The older I get, the more I realize how much energy management plays into my productivity. If I run on hyperfocus for an extended period (weeks+), I get a lot done. But I also burn through my tank, and need a long period of low productivity and menial tasks to recover. If I run a … | Continue reading
This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kris Jenkins from Developer Voices about coding for the ADHD brain… Fair warning: this is a long conversation. Kris asked some amazing questions, including a lot of questions I’ve never been asked before about my ADHD. He forced me t … | Continue reading
One phrase I’ve grown to really dislike (that I’ve also used myself) is “Adult ADHD.” I see a lot of stuff like… I was diagnosed with adult ADHD. Or… I have adult ADHD. The reason I dislike “Adult ADHD” as a phrase is that for a lot of neurotypical folks, it implies that it’s som … | Continue reading
When you have ADHD, you spend a lifetime being compared to neurotypical folks. You’ll may feel like you’re lazy, or just need to work a little harder (or be told those things by others). These feelings are sometimes more internalized if you don’t get diagnosed until you’re an adu … | Continue reading
It’s not uncommon for folks with ADHD to feel burnout. Operating in a world built for neurotypicals—with our limited brain RAM and emotional dysregulation and time blindness—can be hard! If you don’t manage your energy properly and follow your ADHD flow, you can find yourself emp … | Continue reading
Last week, we talked about the squirrel and the magnet, the two ADHD modes that make it hard to task switch. Today, let’s talk about Squirrel Mode. In Squirrel Mode, your brain is like a squirrel running across the road. It zigs and zags from one topic to another, and has many th … | Continue reading
People with ADHD often have a really tough time switching from one task to another. In my experience, this takes two forms: The squirrel The magnet In Squirrel Mode™, your brain is like a squirrel running across the road. It zigs and zags from one topic to another, and has many t … | Continue reading
Yesterday was awful. Whether you live in the United States or not, this week’s election is going to have rippling global consequences for years to come. And for the first time in a long time, I found myself without words. When ADHD brains feel overwhelm, we sometimes go into what … | Continue reading
Like Autism, ADHD traits fall on a spectrum. There are a range of traits that vary from one person to the next. Not everyone with ADHD has every trait, and way an ADHD traits affects you might be different from how it affects someone else with ADHD. Today, let’s look at some of t … | Continue reading
Over the weekend, I had a conversation with someone who had just been diagnosed with ADHD literally the day before, and they weren’t feeling too great about it. I told them that I hoped they would eventually see ADHD as a gift rather than a curse. They told me (I’m paraphrasing)… … | Continue reading
At some point early in a new role, a lot of folks with ADHD start to feel imposter syndrome really acutely. It may be on the first day. It may be after the first week or two. But at some point, the volume of information you’ve had thrown at you becomes overwhelming, and you feel … | Continue reading
With ADHD, it’s really easy to get bored and jump from one random thing to the next. If you’re not careful, you can end up with a lot of shallow experience in a lot of different things, but not enough depth to every really grow into more senior roles, increase your salary, or bec … | Continue reading
Where do you see yourself in five years? A lot of neurotypical career advice is focused around this question, and around the idea of long-term career planning. You’re encouraged to think about your career as a linear progression, and plan each step of the way. Something like this … | Continue reading
A lot of folks in the ADHD community hate the word “superpowers” to describe ADHD traits. Describing someone as superpowers implies that their invincible and unwavering, and always manage to save the day. ADHD often feels like… not that! But if you’re familiar with superheroes, t … | Continue reading
This is the final article in my multi-part series on motivation in ADHD. Previously, we’ve talked about novelty, interest, and challenge. Today, we’re talking about the final trigger: urgency. (This is an excerpt from the newly launch ADHD Career Guide.) A lot of people with ADHD … | Continue reading
As part of my multi-part series on motivation in ADHD, we’ve talked about novelty and interest. Today, let’s talk about challenge. (This is an excerpt from the ADHD Career Guide, launching Monday and available for preorder right now.) Challenging problems are really motivating fo … | Continue reading
