← I Have ADHD Podcast
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Foreign.
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Welcome to the I have ADHD podcast where it's all about education, encouragement and coaching for adults with adhd. I'm your host, Kristin Carter, and I have adhd. Let's chat about the frustrations, humor and challenges of adulting relationships, working and achieving with this neurodevelopmental disorder. I'll help you understand your unique brain, unlock your potential and move from point point A to point B. Hey, what's up? This is Kristen Carter and you've tuned into the I have ADHD podcast. I am medicated, caffeinated, regulated and ready to roll. Listen, teachers with adhd. Come in, come in, come in. We're having a convo today about planning and problem solving, especially as it relates to being a teacher with adhd. Now, of course, if you're not a teacher, planning and problem solving is still an issue that you're going to relate to. It's a deficienc, an executive functioning skill. It's something that's hard in every workplace. But I have my client with me, Maddie Novy, and she is here to talk about her job, talk about how planning and problem solving impacts her at her work and how she works to overcome it. She's a teacher, she's gonna tell you all about it. And I love having professionals with ADHD on who are able to just talk about what it's like in the workplace to have adhd. I'm an entrepreneur, so I don't have the same, like, I don't know, I just don't have the same issues as somebody who's in corporate or someone who's a doctor or someone who's a teacher. And so I love to hear other perspectives. But before we get started, I know you're gonna wanna hit that like, button, that share button, that follow button. You're gonna wanna leave a comment, tell me that you're listening. And even if you don't want to, like, could you. Cause that would be super helpful. It is the best way that you can support this show is interacting with this content, pressing, like, pressing subscribe, doing all of the things I would so appreciate it. It is the best way to tell me that you're listening. It's the best way to give me a little dopamine boost and I appreciate it. So let's get to it. Maddie, thank you so much for being here. First of all, it was great to meet you in real life. We've been interacting in focus for years.
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Yes, it's like a year and a half now.
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B
I love it. Welcome, welcome. Tell us A little bit about yourself.
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So, I'm Maddie. Hello. I'm 24. I'm from Chicago. This is my first time out in Philly, and it's gorgeous driving over here. I'm like, all the leaves are so pretty.
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B
It's the best time of year, too.
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Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I'm a teacher. I've been. It's only year two for me, so I'm still pretty new to this. I teach elementary music, so I teach kindergarten through fifth grade. I have 520 students that I see every single week. But it's been really great. It's been really, really great.
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B
Do you have to give grades to 520 students or at the elementary level? Is it more. Is it not grades based for that? Like, special. So.
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Yes. But the nice thing is I only have to do, like, a progress grade and then a final grade.
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B
I see.
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Yeah. So not like a bunch of. Bunch of little grades for 520 people.
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B
Yeah, that's too much.
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It's just. But still. Oh, my goodness, that's so time consuming.
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B
Yeah, for sure.
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Yeah.
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B
So tell us your ADHD story, Maddie. When were you diagnosed?
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So I was 16 when I was diagnosed. It. Yeah. Going into, like, my junior year of high school, I left that psychiatrist office with ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder. So I first tried meds. Like, that was the. I went on a stimulant at first when I was 16, but that didn't really work out for me. And then we decided, you know, let's try treating the anxiety route. See if, you know, that will help, you know, make all the things better. It didn't. Little do, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean, some things, like, it helped, like, some, like, you know, just, like the anxiety symptoms, but there were still the other things because, you know, of course, at 16, I'm like, all right, cool. I don't even know what this means because I wasn't told anything.
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B
Yeah.
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So I actually kind of forgot that I had this for a couple years now. It wasn't until, like, 2ish. Two, three years ago.
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B
Okay.
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That one of my college therapists. It was after I was talking about, like, struggles with, like, it's like, final season and, like, getting things started and how much, like, I'm just driving the struggle bus right now. And she's just like, have you ever, like, gotten tested or ate for adhd? And I'm like, oh, actually, I actually have. So, yeah, I've been back on medication, therapy.
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Did you find something that worked well for you?
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Yes. It took, like, a thousand different tries. But eventually we found something that works.
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So that's great.
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Thankful, very thankful to be done with all of that.
