Episode 17

full
Published on:

24th Apr 2024

Firing up ADHD Habits: Learning from the Wedgwood Kiln

ADHD Coach Katherine Sanders

Does building habits as someone with ADHD feel like you're herding cats?

Join ADHD coach Katherine as she explores a playful, perfectly possible approach to "firing up" productive habits, inspired by the celebrated potter Josiah Wedgwood.

You'll discover:

  • Why habit formation is uniquely challenging for ADHD brains
  • The power of celebrating small wins and allowing flexibility
  • Using tools like AI assistants to design routines tailored for your neurodivergence
  • Reconnecting to your deeper "why" when motivation wanes

Katherine shares practical tips like starting tiny, using external cues, and finding meaningful rewards. Her key message?

Embrace the journey - even Wedgwood's iconic glazes involved many "failed" experiments.

Listen for an energising new perspective on habits and ways to make them stick while honouring your ADHD brain!

Connect with Katherine here:


Website

Instagram

Tiktok

Facebook

Youtube

LinkedIN

Threads 


Blog post: ADHD & Time 'Agnosia' (blindness): https://lightbulbadhd.com/blog/adhd-time-discounting-blindness

Podcast episode on time: https://pod.fo/e/20b52a

Learn more about Josiah Wedgwood and his experiments: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1715422/trial-tray/

My favourite AI tools to play with: this Canva link opens a PDF which you can save and download.


  • Barkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 65–94. Link
  • Langberg, J. M., & Becker, S. P. (2012). Does long-term medication use improve the academic outcomes of youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder? Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 15(3), 215–233. Link
  • Solanto, M. V. (2018). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult ADHD: Targeting executive dysfunction. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 41(2), 255–267. Link
  • Toplak, M. E., Connors, L., Shuster, J., Knezevic, B., & Parks, S. (2008). Review of cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, and neural-based interventions for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Clinical Psychology Review, 28(5), 801–823. Link
  • Faraone, S. V., & Biederman, J. (2005). What is the prevalence of adult ADHD? Results of a population screen of 966 adults. Journal of Attention Disorders, 9(2), 384–391. Link
  • van Dijk, H., & de Voogd, L. (2018). The cognitive underpinnings of creative thought: A latent variable analysis exploring the roles of intelligence and working memory in three creative thinking processes. Intelligence, 68, 84–96. Link
  • Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336–353. Link
  • Yuill, N., & Lyon, C. (2007). The use of strategies by children with ADHD: A classroom-based study. Dyslexia, 13(1), 66–81. Link
  • Wilens, T. E., Biederman, J., Spencer, T. J., & Bostic, J. (1998). Pharmacotherapy of adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A review. The Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 18(4), 267–276.
  • Martel, M. M., Goth-Owens, T., Martinez-Torteya, C., & Nigg, J. T. (2010). A person-centered personality approach to heterogeneity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(1), 186–196. Link
Transcript
Speaker:

Hello my friend, it is ADHD coach

Katherine here again with ADHD, powerful

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possibilities, exploring the edges

of what is possible for all humans

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with ADHD and thinking in terms of.

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Possibility rather than productivity,

which is ironic because today's episode

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is all about time, how to handle our time

rather than manage it, the exploration

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of playfulness and experimentation

and a tiny bit about Habits.

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Yes, I said habits, the five letter

word that is second only to the four

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letter word goal in making many people

with ADHD shudder and run away in shame.

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Please don't run away.

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We've got some really fantastic

information about habits

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coming up and I am looking

forward to sharing it with you.

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I want to say thank you so

much for the great feedback

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on the procrastination episode.

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I think it's a really important one,

especially at this time of year.

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We're in Q2 many people with businesses

or who are teaching, who are organizing

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other people, are feeling a bit anxious

it's already the end of April:

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And maybe you're thinking, why?

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Do I feel like I'm always

busy and nothing gets done?

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Or why do I keep putting things

off when I've got so much to do?

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This week, the episode is generally

about time and how we interact with it.

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I know that I keep wanting to say

time management, But I don't mean time

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management in the traditional time and

efficiency sense, when you think of

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time and planning and productivity,

which is another word I'm not very fond

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of, many people with ADHD immediately

start to feel the same kind of shame

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and guilt we feel with procrastination.