This week, we’ve been looking at the four things that encourage your ADHD hyperfocus to show up. Yesterday, we talked about novelty. Today, let’s talk about another: interest. This one is pretty straightforward. When you’re interested in something, your ADHD often can’t focus on … | Continue reading
Yesterday, we talked about how while ADHD hyperfocus isn’t something you can just turn on with a switch, there are certain things that can encourage it to show up. Today, let’s look at one of them in more detail: novelty. ADHD brains crave novelty. New is fun. It’s exciting! It c … | Continue reading
Of all the ADHD traits, hyperfocus is by far one of the most powerful. ADHD hyperfocus is like a more intense version of flow or being in the zone. When you’re in it, you can absurdly productive. It’s not just that you work longer or harder. It’s almost like you’re unlocking more … | Continue reading
I just released the ADHD Handbook, a free guide about how your ADHD brain works, and how to use it to your advantage. The ADHD Handbook is a short guide designed to give you a better understanding of what ADHD actually is, how it affects you and the way you work, and how you can … | Continue reading
It’s funny how much traditional productivity advice is basically the exact opposite of what works for someone with ADHD. Yesterday, a friend of mine excitedly shared this article from Seth Godin… Why are we more likely to get tasks done than to take on new initiatives? … The effo … | Continue reading
Pixar’s 2008 animated film WALL-E is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s not without problems, but I love the way it uses music, lighting, and action to tell a story with limited amounts of dialogue. I love the Ellie-and-Carl montage in Up! for the same reason. I recently … | Continue reading
On Monday, I wrote about how ADHD masking is physically draining, and robs you of the joy of being your whole, authentic self. But I also noted that in a neurotypical world, it can be challenging… Not masking can be hard at first. You need to get used to being an acquired taste. … | Continue reading
In neurodivergent circles, masking is when you behave in a way that hides your neurodivergence from others. For someone with ADHD, that might mean trying really hard to sit still and not fidget, or deliberately talking more slowly. It might mean not talking much around others bec … | Continue reading
Yesterday, we talked about how tasks are like boulders and pebbles. Remove the smaller pebbles and rocks, and the boulder often just starts rolling down the hill on its own. But what happens when it doesn’t? What if it’s stuck? Those days, you need to take a big old sledge hammer … | Continue reading
I like to think of my tasks as boulders (the big stuff) and pebbles (the little stuff). Imagine you have a boulder perched at the top of a hill. In front of it, there are a bunch of smaller rocks. Some are really tiny. Some are bigger, but not boulder-sized. Trying to push that b … | Continue reading
One of the more common challenges with ADHD is brain fog. ADHD brains have trouble regulating focus, and sometimes, that means we have a few dozen things bouncing around in our head, and our focus rapidly shifts from one to the other. While that sometimes means we bounce around f … | Continue reading
I believe with all of my heart that your ADHD gives you some amazing strengths that can help you thrive as a developer. But I also know first-hand how difficult it can be to harness those traits in a working world built around the needs and preferences of neurotypical folks. If y … | Continue reading
I’m trying to figure out if a few personal quirks of mine are things other ADHD folks do, if I might also have ASD (Autism), or they’re “just me” things. With that said, do you… Repeat something you just said aloud quietly under your breath (particularly if you found it amusing)? … | Continue reading
When you have ADHD, some days you’ll be really on and in the zone, while on others you’ll struggle to even get started. This is particularly true if you take a break for a few days (or longer) before revisiting a task. Earlier this week, one of my coaching students used the phras … | Continue reading
Yesterday, I wrote about how I use procedure guides for repetitive tasks so I don’t miss important details. One place where this becomes really important is when starting a new job or working with a new client. There are so many little things you need to remember—names, teams, ac … | Continue reading
One of the most essential parts of my ADHD toolkit is procedure guides or procedure docs. Because ADHD affects working memory and memory recollection, it’s really easy to miss important steps when completing recurring tasks. Sometimes the missed stuff results in minor inconvenien … | Continue reading
