ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

Tracy Otsuka
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Want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and make it work for you? Learn more about my patented program, Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy  here : programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup * I have NEVER met an ADHD woman who wasn’t truly brilliant at something! This podcast, with nearly 7 million downloads, is for smart, high-ability ADD/ADHD (diagnosed or suspecting) women who see their symptoms as more positive than negative. If you want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and discover where your brilliance lies, this podcast is for you!** ADHD for Smart Ass Women is globally ranked in the top one-tenth of one percent of all podcasts in the world on any subject. It’s streamed in more than 160 countries and is downloaded by more than 150,000 listeners every month. My book of the same name, published by HarperCollins/William Morrow, was recently honored by Amazon Editors as a Top 20 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024.** I’m Tracy Otsuka, your host. I’m a lawyer, not a doctor, a lifelong learner, and a certified ADHD coach. I’m on a mission to change the conversation around ADHD because I believe it’s time to focus on the strengths that come with our unique brains. When I was diagnosed eight months after my son, my entire life finally made sense, yet all I read and heard about ADHD focused on what I should struggle with. What I discovered, though, was that my ADHD was responsible for some of my greatest strengths.** Another thing we constantly hear is all the success stories about ADHD men, but no one talks about the women. This podcast is here to change that. ADHD women are my people, and I’m here to acknowledge, support, and cheer them on. My experience as an adult living with ADHD, along with my expertise, is regularly sought out by top-tier media, including Bloomberg, Forbes, CBS Mornings, ABC News Live, Inc., Prevention Magazine, Verywell Mind, ADDitude magazine, and The Goal Digger Podcast, etc.**adhdforsmartwomen.com **The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and does not constitute medical or professional advice. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of anything you have seen or heard from Tracy Otsuka, her guests or this podcast. 

  1. 2D AGO

    EP. 378: Tech is Stealing Your Attention. This Gives It Back with Dr. Nodira Khoussainova

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What happens when someone who helped build attention-grabbing tech decides to help people get their focus back? Dr. Nodira Khoussainova is the CEO and co-founder of Focused Space, a body doubling platform for creatives, business owners, artists, and freelancers, many of whom are neurodivergent. Before Focused Space, she was an early co-founder at Streamlit and led the experimentation team at Twitter. She built her career in high-performance tech, but focus was still a struggle. It was only after building Focused Space and working closely with neurodivergent women that she began to see those challenges differently. That shift changed how she understood the problem. It was not laziness or lack of ambition. It was attention, task initiation, and the environments people are expected to work in. After years spent helping build systems designed to keep people scrolling, she began building the opposite. In this episode, we talk about how tech platforms are built to capture attention, why body doubling works, what makes Focused Space different, and why joy is part of what helps people move. Resources: Website: https://www.focused.space/ (use smartass for code)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/focused_spaceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nodira-khoussainova-74540267 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/focused.space.inc  Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    1h 6m

  2. MAR 25

    EP. 377: Decluttering and the ADHD Brain

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Clutter is not just about stuff. It is about how your brain processes what is in front of you. In this episode, I walk through the connection between clutter, overwhelm, and how ADHD brains track what matters.  For a lot of us, clutter builds up not because we do not care, but because when something is out of sight, our brain stops tracking it. So we leave things out. Papers on the counter, sticky notes everywhere, piles that slowly grow. Over time, that visual noise turns into stress, decision fatigue, and avoidance. The shift is realizing clutter is not just physical. It is emotional too. Every pile can carry delayed decisions, unfinished tasks, and stories we start to believe about ourselves. In this episode, I talk about why clutter builds up for ADHD brains, how it reinforces overwhelm, how tapping can help regulate the emotional response, and simple ways to get started without freezing. If clutter has been weighing on you, start smaller than you think. One surface. Five minutes. That is enough to shift your energy and begin building trust with yourself again. Remember: the goal isn't a Pinterest-worthy desk. It's one shift forward that makes your brain feel like it can breathe again. Resources: Download a quick start tapping guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bgo4UztHoYd2E3OFsZn3dvrvemTxpaQQ/view?usp=sharing Website: tracyotsuka.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/tracyotsuka YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    30 min

  3. MAR 18

    EP. 376: Rethinking How We Learn (Because It’s Not Working) with Deena Kara Shaffer

