Podcasts Archive - Marla Cummins Marla Cummins, ADHD Coach and Productivity Consultant

DESCRIPTION:







Starting and executing is hard for ADHD Adults. Here are 8 strategies to make it easier.







KEY TAKEAWAYS:







Answers to these question can help you execute better:









* What is the value — reward — for doing this task?







* Is there a task I need to do before this one that would make it easier for me to execute on this one?







* Do I have everything I need to get started?







* What can I do to minimize the distractions and interruptions I can anticipate?







* Is there is other work I’m worrying about completing? Do I know when I can tackle it?







* What will help me to withstand discomfort with tasks I might avoid?







* Am I using a warm-up routine consistently?







* Am I using self-talk that is helping me to execute?









RESOURCES:







Blog Posts









* Are You Allowing Interruptions to Run Your Day?







* ADHD & 5 Ways You Can Use Self-talk to Stop Procrastinating









TRANSCRIPT:







(00:01):







Executing can be easier even when you have ADHD. You’ve tuned into Scattered, Focused, Done – Reimagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD, adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m glad you’re joining me today on this journey to reimagining productivity with ADHD. So you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.







(00:36):







Some well-known productivity methods, such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done, assume you know how to plan and get started. But of course, with your executive function challenges, that’s just not true for adults with ADHD. As a result of these assumptions, you may have encountered the same frustration as many other ADHD adults who try to use GTD, for example, right out of the box. And it’s not that GTD or any other system is bad. It’s just that you have to improve some of your foundational skills before you can implement them effectively.







(01:12):







So if you try a system without much success, consider whether you have the necessary foundational skills to use it. And if not, then you can think about how to develop them. One of these skills is knowing your why for doing a task. Sometimes even when accomplishing a task is important to you, you still may have a hard time getting started because it’s just not intrinsically interesting.







(01:38):







So in the moment when you are deciding whether to do the task or not, you may say to yourself, I don’t want to. And of course, when you give into this feeling, you don’t start. One of the keys to not going down the slippery slope is to know your why or reward. For example, one of my clients wanted to be better at following through on his administrative task. His reason or reward for this was he wanted his colleagues to see him as a professional.







(02:08):







Of course, it’s not enough to know your why. You also need to be able to remember it in the critical moment of choice, not easy for ADHD adults who have working memory challenges,

DESCRIPTION:







Rumination can take a lot of time and energy unless you know how to counter it. Here are some strategies to help you manage it.







KEY TAKEAWAYS:









* There are many reasons for rumination.







* Your ADHD can impact your rumination. 







* In some instances there may be a problem you need to solve.







* In other instances it may be a matter of accepting what is. 







* There are many ways to manage your rumination.









RESOURCES:







Book:







Writing to Heal by James Pennebaker







TRANSCRIPT:







(00:07):







You’ve tuned into Scattered Focused, Done Re-Imagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD, adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m glad you’re joining me today on this journey to re-Imagining Productivity with ADHD, so you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.







(00:39):







Rumination goes by several names, including racing thoughts, worrying, perseverating, and stuck thinking. They all refer to the inability to move on from thoughts that are causing you a lot of distress and getting in the way of doing what’s productive. This might happen when you blurt out something unintentionally at a meeting with your boss that you later regret. Then afterwards, you replay the scenario again and again thinking about what may happen because of it. Like will this affect your chances of getting promoted or working on future projects? Yet you may not be doing anything proactive about the situation because while you’re just thinking about it, you may even be having a hard time focusing and attending to your other work because your energy is taken over by these thoughts. Does this sound familiar? There are probably reasons you can think of you would want to stop ruminating.







(01:32):







The most obvious one is to reduce your anxiety so you can feel more grounded. As rumination takes away your time and energy. Also, it crowds out your ability to think creatively and these runaway thoughts can take away from your ability to address whatever it is that is prompting the rumination. What are the reasons you want to stop when you’re ruminating whether the payoff is something you want or something you want to avoid, understanding the causes of rumination can help you create the most helpful workarounds.







(02:05):







Let’s first look at how your ADHD may impact your rumination. The first place to start is to remember that your ADHD working memory challenges means that your brain has limited capacity to hold and process information in the moment. Because of this, according to Dr. Charles Parker, you may engage in counterproductive excessive thinking ie rumination. Because you’re not able to hold and consider multiple ideas at once.







(02:34):







Also, while you may want to transition and focus on something else, you can’t seem to turn off your thoughts, and it can happen at the most inconvenient times. As Dr. Parker notes, your prefrontal cortex becomes relatively frozen in time, and you have what he calls unmanageable cognitive abundance. There are three ways this ADHD stuck thinking presents itself according to Dr. Parker.

DESCRIPTION:







The self-talk you use affects your thoughts and feelings and can guide your actions. The question is, is it positive or negative?







