← The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business
The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business
888: ADHD Built My Business (But It Also Broke Some Things)
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Jenna Kutcher
Having things just very visual for me. Whether it's a checklist or a printed plan or a workbook, my brain often needs to see the work in order to want to engage with it. And so inviting these sorts of tools into my life has been super, super helpful. I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a $300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that even better than it looks, all from my house in small town Minnesota with my family. Here, we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work, and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain. Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical no fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired and empowered. This is the Goal Digger podcast. Do you know that feeling when you either say something or you post something and you immediately realize that you have just struck a nerve? Well, that's what happened with a carousel I shared on Instagram recently and it was called 10 normal things I didn't know were ADHD. And the post kind of blew up. Not because it was super shocking or really controversial, but because it was painfully relatable. Thousands of people were sharing the post. Hundreds of comments from women saying, wait, I do all of these or I've never felt so seen. Or Jenna, are you living in my brain? And honestly, same that post wasn't written from research or theory. It was my lived experience. In this episode, I am sharing the full backstory behind that post. How I accidentally discovered that I had ADHD at the age of 34 and how it shaped every part of my life, from business to motherhood to how I function. On a random Tuesday afternoon, we're going to talk about the signs that I missed for years where ADHD helped me build my business, where it quietly made things way harder, what I've done to try and support my brain since getting diagnosed, and what I wish more women knew. This is part story, part strategy, and part love letter to every woman who thought she was Just bad at life. Let's rewind that post and why it mattered so much. Okay, so I'm gonna guess that you missed my post because that's the nature of social media. So here's kind of a quick recap. So I created this carousel and it was titled 10 normal things I didn't know were ADHD. And then I said they felt like quirks or flaws, and turns out they were clues. Then I listed things like sitting in my parked car in the garage after getting home because transitions feel overwhelming, or eating the same meal obsessively for weeks, and then never wanting to touch it again, or needing background noise to focus, but then also getting super overstimulated by it repeating the same song on a loop for days. Because I just love knowing what's coming up next. It calms my nervous system. Or talking about the chair in my closet that's become this mountain of clean clothes that I just simply can't deal with or put back. Like, each one of these normal things sparked this wave of recognition. And again, I got all these messages. Like people were saying, like, I thought I was just lazy, or I've been masking this for years, or I had no idea that was a thing. And let me just say, this post was not meant to be diagnostic. It was meant to be a mirror. And for a lot of women, including me, it reflected something that we've never been able to name. Now, really quick, as I list out those things, I also just want to say these can also be symptoms of other things, like a dysregulated nervous system or a very busy life. And so I just want to call out and acknowledge that ADHD shows up differently for everyone. But there are specific things that can be linked to true issues that ADHD can exasperate. And so it's not just like the funny like, oh yeah, I eat the same breakfast every day. It's actually tied to specific traits that people that are neurodivergent have. So again, this is not meant to be diagnostic. I just simply want to share my experience because it has been so life changing for me. So here's kind of the funny story. So I once invited this ADHD expert. Her name is Tracy Otsuka, and she came onto my podcast and I'm going to link up her episodes because I also had her come back on the show after this and I just wanted her to come on the show. She sent in a pitch to the podcast. I thought it was fascinating. I didn't know much about ADHD and I was like, this is awesome content. So I had Tracy on the show. We're doing the whole interview. I'm doing it through the lens of just somebody who's curious and wants to learn more. And as soon as the interview ends, she asked me, she goes, so, when were you diagnosed? And I was like, wait, what? I haven't been. I've never been diagnosed. After we stopped recording, she gently said, jenna, I have listened to your show for a while, and a lot of the systems you've created in order to be productive are actually adaptations for adhd. And she said, I am not going to diagnose you, but I genuinely think you should check out and maybe get diagnosed yourself. Basically, this started a spiral in my life. I was Googling like crazy. I basically had this quiet unraveling that was actually becoming. And within a few months, I had a formal ADHD diagnosis at the age of 34. Now, this was so enlightening to me because I had never even considered that I had it. But what was so interesting is after that interview with Tracy and after that conversation, I started talking to my family members. And I remember. I can literally remember where I was sitting. I brought it up to my mom, and I was like, you know, I had this expert on, and we were talking, and then, like, a lot of the things she said made a lot of sense and all this stuff. And my dad from across the room goes, oh, yeah, I definitely had ADD as a kid, and I still have it as an adult. And I was like, wait, what? Come again? Like, we've never talked about this in my family. And then my sister was like, yeah, this actually really resonates for me as well. And it was just funny because it was something that my dad was like, this is, like, painfully obvious for him. But it was never something that was brought up and really never something that was pinpointed in us as kids. And looking back now, I can see, like, it was all there. Like, I was somebody who was a high achiever. I've always been that way. But I had to work super hard. Like, I had to fight for my achievements. I remember my brother. Such a smart person, just brilliant. He's so smart. I don't ever remember a day in his life that he studied. Like, I cannot picture him sitting at the kitchen table with