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ADHD at Work: How to Stop Fighting Your Brain and Start Using It · Happen To Your Career - Meaningful Work, Career Change, Career Design, & Job Search

• 0:00
  Scott Anthony Barlow 00:01: You know that feeling when you're staring at your computer and you've got this really important thing you need to do, maybe you even know exactly what you need to do, but for some reason, you just can't start? Or maybe you start, and then 30 seconds later, you're researching the history of paper clips or reorganizing your desk for the third time this week. Yeah, that's ADHD for you. And if you've had similar experiences, this episode is definitely for you. To be clear, I'm not a doctor and I'm definitely not diagnosing you, but we made it for you.
• 0:01
  Introduction 00:34: I'm Scott Anthony Barlow, and this is Happen To Your Career. The podcast that brings you real people, real transformations, and the courage to do work that truly fits. If you haven't already subscribed, click follow right now so you don't miss any new episodes.
• 0:02
  Scott Anthony Barlow 00:43: So here's the thing that a lot of people don't understand about ADHD. Society has created all of these boxes, these systems that we're supposed to fit into– show up at nine, focus for eight hours, remember every detail from that meeting last Tuesday. And when you're wired differently, those boxes can feel impossible. But I want to talk about something that doesn't get mentioned enough. Having ADHD can be a pretty massive advantage, too.
• 0:03
  No, seriously, the way that your brain is wired can cause you to be able to do things that other people can't– make connections that other people miss entirely, you can hyper focus on things that you're really passionate about that would exhaust a neurotypical person, you're probably more creative, more innovative, and maybe even more willing to take risks.
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  The problem is not your brain; as it turns out, the problem is you're trying to force your differently wired brain to operate like everyone else's. It's kind of like training to run Mac software on a PC. It's just not going to work well.
• 0:05
  And I've lived with ADHD my entire life. My three kids have it too, and it shows up very differently for each of them. And over the years, I've developed a whole toolkit of strategies that help me harness ADHD instead of fighting against it constantly. So today, I want to show you some specific things that have worked for me, not abstract advice, like, "just try harder or maybe use a planner or a journal", but instead actual strategies that I use every single day to get things done, stay focused when I need to, and ultimately, build a career that works with my brain rather than working against it.
• 0:06
  By the way, the more that you find ways to work with your ADHD rather than allowing it to work against you, the more you'll start to see it as a benefit rather than an obstacle. So let's jump into this, and let me show you how you can make that happen.
• 0:07
  And actually, this episode was inspired by an email from Jess, who's one of our listeners and also one of our clients. And she wrote to me after learning that I also have ADHD, and she was curious about how I managed to stay productive despite the challenges.
• 0:08
  And let me share a little bit of that email to give you context here, she says, "You know, I just listened to your full audio book to reinforce the process. I was shocked to hear you mention that you have ADHD, as do I. And you seem like a focus master to me with so much good work standing behind this. You touched briefly on some coping skills that you've learned to help support.
• 0:09
  But I'm curious if you have any recommendations, reading podcasts, personal advice for how to keep your ADHD focus in check. All about routines, pomodoro, time management strategies, how do you get your executive functions to function so well?"
• 0:10
  That is the purpose for this episode. What I'm sharing today is based on personal experience, although some of the ideas were inspired by science or research. These are strictly my experiences, which means it's not going to work for everyone, but hopefully you can find just one or two strategies that you can implement and pull from and make it work for you right away.
• 0:11
  And by the way, I should also mention that even though there's a lot of things that I do, it's still a continuous struggle to execute.
• 0:12
  Let's talk about strategy number one, optimizing your schedule. The first big game-changer for me is figuring out when my brain actually works best. For me, that's between 10am and noon, and that's my golden window. So I try and focus my most brain-intensive work during that time, the stuff that requires real focus and clear thinking.
• 0:13
  Sometimes those are key meetings. Sometimes it's writing, sometimes it's just problem-solving that is very intensive. Whatever needs my best brain gets scheduled in that window. Does it always work perfectly? No, of course not. Life happens. But knowing when my brain has its peak has been incredibly helpful for planning my days.
• 0:14
  And the key isn't forcing yourself to be productive at 9am if your brain doesn't come online until 11, it's about working with your natural rhythm and finding what works best instead of fighting against it constantly.
• 0:15
  By the way, I use something that has been I've heard it called a master schedule over the years. I didn't come up with this idea myself, but I love it. I, on a regular basis, usually about once every two months or so, I'll go through and create my ideal schedule, my ideal schedule for when I'm spending time with my family, my ideal schedule for what in type of work and where I'm blocking certain items.