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B
Can you. Do you mind telling our listeners what. What that's like to have to go through a bunch of different medications? Because for some people, the first medication that they try, it's like it works well for them and they move on. And for you, you had to kind of hop around and obviously the only way to know if a med works for you is to take it and to notice, like, do I feel better or worse? Are my symptoms improving? Which is hard for us to self reflect and, and even know. So what was that process like to. To try a bunch of different things until you found the thing that worked?
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So it wasn't until I've been in focus for. It was like I was a couple months in before I really started trying that again. And I remember, I don't know if it was you or someone else talking about like taking meds for the first time, being like putting on glasses.
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Yes.
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And so I'm trying my first medication. I'm like, I do not feel this.
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Where I do.
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Where are the glasses? I don't know. Yeah. So I was just really frustrated.
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Yeah.
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A lot of the times.
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Yeah.
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Because I was starting to lose hope for a second actually. Like, am I going to find something that's going to help?
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Yeah.
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But it just took a lot of perseverance.
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Okay.
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Lots of. Yeah. Really frustrating and just annoying because, like, I want to have to keep, like.
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Why am I the one that has to keep me trying? Yeah, yeah. But was it worth it to like, keep trying? Like, do you feel like now that you've landed with a med that is good for you, do you look back and say it's worth it or what's your perspective?
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It was definitely tedious, but it was most definitely worth the time. Cool.
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B
Oh, that's really cool. That's great to hear. So we're talking today about planning and problem solving. Yes, we are. And I wanted to talk to you specifically about this because I know that as a teacher, this is a huge part of your job, a massive part of your job is like planning and getting ready and prepping. Yep, yep, yep. And then like problem solving in the moment. Right. And so I'm just curious, when I bring up, you know, planning and problem solving, what does that mean, mean to you in your life?
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A
So planning. You know, I have six different lessons I have to prep for each week. So that for me is just knowing what am I teaching, what activities am I Going to do. How am I going to like show this concept to the kids? But then problem solving is putting out all of like the 15,000 mini fires that happen in each class. Like so I also, I teach in a bilingual school, so I didn't think I knew that. Yeah, yeah. So in the kindergartners, especially in the two bilingual kindergarten classes I teach, I'd say 95% of them know maybe less than 10 words of English. Wow. I do know a good amount of Spanish, but not enough to like be able to like fully like fluently communicate with them. So there'll be times where there's like five kids coming up to me at once being like teacher, teacher, teacher, like, and then saying a bunch of stuff to me in Spanish really quickly and I'm just like, hold up. What? Slowdown. So putting out fires like that is. And also at my school, there's been a lot of Internet issues lately too. And with my specific subject, that's something I use almost daily.
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The Internet.
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Yes. So there's a lot of having to think on your feet involved. Yes. And sometimes, I mean, that's something I'm getting better at over times as I get more like tools in my arsenal of like things that I'm able to pull out. But I remember when I, it's like a couple months into the current job that I have now, everything was out, nothing was working, and I'm still a baby teacher. So I'm like over here freaking out, like, what am I going to do all day? Oh my God. But I think that day showed me that I can do it. Yes.
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B
That's so encouraging. Like that's such a body of evidence for your self trust bank.
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A
Yeah. It just takes like maybe like a 5 to 10 minute freak out at the beginning and then I'm like, okay, we're fine. We can do this. We can do this. Yes.
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B
So how do you see your ADHD impacting your ability? Let's, let's just say to plan.
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So in my school district, we don't have like a set specific curriculum that we have to follow. What we're giving, what we're given is the standards that we have to teach and the concepts that we have to teach in a particular trimester. That's it. Okay. Nothing else. So I'm a kind of person that needs a little bit more like structure than that because I struggle with figuring out like how long should I spend on a specific concept, like what order, how should I scaffold this? Like those two things have been really big for Me, because I constantly think, like, am I teaching something out of order? Because I don't want it to, like, you know, mess up the kids in the long run if I accidentally, like, make a mistake like that? I mean, that has happened once and again. Going back to, like, what you said about having that body of evidence that, like, you can do it.
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Yeah.
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I was able to circle back and it eventually was fine. It took a couple weeks, but we were able to do it. Yeah. And then problem solving, staying regulated. Oh, my goodness. I do not step foot into my kindergarten or first grade classes without having my loops in.
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B
Oh, tell us what loops are.
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So these little tiny earplugs that just sit right here in your ear and they're very, like, discreet.
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B
Yes.