So you’ve got a bunch of ideas, and you want to try some of them and see what stick. But you work at a place where you get a lot of… That’s not how we do things around or here. Or… That would never work. In these situations, a prototype is worth a thousand words. My biggest caree … | Continue reading
Yesterday, we talked about how your an idea machine. Your ADHD makes you a natural entrepreneur and innovator (whether you run your own business or work for someone else). You’ll come up with more ideas in a year than you can implement in a lifetime. So… how do you decide which o … | Continue reading
ADHD generally had two modes: Hyperfocused Thinking about lots of things all at once I once had an old coworker describe the inside of my had as one of those lottery ball machines, where each ball is an idea flying around. While it can be overwhelming and make us a bit chaotic, i … | Continue reading
Whenever I’m talking about ADHD on a podcast, I find myself uncomfortable with using the word symptoms to describe the various ways that ADHD impacts me and how my brain works. It feels like I’m describing a disease or something that’s wrong with me. But nothing’s wrong with me. … | Continue reading
One of my favorite ways to get dopamine is gardening. I’m not particularly skilled at choosing plants, but I do very much enjoy pruning my rose bushes, moving dirt around, and rolling heavy rocks from one spot to the next. Gardening is rather seasonal. You need to plant things in … | Continue reading
I ask everyone who signs up for my newsletter… How is your ADHD stopping you from living your best life? One of the more common responses I get back is something along the lines of… I have trouble keeping up with new technology/learning new things. It feels boring, and I keep los … | Continue reading
Yesterday, we talked about how folks with ADHD are often (but not always) more comfortable standing out and being a bit weird. As a nice compliment to that, I really enjoyed this podcast episode from Rochelle Mouton about making your own rules. Rochelle and her guest Heather Whel … | Continue reading
One thing I’ve noticed is that, generally speaking, ADHDers are a lot more comfortable standing out, going against the crowd, and resisting authority. We’re less likely to be yes-people, and more likely to be direct and honest, even when it’s unpopular. That’s not universally tru … | Continue reading
In my course on getting shit done with ADHD, I describe hyperfocus as your ADHD secret weapon… In ADHD terms, that’s called hyperfocus, and it’s your secret weapon as someone with ADHD. Hyperfocus is a form of flow or being in the zone. The world around you disappears. You have a … | Continue reading
Ever since I was little, I’ve gotten really bad SAD (or Seasonal Affective Disorder). Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — seasonal affective disorder (SAD) begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you’re l … | Continue reading
I think one of the most important aspects of managing harnessing your ADHD is learning how to listen to the signals your body sends you. I get a lot of emails from readers about struggling to start on tasks, or starting, but very quickly getting distracted and pulled into other, … | Continue reading
The ADHD dilemma: a cluttered, messy workspace makes it hard for you to think or concentrate, but tidying up is boring and difficult, so you never do it. I’m a minimalist at heart. I hate having stuff for the sake of having stuff. I’d much rather have a few well-made things that … | Continue reading
I was diagnosed with ADHD as kid, back when it was just “the hyper kid” thing. I actually forgot I even had it for a while, because that’s all it was to me: being hyper. For years as an adult, I suspected I had autism. I struggle to make eye contact. I don’t always relate to peop … | Continue reading
Yesterday, I wrote about how comments on your code are really important when you have ADHD. Today, I wanted to talk about the second component of good documentation: the README. A good README file adds a ton of value for anyone else working with a project (now or in the future). … | Continue reading
A lot of developers are really into self-documenting code: codes whose name and purpose is so obvious that it doesn’t need any comments or documentation around it. Here, it’s pretty obvious that the getCurrentUser() function is going to return the current active user. function ge … | Continue reading
While my ADHD can make me exceptionally chatty (even though I’m an introvert who needs lots of quite alone time to recharge afterwards), I tend not to actually make eye contact with the people I talk to. I can either… Look at your eyes while you’re talking, or Actually listen to … | Continue reading