Hey team!

This week, I’m talking with Dr. Judy Ho, a clinical and forensic neuropsychologist with a PhD in clinical psychology. She focuses on mental health, ADHD, and various psychological disorders. She is triple board-certified and is a tenured associate professor at Pepperdine University, where she teaches graduate-level psychology.

In our conversation today, we talk about how ADHD can impact self-esteem, the importance of understanding your brain’s wiring, and practical ways to manage attention and relationships. Dr. Ho shares insights into how cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help train your attention and how reframing your thoughts can reduce self-sabotage.

In our conversation, Dr. Ho also shares some of her favorite strategies for improving focus, managing emotional regulation, and mindfulness to tackle ADHD challenges. Whether you’re struggling with self-sabotage or finding it hard to keep up with tasks, this episode is packed with tips that will help you thrive with ADHD.

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This Episode's Top Tips

1. Train your attention like a muscle. Use a simple task and set a timer for 15 minutes, gradually increasing the time to strengthen focus. You can also work on capturing distracting thoughts by keeping a notepad nearby while working, jotting down distractions without letting them derail your task.
2. Try using multimodal mindfulness, which involves engaging multiple senses to stay focused, such as reading or taking notes, and then combining those activities with visual or auditory elements.
3. If you’re procrastinating, ask yourself why and address the underlying reasons—whether it's fear of failure or overthinking. Often, procrastination is a sign that you have some need that is being unmet. Addressing that need can often help to get you unstuck.

Hey Team!

This week we’re going to look at what is entailed in ADHD research—what it is, how it works, and what it all means for us.

Before we get going though I wanted to start with a brief explanation of what really drove my thinking about this topic—which now looks like is going to end up as a multi-part series.

So there’s an idea called the illusion of explanatory depth, which occurs when people believe they understand something but, when asked to explain it, realize that they don’t quite understand the underlying mechanism as well as they thought. Classic examples are things like how a computer works, how a bicycle stays upright, or how a toilet functions.

If I were to ask you how any of these things work I expect most people would say they could. But let’s take the toilet example—I know personally, I’d probably start with something about the flush adding water and maybe creating a difference in pressure and… okay maybe I don’t know how a toilet works. And that’s the point here: with the illusion of explanatory depth, we have some understanding of what’s going on, but when pressed for details, we often find those gaps in our knowledge.

And this was something that I was feeling about ADHD research and had me questioning what I really knew. That isn’t to say that I didn’t know anything but we hear all the time that new studies are coming out about ADHD, but what does that really mean? How is this research being conducted? Who’s funding the research? What are ADHD scientists actually studying? Who's doing this research? What kind of research are they even doing? And what even makes one research study better than another?

We all have some semblance of feeling like we know some of the answers to those questions, but this is also where the illusion of explanatory depth comes in because the answers to all of those questions is far more complex than our initial assessment would grant.

In this series, we’ll be examining these questions more closely. And in this particular episode we’ll be focusing on the different types of research, the methods used, and some the challenges that researchers face when studying ADHD.

I also want to emphasize that I will not be able to cover everything in this series, but that’s not the goal. What I’m hoping you get out of this is a better understanding of what goes into the making of the science of ADHD.

Find the show notes at HackingYourADHD.com/196

This Episode's Top Tips

1. ADHD research is comprised of three categories: basic research, clinical research, and behavioral research. Basic research seeks to better understand the underlying causes of ADHD through genetic and neuroscience studies. Clinical research tests different treatment options, such as proper medication levels and the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions. Behavioral research studies how ADHD impacts daily life through observational and longitudinal studies.
2. As a spectrum disorder, ADHD manifests differently for everyone, making it important to recognize that symptoms and challenges vary across individuals. Combined with the high levels of comorbid conditions with ADHD, means that researchers have to be cautious when determining what’s actually a factor in ADHD interventions.
3. Because there’s no definitive medical test for ADHD, diagnosis relies on behavioral assessments, which can be influenced by cultural and societal factors, leading to both over- and under-diagnosis in certain populations. This creates challenges in ADHD research as it limits who should be included in studies.

Hey Team!

I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright, hosts of "Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast."

