're working on something time sensitive would be helpful too.
36:20
Well, this is this has been amazing information.
36:22
So tell everybody about your podcast and when where, you know, where they could catch it, I
36:28
will put a link in the show notes.
36:29
Like I said, I am I have not listened.
36:33
I'm going to listen because I think I can learn a lot more.
36:35
It sounds like there's a lot of fascinating things that you'll be covering.
36:39
So share with everyone what, what the podcast is about and where they can, tune in.
36:44
Sure.
36:45
The podcast is more of a diary right now.
36:48
It is a diary of what I've gone through from being diagnosed to treatment, using medication,
36:57
and the journey is to continue with trying different things.
37:03
So trying one of the things I wanna try is, mindfulness and meditation.
37:09
And so what I'll the plan is to do an episode on that.
37:14
Mhmm.
37:14
And then to actually go into practice with it and get back to everybody with what the results
37:21
were and what I noticed the effects were on my ADHD if it helped, if it didn't help, things
37:26
like that and just to keep going.
37:28
And then eventually, I want other people to come on and tell their stories.
37:34
I think that's the most important part is for people to share their stories and to get the
37:40
stigma broken out.
37:42
I can be found at www.excusemyadhd.com.
37:47
And pretty much anywhere that you listen to podcast, iTunes, Google, Stitcher, Casbox,
37:56
Alexa, iTunes.
37:57
It's everywhere.
38:00
Awesome.
38:00
Awesome.
38:01
Thank you for sharing.
38:02
It's, I've learned so much more, you know, about like I said, I have some knowledge, but
38:08
not a lot.
38:08
It really helps me to understand, you know, potentially if I do come into con contact with
38:13
someone you know, what kind of things they might need for me, to be able to, you know,
38:18
make the interaction more effective.
38:20
So So this is great information.
38:23
I hope everybody tunes in or reaches out.
38:25
Maybe there's somebody out there that's got a story that might want to potentially be on your
38:29
podcast.
38:31
So for everyone listening, we all have differences.
38:35
Just recognize that we're all we're all dealing with something.
38:37
And, so that's, you know, whatever you can do to learn what's necessary to assist someone
38:44
that's potentially coming forward be it at home, be it your children, or or your partner,
38:49
or, out there in the community or as an employer to recognize that there's ways that
38:54
you can assist people.
38:56
And oftentimes it's not it's not it doesn't have to take big things, but just understanding
39:01
what the person may be may be struggling with So genetic, and thanks so much for your time.
39:06
I will be tuning tuning in.
39:09
And, for anyone, needing more information from me, I'm a Roxanne Hodge.
39:14
You can be reached me at roxanderhodge.com.
39:16
I'm a mental health and wellness specialist, keynote speaker, and a trainer.
39:20
Take care, everyone, and thanks again.
39:22
Thanks for tuning in to authentic living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive,
39:28
healthy change.
39:29
Roxanne is a keynote speaker psychotherapist, and coach to work with Roxanne, visit
39:35
roxannedurhaj.com/blueprint.
39:39
We'll see you next time.
39:41
An authentic living with Roxanne.