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We are almost halfway through the year. And I'm curious, what number planner are you on? Number two? Three, four? Because if you're anything like me, every planner starts with the same promise. This one is finally going to be the one. You know the planners, the ones with 400 pages. The ones that want your 10 year vision, your life purpose, your goals before death and possibly your blood type before. Before you're allowed to write down, buy dog food. Yeah, you know what I mean, right? It's almost like planner companies believe the more complicated a planner is, the better it must be. But what if that's actually the problem every single time you want to use a traditional planner? Think about it. You have to tab to the right month, then the right week, then the right day. By the time you find Thursday, you've forgotten what the hell you even wanted to write down. You know what I'm talking about, right? Look, after years of abandoning planner after planner, I finally realized something. Maybe the problem wasn't me, maybe the problem was the planner. So I started removing things instead of adding them. And that's what led me to create AOK every day. In fact, we call it the Unplanner. It's a simple card based planning system that keeps your current week or right in front of you, visible, accessible, easy to use. I've spent my entire life abandoning planners. This is the only planning system I've ever been able to stick with. I've used it every day for the past eight years. A few years ago, during COVID I released 100 of these planners. They sold out immediately. Then production costs got out of hand, so I stopped selling them. After years of people asking me to bring it back when I. We're finally bringing it back, but we're starting again with just 100 planners. When these 100 are gone, they're gone. So if you've been looking for a planning system that's simple enough to actually keep using, head over to tracyoutsuka.com planner and grab yours before they sell out. Hi. Hi. I'm your host, Tracy Otsuka. And if you're wondering why you're hearing from me on a Monday, you're right. This isn't our normal Wednesday podcast because we've decided to add something new. Look, after working with thousands of ADHD women over the years, I have become convinced that ADHD is not a productivity problem. I believe it's an identity problem. Most of us spend years, decades even trying to become more. More organized, more disciplined and more productive. We buy the planner, we download the apps, we Create the system. And we try to do things the way everyone else says they should be done. But even the best solutions can't solve the wrong problem, right? I have literally watched women go from believing they're lazy to realizing, nope, I am just understimulated. From believing they're broken to realizing their brains simply work differently. From believing they cannot trust themselves, to learning that, oh, guess what? I can. Not because they found the perfect productivity system, but because they saw themselves, their adhd, or their situation through a different lens. That's what these Monday episodes are all about. One idea, one shift, one new way of looking at something that just might change everything. So let's get started. Have you ever noticed that you can have a really productive day and still feel like you didn't do enough? Look, you answered the emails, you made the calls, you went to the meeting, you finished the project, you got the groceries and you paid the bill. Maybe you even did the thing that you've been putting off for weeks. And yet somehow, by the end of the day, you still somehow feel like, I don't know, you're behind. You still feel like there's more that you should have done, more that you should have finished, more you should have been. And if you're anything like me, you don't spend a whole lot of time celebrating what actually got done, what you actually did. You immediately move on to the next thing. I call us next people, Right? The next goal, the next project, the next problem that you need to solve. Today we're going to talk about why, for us, success doesn't always feel like success. Let's start by finding your set score. I want you to tune into how you're feeling right now. Quiet your mind and focus in on your body. Now, on a scale from 0, as calm as you've ever felt to 10, as distressed as you've ever felt. What is your sudscore now? Your sudscore. It's just a quick snapshot of your current state. No judgment is allowed, but write it down so you don't forget it. Okay? So you've written down your sudscore. Now I want you to set an intention for today. How about this? Today I allow myself to notice what is going right next. We're going to create an identity around this intention. We're going to ask, who can I be in this intention? How about this? I am the kind of person who notices progress instead of only looking for problems. So let's go. For a long time, I believed that success would eventually feel like success. I thought There would come a day when I finally felt caught up, accomplished, satisfied, like I had finally done enough. But what I've learned is that my brain just does not naturally work that way. Psychologists call it negativity bias. Our brains, our ADHD brains, are wired to pay more attention to what's unfinished, unresolved, or potentially threatening than what's already gone. Quite well. Look, thousands of years ago, that helped keep us alive. Today, it means that I can complete 10 things and still focus on the one thing that I did not get done. I can have a great day and spend the evening thinking about what I missed. I can accomplish something meaningful and barely pause long enough to let myself feel it before moving on to the next thing. So it's no wonder that success doesn't always feel like success. My brain is naturally scanning for problems, not always victories. But that doesn't mean I have to follow my brain, right? I am the boss of my brain. Today I can intentionally notice what went well. I can acknowledge progress. I can recognize effort and let myself feel proud before running off to the next thing. Because success creates success. When my brain has evidence that I can do hard things, it becomes easier to believe I can do the next hard thing. When I notice what I've accomplished, I strengthen trust in myself. I remind myself that I do follow through, that I make progress, and that I can do difficult things. That evidence, well, it's all around me. I just have to stop long enough to see it. So here is our strategy for today. We're going to call it collect the evidence. At the end of today, I will write down three things that I completed. Not three things I should have done, not three things I forgot. No, three things that I actually did. I'm going to let myself notice the progress I made, and I'm going to acknowledge the effort that it took. Before I move on to tomorrow, I'm going to spend a moment collecting evidence that I am more capable than my brain sometimes gives me credit for. Because again, success creates success, right? And evidence builds more self trust. Now let's do some breath work. We're going to start with three deep breaths. And all I ask is that your exhale be twice as long as your inhale. Are you ready? Let's do it. Inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of eight. Inhale and exhale. One more inhale. And exhale. That's it. Shake it off. Now let's do our gratitude checking. I want you to think of something that you've done recently that you're proud of. Maybe it was something big. Maybe it was something little itty bitty small. Maybe it was something that nobody else even noticed. Perhaps it was simply getting through a difficult week or making a decision that you've been avoiding. Maybe it was keeping a promise to yourself. Those things count. Those things matter. Those are things we need to be grateful for. Take a deep breath in and exhale it all the way out. Now we're going to take a moment to re rate our SED score again. On a scale from 0 as calm as you've ever felt to 10 as distressed as you've ever felt. What is your set score now? How much has it decreased? I want you to check in with yourself and ask what feels different? What feels lighter? Now the music is going to continue for a few more minutes. You do not need to rush off to do the next thing. Stay here for a bit. Think about the evidence that you've been overlooking. Think about what you've accomplished that you've barely given yourself credit for. Or simply enjoy just having a few minutes with nothing required of you. And if today's message felt important, consider listening again. The next time I find myself focusing on what's unfinished, I can pause and ask, what did I get done? What did I move forward? What promise did I keep to myself? Because as you know, success doesn't create confidence when I ignore it. Success creates confidence when I notice it. If today's episode felt important and you'd like more guided experiences designed to help you change the way that you see yourself in your ADHD brain and I created something called Shift. Shift is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself differently. Because when you see yourself differently, you make different decisions, you try different things, you stop trying to force what doesn't fit and you start becoming more of who you really are. To learn more, visit tracyoutsuka.com Shift until next time. Stay curious, stay clever, and as always, stay brilliant.