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Kristen Carter
Welcome to the I have ADHD podcast where it's all about education, encouragement and coaching for adults with adhd. I'm your host, Kristen 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 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 ish. Regulated ish and ready to roll. Happy to be here with you today. I have delayed this recording as long as I possibly could. I am recording in my own little office today. And I was supposed to do it yesterday and I couldn't. I couldn't make myself do it. And then I was supposed to do it today and I had plenty of time. Plenty of time. And you better believe I did not hit record until the very last minute. I officially have about 55,0 minutes to record before I host a coaching call in my coaching program at 2:00'. Clock. And so we better roll. Sometimes you just have to use that deadline to, like, get you into gear. And that's what I had to do today. I don't know why it is so hard to do this job sometimes. Sometimes it just flows and it's so easy and I love it so much and I'm so excited to show up and record. And then other times I'm like, please don't make me do it. I'll do anything to get out of it. And that's what it's been like this week. I don't know if I'm just, like, hungover from being sick. I was so sick. I'm feel, feeling so much better. But maybe that's it. I don't know. Anyway, I wonder what it is in your life that you are avoiding and pushing off because solidarity. I get it. I'm with you. I am you. I do the same things. Even though I am here recording and I am doing the thing, it's at the very last minute, folks. The very last minute. And sometimes it just be like that. Sometimes that's just the way it is. I don't know what else to say. Like, that's just, that's it. Sometimes there's no way around it. So you're in for a ride. Today we are doing a solo show. We're going in a bunch of different directions as we do for these solo shows. So buckle up, get Cozy. I am so glad that you press play on this podcast. I'm curious about what you're doing. Are you, like, folding your laundry? Are you out for a run? Are you doing your dishes? Are you just, like, sitting cozy on the couch trying to get through the rest of winter? Whatever it is, I'm just so grateful to you that you press play. I can't believe there's over 100,000 of you. There's like 150,000 listeners every single month. You guys just hang out and we're here together. And the fact that, like, ADHD years from all over the world get to be together in this community is just so heartening. It just makes my heart explode. It makes me so happy and I am so glad. I'm wondering if you would be interested in joining me for a live class. So these podcasts are recorded, Obviously they're prerecorded, and you're not listening to me talk live, but would you like to? Would that be fun? Would you like to do that? I'm actually hosting a parenting class on March 25th. It's a Tuesday. It's the same day a pod's gonna drop. March 25th, 1pm Eastern. We're going to talk about the number one skill that you need in your parenting to not F it all up. We're going to be talking about emotional regulation, and I'm going to give you and teach you an emotional regulation tool on the spot that you can learn in the class and then apply to your life immediately. It can affect your parenting immediately. No matter if your kids are tiny or if they're grown and flown, it doesn't really matter because increasing your ability to regulate your emotions so that you can show up as the parent that you want to be is a skill that we all need. So if this sounds fun, interesting, and you want to hang out with me live, ask me questions in real time and just all around, be in a community like in real time of ADHD. Join me. Go to ihaveadhd.com freeclass Sign up. All you got to do is pop your email address in there and you'll get all of the information. And yes, we will send you a replay. But if you join us live, you're going to get a free gift. And free gifts are really fun. So you should totally come live. I hope, hope, hope that you do. We're going to go ahead and talk about hyperfocus. Hyper focus is one of these really interesting characteristics about ADHD that can sometimes lead us to say, oh, my gosh, My ADHD is amazing. Like sometimes every once In a while, ADHDers have the ability to become intensely focused or preoccupied with a task. And we can give it all of our time, all of our attention, all of our capacity and really go all in on it. When I was working with children who struggled in school, many of them had adhd. So many of their parents said to me, he can focus on things that he likes, but he can't focus on things that he doesn't like. And in that they were trying to express to me this like invalidation of adhd, like he can't, he or she, like my kid can't actually have ADHD because when they're doing something that they like, they can pay attention just fine as if that means that they don't have adhd. So let's talk about hyperfocus. And I'm curious how this shows up in your life. It's the ability, ability to become intensely focused or preoccupied with a task or person that greatly interests you. How many of you have hyper focused on a person? Hello. Ever meet like a new shiny