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And no one really sees them. No kids have said anything to me yet. So the nice thing about it, because originally when I started wearing them, I was worried that, like, I'm not going to hear the questions that the kids are asking me and stuff. But thankfully, that hasn't been too big of a problem. There have been times where I have to be like, what? Just say, can you tell me that again? But other than that, they've been a lifesaver for me because there are a lot of days where I leave work absolutely depleted. Done. Battery is at empty. But I've realized because it's only been the past couple of weeks that I've been really cognizant about wearing them. And I'm like, what? I have, like, a little bit left in the tank.
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B
Wow.
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What is this? Cause having to constantly put out those mini fires that, like I was saying, it depletes you having to constantly, like, be on your toes and problem solving all of the time. It's a lot more than I think people realize.
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B
Sure. Yep. Yep. And the overstimulation of people talking to you all day long, asking you questions all day long, and then the background noise of just so many students in your classroom. I can see how accommodating yourself with earplugs or any other way that you're able to would be so helpful.
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A
Oh, yeah. I remember, like, starting this school year and even just after that first week being like, I need to figure something out, because even after week one, I was already feeling, like, the effects of, you know, being back. Back in that environment. And I knew that if I didn't do something, then I was going to go on a train directly into burnout.
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Yes. Have you ridden that train before?
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Oh, yes.
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B
Okay.
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Yes. Back at my. It was weird transition period words. Oh, my Gosh. December of last year, I was ending my old job. I used to teach middle school.
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B
Okay.
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Yeah. And I was a maternity leave position, so the teacher was coming back. And that was also around the time where my grandmother's health issues really started to take a downward spike.
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Yeah.
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So I was dealing with all the emotional heaviness of that. It was. We were prepping for our concert. I wasn't letting myself grieve because I'm like, these kids need to, like, these kids need to like, you know, be able to do this concert. We have to work. We have to work. I took no time off.
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B
Say that again. Because, you know, I've done a lot of interviews in the last 48 hours because all of you vipers are here. It's been a gift. It's been so great. But what I keep hearing over and over is this like, tendency to self abandon.
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Yes.
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So you took no time off when your grandmother was suffering or. Yes.
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Yeah. Like she passed away on a Saturday and I was right back to work that Monday.
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B
No. And to be clear for everyone listening, you were extremely close.
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Yes. She lived right across the street from me. I would see her almost daily. That was probably the first, like really, really, really big, deep loss that I've experienced in my life.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. So in my mind, I'm like, work would be a good distraction, but it was. The concert happened, then the holidays, and just constant family funeral planning non stop doing all of that and then starting a brand new job on top of it. Two weeks in, I got Covid and then the flu.
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Right after that, your body was like, I'm gonna just do this for you.
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So that's what taught me, you know, if I don't take time to rest, my body is going to pick that time for me.
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Yes.
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And sometimes I still forget that you.
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And all the rest of us.
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Yes.
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Dang. So I know that planning is a massive part of your job. What is it like for you as a person with ADHD to have to lesson plan? What are the challenges for you?
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So honestly, just even figuring out how I'm gonna like, go about it, like, am I gonna do it like on paper? Am I gonna do it on the computer? Every single school year when I was a student and now when I'm a teacher, I try to convince myself that I am a planner person. I will keep using it after a week. Never. Never.
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B
That's a fantasy. Yeah.
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Yeah. And yet I still buy them. But thankfully, I've started buying undated planners. So smart. Every single. So now that Whenever that like, little idea comes back to try to convince myself I'm a planner person again, I don't have to go out and buy a new one. Yeah. So I've realized.
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B
Just let me interrupt you. You just made such a good point though. Figuring out like, planning to plan.
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Yes.
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Like that's the step before the step is even difficult. And I absolutely think that is connected to ADHD and deficient executive functioning and it just not being clear and easy and systematic in our brain. And so like, even planning how to plan feels hard.
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Yeah. And then on top of all that, you know, every single class I teach is different. The kids are at a different place, their learning styles are different. Don't get me wrong, like, I love my job. Yeah, my job's great. But it is really, really exhausting sometimes to have to, you know, figure that out. Because, you know, I want to be able to best accommodate all of my students in any way that I can. But sometimes it just wrecks my brain to try to figure out how I can do this to the best of my ability. Because also I am a really huge perfectionist when it comes to my lessons and my planning.