• 0:16
  And then, although it's not an actual schedule, it's not my calendar, it's not meant to replace my calendar, the idea is the same as when you do a budget– how can I allocate more of that time and build a plan for that so that I have a higher possibility, a higher chance of scheduling things when they actually fit.
• 0:17
  So I actually did this before I had my own company, too. It was much more difficult to do when I worked for another organization, but it still allowed me to make choices that I wouldn't have been able to make otherwise, and you know, schedule meetings during certain times. So that master schedule, we'll put a link to that in the description and notes here.
• 0:18
  Strategy number two, environmental engineering. What I call environmental engineering, or basically spending a ridiculous amount of time setting up my environment so that I don't get distracted later, is so helpful. It has been for me. My office is arranged so everything I need is within arm's reach.
• 0:19
  My backpack has specific spots for every single item so that I don't waste time hunting for things. I have multiple laptop chargers, one for my office, one for my bag, one for downstairs, so I never have to go searching for one when my battery's dying. These may seem like small things.
• 0:20
  But for someone with ADHD, every tiny friction point can completely derail your focus. That moment of, "Where's my charger? ‘Cause I just hit 9% charge left," can turn into 45 minutes of reorganizing the entire desk drawer in my office. So it's about removing as many potential distractions as possible before they even happen. I'm not trying to be perfect at focusing. I'm just trying to create an environment where it's a little bit easier to stay on track.
• 0:21
  Strategy number three, weekly planning. Another thing that's been absolutely essential. My wife and I do planning every single week. We sit down together, we map out what's coming, make decisions in advance, basically create a game plan. And when we skip this ritual, which sometimes happens because, you know, life, that week is always more chaotic, it feels more stressful, and in many ways, is less productive.
• 0:22
  So now we treat it as non-negotiable. And for me, this weekly planning session helps avoid so many potential ADHD mishaps when I know what's happening exactly each day, when I've already decided what needs to get done, and when I don't have to make those decisions in the moment, everything goes better, because decision-making is exhausting. And when you have ADHD, everything can seem equally important and equally interesting.
• 0:23
  And then I get shiny object syndrome all over the place. But having that roadmap doesn't always mean I follow it perfectly. It does give me some guard rails, and the guard rails are really helpful when your brain likes to veer off in random directions.
• 0:24
  By the way, one thing we use to even keep us on track during the session itself, which helps me tremendously, they use an agenda that, literally, we use it as a checklist every single week. I keep it up on my second screen so that I can see it, and we go through every item.
• 0:25
  Strategy number four, exercise, diet supplements. Exercise and diet play a big part of regulating my focus for me. They can also play a big part of taking away my focus for me too. So, for example, I worked out really hard during strength training this morning, and by noon, my brain was dead. But also on recovery days, I can focus a lot harder than what I normally do.
• 0:26
  By the way, Amy Dickerson, a coach on our team here at HTYC, she has had a lot of experience with ADHD. Her son has ADHD, and collectively, we've worked with a lot of clients here that have ADHD. So she had some interesting things to say about how exercise has helped our clients be more productive.
• 0:27
  Amy Dickerson 09:29: Sometimes I even just suggest that even if they can't do a full on exercise, that if they're able to just get outside for a minute and change the environment and just do like a short burst of something to kind of get, you know, all of that energy kind of going back again in their system, because exercise works so well for them.
• 0:28
  And it's interesting, because I've had a couple of clients who have ADHD that they were talking about how the exercise really just helps to get them in a certain area of flow. And as a matter of fact, I have one client who was very interesting, she had a very interesting share that I found that just the observation to just be wow.
• 0:29
  And it was that when she exercises, she says it gives her body, kind of like, you know, like a surge, and it gets things really going to the point where she feels like the rate of her body now is moving and matching the speed of how her brain works. And so when that happens, she says she feels as though that's when she's in her flow and can do it.
• 0:30
  And I was just blown away by that thought, because it makes so much sense, because, again, they have so many thoughts going so fast that now your body is aligning with that. And so, yeah, we create this sense of flow. And so I thought that would be a great place that when you finish exercising, that could be a good moment where some of those questions that have been challenging to answer.
• 0:31
  Some of those questions where you feel like you've been struggling to get clarity, that could be a good time to then address those questions right as you finish your workout, where you're still in that high, and you're still in that flow.
• 0:32
  Scott Anthony Barlow 11:16: Another thing I've experimented with quite a bit is various different types of supplements and nootropics– Alpha Brain by Onnit, and by the way, this is, you know, not sponsored by them, but it was really useful to me to help focus; it helped me write two books. In fact, I found high-dose methyl B12 to be very, very useful.
• 0:33
  And of course, coffee is a go too. Which did you know coffee is a nootropic? I found that these or things like this, when combined with a really clean diet, allow me to focus much, much better overall. And I find that when I, you know, when I have a bunch of sugar, or which I don't eat normally, or when I go off of that, then it's so much more difficult for me to focus, so much more difficult.