KEY TAKEAWAYS:









* Adults with ADHD have an underdeveloped ability to use positive self-talk to guide their actions.







* You can change this with practice.







* Self-talk can help you reach your goals.







* You can prepare to use self-talk in different situations.







* You can use self-talk to defuse negative thoughts and feelings







* You can use self-talk to develop more self compassion









TRANSCRIPT:







(00:01):







The self-talk you use affects your thoughts and feelings and can guide your actions. The question is, is it positive or negative? You’ve turned into Scattered, Focused, Done – Re-imagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD, adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to be able to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins and I’m glad you decided to join me today on this journey to reimagining productivity with ADHD. So you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else,







(00:43):







ADHD adults commonly have an underdeveloped sense of self-talk. I know as you heard that you might’ve said to yourself, I talk to myself all the time. What are you talking about, Marla? Yes, I know you talk to yourself all the time and it probably sounds something like, I should be doing that report. It’s going to be late again. Everybody else can get their stuff done. As you’re listening to this, you might also convince yourself that one more podcast isn’t going to make a difference.







What I mean though, when I say that ADHD adults have an underdeveloped sense of self-talk is that they have an underdeveloped ability to engage in helpful and positive self-talk. You know the kind that helps guide your behavior and actions to reach your goals. This is the kind I want to focus on in this podcast so you can catch yourself when your self-talk doesn’t serve you, and instead use more helpful self-talk.







(01:40):







Internalized self-talk is one of the executive functions that help ADHD adults self-regulate. When you can self-regulate, you are better able to reach your goals. Let’s say for example, you want to cut down on candy, but you still want to support the local chocolate shop and decide that you’ll go there to buy gifts for people. To resist buying chocolate when you go there for yourself, you would need to follow these steps according to Dr. Barkley.







First, you need to be aware that there’s a problem, that chocolate is a temptation for you when you walk into the chocolate shop. You then need to resist the urge to buy and eat the chocolate yourself. Of course, you’ll need to redirect your attention to only ordering chocolate as gifts, and to do this, you might use self-talk such as, I want to have less sugar so I can have a healthier diet.







(02:32):







The chocolate is just not worth it. There are other foods I enjoy besides chocolate. You might also visualize your goal of having a healthier diet. Maybe it’s a picture of feeling healthier because you are not eating chocolate. Maybe you think of ways to deal with a temptation by problem solving, such as putting a note in your wallet that says, no chocolate for me. I know that’s a lot to do.

DESCRIPTION:







Sleep is important to your health and can affect your ADHD symptoms. Learn how to sleep better with these tips.







KEY TAKEAWAYS:









* Sleep is important to you’re all around health.







* Lack of sleep can affect your ADHD symptoms.







* If you’re not getting enough sleep, there are biological, behavioral and psychological reasons why you may not be getting enough sleep.







* There are many  adjustments you can make that will help you get enough sleep including some that are specific to ADHD Adults.







* Of course, make sure you check in with your doctor to see if there are physical reasons for your sleep challenges.









RESOURCES:







Website: Sleep Foundation







Sleep App: Sleep Cycle







Sleep Data Collection:









* Sleep Log







* Sleep Diary









TRANSCRIPT:







(00:00):







Are you getting enough sleep? If not, this lack of sleep may be making your ADHD symptoms worse, but you can change that. You’ve tuned into scattered Focused Done Re-Imagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD, adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins and I’m glad you’re joining me today on this journey to re-Imagining Productivity with ADHD. So you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.







(00:41):







No doubt getting enough sleep is important to maintaining your health. Not getting enough sleep can lead to a number of health issues and can affect your relationships, your work, and other areas of your life. I know you already know that. But if you’re trying to manage your ADHD, have you thought about the impact of not having enough sleep on your symptoms is. For example, you’re less able to regulate your emotions or focus and attend, as well as use your working memory, which is already compromised. If you struggle with your sleep, it’s not a surprise as getting enough sleep is a common challenge for ADHD adults.







(01:24):







It might be that you have problems going to sleep, not being able to wake up in the morning, perhaps waking up too early or some other sleep related problem. The most common problem I hear about is not going to sleep or being able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. Others may be able to fall asleep but then wake up throughout the night. Difficulty getting up in the morning is also widespread challenge for A DHD adults. Another common challenge for A DHD adults is what is called daytime sleepiness, which is not related to getting enough sleep, interestingly enough. But rather it happens when you’re not engaged enough in what you are doing and your nervous system disengages. Ever happened to you? ADHD adults also experience sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and teeth grinding in greater numbers than the general population.







(02:24):







So if you’re having sleep problems, you’ll want to make sure that it’s not due to a medical issue such as one of these.