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B
What does that mean to you, to be a perfectionist when you say that? Could you explain what that even means for you?
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So there are times where in my eyes, the only way a lesson is good enough is if it's this long, elaborate, beautiful looking thing with a lot of different bells and whistles going on to it. Because that's what I've seen. That's what I've grown up with. That's all I know. And trust me, I've tried. I've tried Canva, I've tried all the fancy Google Slide stuff that it's hard. It's hard. And then, you know, I get frustrated. In 20 minutes in, I'm like, nope, we're not doing this. Yeah. But then I get mad at myself because I want it to be something that I'm proud of. Because in my mind, like, I can't be proud of it if it's not like something that I've spent hours putting into. Cause a lot of teachers, I mean, we've been getting better about this. Like from what I've seen about staying after contract hours for so long just to get every single little thing done.
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B
Yeah.
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Thankfully I've been getting to the habit of once it hits 3:30, I am out of that door.
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B
Good girl.
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A
Yes, good girl. But then, yeah, so that was a problem that I had at the, like, beginning of my teaching career. But it's been getting better because I've realized that using pre made stuff is fine. It. Yeah, it's fine. Using stuff that I get from other people is fine. Using your resources. Oh, my goodness, yes. For so long, I'm like, nope, it has to be everything I do on my own. No, using your resource. Use your resources.
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B
Yes.
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A
It's helped so much. It saved me so much time.
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B
How did you make that transition to overcome your perfectionistic tendencies? Was it just kind of realizing that you were being perfectionistic about it? Because you're bringing up such a good point. I do think that perfectionism is very closely tied to our deficiency in planning. And so we want it to be the perfect plan and we want it to be the plan that's gonna make everything amaz. And then when it's not, or if we sense that, like, I don't. I don't know if I can do it, then we just either don't plan or we like it. It all kind of falls apart. So how did you notice that or whatever? I could tell that you were going to say something, so I don't want to interrupt you.
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A
No, no, you're good. You're good. Now I lost my train of thought.
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B
Oh, my bad.
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You are all bad.
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B
This is just two ADHD sitting on a pod trying to be cool.
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Yes.
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B
I'm on a health kick right now and my kids are so annoyed at me. I've changed the type of rice and pasta and bread that we eat at home. I've even eliminated all breakfast cereals from the house. No more Captain Crunch or Cinnamon Toast Crunch to be found in the Carter home. It's a true ADHD hyperfocus for me right now. But one thing that I've stuck with and I don't think I'll ever stop taking is AG1. I, Kristin Carter, an adult with ADHD, have been able to be consistent with taking AG1 every single day for a long time. It's the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning, before coffee, before anything. It literally takes me about 60 to 90 seconds to just scoop it into some cold water, shake it up, and drink it. It really is so easy. And I'm traveling with my family to Indiana for the holidays. We'll be staying in a hotel, eating out for a lot of our meals, and generally partaking in lots of non healthy activities, which is fine because balance, you know what I'm saying? And I know that I can stay consistent with AG1 thanks to their travel packs. I'm just gonna pop six travel packs into my shaker, slip that baby into my travel bag, and done. It's so simple, I don't even have to think about it. So I encourage you this new year, if you want to do one thing to improve your health as an adult with ADHD, try AG1 for yourself. It's the perfect time to start a new healthy habit. And that's why I've been partnering with AG1 for so long. And listen to this. AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift. When you sign up, you'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2, and five free travel packs, just like I'm going to be using over the holidays. You'll get all of that in your first box, so make sure to check out drinkag1.com Ihaveadhd to get this offer. That's drinkag1.com IhaveadHD to start your new year on a healthier note. Okay, so perfectionism. Perfectionism and planning.
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A
Planning.
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B
Yeah. Like you seem to notice that you're doing it.
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A
Yeah, because there are some times where I'm like, I can't even start making the actual like materials yet because I haven't, I don't have the, the outline, the perfect, the perfect outline of my lesson. But I eventually realized that I can't let my job take over my life. And I was doing that for a while. And I'm grateful that I realized this so early into my career because I know teacher burnout is a very, very, very big thing that a lot of people are experiencing for a lot of different reasons. So I'm really, really working on not getting to that point. And I think this, just doing little things like this, letting myself use those pre made resources because it's more about how I am delivering the lesson and how I'm interacting with the kids and less about like what is actually up on the board.