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So I wanted to bring that in.

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As a follow on from our discussion

about procrastination, which

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involves a lot of saying should,

a lot of shame and a lot of guilt.

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There are, episodes on time and

dealing with time back about

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10 episodes ago from this one.

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And I will include a link in the show

notes to the previous episodes about

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time and why time is so confusing for

people with ADHD and what it is that we

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experience when we talk about things like

time blindness or now, not now thinking.

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But you've probably heard all of that.

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And you understand that

time is now or not now.

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You understand that you find

it difficult to estimate how

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long things are going to take.

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You understand that one of the ways to

get things done is to break it down.

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It's still hard.

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What can you do?

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This week, we're going to talk about some

more advanced ways to think about it.

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And when I say advanced, I don't mean

you need to have a degree, in any sense.

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It's the idea that Basic understanding

of time, which is a number of minutes

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per hour, and what we can accomplish in

that, isn't really enough if you have

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ADHD, and it's certainly not enough if

you're trying to do something remarkable

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with your time, whether you are a

business owner, a creative, or not.

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A parent, a teacher, it doesn't matter.

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If you want to do something meaningful

with your time, simply knowing how many

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minutes are in the hour and how long

something takes isn't going to be enough.

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And one of the reasons we find time and

time management difficult is because

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the tools that have been invented for

it so far often rely on a neurotypical

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way of managing information and data.

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And for many of us

that's just not helpful.

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We may be much more visual,

we may struggle with numbers,

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we may find the whole idea of

measuring it Just too much effort.

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It's another job on top of

what we're trying to do.

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So we don't try to measure time.

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And then the time, as one of my

clients said, the time slips away.

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We have time slippage where an hour can

disappear in what feels like five minutes.

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Even if we're not doing

something that we really enjoy.

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I have been experimenting on your behalf

with some artificial intelligence tools,

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which I'll talk about in a minute.

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And then I want to talk a little bit

about the value of experimentation.

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And this is a slightly

different way to think about it.

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And it's a bit of a story,

which I hope you will enjoy.

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And finally, when we get to the habit

part of it, I hope you will hang around

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and not feel like, this isn't for me, I

can't make a habit, it's not relevant.

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Again, this could be the time that

the information will be relevant.

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make sense and you suddenly discover,

oh, wait a minute, I'm not saying that

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this is going to solve your problems,

but it might help you to work out how

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you are going to solve your problems,

which is what coaching is about.

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You would have to have been living

under a rock or in a cave Up in the

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mountains, not to have heard of artificial

intelligence tools like chat GPT, Gemini

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or Claude, whatever they're calling it

now, and newer tools like Kin AI, ones

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that form conversations, conversational

model, and there are whole books.

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Reams of books written about how to use

chat GPT to get any kind of information

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about the problems with using AI.

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Coming at it from a neurodivergent

perspective, I would say I think

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it's one of the most exciting

opportunities for us in many years.

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And I will explain.

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When somebody says to you, I want you to

do this task, and your brain automatically

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jumps to the end result, The common

advice is to break it down into steps.

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What we hear is I'm going to give

you 50 tasks instead of one, and

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we switch off, we give up, or we

get through the first two or three

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and think, no, I'm not interested.

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What I've been doing with ChatGPT, I've

been using the OpenAI model, GPT 4,

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which is the paid subscription, mainly

because I can talk to it for longer,

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I have been asking it to help me break

tasks down into chunks and then within

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each chunk go through each step and I'm

using it to ask questions and say does it

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make sense to do the steps in this order?

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What would happen if I

tried it in this order?

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And I'm using it as an external brain.

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I'm using it as a verbal whiteboard

because you can talk to it.

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which is slightly less

effective than the typed input.

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But instead of having 50 tasks,

I'm breaking it down into three

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to four stages or chunks, and then

looking at each one individually.

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And the other thing that I've been

doing with AI is asking it to help

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me design a daily routine for myself.

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I really struggle with routines.

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My family has a wide

variety of things going on.

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We quite often have a routine

that changes from day to day.

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So how can I possibly create a routine?

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I've been working with

chatJPT to design a framework.