• 0:34
  And by the way, things like B12, coffee, even Alpha Brain that I mentioned earlier, I will take breaks on those after a couple of months. But every two months or so, I'll take two to four days off of coffee. And in fact, all caffeine to allow my body to reset.
• 0:35
  Strategy number five is sleep. If there's one single thing that makes the biggest difference in managing my ADHD, it is probably sleep. I have spent years fine-tuning sleep habits, and it's been worth every minute. I use an Aura ring to track sleep quality that gives me pretty useful data to understand what I need to change for my sleep.
• 0:36
  I've gone through pretty much every recommendation in many, many different books. By the way, one that I found most helpful is called Sleep Smarter, and it does a nice job of creating a checklist of things to do to get ridiculously good sleep. I've tried them all. You can try them too, but you'll be able to find the right combination for you.
• 0:37
  That's what's going to be important here. High-quality sleep makes night and day difference for at least my ADHD symptoms. And when I'm well rested, my focus is sharper, my impulse controls so much better. I'm less likely to get overwhelmed at any given moment. Conversely, when I am sleep-deprived, everything that is a potential negative for ADHD gets amplified.
• 0:38
  By the way, if you're experiencing negative aspects of ADHD and you're not prioritizing sleep, that's the first place I would recommend starting. Even small improvements in sleep quality can have a pretty massive ripple effect on your ability to focus, plan, and execute throughout the day.
• 0:39
  Another thing, this sounds really simple, but strategy number six is accountability. I meet with a friend, you might have heard of him, Dave Stachowiak, from Coaching for Leaders podcast, and we meet just about 10 minutes almost every day, by phone in the morning, we have a standing call at 9:05 am to share what we're going to do that day as accountability partners for each other.
• 0:40
  But what it does is it forces us to say aloud what's important that particular day, and enhances the chances of being intentional and getting it done, and most days, getting much more done than if I hadn't done.
• 0:41
  Okay. Strategy number seven, visual reminders. For me, I'm a pretty visual person, so this is huge for me overall. Although I leverage lots of different technology, I literally write my most important items on a note card in a priority order. I carry this with me all day long.
• 0:42
  You know, here's one right here, and I make it super bright so that visually I can't ignore it. The left side is usually business-focused, and the right side is usually relationship-focused.
• 0:43
  For example, one of the things that's on my note card today is to call Kenzie to say good night. That's my daughter. She's dog sitting at a friend's house, so she's actually not going to be home tonight. So I know that that's something that I want to do. It's on my checklist. And then also record this episode. Hey, there we go.
• 0:44
  Strategy number eight. This is going to sound a little weird, but novelty. This last strategy, when a system or routine stops working for me, which it inevitably will, I don't force myself to stick with it. I switch to something new. And I'll give you an example. For about a year, I used Notion to track all of my tasks. It worked great, intelligent. Now I use note cards; at some point, those are going to stop working too.
• 0:45
  And I stopped fighting against this tendency. I used to think that I just needed to force it, but now I've started embracing it. My ADH brain craves novelty and variety. So rather than beating myself up for abandoning systems, I just accept that each system has an expiration date. And when something stops being exciting or effective, I switch to whatever my new approach, whatever new approach catches my interest.
• 0:46
  A couple examples here, I tend to change where I'm working. For example, sometimes I'll work out of a local coffee shop, or I'll take walking meetings just to create extra types of variety. So finding those ways that feel different keeps my engagement compared to just trying to do the same thing over and over again. It can be super energizing for people with ADHD. Often, those people need a higher degree of variety than the average person.
• 0:47
  Okay, I want to thank Jess again for her email because it sparked this whole entire episode and this whole conversation. So your question probably helped many others who have been silently struggling with the same challenges. And also want to point out that finding a career that fits you means finding a career that fits your unique brain wiring.
• 0:48
  And by the way, many of our clients with ADHD have discovered that their challenges in one role become strengths in another. The key to finding work that aligns with how you naturally operate is looking for what's going to naturally allow you to operate and be a benefit. My hope is you can just choose one of these strategies. And by the way, if you benefited from this at all, please share it with somebody else who you think could benefit from different ideas about ADHD.
• 0:49
  And if, as always, if you're thinking of making a change in your career and you want to see how we can help or the very best way that we can support you, here's what you can do. Just pick up your phone right now and email me directly, Scott@happentoyourcareer.com. Just send me an email, Scott@happentoyourcareer.com. You can put 'Conversation' in the subject line, and I'll connect you with the right person on my team, we can figure out the very best way that we can support you and help build a plan for what's going to fit you.