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B
Yes. So has that been a lesson in self trust as well?
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A
A little bit actually. Because I mean it's taken a lot of time but through like focus and all the other coaching I've done, I've been able to develop like, like a bank of evidence that these are the reasons why I am a good teacher. These are the reasons why I am good at what I do. I am my students and I get along really, really well. I can tell that they're learning things. Like it's evident in their grades and stuff. And I'd say those two things are what matter the most. Yeah. And not about what I Have up there, because I can even have nothing up there and still put on a pretty damn good lesson. Yes.
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B
That's so good. I think that when we adhders allow ourselves to just lean into our strengths and believe in ourselves, like, that's so cliche. Sorry, I hate the way that sounded. Believe in yourself, but believe in our ability to perform and. And improvise and just on the spot, do it when we can really, really capitalize on that strength. So much of the drama behind the scenes and the planning behind the scenes, we can just, like, take a deep breath and let that go.
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A
Yeah. And growing up, I actually did a whole lot of, like, acting and theater and all that kind of stuff too. So I'm like, perfect. This perfect way to tie all that in. And that wasn't even a connection that I made until, like, again, being in focused, that I was, like, doing, like, all of these, like, skills that can help me in my career, like, way earlier in my life that I was. Than I was thinking.
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B
Yeah. Because a teacher is a performer.
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A
Oh, definitely. There are so many times where I have to, like, think on my feet. Especially, like, when the Internet is just not.
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B
Or nobody speaking English.
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A
Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Because. Yeah, I use it too much. But thankfully, the skill of being able to think, I might think on my feet As I get more tools in my arsenal. It's been something that's been able to improve.
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B
Yeah. You talked about how depleting it is to problem solve constantly, and I think a lot of professionals will relate to that a lot. But then also, like, I think of moms, of little kids. Like, I just remember, obviously, I've never been a teacher, but when I had three little kids who couldn't take care of themselves and looked to me to, like, solve every problem that they had, that I've never been more depleted than in that season of my life, I bet. Oh, my gosh. And I feel like, to a certain extent, that is very similar to teaching, where people are just like, you're responsible for these people, and they come to you for all of their questions, concerns. And my nose is bleeding or my head is itchy, and I don't know what to do about all of that.
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A
Oh, there's one kid, without fail, every single week, just nosebleed. Nosebleed every single week. I know. Like, I find it a little ironic that this is happening with me.
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B
So funny.
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A
Yes.
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B
You know, my. One of my three boys was also a bleeder, a nosebleeder, and then he would have a sensory freak out about it. So it wasn't just a nosebleed. It was a nosebleed plus a temper tantrum meltdown.
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A
Makes sense.
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B
And my goodness, it's just so like in those moments, right? You have a nosebleed, kiddo. You have a classroom full of other kids, or I have my other, like two kids at home. And it's like problem solving in those moments and the depletion that it takes from your sweet little ADHD brain's capacity. What does it feel like at the end of the day.
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A
When I get home? I just want to go upstairs and crawl into bed and just become a log for the next. I don't even know how many hours this job has turned me into a grandma. I am in bed by like 9 o' clock most nights, sometimes even earlier, depending on how the day is. And also I teach the younger grades, like towards the end of the week. Oh, of the day. End of the day, yes. So that's usually where I find myself struggling the most. And there have been times, I'm not proud of it, where I've been just depleted and overstimulated to the point of snapping at them. That's happened more times than I would like to admit. And the guilt that I feel afterwards. Cause, you know, I don't want the kids to be responsible for my feelings.
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B
You know, it's powerful.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Okay, so let's talk about emotional regulation.
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A
Okay.
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B
Because I think that that's what you're alluding to. Right. And so I think it's so interesting that our executive functions are individual skills, but they don't work in isolation. So when you're teaching, you're using all of your executive functions together. And so, yes, we're talking about planning and problem solving, but we can't talk about that without also discussing emotional regulation because these don't exist as silos. They all work together. Yes, absolutely. So tell me about emotional regulation for you. What. What does it feel like? Let's start here. What does it feel like at the end of the day when you're teaching the littles and all of the questions and they're not listening. What happens in your body?
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A
It's like my body is a pot of boiling water that's about to spill over. Yes. Yeah, I'm still working on learning ways to regulate in the moment. Cause normally when I'm in a dysregulated state, regulated state, I need to get myself out of that environment. And you know, when I'm teaching, I can't do that.
