ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

Tracy Otsuka
  • 4.6 (25)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

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. 5d ago

    EP. 405: Anita Robertson on ADHD and Motherhood: Being a Mom with ADHD

    Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive ____ Anita Robertson prepared for everything when she became a mom. Then the parts nobody warned her about showed up anyway. Anita is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, ADHD mom, and author of ADHD and Us. She's back on the show with her new book, Being a Mom with ADHD, and I was honored to write the foreword. Knowing her ADHD history, she had a plan for postpartum mental health. That part went fine. What blindsided her was everything else: a birth that left her barely able to move, sensory needs suddenly going unmet, hormones changing how her brain worked, and a son who didn't sleep through the night for three years. When an occupational therapist fixed his bedtime in a few weeks with a simple sensory routine, her first thought was, why is this not common knowledge? In this episode, Anita and I get into how pregnancy and hormones affect the ADHD brain, why she gave mom guilt a name and a villain's hat, what mom rage is actually telling you, and why she says stop fighting for consistency and redesign your setup instead. If motherhood has made you feel like you're losing your mind, this conversation will show you how much of it was never your fault. Resources:  Website: https://www.anitarobertson.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/anitarobertsonlcsw Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anitarobertsonlcsw Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strengthinyourmind LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitarobertson Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@strengthinyourmind Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  2. Sep 30

    EP 404: Thriving for 32 Years as an Attorney, Then Teaching Other Attorneys to Do the Same with Rosemary Hollinger

    Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive ____ Some jobs make you feel brilliant. Others make you wonder what happened to your brain. Rosemary Hollinger is a certified ADHD coach who works with female lawyers and other analytical professionals. Before coaching, she spent 32 years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, eventually becoming Head of the Chicago Regional Office and Deputy Director in Enforcement. She was trying cases, shutting down Ponzi schemes, working alongside people she liked, and getting plenty of stimulation from the work itself. Now she coaches lawyers who are every bit as smart and capable, but sometimes feel like they’re failing at the very careers they worked so hard to build.  And this is where it gets really interesting. Because what happens when the problem isn’t whether you can do the work, but the way the work is set up? In this episode, Rosemary and I get into the parts of the legal profession that can be especially brutal for an ADHD brain, why the usual advice about priorities doesn’t always help, and something she discovered about her ADHD lawyer clients that genuinely surprised me. We also talk about what her own 32-year legal career taught her about the kind of work, people, and environment that can completely change how a brain performs. Resources: Website: https://www.partnerupcoaching.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100048929782976Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partnerup_coaching LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-hollinger-2379453 Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  3. Sep 23

    EP 403: Why Your ADHD Brain Works Better Around Other People

    Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive ____ I’ve been doing this since college, and until I was diagnosed with ADHD, I just thought I was a little odd. I work better when other people are around. Not helping me, not talking to me, and definitely not asking me how it’s going. I just need them there, doing their own thing. In college, I couldn’t study in my quiet apartment, so I’d pack up my books and head to the noisiest floor of the library. My friends thought I was nuts. Decades later, when I had four months to write ADHD for Smart Ass Women, I ran into the same problem. I could spend an entire morning avoiding my manuscript at home, then walk into a coffee shop and write for hours. So why does the same brain struggle in one environment and work brilliantly in another? In this episode, I’m exploring why working around other people can help us get started, why silence isn’t always the answer for an ADHD brain, and what we might actually be borrowing from the environment around us. I’m also sharing how this led me to create the AOK Hive, a place where we can work alongside each other and get things done. Maybe we need to stop asking why we can’t make ourselves do something and start paying attention to where our brains actually work best. Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  4. Sep 16

    EP. 402: The ADHD Engine: How Overwhelm Built a Seven-Figure Organizing Business with Jenny Dietsch

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up _____ Jenny Dietsch was the kid with papers flying out of her backpack, missing shoes, forgotten assignments, and parents asking, why can’t you just get it together? Today, she runs a seven-figure professional organizing company. And weirdly enough, that makes perfect sense. Jenny is a certified professional organizer and the founder of Getting It Done Organizing, a seven-figure home organizing and move management company in Dallas. She was diagnosed with ADHD in her 40s after two of her three kids were diagnosed first. Suddenly, a lot of her own life made sense too. Her doctor saw the irony right away: Jenny had spent years building the systems she needed to function, then built an entire business around helping other people do the same. Then the business scaled, and some of the chaos she thought she had left behind came right back with it. In this episode, Jenny and Tracy talk about why structure can create more freedom for an ADHD brain, what happened when Jenny’s growing business became too chaotic even for her, and how she rebuilt it using repeatable systems, workflows, and routines. If your life looks like chaos from the inside, this one is about what can change when you stop fighting your brain and start building around the way it actually works. Resources:   Website: https://gettingitdoneorganizing.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gettingitdoneorganizing LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getting-it-done-organizing Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gettingitdoneorganizing  Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  5. Sep 9

    EP. 401: The Confidence Effect: How Podcasts Are Changing the Way Women With ADHD See Themselves with Dr. Ann Bennett

