B (7:14)

So.

A (7:17)

Access boundaries that you know, that's controlling who and what gets your immediate attention, right? And we call this the stop, drop and roll in my book. Overcoming burnout. Because eventually operating like this is going to catch up with you. If you just drop everything for a thing or a person, then that's, that's, that's not sustainable. You can't just operate day after day and week after week and month after month in reaction mode. That gets super exhausting really quick. Now I'll say this because I do have some experience in this. If you work in customer service, so maybe you work on a restaurant, that might be a different conversation. However, that's your job, is to react, right?

B (8:08)

So.

A (8:11)

Those open door policies, those constant pings, your emails going off your slacks going off, whatever you use, if we allow it, that's just going to derail us super quick. And we can't just get derailed over and over and over again. We can't, we can't operate like that. So we need the structured check ins with people, we need filtered communication channels, otherwise we're just going to drown in that noise, right? We're going to drop the ball, we're going to miss our priorities. And as I said before, you know, when that happens over and over again, we lose a little bit of credibility and authority. So we also need to protect ourselves from ourselves. It's not just other people. We hear the email ping and our ADHD brain wants to jump on it, right? So we can set some of those access rules, but we also need to follow them ourselves. And I believe that's a bit of a muscle that we do need to build up. So now isn't this funny because some of us jump on emails as soon as you hear the ping, right? Other people ignore emails for days on end, right? And that's adhd, my friends.

B (9:38)

So.

A (9:40)

Some of those decision making boundaries as well is something that, you know, I think are kind of non negotiable. They got to be a part of our life. We can delay non critical decisions, we can delegate if at all possible. And I don't think this is procrastination, this is Strategic delay. And I know many of us have decision fatigue, but many of us also feel like we need to decide something right here and now. And again, the ADHD brain is a funny thing, right? But sometimes those things can be delayed impulsivity that can lead to rushed choices, it can hurt our kind of long term strategy and it actually can throw a wrench into any type of plan that maybe we already put in place for the day. So maybe we had good intentions, but without setting boundaries on a number of level, number levels that you can get to five o', clock, six o' clock and you have no idea what you did, right? So not that I know anything about that, but that's probably going to sound familiar to you.

B (10:52)

So.

A (10:53)

All right, the commitment. Boundaries. It's the word no, right? Okay, say no or not now to some opportunities, like outside of your top priorities. You know, adhd, it comes with not only enthusiasm, which I think is cool. Okay, there's nothing wrong with that, but there's a little bit of people pleasing in there as well. And that leads to so many of us being over committed. And when you have some type of commitment boundaries or kind of ground rules for what you're going to commit to, this prevents us from, you know, all these things that suck the energy out of us. It reduces the, the potential for broken promises and again, reputation. I have had things over the years where I had to back out of and it was not a good feeling and it sounded good at the time.

B (11:56)

So.

A (11:57)

And this is also why it's important for us to establish our priorities, whether it's daily, a longer term, and if you're asked to do something and it doesn't totally fit into your lane, so to speak, it's a good idea to say no. Or at the very least say that you'll think about it again. Some opportunities do come up that are going to help you professionally. So you need to choose what you're going to say yes to very carefully. Boundaries around you, your health, your energy, you need to prioritize sleep, you need to prioritize hitting the gym, at the very least taking a walk and recovery from your job or, you know, long stretches of work, etcetera, etcetera. We, those of us with adhd, especially in our busy demanding roles, those symptoms that maybe are the negatives of adhd, those can be magnified when we're tired, we're stressed out, and those of us in any type of leadership position, executive position, who sacrifice those, the physical health, the mental health, we hit those cognitive and even emotional Limits, right? So protecting our energy is going to actually help us be good at what we do and not get burned out. I truly believe that those of us with ADHD can burn out harder and faster because of just the way our brains work. So we need to protect that. Next, let's talk about, very quickly ground rules on relationships and boundaries. We can't tolerate toxic, disrespectful, or those draining relationships. And this, this is, you know, everything. This can be other people in leadership positions in your organization, it can be clients, it can be team members, etc. So, you know, you need to have respectful dialogue if you're working in a larger organization. And that goes the same for if you're a business owner or entrepreneur. Toxic clients are actually going to make you feel burned out.

B (14:36)

So.

A (14:38)

Being surrounded by toxic people is, I think, a big factor in us feeling burned out.

B (14:44)

So.

A (14:46)

We'Re sensitive to that emotional friction. Right? And toxic people around us just drain our bandwidth and our capacity and they just kind of absolutely derail our momentum. So enforcing those is going to safeguard, you know, our mental health a little bit. So another big phrase that we talk about in overcoming burnout, and you can find that on my website or just go to overcoming burnout.net or go to Amazon and look for overcoming growing out. Is that one of the key phrases is we train people how to treat us and you might not even know you're doing it. Okay? But if we're letting behavior that doesn't align with our values and is exhausting us and is toxic, it's going to continue because we've allowed it to continue. So. So you can mitigate this diplomatically. And I think there's a big difference between being aggressive and assertive. And we can be assertive in saying that we're not going to tolerate certain things.

B (15:58)

So.

A (15:59)

And lastly, technology boundaries, right? We got to limit some of the tech use, you know, limit that unscheduled tech use. Right. I know a lot of us like to maybe sit down at night and who knows, maybe we eat dinner or dinner, maybe we would just watch, you know, TV or Netflix and, you know, what have you. But I gotta, I think we gotta scroll back, you know, pull back on that a little bit. And not just scroll and scroll and scroll. One, it's just diverting our attention to other things. But two, just, there's just so much stuff on social media lately that just, we just don't need to consume.

B (16:45)

So.

A (16:46)

And I think that's important to be able to not only train ourselves to not be so distracted, but not just consume so much negativity. And I think you know what I'm talking about the political environment and what have you and people fighting online.

B (17:06)

So.

A (17:06)

But you know, I think the other things like if you can, if you can get away with it, maybe like no phones and meetings, etc. Etc. You, you be the judge of it. You need to identify where technology is, maybe getting in your way and work a little bit to, to correct that, so to speak. So it's not so much of a burden. I know that is harder than, than it is said for many of us, but I think it has to be. One of our goals is to set some boundaries up around technology. So anyway, hey, that is my take today on being a busy executive leader, owner, entrepreneur with adhd and how we need to not only protect ourselves from others and things and information, but protect ourselves from ourselves. If you sound like the person I described, that's the audience of this podcast. Busy executive. I've said it a bunch of times because that's who we serve, then I would love the chance to help you work on some things. If you feel like you need somebody by your side, you feel like you can't do it alone, you need some guidance. I want to be there for you. So just go to overcoming distractions.com, hit that button right on the top of the homepage. Book a 50 minute chat with me and let's see if we're a good fit. All right, we'll catch you next time.