object, Like a new friend or somebody? Maybe if you're single and you start to date like somebody that you're really attracted to and you're like, this is my new hyper focus. Like I'm obsessed. This is why so many of us overshare at the beginning, by the way, because we just get so obsessed. Okay, so when hyper focusing, the ADHD appears not to have ADHD because they're intensely focused and they become zeroed in on what they're doing or what they're thinking about. During a hyperfocused session, the ADHD will block out distractions. They won't notice the passage of time and they're often not even going to recognize hunger or thirst or sleep or toileting cues. Like everything is blocked out, we noticing nothing. I just want you to think about like the last time that you hyper focused. Sometimes it is such an asset because you can get involved in something and really go, pardon the expression, balls to the wall, and totally go all in and really accomplish great things. I mean, this is why we have to totally Give credit to ADHDers for accomplishing great things. Having ADHD does not mean that you don't accomplish great things. On the contrary, so many of us do. So many of us get such amazing things accomplished and much of that we can attribute to our hyper focus sessions. Here's the thing though, here's the thing. And you know, like, you know me, you know me, so you know it's coming, right? You know that I'm gonna of course say that like, yes, ADHDers can do anything. And yes, ADHDers are incredible. And having this ability to hyper focus can be an asset at times, but the question always is, at what cost? That's always the question. With adhd, we always have to ask the question, at what cost? At what cost are we hyperfocusing? Because if we're not recognizing the passage of time, our own hunger cues, thirst cues, the need to sleep, and even the need to use the restroom, what's the cost of that? It would be absolutely incredible if we could channel our hyper focus on command right on, on demand. If we had an on demand hyper focus ability, I would 100% consent to calling ADHD a superpower. If we were able to decide exactly what we hyper focused on, exactly when we hyper focused and for how long, if we could just do all of that on demand, I would finally relent. I would be like, okay, I am submitting and I am giving in. And yes, ADHD is a superpower, but how many of you have hyper focused to your own detriment, to your own demise? You've hyper focused on the wrong thing. You've hyperfocused to the extent where now you're forgetting to pick up your kids, you're forgetting to eat, you're forgetting to sleep, you're forgetting that like, being a human is a thing. Hyperfocus is not controlled by the ADHD person. It comes and it goes on a whim. It's not predictable. It's not something that we can just like channel and like flip the switch on to hyperfocus. It can't be initiated on command. It's. That's not possible. It kind of blows through, unpredictable. And if it's there, it's there. Here's the thing. Also, we often hyper focus on lower priority tasks. So often our hyper focus is channeled on things that like, don't actually matter to our workplace or they don't actually matter if in our home, or they don't actually matter to the people that we love. And sometimes that's fine because like, if, if it's time to do your hobby, let's say you're a quilter. I don't know why that popped in my mind, but it did. If it's hobby time and you start hyper focusing on your hobby during hobby time, well, that's awesome because who cares if your family doesn't benefit from it? Like, it's your hobby. You get to do what you want. But let's say you're at work and you're supposed to be completing a project and instead, instead you're hyper focusing on like making a PowerPoint presentation look beautiful in Canva. Well, that's a problem. That's a problem, right? Because we're hyper focusing on a lesser priority task and then the higher priority tasks are not being accomplished. And now a word from our sponsor.
Hey, Kristin here. I'm the host of this podcast, an ADHD expert and a certified life coach who's helped hundreds of adults with ADHD understand their unique brains and make real changes in their lives.
If you're not sure what a life.
Coach is, let me tell you. A life coach is someone who helps you achieve your goals. Like a personal trainer for your life, a life coach is a guide who holds your hand along the way as you take baby step after baby step step to accomplish the things that you want to accomplish. A good life coach is a trained expert who knows how to look at situations, all situations, with non judgmental neutrality and offer you solutions that you've probably never even considered before. If you're being treated for your ADHD and maybe even you've done some work in therapy and you want to add to your scaffolding of support, you've got to join my group coaching program, Focused. Focused is where functional adults with ADHD surround each other with encouragement and support. And I lead the way with innovative and creative solutions to help you fully accept yourself, understand your ADHD and create the life that you've always wanted to create, even with adhd. Go to I have ADHD to join and I hope to see you in our community today.