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Within which, lots of things can move

around, but I have some cornerstones

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that are Built in there, but can

be moved within the framework and

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playing with different models.

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What does it look like on

a day when there's school?

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What does it look like on a day

when people aren't feeling well?

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What would it look like if I

was by myself for three weeks?

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All these different options and

talking it through with ChatGPT,

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not only does it give me ideas.

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That I might not have thought of back.

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I can move things around and

nobody gets offended because

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there's no agenda involved

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instead of asking a friend for advice.

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I just asked ChatGPT and if I don't

like it, I say no, I don't want to

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do that, give me another option.

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That is quite liberating for this middle

aged people pleaser who still finds

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temptation to make people happy even if

the advice they offer is not ideal for me.

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So I will include a list in the show notes

where you can get a download of the free

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chat Favourite AI tools I've been using

and playing with as somebody with ADHD.

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It's completely free and it's just a

way for me to say, go and have fun.

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See what you can do.

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And now we're going to talk about

experimentation and that's partly

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what I've been doing with this AI.

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I've been experimenting and seeing

how far it can go and it does come

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out with some absolute nonsense

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And one of the reasons that

experimentation and adaptation are

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really important whenever you try

something new with ADHD is that

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how it presents in each person, the

circumstances of each person's life

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and their needs and ability will vary.

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So there's no one tool that will

work for every single person

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with ADHD, but there are We also

struggle with cognitive flexibility.

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That's one of the executive

functions that is affected by ADHD.

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And so we tend to look for absolutes.

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We want the right answer.

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We want the one and done solution.

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It's partly to do with our education

system, but it's also to do with our

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brains, which is why I mention it here.

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And when we're asked to be flexible,

it can be really difficult because It

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affects all of our executive functions.

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We're asked to hold different options.

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There's working memory.

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We're asked to think about possible

futures, which is our planning,

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our prioritising, which is affected

if different things are happening.

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So I can understand why it's very

difficult when we experiment.

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Really interesting things happen.

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I'm going to tell you the story

of Josiah Wedgwood and bear with

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me because this is very relevant.

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Josiah Wedgwood was born in

:

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experimenter, I would say.

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Not only did he campaign for

the abolition of slavery,

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But he continuously experimented and tried

hundreds and hundreds of recipes for each

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glaze that his factory became famous for.

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If you've never seen Woodward Pottery,

it's typically pottery with the white

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figures is inspired by neoclassical

Greece and Rome, which was incredibly

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popular in the 18th century.

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But what Wedgewood did was, as soon as

he perfected one glaze and it became

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popular, he would move on to the next one.

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And the next one, and the next one,

whether it was cream glaze, jasperware,

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a green glaze, it didn't matter.

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He would move on to the next one

as soon as someone copied it.

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And once he understood how to

make the production of his pottery

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efficient, he thought, how can

I make the sales more efficient?

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And when that was working, how can

I make distribution more efficient?

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almost pioneered some of the very first

experiments in sales catalogues in sailor

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he, he pioneered things like direct

mail, selling directly to the customer.

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He was offering a money back guarantee.

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He offered free delivery and

even illustrated catalogues.

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Wedgwood experimented I tried new things

all the time need both for experimentation

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and for openness to recording the results.

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He didn't hide away.

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The fact that he was failing, if you

look at his notebooks, you will see that

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each mistake is meticulously recorded.

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I don't expect you to have to do

that, but it is really important to

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get some data about what is working

and what isn't working, because the

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other aspect of ADHD, that can affect

our ability to experiment and develop

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our own way of working is our memory.

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And although he was the fifth

generation of Potters in the Wedgwood

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family, he was the one that committed

most radically to experimenting.

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And the reason I've spent a few

minutes talking about Josiah Wedgwood

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is because all of the information

that you get from me or from anybody

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else about ADHD needs to be looked

at through the lens of your ADHD.

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And that means you're going to

have to experiment and adapt

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things so that they work for you.

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Whether it's a different app,

a planner, a whiteboard, even

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a way of thinking about things.

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If we expect to get things right first

time, we're going to avoid taking action

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because we know it's almost impossible

to get things right straight away.

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And learning to experiment,

adapt, fail and keep going is

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the key to growth with ADHD.