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up _____ Dr. Ann Bennett has spent more than 20 years studying what helps people learn, adapt, and thrive. So when she decided to look at what ADHD podcasts were actually doing for women, she was not expecting the results to be THIS strong. Dr. Bennett leads Applied Research & Evaluation at Understood.org and identifies as disabled, autistic, and AuDHD. In a first-of-its-kind study with Torrens University Australia, she and her research partner looked at how podcasts hosted by and for women with ADHD affect self-perception, health literacy, relationships, and hope for the future. What they found was bigger than “podcasts are helpful.” Women were moving from “something is wrong with me” to “I am a woman with ADHD, and I can navigate this.” About 85 to 86 percent reported a stronger sense of hope for their future, and the benefits showed up across every dimension of thriving the researchers measured. In this episode, Tracy and Ann talk about why lived experience matters as much as credentials, why being talked with feels different from being talked at, what clinicians could learn from podcasts, and why hearing another woman say “me too” can genuinely change the way you see yourself. Resources: Website: https://www.understood.org/en/people/ann-m-bennett LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-annbennett TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=noZM8CRmrBo Podcast Study: https://www.understood.org/en/research-and-surveys/the-power-of-podcasts-how-podcasts-are-supporting-women-with-adhd Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  6. Sep 2

    EP. 400: ADHD & Entrepreneurship: How Holly Fowler Built Wable from the Ground Up

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up _____ Holly Fowler was the kid who got told she was too loud, too distracted, too much. She was also a C-grade student barely passing maths and science until an academic scholarship gave her a reason to care. Then she got straight As. That same intensity now fuels Wable, the global social network Holly founded for neurodivergent people to connect across friendship, dating, work, and support. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, she has since scaled the company across four continents. Diagnosed with ADHD in her early 20s, Holly can now see the clues all over her childhood, including years of school reports calling her easily distracted and distracting to others. In this episode, Holly and Tracy talk about ADHD as an entrepreneurial advantage, what rejection taught her about RSD, how she manages overthinking and constant decision-making, and what building a company has revealed about how her brain works under pressure. If you have ever been told your brain is too much for the room, this conversation explores what can happen when you build around it instead. Resources: Website: https://www.hellowable.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itshollyfowler LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-fowler-3b36b9163 Mindbridge Coaching: https://www.mindbridgecoaching.com Wable: https://www.hellowable.com Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  7. Aug 26

    EP. 399: How Two Years of Cognitive Training Changed Her Brain

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up _____ Tessa MacKay can spend hundreds of hours on a single painting. Her photorealistic work can look almost indistinguishable from a photograph, but for Tessa, that precision became more than technique. It became a way to work with her ADHD, dyslexia, and the way her brain processes the world. An Australian oil painter diagnosed with inattentive ADHD at 18, Tessa built a career around the kind of detail and focus that once helped her make sense of the world. But success also brought her face-to-face with the art world's complicated relationship with photorealism, forcing her to question how she thought, learned, and defended her own work. In this episode, Tracy and Tessa talk about what happened when she decided to retrain her brain, why painting could feel easier than everyday life, and how her latest project, Social Realism, turns forgotten Facebook photos into art. If you have ever wondered how someone can do something extraordinarily difficult while struggling with things that seem simple, this conversation goes there. Resources: Website: https://www.tessamackay.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessamackayart LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-mackay-8a7121289 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tessamackayart Arrowsmith Program: https://arrowsmith.ca https://thetrailblazersbook.com Trailblazers by Howard Eaton - https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazers-Spearheading-Educational-Australian-Difficulties/dp/1779414250  The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young - https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Changed-Brain-Transformation/dp/1451607946   Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

  8. Aug 19

    EP. 398: Voted Off the Island: The Marriage Rule Every ADHD Couple Needs with Jackie Kelley

    Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up _____ Have you ever tried to fix your spouse? Push a little harder, remind a little more, explain it one more time, and eventually they will just get it? Jackie Kelley did that for years. Then she realized the thing she kept trying to change was often just a brain that worked differently from hers. Jackie is a neurodivergent content creator, illustrator, children’s book author, wife, mother, and founder of JK Illustrates. Diagnosed with ADHD at 30, after motherhood knocked down what she calls the “perfect house of cards” she had built around herself, she began sharing what she was learning about ADHD, marriage, and family life. Her viral “Marriage Rules” videos took off in 2024, and her book, So You Married a Human, comes out October 6. She and her husband married two weeks after she graduated, having never spent more than 72 consecutive hours together. Two very different neurodivergent brains, each convinced the other person’s way was the problem, eventually built a set of rules to communicate better in the middle of conflict. In this episode, Jackie and Tracy get into “Voted Off the Island,” “No Wrong Answer,” “Do It Yourself,” and “Love This Idea for Five Minutes.” They also talk about sensory overload, defensiveness, the “little man” screaming in everyone’s head, why the goal of a fight cannot be winning, and why laughter matters so much in an ADHD marriage. If you have ever quietly resented your partner for not doing something the way your brain needs it done, this one is for you. Resources: Website: https://www.stayathomejackie.com Website: https://www.jkillustrates.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Stayathomejackie Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stayathomejackie  Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Explore more from me: 🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive  🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift 📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn 📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book 🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok 🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/ Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book Visit our w...

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4.6
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About

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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