DESCRIPTION:







Too much worry comes at a cost. Here are the techniques you can use to put your worry to work so you can manage it.







KEY TAKEAWAYS:









* Not all worry is bad.







* Too much worry comes at a cost.







* ADHD working memory challenges can exacerbate worry.







* There are techniques not to fuse with your worry.







* Pause before acting on your worry.







* Then either use techniques to either accept or create solutions for your worry









RESOURCES:









* Part 1 – ADHD and Avoiding Negative Thinking Traps







* Part 2 – ADHD and Avoiding Negative Thinking Traps









TRANSCRIPT:







(00:00):







Do you ever feel like your worry takes over sometimes and maybe you even hyperfocus on it. But you’d really like to stop? You’ve tuned into Scattered Focused, Done Re-Imagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m glad you’re joining me today on this journey to re-imagining Productivity with ADHD, so you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.







(00:41):







Worrying isn’t all bad for ADHD adults. In fact, a certain amount of worrying can help motivate you. If you’re worried about ruining your car engine, you might be motivated to get your oil changed, right? But too much worry can come at a cost if it takes up much of your time and energy and causes inordinate stress, especially if there’s no benefit.







(01:03):







But you also shouldn’t try to avoid worrying because it makes you feel uncomfortable. Because you know that doesn’t work. The worrying, thoughts and discomfort, will just keep on popping up, right? Because there’s no amount of TV, food, or video games that can get your mind off what you’re worrying about. Because worrying is like a boomerang. But they can ricochet less when you use the strategies I’ll share with you.







(01:29):







First a bit about the relationship between ADHD and worry. While everyone worries. Adults with A DHD tend to get stuck in excessive worrying. One of the reasons for this is related to your ADHD working memory challenges. Remember, working memory is where you temporarily 10 to 15 seconds store information you are going to use to accomplish a task. For example, when you’re writing the introduction to report, you are holding in mind one sentence while you try to craft the next one.







(02:06):







The working memory challenge you have is that you have less capacity. So when your boss says at the end of one of your one-on-one meetings that he wants to talk to you about your career path, you might go into a worry spiral. You think it means something bad that he is going to fire you. As you are unable to hold in your working memory other reasons, he may have said that, like maybe a promotion. You’re also unable to work on the report that you’re going to do after the meeting because you are so worried. Your worry consumes all your working memory.







Obviously, this worry is unproductive both because you’re ...

DESCRIPTION:







Learn how to be more strategic about how you prioritize your task and then execute so you can do what’s most important to you.







KEY TAKEAWAYS:









* Why trying to be more efficient usually does not work.







* 5 strategies you can use to decide on priorities.







* 5 strategies you can use to execute.









RESOURCES:









* 1-3-5 Rule: A Better To-Do List: The 1-3-5 Rule







* Eisenhower Matrix: Urgent Important Matrix

















TRANSCRIPT:







(00:01):







If you struggle to decide which tasks to do and in which order, you may end up doing either whatever feels most urgent or perhaps is the easiest or maybe the most interesting. There’s a better way to choose. You’ve tuned into Scattereded, Focused, Done – Reimagining Productivity with ADHD, a podcast for ADHD adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins and I’m glad you’re joining me today on this journey to reimagining productivity with ADHD so you can get what is important to you done without trying to do it like everyone else.







(00:50):







I bet you often have days where you feel like you’re struggling with time, feeling like you’re falling behind as the minutes tick by knowing that you should probably stop working but not feeling like you’ve accomplished enough even on the days when you’ve worked long hours. And at the end of those days, you may say to yourself, I should have managed my time better. I should have gotten more done. You may even have compared yourself to others wondering, why can’t I work like everyone else? And this thinking leaves you feeling even worse. And then instead of doing your work, you might have Googled, time management and ADHD. Because you just want to figure this out once and for all so you can stay on top of your work. It can get better when you learn how to combine task management and time management.







(01:40):







Right now, you might start each day with a list of tasks that you want to complete. And maybe you look at your calendar to see how much time you have available. But you also likely make your list from memory based on what feels most urgent. Then you see how many tasks you can get done. But not really confident you can get done with the whole list. You hope so, though. But, as a former client used to say, hope is not a strategy. But that might be your strategy right now. That is, you hope you can get through your list. If this is how you’re operating right now, it’s likely because you just don’t have a different way of managing your task yet.







(02:21):







And the primary way you choose to work is guided by your sense of urgency. In part, this may be be because you don’t have the executive function skills, including estimating time, sequencing tasks, prioritizing, etc. to be able to strategically plan on how to execute differently. And because you have challenges with these skills, looking at your long list of tasks reminds you of all your open loops and contributes to your stress and overwhelm.







(02:51):







So again, you go through each day guided by, yes, a sense of urgency as to what you should be doing,