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So having explained all about

experimentation and why I want you

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to play and get used to failing and

trying again, let's look at time

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and habits with a different Agenda.

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In the past episode talking about

time, I looked at what I call

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standard time interventions,

things like externalizing time,

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using different planners, using

whiteboards, using time timers,

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these visual timers, using

your watch to set alarms and

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reminders, which I do all the time.

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These are Foundational ways to

experience time for somebody who

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has issues with working memory,

planning, prioritizing and so on.

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But there comes a point where

we want to go further than that.

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We may always need those

scaffolds around us.

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The external structure, which

is something that I rely on,

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but we want things to

start to become easier.

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And one of the ways that most

people try to make things

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easier is by forming habits.

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A habit is simply a set of behaviours

that has been repeated so often, it's

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become automatic and almost unconscious.

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Because habits are really powerful,

people who care about them.

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Maximizing their time, being time

efficient, or who want to fit more into

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their days, to get very excited about

habits because it's a way to reduce

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the mental load, the decision fatigue,

and the time it takes to process each

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of those steps to achieve an outcome

that you might want to do every day.

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How do we form a habit in the first place?

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Let's get down to the level of your brain

before we think about what a habit is.

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Inside your brain there are a group

of structures called the basal ganglia

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they store and they recall A repeated

group of behaviours or actions

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that are repeated frequently and

the reward that comes with them.

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That's the key.

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There's no such thing as a

behaviour without a reward because

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otherwise why would we do it?

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The reward can take many different

forms of course but as you can

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already tell people with ADHD might

find it a little bit more difficult

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because we have a reward deficiency.

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Dopamine cells do not respond in the

same way as non ADHD brains because we

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don't get the same boost of dopamine

in anticipation of the reward.

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And that's why when books talk about

the habit loop, you might think

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there's something wrong with you.

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Because the loop of the cue, the thing

that starts the behaviour, action, the

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behaviour of the habit, and then the

reward, isn't enough in itself, for you

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to take on that behaviour and for it

to become an automatic habit or action.

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Because we have problems with working

memory, with impulse control, with self

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awareness, with planning and organising,

all of these things are involved around

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the structure and formation of a habit.

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So from the get go, from the very

beginning, people with ADHD have to

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work harder to make habits stick.

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They can stick but they need a

different way to set things up.

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One of the difficulties with standard

habit advice is our reward policy.

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Processing is different and that's

because we almost always prioritise short

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term reward over long term goals way

more than our peers of a certain age.

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We've all seen the marshmallow experiment

where very young children are told they

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can have two marshmallows now or if

they wait 10 minutes they can have 5.

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9 times out of 10 the kids have

the 2 marshmallows now because

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why would you wait longer for

these imaginary marshmallows

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when there's 2 in front of you?

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Brains are very like that.

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If we can have some pleasure, enjoyment,

some comfort, some satisfaction now,

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we will choose that almost every time.

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It's one of the reasons I'm

currently about 50 pounds overweight.

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Because habits rely on the reinforcement

of a delayed reward, and sometimes

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that reward can be a month, six

months, a year in the future,

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people with ADHD are going to

find motivation to keep going with

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that habit much more challenging.

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We also prefer a bit of novelty.

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We like to change things up.

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We find routine and consistency

more challenging to stick to.

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And that means that the other

elements of routine, repetition,

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are also affected by our ADHD.

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Even though It matters to us a great

deal to form some of these habits,

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for example, learning to brush your

teeth twice a day and do it without a

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parent or someone else to remind you.

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It really matters to us.

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Even then, it can be a

challenge to stick to.

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So much more so when it's something like

remembering to put money away for your

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tax at the end of the week, remembering to

send out your invoices, doing your filing,

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all the admin type tasks that business

owners have to do for the end of the year.

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364 days of the year.

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That's in the future.

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It's not relevant to right now.

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I hope you can see that your brain

and not you as a person is what

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makes forming a habit more difficult.

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We know that habits are helpful

because they save us repeated time

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of thinking through each step in a

process and having to hold it like

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a live object in your hands instead

of having it done automatically.

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So what can we do when we

need to build these habits?