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B
So excuse me, I'm going To go for a quick walk.
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A
I'm going to go, I'm going to go freak out for a second. Yeah. So I'm still working on getting some more tools there in that department. But.
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B
So you. Because I've been your coach for a year and a half now, I know that emotional regulation is something you've been working on.
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A
Yes.
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B
And I know that you've actually gotten very good at it when you have time and space. Would you agree?
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A
Yeah, I've definitely seen some improvements there. Yeah. But absolutely. But at work that's a lot more difficult.
- [31:02]
B
Well and then like I want to relate that again to motherhood for anyone. I don't know why, but I just am feeling like it's so strongly connected. Like it's one thing to learn to regulate your emotions and like go through a meditation or some sort of a practice to be self regulated. But when you have tiny humans screaming at you, bleeding or like on the ground or running into the street or whatever, it's like it just feels like impossible. And so for those. And it could also be like I work in tech and I can't just like take a second. But like when you're sitting at a computer all alone I feel like you can like pretend to work but yeah. Emotionally regulate.
- [31:46]
A
Yeah.
- [31:46]
B
But like those of us in professions or like in a stay at home parent situation where there's just like you can't escape from people. How are you beginning to regulate on your feet like when you've been able to do it? What ha. What have you done?
- [32:05]
A
Usually one of my go to is is putting on a little YouTube video for the kids. Like a little like freeze dance or some other kind of similar activity and just let them do their thing while I just kind of be in my own little world to try to get myself together for a couple minutes.
- [32:22]
B
And what does that look like when you say get myself together?
- [32:24]
A
Like breathing, like just coming back to my body. Like.
- [32:30]
B
Yeah.
- [32:31]
A
Screwing my head back on there and. Yes. And just reminding myself of like what's. Here's what we're doing and if we don't get to something not the end of the world, we'll just go with the flow.
- [32:46]
B
That sounds like reassurance.
- [32:47]
A
Yes, definitely going. Learning how to go with the flow has been very helpful because it's very unpredictable. Yes.
- [32:56]
B
You don't say.
- [32:57]
A
Yeah.
- [32:58]
B
Teaching 35 year olds at one time.
- [33:01]
A
Unpredictable, huh?
- [33:05]
B
The unpredictableness. What is? I don't know, the fact that it's unpredictable. How does that impact your body.
- [33:21]
A
With the littles especially Because I don't know if they're going to be hyped up and running around like crazy. I mean, I'm thinking about how Halloween's next week. Oh, dear. Day after November 1st. I don't know what I'm gonna get on that day.
- [33:38]
B
That's so true.
- [33:39]
A
I'm like, am I gonna get zombies.
- [33:41]
B
Or does it feel unsafe or unsettling bit?
- [33:46]
A
Because once I get a plan, I like to stick to it. I don't wanna deviate. And I know depending on what kind of group of kids I'm getting that day, I may have to deviate. And my brain's like, no, we don't like that.
- [34:02]
B
I think that for most neurodivergent people when we have we're this dichotomy, especially for ADHD years, we want to be carefree, we want to be spontaneous. But when we do have a plan and someone else wants to change it. The rage.
- [34:21]
A
Yup.
- [34:21]
B
The rage inside.
- [34:23]
A
And even when I know changing it would be more beneficial for the kids.
- [34:28]
B
Yes.
- [34:28]
A
I'm still like, yes. My body's so hard, it's like clenching up and resisting. Like, everything.
- [34:35]
B
So good.
- [34:36]
A
Yes. And never mind.
- [34:41]
B
And never mind. It's so good. I'm curious about how you get work done in the pockets of time that you have. Do you have pockets of time?
- [34:55]
A
Some. Not much.
- [34:57]
B
Not much.
- [34:58]
A
I am a person that likes to get to work early. I am not contractually obligated to be at work until about 8:20, but I'm usually there at like between 7:30 and 7:45 most mornings. And so in my especially this more so happens in the morning when I actually have brain power to get some work done. I have my list of all the things that I need to do and people have told me before, oh, just start from the top and work your way down. That does not work. That's cute. That's not working for me. Yep. So. And another thing that I've learned in focused prioritizing, what are the absolute must dos on the list? What are the things that have the most urgent deadlines that I have to get done today or it's going to compromise my job keeping those at the top. And I know if I get those things done but nothing else, then that's fine. I got what I needed to do.