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the problem was never that you were bad at learning, but that no one ever taught you how to learn in a way that fits your brain? Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer is the founder of Awakened Learning, bestselling author of Feel Good Learning and Raising Well Learners, and a learning strategist who helps students, families, educators, and leaders build systems that work in real life. Her work began with bright students who were struggling, not because they lacked ability, but because they lacked the right support. Over time, she realized that study skills alone were too narrow. What people really need are learning strategies that take attention, memory, time, well-being, and emotional capacity into account. In this episode, Tracy and Deena talk about why sleep matters for learning, how chunking tasks can reduce overwhelm, why learning styles are a myth, and how tools like NotebookLM, Magic To Do, and ChatGPT’s study mode can support ADHD brains.  If learning has ever felt harder than it should, this conversation is a reminder that struggling does not mean you are not smart. It may simply mean you have not been taught in a way that fits your brain. Resources: Website: https://www.awakenedlearning.ca/deena LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/deenakarashaffer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awakenedlearning YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@awakenedlearning  Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    1h 16m

  4. MAR 11

    EP. 375: You Get to Decide Who You Are

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Most of us never actually choose our values. We absorb them from parents, culture, and community, and then wonder why our lives feel like a scratchy sweater we can't take off. That works for a while until something starts to feel off. Nothing is technically wrong, but you have the sense that the life you're living may not actually fit you. Procrastination lives in the same neighborhood. It's not about the task. It's about the feeling the task creates, boredom, confusion, fear, or perfectionism, which is fear in a tailored blazer. The shift comes when you realize you get to choose.  You can drop values that feel like an uncomfortable sweater and replace them with ones that actually feel right.  In this episode, let’s talk about how to identify what you actually value, why motivation follows action and never the other way around, how to shrink the start so small your brain can't resist, and how to hack dopamine so it works for you instead of against you. If you've been waiting to feel ready, motivated, or confident before you start, this episode will flip that. You don't become the person first. Every small action teaches your brain who you are becoming. Resources:  Website: tracyotsuka.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/tracyotsuka YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    34 min

  5. MAR 4

    EP. 374: You Don’t Need One System. You Need 100 with Dani Donovan

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the problem was never you… but the tools you were handed? Dani Donovan is an award-winning ADHD creator, bestselling author, designer, and founder of the Anti-Boring Project. Her book The Anti-Planner: How to Get Shit Done When You Don't Feel Like It has sold over 100,000 copies. Dani was diagnosed with ADHD as a freshman in college after years of being told she was too smart to have it. She did well in school, pulled all-nighters, burned herself out, and quietly assumed the everyday stuff she couldn't manage, laundry, hygiene, keeping up with life, were character flaws. They weren't. They were executive dysfunction. Once she finally understood her brain, she started translating that into art. Her ADHD comics took off fast, her first hit 100 million views and was shared by Mindy Kaling. That reach turned into something bigger: The Anti-Planner, a 100+ strategy toolkit organized around how you're feeling when you're stuck, not around dates. In this episode, Dani talks about why traditional planners fail ADHD brains, how she mapped procrastination by emotion, what tools like "how to half-ass it" look like in practice, and what she learned self-publishing 40,000 pre-orders while running a business with no business background. If you've ever felt like you were the problem because you couldn't stick with a system, this episode will shift that. You don't need one perfect tool. You need the right tool for the resistance you're facing. Resources: The Anti Planner: https://www.anti-planner.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danidonovan Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danidonovan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danidonovanart YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dani_Donovan X: https://x.com/danidonovan Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    1h 14m

  6. FEB 25

    EP. 373: Stories We Tell Ourselves (And About Each Other)

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Your ADHD brain is one of the best storytellers in the room. The problem is it doesn't always know when it's making things up. I'm recording this two days before movers arrive, from a house I no longer own, in a t-shirt, with dilated pupils. Classic. I sold Bullfrog Farms, my six-and-a-half-acre country home, and decided to do the most opposite thing possible: move into a high-rise in San Francisco. Three HOA rejections later, all because of two small dogs named Teddy and Moe, I went from "this is inconvenient" to "we're basically going to be homeless" in under a week. That spiral brought me back to something I keep teaching but had to relearn myself. In this episode I talk about the ADHD brain's compulsive need to fill uncertainty with narrative, the difference between reacting to a story and reacting to data, why public criticism hits differently than private criticism when your nervous system has no agency, and how a misidentified baby egret became the most honest lesson of the month. If your brain has ever taken one rejection, one unanswered text, one hard week, and turned it into a verdict about your entire life, this one is for you. Resources:  Website: tracyotsuka.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/tracyotsuka YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796FREE 3-days to Fall in Love With Your ADHD Brain training on Jan 6th:  https://tracyotsuka.com/ilovemybrain Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com  Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    31 min