Here's the part that always gets me when I am entering into a hyperfocused session, when I'm like starting to feel the buzz and I'm starting to feel the flow and oh my gosh, the dopamine is just like channeled and I feel so good. Here's what happens to me. Though I neglect all other responsibilities during a hyper focus session, dinner's not going to get made. My kids won't be paid attention to. I'll forget to pick them up from their sports practices. I won't do what needs to be done at work. My basic needs will be neglected and then inevitably, I am 100% hungover the next day. Does anybody else experience this? You, even if you're hyper focusing on something that's really, really good, really, really important, let's just say that like you were able to channel it and hyper focus on Something that really does matter. That's amazing. But how often do you then work beyond your typical capacity and then you're hung over the next day and you've got nothing. You can't even function. I suspect this is why I couldn't record my podcast yesterday, because on Monday I worked so hard on so many things, and, I mean, I just really used 150% of my capacity. I was so proud of all the work that I got done. But then I was hungover. I got nothing done. On Tuesday, I stared at the wall for so long, and then I would stare at my phone, and then I would stare at the wall, and then I would stare at my computer but not do anything. I couldn't get myself to do anything. I suspect I can't prove it, but I suspect this is because of how much I was able to hyper focus the day before. So even though so many people, and I say this with gentleness and love and kindness and all of the acceptance and goodness in the world, but even though so many people tried to use hyperfocus as proof that ADHD is a superpower, like, ADHD is totally my superpower because I can hyperfocus. To me, I always ask the question, yeah, but at what cost? Because if it's costing you, like not getting the right thing done at work, or forgetting to pick up your kids when they need you, or not sleeping and then being hung over the next day, like, that cost, in my opinion, is too high. I would so much rather just be able to regulate my attention and turn as Dr. Marcy Caldwell described it. And if you haven't listened to that episode, you have got to go back and listen to it. It was so, so freaking good. Let me see what episode it was so I can tell you. Episode 303 with Dr. Marcy Caldwell. She talks about a typical human's ability to pay attention as being kind of like knobs on a soundboard. And you can kind of move the knobs, like up and down and adjust attention according to the need of the task. Whereas someone with adhd, there's no adjustment. There's no dimmer switch. It's just either all on or all off. I mean, if I had a choice, I would love to be able to adjust my attention. I would give up the ability to hyper focus in a second. Please don't be mad at me. Well, if that's not your choice, that's fine. So you can be mad at me if you want, but, like, you get to have your own fantasy. But this is my Fantasy. My fantasy is I would trade my ability to hyperfocus since I can't channel it on the exact right thing at the exact right time for the exact length of time that I want anyway. I would give that up in a second to be able to adjust my attention accordingly and have that done for me automatically without me having to do it on my own. Oh my goodness. Okay, so I want to give you some tips on how not to burn yourself out from hyper focus. I think that just becoming aware that hyperfocus is a thing and it's. It's great once in a while, but it needs to be regulated just like everything else in our lives.
Livy
But.