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I'm going to explore a few options for

you to play with, and I do mean play with.

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I want you to experiment and

see which ones are easiest

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for you to take in this week.

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So first of all, When we think

about habits, we tend to go big.

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Go big or go home could be

the ADHD motto generally.

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And because we have these great big

goals, the habits to get us there.

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are really challenging.

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Not many of us could commit to the type

of consistent behavior that will help

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you run the London Marathon in under

a year from couch to 5k to 26 miles.

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Start small sounds boring.

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I said it, it sounds boring and

that is the challenge many people

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with ADHD face when I say to them,

what can you do today that takes you

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one step closer towards that goal?

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They're not interested

in taking the small step.

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However, when we look at things like

ocean liners, an ocean liner going at

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72 degrees in one direction is going

to end up in a very different place to

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the liner that's going at 71 degrees.

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And I'm making this up because I know

nothing about ships because I get

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sick watching films about the ocean.

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But that one degree is going

to make a huge difference.

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It could be hundreds of miles apart.

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When I say think small, picture

that ocean liner and think about

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the smallest possible thing that

you can do without effort today.

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The reason that small actions are

important is because I want you to

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celebrate each of them as a success.

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When you celebrate the small

stuff and it goes well, Reinforces

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that you can make changes.

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Other changes feel easier and it helps

your brain to anticipate a reward, a

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celebration, which is the next step

when you do something small instead of

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berating yourself for not doing something

when you had promised that you would.

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The second thing to add in is flexibility.

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Quite often we think, I have to

do this activity five days a week.

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If I don't, it's worthless.

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I have to do this exercise from

beginning to end or It's pointless.

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There's no reason to

celebrate doing any of it.

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Any action is worth taking if

it points you in the direction

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of where you want to go.

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And part of a routine matters

because it's the action that

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is going to take you there.

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Doing part of the routine is

important because it's the fact

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you were committing to the action,

not how much of it that you did.

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Showing up.

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is what matters.

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Taking any action is what matters,

not how much of it you did.

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Of course, if you can do more, wonderful.

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For example, today I did about

half of my weight routine at 7.

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30.

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I just didn't feel strong enough.

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But I'm really proud of

myself for doing half of it.

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because it's a lot better than none.

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If you want to walk five miles a day,

celebrate walking one mile, because

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that one mile is better than zero.

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:

The next step to make inhabit

formation easier for you is the

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external cues and the structure.

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Now, we know working memory, all of

that stuff, all of the ADHD traits,

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make it harder for us to remember.

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:

Think about external

cues that work for you.

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:

Now, I know that you probably have

many reminders on your phone or

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:

on your watch that you ignore.

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:

If they work for you,

by all means, use them.

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:

You might want to experiment with using a

different tune for different activities.

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:

For example, I play a James Brown

tune, Get Up Off Of That Thing,

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:

when it's time to do my exercises.

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:

I have my trainers on the treadmill

in the morning, that prompts me when

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I go to the bathroom in the morning,

see my trainers, I think, Oh okay, I'm

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going to go there and come back and do

five minutes, literally five minutes on

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:

the treadmill just to wake myself up.

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:

So forming your environment to

support the behaviour that you

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:

want is going to be a really big

help when you have an ADHD brain.

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:

The next thing is rewards.

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:

Now, if you have dopamine deficiency,

which is what A DHD really is, a reward

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is gonna have to be almost instant.

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And if you're trying to save

up for something, can you

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:

put something away daily?

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:

Instead of saving it up for the end

of the month, even if it's one pound

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:

away every day, that is going to be

much more reinforcing for your brain

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:

Think about what small, immediate reward

is available for you and really focus

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:

on it as a reward to help reinforce

that loop of behaviour, the habit.

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:

And finally, When it comes to

mistakes, problems and setbacks,

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:

we know they're going to happen.

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We are humans, we live in a world

where stuff happens all the time.

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:

It could be your dog needing

to go for emergency x rays.

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:

It could be your car not

having a charged battery.

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:

All of these things are

going to get in your way.

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:

Account for them in advance and accept.

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:

You are going to be imperfect, your

efforts will be imperfect, but treat them

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:

the same way as Josiah Wedgwood treated

all those failed experiments in his kiln.