  7. FEB 18

    EP. 372: Motherhood, Hormones, Trauma and Addiction with Dr. Anupriya Gogne

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the season that feels the most destabilizing is the moment your brain is asking to be understood differently? Dr. Anupriya Gogne is a board-certified addiction psychiatrist specializing in perinatal and reproductive psychiatry at Brown University Health. She recently authored Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Adult Women. When Dr. Gogne became an attending, her caseload doubled overnight. She stayed late finishing notes while colleagues went home. Around the same time, she impulsively adopted a baby husky. Six years into her career, testing confirmed ADHD and NVLD, a visual-spatial learning difference that explained why she didn't drive until age 30 and why every parking lot looked identical. Now she treats pregnant and postpartum women with ADHD, addiction, and trauma. In this episode, Tracy and Dr. Gogne discuss ADHD and NVLD in adult women, how visual spatial differences show up in daily life, the overlap between trauma and addiction, the role of stimulants in recovery when carefully managed, and why pregnancy and postpartum can intensify symptoms through hormonal shifts and sleep deprivation. If you are in a season where your systems stopped working, this conversation offers context. Sometimes it feels out of control because it is out of control. And that means you need support, not shame. Resources:  Website: https://www.brownhealth.org/providers/anupriya-gogne-md Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Adult Women: Special Considerations in the Perinatal Period: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-86588-6 Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    1h 22m

  8. FEB 11

    EP. 371: When the Problem Isn’t You - It’s the System with Stephanie Ray

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Many neurodivergent women are not struggling because they lack ability. They struggle because the systems around them were never designed for how their brains actually work. In this episode, Tracy talks with Stephanie Ray, a neurodivergent lawyer, coach, and founder of Growthset Coaching. Diagnosed with ADHD in her early 30s, Stephanie spent years succeeding on the surface while quietly struggling with memorization, rigid study methods, and performance pressure in law school and legal practice. Once she understood how her brain learns best, she stopped forcing traditional systems and built visual, movement-based, and story-driven approaches that actually worked. Tracy and Stephanie break down why standard study advice often fails ADHD learners and what makes information stick instead. They also cover imposter syndrome, accommodations, time blindness, and task initiation, along with practical strategies for studying, exam prep, and managing demanding careers. If you feel smart but still behind, this episode will help you see why and what to change. Resources: Website: https://www.growthsetcoaching.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-didomizio-ray-esq-75157347  Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next?  ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.  That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 Visit our website:  https://tracyotsuka.com

    1h 13m
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Want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and make it work for you? Learn more about my patented program, Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy  here : programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup * I have NEVER met an ADHD woman who wasn’t truly brilliant at something! This podcast, with nearly 7 million downloads, is for smart, high-ability ADD/ADHD (diagnosed or suspecting) women who see their symptoms as more positive than negative. If you want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and discover where your brilliance lies, this podcast is for you!** ADHD for Smart Ass Women is globally ranked in the top one-tenth of one percent of all podcasts in the world on any subject. It’s streamed in more than 160 countries and is downloaded by more than 150,000 listeners every month. My book of the same name, published by HarperCollins/William Morrow, was recently honored by Amazon Editors as a Top 20 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024.** I’m Tracy Otsuka, your host. I’m a lawyer, not a doctor, a lifelong learner, and a certified ADHD coach. I’m on a mission to change the conversation around ADHD because I believe it’s time to focus on the strengths that come with our unique brains. When I was diagnosed eight months after my son, my entire life finally made sense, yet all I read and heard about ADHD focused on what I should struggle with. What I discovered, though, was that my ADHD was responsible for some of my greatest strengths.** Another thing we constantly hear is all the success stories about ADHD men, but no one talks about the women. This podcast is here to change that. ADHD women are my people, and I’m here to acknowledge, support, and cheer them on. My experience as an adult living with ADHD, along with my expertise, is regularly sought out by top-tier media, including Bloomberg, Forbes, CBS Mornings, ABC News Live, Inc., Prevention Magazine, Verywell Mind, ADDitude magazine, and The Goal Digger Podcast, etc.**adhdforsmartwomen.com **The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and does not constitute medical or professional advice. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of anything you have seen or heard from Tracy Otsuka, her guests or this podcast. 

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