Kristen Carter
And you know from listening to this podcast that ADHD is a disorder of self regulation. Therefore we very much struggle to regulate our hyper focus, obviously. Right. But I don't know if we've ever really thought about it. So I want you to think about it for a second. When hyper focus descends on you from on high or wherever it comes from, when it descends, I want you to think about, this is wonderful. And I need to make sure to regulate it. I think that we have this thought that if I am focusing really hard and if I am in flow, I just need to stay there. I can't pull myself out of it because I don't know when it will ever come back. So I just need to like roll with it and stay there and just let it take me over. I'm like, not necessarily a victim, but I'm like sub. And I want to say adhd. I want to empower you to regulate your own hyper focus. I want to empower you to put limits on yourself so that the cost of it is not detrimental to you. So that you are still eating and you're still sleeping and you're still taking care of your basic needs and the needs of your family and you're still focusing on the priorities at all work. Are you with me? Do you hear? Okay, same page. So when you're noticing yourself, hyperfocus, I want you to become pretty self aware and set some timers for yourself. Okay, I can see that I'm really getting into flow here and I can see that hyperfocus is coming and this is great. I want to roll with it. So like, if you want to roll with it. Okay, what do I need to do to kind of snap myself out of it so that it's not detrimental to me, detrimental to my family, or detrimental to my job? Yes. Hyperfocus can be a really good thing. I'm in the middle of writing a book proposal. And once in a while when I am writing the proposal, hyperfocus will descend from on high. And I'm so happy. I'm like, oh my gosh, it just makes it so much easier and I can really focus really well and I'm blocking out distractions now that only happens once in a while, but when it does, I'm so grateful and I'm so happy. But I still have to set limits for myself because if I don't, I will just keep going and going and going and going to the detriment of my family, to the detriment of my basic needs, to the detriment of my real job. Because writing a book is not my real job. You know, like, thank God, because I'm, I don't know, thank God it's not my real job, but it's not. So I can't let it take me away from, from my real job. I have to set some limits. I have to self regulate. Becoming a whole human with ADHD who is self aware and is who is evolving and moving forward means that we learn how to regulate ourselves. And this is just one of the ways in which we need to practice self regulation is when the hyper focus descends upon us. So does the skill or the ability to hyperfocus mean that you don't have adhd? No, it does not mean that. It does not mean that at all. And what I would say, circling back to when I was working with students who struggled in school, many of them had ADHD and their parents would come to me and say, I don't really believe he has ADHD because he can focus on video games totally fine. When it's something that he's interested in, he doesn't have any trouble focusing. Well, yeah, that's kind of the point. Like that's kind of the point. The ADHD brain craves new novel and fun. And so if something is new novel and fun, which obviously video games are designed to be, we're not going to have any trouble focusing on it. I have an ADHD kiddo who spends hours a day on video games and that's totally fine. He also plays outside, he also plays competitive high school sports. It's great. Video games are awesome, they're wonderful. But everything must be regulated. So hyper focus doesn't mean that you don't have adhd, but it is just another aspect of your ADHD that really needs to be regulated. And so making sure that first of all you're aware that you're like in hyperfocus that, that you become aware of it. That's number one. Number two, making sure that you are hyper focusing on something matters today. Just because hyperfocus is here doesn't mean you have to like jump on that train and take a ride. So you have to ask yourself the question, does this matter today? Because if it doesn't, I need to interrupt this hyper focus and work on what actually matters today. Many of us will hyperfocus to get out of and avoid the hard tasks that actually need to be completed today. Ask me how I know. Ask me how I know. Right. And so we need to make sure that, that we are hyper focusing on something that matters today and then also setting guardrails or limits for ourselves. So. Okay, I see I'm in hyper focus. Okay, yes, this does matter for today. Or. Or it doesn't really matter. Like I can go for it. It's totally fine. Next, what limits do I want to set? I need to kind of jog myself out of this hyper focus session eventually. What time does that need to be? What time does my kid need to be picked up? What time do I need to eat? Next? Questions like that and then really loud alarms that you consent to listen to and follow. Following for your own good because you like you. That's really going to help you to actually use hyperfocus to your benefit and not to your detriment. If you want more information like this, I actually have a freebie for you. It's called 10 Things I Wish My Doctor Told Me About ADHD. 10 Things I Wish My Doctor told Me About ADHD but didn't. It's on my website. I have adhd.com you can go grab that free resource. I have the information about hyperfocus in there, but also nine other things that I wish my doctor told me about when I was diagnosed. It would have saved me a lot of time, a lot of pain. It would have helped a whole lot. So you can go grab that resource on my website. I have ADHD.com.