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:

It's just data, it's just

information, it's feedback.

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:

It's got nothing to do with your worth

as a human being or how successful

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:

you're going to be in the end.

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:

In fact, I would say that if you

can persist in spite of the failure.

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:

In spite of the setbacks, you are much

more likely to succeed in your habit

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:

long term, whatever it may be for.

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:

And that brings me to the three main

problems we're likely to face, apart from

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:

the everyday getting in the way stuff.

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:

First of all is consistency.

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:

And lots ADHD say to me,

I'm just not consistent.

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:

And when I don't do it

once, I never go back.

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:

This kind of black or white, all or

nothing, is very typical of ADHD.

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:

A lot of people think of it with

autistic behaviour, but actually

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:

it's equally common in ADHD.

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:

Think in terms of

persistence, not consistence.

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:

I don't know if that's a, an actual

word, but it's more important

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:

that you are persistent and you

continue to pursue your ultimate aim

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:

than doing it every single day.

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:

Of course, there are instances where it

would be ideal if you were able to take

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:

the action every day, maybe twice a day.

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:

Ultimately, it's more

important that you keep going.

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:

And that you give yourself

permission to miss a day and go back,

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:

persistence is more

important than consistency.

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:

And when it comes to motivation again is

an ADHD challenge because it requires us

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:

to think about doing the same thing over

and over again and that motivation that

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:

we often had to begin with, it wears off.

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:

When that strikes, think

about your meaning.

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:

Okay, I mentioned last week the

Machine, Mind and Mission model

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:

from ADCA, and your mission is

your vision, what gets you there?

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:

What gets you up in the morning?

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:

It's one of the questions

that my coach asked me.

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:

What gets you up in the

morning to do your work?

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:

There are ways to think about the

meaning of what you're doing that

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:

somehow change how motivation feels.

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:

It's no longer just about keeping a streak

on your app or a cross on your calendar.

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:

It's about who you're going to be

when that habit becomes a part of you.

400

:

How will you be in the world

and who can you become?

401

:

Think about the meaning and the value

of that habit and not just the what.

402

:

And finally, again, setbacks happen.

403

:

Anticipate it.

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:

Accept it's going to happen and

know that the most important

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:

thing is that you roll with it.

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:

You learn to adapt.

407

:

You might need to move the time

that you go for your walk or

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:

the day that you do your admin.

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:

All of these things that we

are trying to make into habits

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:

may need to change and adapt.

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:

It's very rare that we can't

get back up and try again on a

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:

different day or in a different way.

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:

Remaining flexible and knowing that we

will find that flexibility uncomfortable

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:

but manageable is an important part.

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:

Building your self awareness

generally with ADHD.

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:

And the biggest changes I've seen in

the clients who have great success in

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:

coaching are the ones who have that self

awareness and who recognize things like,

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:

I find being flexible difficult, this

feels uncomfortable, but Actually, this is

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:

amazingly empowering because I know I can,

those are the clients who learn to coach

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:

themselves through the sticky points and

get back up and deal with the setbacks.

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:

Because when we want to change our habits,

when we want to make something automatic,

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:

when we want to reduce the mental load,

the noise, the decision paralysis, the

423

:

decision fatigue that we experience.

424

:

We are going to experience some discomfort

while our brain changes around that habit.

425

:

And that's okay

426

:

it's all part of our journey.

427

:

It's not a destination.

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:

And The tendency to think of, this hurts

right now, so I can't keep going, is very

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:

much connected to not remembering our

bigger vision, the meaning, why we're

430

:

doing it, and who we want to be when

it's become part of our daily routine.

431

:

So having had a good think

about how you're going to be.

432

:

Exploring and playing with these

different techniques and adapting them

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:

for yourself, having understood that

your brain wiring makes these challenges

434

:

more present for you than somebody else,

435

:

and understanding that you're

going to have to personalise

436

:

and keep personalising things so

that they work perfectly for you.

437

:

I would love to hear from you about

What is the habit that you have

438

:

struggled with in the past and how

has this information changed how

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:

you're going to approach it next time?

440

:

Are you going to start by

doing something very small?

441

:

Are you going to use

the ocean liner image?