a book open like, that guy. Like, things seemed to come easily for him where I was somebody who was, like, cramming and anxious about tests. To this day, one of my greatest challenges, I would say, is that I cannot trust my brain to hold on to information. Even since I was a kid, I had a lot of test anxiety. I would write things on sticky notes, I'd write things on my hands. I would write things everywhere because I had a lot of fear that I was going to forget things that were important. And I still have that today. Like, I will drive my team crazy because I'll have this random thought, and alongside of that thought is this fear that I'm going to forget this thought. And I just need to put this thought somewhere so that I know someone can keep it safe for me. And so, like, that is kind of how it was when I was a student. I would cram, just cram for exams. And then I would literally feel as I walked out of that classroom after the exam that I was just letting go of all the information. I can honestly feel like a visceral feeling of all the information just exiting my brain. Like, it is gone. It is done. I am somebody. I cannot sit regular in chairs. Like, sitting with my feet on the ground feels like punishment. I am a fidgeter. I change positions often. Like, I remember if I ever had to sit in the front of the classroom and I couldn't put my feet up on the basket on the desk in front of me. It was like, the worst. Like, I didn't know what I was gonna do. Even when I'm in a car, I sit with one leg up. Like, I just am constantly regulating with my body. At restaurants, I put my feet up like it is. I can't sit at high tops. It's just. It's just a thing. I am also somebody who. I have, like, a million ideas, a million thoughts. It's all very overwhelming. I have no idea where to start. And I have really, really, really. Over the last few years since getting diagnosed, I have learned and trained myself on, like, how to rest. Like, it is really hard for me. Rest takes just as much work as doing the work. And so in my brain, I'm like, I might as well get stuff done. And so I have had to learn a lot of these things. But now looking back, I'm like, yeah, there are a lot of signals that I was maybe struggling with this. And I either masked it well or it just presented itself in a confusing way. And honestly, back then, like, people weren't really looking out for this, especially with kids that were doing all right. And you know what's interesting is that, like, as a kid, I felt really sensitive. And I can see this in one of my children. Like, she is just a deep feeler. I was a Deep feeler. And as a kid, I just thought, like, I'm just too sensitive. As a woman, I just thought, like, I'm bad at balance. But it turns out that, like, the undercurrent under all of this is just a brain that works differently. And I didn't know that. I didn't know what I didn't know. And so it's been a really interesting journey. I would highly recommend if you are someone who suspects that you might have ADHD or you might be neurodivergent. For me, there is something in a diagnosis that just validates you. Like, it just makes you feel like you're not crazy. And for me, it has been incredibly helpful to just learn different tendencies and habits and things that maybe trip me up or that I maybe hated about myself for years and see, like, where this is coming from and also learn tools and strategies to try to affect it in a positive way. And so naturally, getting diagnosed has really allowed me to kind of reflect and, like, look back and be like, all right, where did this, like, totally help me? And where did this make things way harder? And so this is where I think things can get interesting. And here's maybe a plot twist. Like, ADHD didn't just make life harder. It helped me build the life I have now. And I think I'd be remiss to only acknowledge the parts where it's challenging, because it is challenging. But I think it's really powerful to look at all the beautiful ways that it's made me me. It's helped me to show up in this way. It's allowed me to build this business. You know, I am someone. I'm just naturally multi passionate. I have done a million things. It was funny, the other day, I was talking to someone and she kind of knew what I was doing at this stage of my career. But as we were talking, all of these different things that I've done in the past came up. And she was, like, trying to connect all the dots, from, you know, like, wedding photographer to watercolor artist to podcasting courses, like, writing a book, like, all these different things. And it was honestly kind of funny. Like, I have built a very multifaceted brand, and my brand is just naturally evolved as I've evolved, as my passions have evolved over time, which is honestly such a blessing. And so being multi passionate, having just, like, countless ideas, millions of ideas, a bajillion things, I feel like I could do, like, I could never be bored. And I think that that is a huge blessing. I also think that my adhd has really just helped me be super creative to see different possibilities, to do things in a different. I have been very intuitive throughout my entire life and so I feel like my brain is like constantly connecting dots and like looking for similarities and trying to really honor and follow like what I'm feeling and where I think I need to go next. I am somebody who thrives when it gets into a very specific thing. Like when I am launching something. Like hyper focus is my superpower. When I find something that I am excited about, it is the exact opposite of taking exams and cramming for exams as a child. It is like I can't consume enough. Like right now I am nerding out over welcome sequences for email lists. Yes, these are the things I nerd out about. And I am so hyper focused and excited and energized about this one specific thing that I am like diving deep and I'm doing research and I'm doing all these different things. And so ADHD can give you this like ability to hyper focus in on something that you get excited about. And maybe if you have adhd, you've noticed like all of a sudden you're going all in on this one thing. Like, you know, for me I've done a million things but like you might have noticed like all of a sudden I'm all in on sourdough and, and then I'm all in on gardening and, and I do all these things and I still do all these things in my real life so I didn't lose the steam on them. But I get like so into it where I'm like, I want to know everything about it, I want to do it, I want to experience it. Hyper focus. Yes. Amen to this. I also think my ADHD has helped me to take risks and like trust my gut. It's helped me to build a business. Before there was like a specific blueprint for what I wanted to do. And even to this day I feel it in my soul as I'm looking