Livy
Hi Kristen. My name is Livy and I'm 16, so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be here. But I hope that this will be helpful to adults with ADHD as well. I've been experiencing something, especially as I get in high school, that when I'm doing my schoolwork, it feels like my brain is working at half speed. Like information is just taking longer to process and it's making it so I'm basically spending the entire day doing schoolwork and still getting like super far behind and it's not like an academic thing. It's not like I don't understand the coursework or that I'm not ready to be taking it yet. It's just that everything takes so long, even if there are live teachers to explain my questions. So I was wondering if you just had any, like, suggestions to combat that. I guess. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for making free content for us to be super helpful to me. Bye.
Kristen Carter
Hi, Libby. I'm so glad that you called in. And yes, of course you should be here. I'm so glad that you're here. That sounds really hard. That sounds really hard. One of the aspects of ADHD for some people is, like, a slower processing speed. It doesn't mean that you are not intelligent. Obviously, you sound like a very intelligent human. But some of us have a slower processing speed, which is exactly what it sounds like. We take in information a little bit slower. It takes us a little bit longer to understand it. It takes us a little bit longer to manipulate the information in our minds and use it the way that it needs to be used. So maybe, you know, in a paper or in a presentation or however that it needs to be used. One of the things that came to mind as I was listening to you and I. I mean, you're young and you sound cool, so I'm guessing that you've probably already used some AI tools, but I am wondering if you can kind of hack AI in some ways to help you to organize your thoughts, organize your notes, organize your lectures in way that will just help your brain to use it and organize it better. If we're dealing with a slower processing speed, then things still might take you a little bit longer. And that just kind of is what it is. However, there may be some tools available that could be helpful to you. So one of the things that I came across a couple weeks ago on Instagram is a tool called Study Fetch. And what I've seen from their reels on Instagram is that you can record a lecture that you're listening to and then pop the recording into Study Fetch. And it will create notes for you. It can create notes from your course material. It can create practice quizzes for you from the course material. It can ask you questions about pictures and diagrams from your notes. It will help you to grade essays and give you personalized feedback. It can take your notes and actually create, like, a video for you from your notes. It'll make flashcards for you. You could talk to, like an AI tutor from this program. So it. It seems like it would be really helpful. Again, it's Study Fetch and I guess this is the resource for the week, y'. All.study fetch.com we will link it in the show notes And Livia, I hope that's really helpful to you. I hope you know it. It sounds like you are so smart and you're just doing your very best and still falling behind. So I want to really encourage you to lean on for support. Obviously we don't want it like writing the essays for you, but if you can lean on tools like this to support you and to, let's say you learn better visually, like, you could probably ask this tool to take your notes and, and create a visual picture for you. Let's say you learn better listening rather than reading. You can have it read it back to you. So kind of leaning on your strengths will absolutely speed things up for you. So again, it's called Study Fetch dot com. This podcast is not sponsored sponsored by Study Fetch, but we're going to link it in the show notes and I really hope that's helpful to you and I'm so glad that you called in. Just a note on AI. Since we're talking about this as the resource of the week. Tools like ChatGPT, this study fetch thing, I just can't say enough about how supportive they can be. For those of us with adhd, I think I should probably record an entire episode on ChatGPT. I've been using it a lot lately to help me organize my thoughts, to help me put things in order when I have a huge brain dump and I just like, don't know what to do with all of my disorganized thoughts. I love to pop them into ChatGPT and have it organize them for me. If you have not tried doing that, it is really, really helpful. Another way that I've used it is to just kind of like when my pantry is getting low and I don't know what to make for dinner, you can put in like, here's what I have on hand. Can you give me three recipe options? I've just really, really appreciated leaning on it for support. I. I guess I was a little bit resistant to it. You know, I am. How old am I? Almost 44, I guess. And so I'm not super young and I'm just like, what is this Chat GPT thing? But for someone with adhd, I think it can be really, really supportive. So if you haven't tried Chat GPT Perplexity, AI