- [35:54]
B
Accomplished prior to learning that in focused. How did you approach your list?
- [36:00]
A
Starting at the top and working my way down.
- [36:02]
B
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
- [36:04]
A
And.
- [36:05]
B
But then skipping the ones that you didn't want to do and not like missing Things that were maybe important.
- [36:11]
A
Yeah, I. Yeah, basically it's like I'd start something and then I'd get frustrated or I'd get bored and then be like, nope, we're moving on. And then I'd say, if I have, like 10 things on a list, maybe I'd get like two done.
- [36:25]
B
Yep, yep, yep, yep. And so now you approach it with, okay, I have a list of 10 things, but I know that these three are, like, directly related to my job or to, like, my. My performance.
- [36:38]
A
Yes. And in typical ADHD fashion, thriving on the last minute. It's.
- [36:43]
B
Do you feel shame about that or are you just, like, have you embraced it?
- [36:46]
A
I used to. Not really anymore.
- [36:48]
B
Cool.
- [36:48]
A
Yeah. I've just accepted the fact that I'm a person who thrives on the last minute. And, I mean, I get this stuff done.
- [36:54]
B
Yeah.
- [36:54]
A
There was actually a time in college where I had a paper due the day before. I scrapped the entire thing. It was like a 5 or 10 page long paper in Spanish. I got a degree in Spanish in college too. So in Spanish, this essay, I scrapped the whole thing, rewrote it all in one day. I got a 95% on that essay. So that proved to be right there that I can do anything at the last minute if I just put my mind to it.
- [37:21]
B
So that goes back to what we were talking about earlier with just like, building your evidence bank for just like, I can function like, and I can do it in my own way, and I can work at the last minute and I still can perform well.
- [37:35]
A
Yeah. I don't have to function like some neurotypical robot to still be able to be good at what I do.
- [37:42]
B
Gosh. I mean, sometimes when people talk, I'm like, ooh, that's the reel we're gonna use. That's the Instagram reel right there. Like, just a loop of that over and over and over. Like, that's so good. Oh, it's so good. So what encouragement do you have for teachers with ADHD listening, who. Who are just like, feel like they're floundering?
- [38:10]
A
It's normal. It's very normal. But it's okay. It makes sense. We have a hard job. And I mean, this goes for literally no matter what kind of level. Whether you're like me and teach elementary school or whether you're a college professor, I can almost guarantee that we all exhibit a lot of the same sorts of struggles. Obviously a little bit more nuanced than others, but this makes sense. It might take time to figure out what works for you. But it's possible. It's very, very, very possible. Just be persistent.
- [38:49]
B
Yes, I love that. Be persistent in trying to figure out what works. Is that what you mean?
- [38:56]
A
Yes, exactly. So keep, like, trucking at it, finding what works for you. Like, if the first thing doesn't work, that's perfectly fine. Try another system. If you're not doing what literally every other teacher is doing, that's okay.
- [39:11]
B
Why is it okay?
- [39:12]
A
Because every teacher is their own person. What works best for one teacher might not work for you, because I know that's how it is for me and one of my other really close teacher friends that has adhd. Like, she is able. She's one of those people that is able to work from the top down on a to do list. That is not how I am. So it's okay to be different. And it'll come with time. It will come with time. Especially for the baby teachers that are still probably very like, they don't know what's going on. They're trying to figure themselves out. It'll come with time. Yeah.
- [39:57]
B
I love that. Thank you so much. This is so encouraging. I just feel. I know that you are young, but you have a very broad sense of wisdom, and I appreciate you bringing that for us here.
- [40:13]
A
Oh, this has been really great. I've loved every second of this. Yay. Yeah.
- [40:18]
B
A few years ago, I went looking for help. I wanted to find someone to teach me how to feel better about myself and to help me improve my organization, productivity, time management, emotional regulation. You know, all the things that we adults with ADHD struggle with. I couldn't find anything, so I researched and I studied and I hired coaches and I figured it out. Then I created Focused for you. Focused is my monthly coaching membership where I teach educated professional adults how to accept their ADHD brain and how hijack their ability to get stuff done. Hundreds of people from all over the world are already benefiting from this program, and I'm confident that you will, too. Go to ihaveadhd.com focused for all the details.