If you haven’t checked out their podcast before, Nikki and Pete have been a mainstay in ADHD podcast realm with over six hundred episodes across twenty-nine seasons - if there’s an ADHD topic you’re interested in, they’ve probably covered it. And Nikki and Pete recently released their new book, Unapologetically ADHD, A Step-by-Step Framework For Everyday Planning On Your Terms.

In our conversation, we explore how their personal experiences and professional expertise in managing ADHD shine through in their work, providing both structure and understanding. Whether it’s tackling procrastination, enhancing organizational skills, or simply learning to partner with your ADHD, this episode is packed with practical advice and real-life strategies.

Unapologetically ADHD: A Step-by-Step Framework For Everyday Planning On Your Terms

Checkout Sunsama

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This Episode's Top Tips

1. Embrace your ADHD and plan your day around it to avoid unrealistic expectations and the ensuing shame.
2. When looking for a system, we need to recognize that no one-size-fits-all tool exists. Try to avoid the trap of looking for the best options; focus instead on eliminating the worst options to simplify decision-making.
3. When we recognize the importance of revisiting and adjusting our systems regularly rather than constantly switching to new tools, it’ll help us acknowledge that every tool or system will have days it fails. With that in mind, we can focus on embracing resilience so we can get back on track when things do go awry.

Hey Team!

It’s that time of year again where I feel like I need a kick in the pants. My kids are back in school and it feels like I have a glut of time available. It feels like I should be knocking things off my todo list left and right.

But I’m not. I’m tired and I’m not getting things done. And it’s frustrating because it feels like now that I have this time, I’m wasting it. It feels like if I take this time for rest that I’m going to look back later and regret that I didn’t push myself harder. But rest is important even when it feels like I don’t have time for it.

Rest can feel like a foreign concept when your brain’s always on the go. It can feel like trying to sit on a treadmill that’s still running.

In this episode, we’re going to explore why our ADHD brains find rest so uncomfortable and how we can use pacing to finally make it part of our day. We're going to explore why our brains resist rest and how we can try and work in those much-needed breaks without feeling guilty.

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Check out Sunsama

This Episode's Top Tips

1. It’s important to recognize that rest can feel uncomfortable because we aren’t getting enough stimulation in our restful activities. To solve for this we can seek ways to add low levels of stimulation so that we can better recover during our relaxation time.
2. We need to build white space into our calendars and schedule intentional downtime in our day to allow for rest, transitions, and unexpected events.
3. Coming up with ideas in the moment can be hard so prepare a go-to list of activities like reading, stretching, or listening to podcasts to help you relax when needed.
4. If we can shift our mindset to see rest as part of your productivity routine, it can help us reframe it into something that will better help recharge and avoid burnout without the guilt.

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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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

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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

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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.

Hey team!

I’ve recently been seeing a lot more stuff around the concept of dopamine fasting.

Now, I’m going to start by saying that I’m entering this conversation with a bit of trepidation because it comes from a side of the internet that… well, they tend to have good intentions, but this basically amounts to bro science despite the backing it does have.

The idea behind dopamine fasting is to reduce or eliminate activities that provide instant gratification and a quick release of dopamine. So, someone going through a dopamine fast might give up using their phone, watching TV, video games, junk food, and alcohol, plus anything else they see as their go-to dopamine activities for, say a 24-hour period. I know, sounds like torture.

The idea here is that because we’ve glutted our brains on all these easy dopamine activities, we want to try to “reset” the process to regain a more sensitive system that isn’t seeking that quick hit all the time.

In today’s episode, we’ll break down this concept and examine whether it works (hint: I already called it bro science) and what, if anything, we can still gain from the ideas.

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Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/190

This Episode's Top Tips

1. When dopamine fasting, you are trying to reduce or eliminate activities like watching TV, playing video games, eating junk food, and drinking alcohol that would give you a quick release of dopamine. While there may be some benefits in abstaining from these activities, the idea of doing a dopamine fast to reset your system doesn’t hold much water.
2. Instead of trying to use a dopamine fast to create a quick fix, it’s better to examine your habits and daily activities that lead to feeling like you need one and see how you can modulate those.
3. With ADHD, we often are understimulated, and by doing something slightly stimulating, like playing with a fidget toy, can help improve our focus and concentration.