or Study Fetch or something like it, I like no matter what you do or who you are, even if you're home all day every day, it could really be helpful and supportive to you. And I just really encourage you to play with it. The more that I use it, the better that I get at it and the more that it like knows my voice and it knows like kind of my personality and what I need, which is kind of scary and concerning, but also it's helpful. It's really, really supportive and helpful. So I just highly recommend, I just highly recommend you checking it out. Okay, we are going to move over to the research of the week and this is an awesome study that one of my members, Dominique, sent over to me and it all I have to say is ADHD medication can save lives. And you know that I have touted the benefits of ADHD medication since the the beginning of this podcast in end of 2018, beginning of 2019. But I'm never going to stop. I'm just never going to stop. And so I will obviously link this article and the study in the show notes so that you can take a look for yourself. The study is really, really interesting. It's called ADHD Pharmacotherapy and Mortality in individuals with ADHD. It was published on March 12, 2024. It is about a year old and it's great. It's a really, really interesting study. So I'll post the article that I was reading from, which is from the Conversation.com and then I will also post the link to the study. And it says, could ADHD drugs reduce the risk of early death? And the answer is yes. Although ADHD medications can cause side effects, they generally improve symptoms for people with the disorder and thereby can significantly boost qual of life. And now a new study has found that being treated for ADHD with medication reduces the risk of early death for people with the disorder. I'm going to read that again. A new study has found that being treated for ADHD with medication reduces the risk of early death for people with the disorder. This is huge because in the last 10 years there have been two studies that I know of that have come out to say that untreated ADHD reduces life expectancy. And that's scary. That's really scary. Untreated ADHD reduces life expectancy and now here's an article saying, okay, sure, but ADHD medication can reduce the risk of early death. So that's amazing. It was a large study from Sweden and the results showed that people who were diagnosed and treated for ADHD had a 19% reduced risk of death from any cause over the two years of the study that they were tracked. Okay, here's a really interesting takeaway. The key result is that while no significant difference was seen between the two groups when examining natural causes of death, death, the authors found a significant difference for deaths due to unnatural causes. So what's going on? Okay. Previous studies have suggested that ADHD is associated with an increased risk of premature death from unnatural causes such as injury and poisoning. And I'm going to pause here and say, like, for obvious reasons, we're impulsive, we're distractible, we have poor working memory. It makes sense that if we are untreated, things are going to happen. Car accidents, all types of accidents. And this was interesting. Poisoning. In this new study, the authors suggest the reduction in deaths from unnatural causes could be because taking medications alleviates some of the ADHD symptoms responsible for poor outcomes. For example, improving impulse control and decision making. Duh. Like, no duh. It's just. Okay, it's. It's amazing that this study exists. But, like, why do we need a study to show this? But also, I'm really glad that the study exists. Okay, this is a good thing. This is a really good thing for us. It's so important that we understand the dangers of ADHD but also have the hope that this is the most treatable mental health condition. That's significant hope. That's amazing. Like, yes, having ADHD puts us at risk and that's a problem. And that can feel overwhelming and that can feel sad and hard. But if we are properly diagnosed and treated, it significantly lowers our risk, and that is a beautiful thing. Just a couple weeks ago, I also shared that in being diagnosed and treated for ADHD also lowers our risk of substance use disorder. That's wonderful. That's amazing. That is a very good thing. So I understand kind of like the dichotomy here between it sucks to have adhd, it sucks that we're dealing with this. It sucks that it's really, really hard. It sucks that we are at risk for so much more. It sucks that we're like, prone to alcoholism. It sucks that we are prone to poor decision making and under earning and divorce and all of these bad. That sucks. And it's also a wonderful, beautiful thing that we have medication and treatment that can help us and improve symptoms and reduce the risk of things like substance use disorder and premature death. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. And I've really prided myself in really not getting political on this podcast or in my coaching program. And I will continue to do that. However, I will say that it is extremely important to me that we continue to have access to the medication that we deserve to have. And if it ever looks like we will not have that access, I will be on the front lines fighting for you, fighting for myself, fighting for my children's rights to have. Have access to that medication. And I give you that promise from the bottom of my heart, from the very. From the depths of my soul. Okay. Did I make it awkward? I hope not. I hope you just feel supported. And I hope, like I said, I'm. I'm very hopeful that this is not a battle that we're going to have to fight. But if it is, I will be there on the front lines minds fighting for you a hundred percent. All right, folks, that is it for this week. It is a miracle that I got this recorded in the first place. When I think about sharing with you what triggered me this week, it's just all too personal. But let me just say that yes, I was triggered this week. I was triggered af. I think we are living in a very triggering time in history and I just want you to know that. Solidarity if you are struggling as well. I have been really implementing my emotional regulation tools, really trying to self soothe, really trying to be kind to myself, not consume too much media content and just be really gentle. And I hope that you are able to do the same. If you want to learn more about emotional regulation, especially as it pertains to parenting, join me for my free class on March 25th. You can sign up at I have ADHD.com freeclass I will teach you how to regulate your emotions and. And I think that is a skill that we all need real bad. I want to encourage you to be kind to the people around you, to be loving and empathetic and see the good in other people. Because there is a lot of good in the world. There is so much good in the world. And you might depending on where you are and kind of like what your perspective is, you may have to look pretty hard to see the good, but it is there. And so I just really encourage you today. Get yourself outside, get yourself into nature. Get yourself connecting with the people that you care about. Get yourself regulating your emotions and seeing the good in those around you because I promise you, it's there. I cannot wait to be with you again next week. I'm so proud of myself for recording this episode. It took herculean strength and I did do it. So I want to also encourage you to do the hard things to finish what you want to do to accomplish the things that you want to do. And like, avoidance is normal, but figure out how to get it done. I believe in you. I'm gonna see you next week. I can't wait. Bye. Bye.
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. 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 your. Focused is my monthly coaching membership where I teach educated professional adults how to accept their ADHD brain and 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 details.
I Have ADHD Podcast, Episode 306
Host: Kristen Carder
Release Date: March 11, 2025
In this solo episode, Kristen Carder explores the phenomenon of hyperfocus in ADHD. She dissects whether hyperfocus is truly a “superpower” or if it acts more often as a “sabotage,” candidly sharing personal insights, practical tips, and a nuanced perspective on this unique ADHD trait. Alongside community questions and up-to-date ADHD research, Kristen offers both validation and action steps for listeners striving to manage their attention and energy more effectively.
[06:45] - [10:55]
[08:45] - [13:20]
“Inevitably, I am 100% hungover the next day. Does anybody else experience this?”
—Kristen Carder, [13:32]
[09:25] - [13:24]
“We often hyperfocus on lower priority tasks... that's a problem, right?”
—Kristen Carder, [10:44]
[17:54] - [20:15]
“I want to empower you to put limits on yourself so that the cost of it is not detrimental to you... You are still eating, and you're still taking care of your basic needs.” —Kristen Carder, [18:41]
[20:15] - [24:00]
“Many of us will hyper focus to get out of and avoid the hard tasks... Ask me how I know.”
—Kristen Carder, [22:37]
[24:55] - [28:30]
Question from Libby (16): Difficulty with slow mental processing despite intellectual capacity.
“It sounds like you are so smart and you’re just doing your very best and still falling behind. So I want to really encourage you to lean on support.”
—Kristen Carder, [27:15]
[29:00] - [33:38]
“A new study has found that being treated for ADHD with medication reduces the risk of early death for people with the disorder. This is huge.”
—Kristen Carder, [30:44]
On Procrastination:
“I have delayed this recording as long as I possibly could... Sometimes you just have to use that deadline to, like, get you into gear.”
—Kristen Carder, [00:39]
On Fantasy Superpowers:
“If I had a choice, I would love to be able to adjust my attention. I would give up the ability to hyperfocus in a second.”
—Kristen Carder, [16:23]
On Community:
“The fact that like, ADHDers from all over the world get to be together in this community is just so heartening. It just makes my heart explode.”
—Kristen Carder, [03:04]
On Burnout:
“I suspect I can’t prove it, but I suspect this is because of how much I was able to hyperfocus the day before.”
—Kristen Carder, [14:56]