442

:

Are you going to

443

:

remember persistence, not consistency?

444

:

Are you going to adapt a technique

that you've tried before and

445

:

that just wasn't working?

446

:

because you were trying to be perfect

and do it in a way that was not suitable

447

:

for you and your life or your brain.

448

:

Let me know and I will share some of

your stories next week thank you again

449

:

for joining me today to explore Time,

Habits, Brains and Josiah Wedgwood

450

:

as always, in the show notes, you will

find a list of references for further

451

:

reading articles and studies that I've

used to put this podcast together,

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:

along with a short list of my favorite

AI tools and some information about

453

:

upcoming episodes, as well as how you can

keep in touch with me between podcasts.

Show artwork for ADHD: Powerful Possibilities from New Diagnosis & Beyond

About the Podcast

ADHD: Powerful Possibilities from New Diagnosis & Beyond
ADHD strategies, support and research in friendly, easy to understand PG rated episodes
Welcome to a new way to look at life *AND* ADHD.
ADHD isn't just about kids in school any more. By now you've probably read a million articles or at least watched a million videos by influencers and creators.

What you're REALLY looking for are deeper insights, with a dash of neuroscience and a sprinkling of coaching and positive psychology, to discover your ADHD strengths and turn it into a doorway to real possibilities. You're probably already aware of how ADHD affects your life, career, and relationships but we won't ignore those challenges - no 'superpower' talk here without acknowledging how it can really cause problems at all ages.

I'm your host Katherine. I'm a certified ADHD coach with over 300 hours of study and qualifications from ADDCA. Diagnosed with ADHD and Autism in my early 40s, I mix my personal experience with some seriously academic, geek-level knowledge to guide you through the fog and into the clear.

I'm also known to throw in references to 80s & 90s music, sitcoms like Brooklyn99 and my rescue dogs. Clients have said I'm an ADHD nerd version of their favourite aunty - but you can make your own mind up!

This podcast is my contribution to the growing ADHD aware community, where I want your real challenges to meet real solutions, and where you can find the resources - and a friend - to help you make changes in your life without the 'think p0sitive' vibes or 'doom and gloom' extremes.

Who is this podcast for?
Although I mainly focus on adult ADHD, I'm a coach of kids age 15+ and the parent of an ADHD teen, so I know how we tend to travel in family packs!

I'll talk about children, teens and older families too - did you know that over 50s are the fastest growing demographic in ADHD? Well I'm one of you so I GET IT.

In my coaching practice I especially support women navigating life changes like perimenopause and menopause - so you're in the right place if ANY of those are your jam.

I'm ALSO a business owner who has 20 years experience of working for myself - without medication - so if you're struggling to see. how you can get things done without burning out, let's say I've bought that t-shirt a few times and am here to explain how you can avoid it.

🌟 What Can You Expect?🌟
Weekly episodes diving into topics that matter to you: What happens after diagnosis? Should you take medication? Does diet culture impact ADHD? What's happening with your consistency? Can you ever let go of the SHAME?

We'll explain and explore the big topics: Executive Function, Emotional Regulation, Time Management, and more.

Guest experts appearing at *excitingly random intervals*, offering a range of perspectives on ADHD, life, and things that will really move the needle for YOU.

Tips and strategies to not just cope, but thrive, with ADHD.

💡 Why listen to another ADHD Podcast? 💡
I know first hand the struggle AND the promise that comes with an ADHD diagnosis. There's a wealth of power and possibilities in you; this podcast is your key to unlock it.

I keep my episodes short, fluff-free and PG rated so you can listen to them out loud without worrying about random f-bombs.

Authenticity, honesty, and a love of POSSIBILITY are my core values - with a big dollop of WONDER about what you'll do next.

🌐 Stay Connected 🌐
The connection and chat doesn't stop when the episode ends. Contact me below & don't miss any of the exciting webinars & offers in 2024
:
https://lightbulbadhd.com/
but come and chat on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adhd_coach_katherine/
TikTok: Let's get serious (and silly) @adhd_coach_katherine
YouTube: @adhd_coach_katherine

Listen in - let's turn ADHD challenges into powerful possibilities together.

About your host

Profile picture for Katherine Sanders

Katherine Sanders