ahead of like, what do I want to do next and what do I want this next version in this next evolution to be? I feel like I have been able to take risks and I've been able to just trust my instincts and follow through and see creatively areas where I'm like, yeah, I can do that, I can step into that. Maybe before I'm ready, I'm going to try this. And so my brain, it's very scrappy, it's very solution oriented and I will argue it is wildly resourceful. Like I feel like I learned from my parents early on. Like where you lack resources you can be resourceful and I think that I have been able to do all of these things and so much more. Many parts in thanks to my adhd We've been eyeing up some new furniture pieces for a lake house and we have been loving Cozy because their furniture is amazing. Like it's so hard to choose because we love their vibe. It is clean, cozy and modern and it's seriously made for real life with a brand new puppy and two kiddos who love to climb on everything and snacks that somehow get everywhere. We need furniture that adapts to us, not the other way around and Cozy gets that. They make everyday home furnishings easy. Their pieces are modern, adaptable and worry free, which is honestly a dream when you are juggling a puppy and kids and just everyday life. What I love most about Cozy is how it opens up new home possibilities. Their modular designs literally grow with your life. 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There are areas where I'm like, I would never trade this brain for anything. And I still wouldn't, but there's always the other side. So I am someone who I get so excited, I cannot wait to start something. I am, like, all in ideating. I move fast, and I get annoyed when people don't move as fast as I do. But I also can struggle to follow through and finish things that I start. I saw this growing up with my dad. My dad is the handiest person I have literally ever met. He. I took for granted as a child that, like, my dad can fix anything. Like, literally, if it's something in the house, he can fix it. If it's a car engine, he can fix it. If it's the lawnmower, like, my dad is like a Swiss army knife. But he was so good because he would get so obsessed and excited about a project, and then sometimes he would struggle in finishing it up. Right. Like, we renovated our downstairs bathroom, and he did everything. I mean, it was absolutely insane. But then, like, the trim never fully got finished or the paint didn't totally get done. And so I am someone like that where, like, I get really excited. And I have learned to hire people that can help me finish what I start, that can take things across the finish line. When I lose steam or momentum or energy, I need someone to help me list out the things that actually get it out into the world. Like, Marissa on my team is my right hand. She is a type A angel. And I, when I first hired her, we struggled. Like, we struggled for a while because I am so type B. And Marissa came in just this ops genius. And I struggled because immediately when she came in her job, she was doing her job, which was to, like, create systems and structure around the company. And I was resistant to all of that because I was, like, flying by the seat of my pants. Now, Marissa and I joke that, like, our two brains create one because we're both raising kids and we're doing life, and we're also doing work together. But what's beautiful is that I am the person who, like, I come up with the idea, and I have the energy around it, and I get into creation mode. And Marissa helps get it to completion mode. And so I've had to learn how to work with people that can kind of wrangle my ideas and then put them into action. And along with that, I've also had to hire people that will challenge me, right? Because, yes, I am steering the ship, but the ship has the entire team on it. And I need people on my team where, if I get this idea and I just want to go full steam ahead, they have to remind me, okay, if we're going to do this thing, then the other thing that you said was important is not going to get done. And it really has to challenge me and my energy in a positive way to help me stay focused and to help me stay in alignment with what I say matters most. And so those things have been absolutely critical because basically, I picture it like a bowling alley. And these types of humans and boundaries are basically like the bumpers that keep the ball going straight down the path to knock down the pins. And without the bumpers on, you better believe your girl is landing in the gutter every single time. And so I look at, like, my business, especially since I became a mom and and realize, like, that in honoring the way that I can struggle and in hiring and allowing people to step in in areas that I don't shine, I have created a business that allows for so much more peace than if I was just constantly creating chaos. And I've noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs, and also entrepreneurs with adhd crave chaos. I am also someone who I can easily underestimate how long something will take, and then I can overload myself or unfortunately, overload my team, because I'm like, well, yeah, this is easy. Let's just get this done. Let's just knock it out. And so I am someone who can say, like, oh, this isn't going to take that long. I've got this. This will be fine. In reality, it takes way longer. I mean, it's kind of like if you're going to do a home renovation where they're like, double the timeline, double the budget. Same is true in business. I also realized that, like, for so many years, at the beginning of my business, I did not want systems. I didn't want structure, I didn't want meetings. I didn't want any of that. That felt so constraining to me. And I am someone who, like, I don't like having plans on my calendar because I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna feel next Wednesday. I don't know if I'm gonna want to do that, I am so, like, in my own energy that I'm like, I want to commit to things at the very last minute, which is not how life works, right? And so I. For a very long time, I didn't have any sort of systems. And so when I brought Marissa into my business, when I became a mom and realized I cannot keep running it like this and also be the type of mom I want to be, we started creating systems. And I have gotten so system oriented because I recognize that with my brain, systems are not just, like, a fancy thing. They help us survive, and they allow me to be more creative in my life and in my business because I have the systems and structure to follow through on the things that I need to do and that are going to get done. And so when I finally became a mom after all those years, the mental load of it, like, nearly broke me. Like, my brain never turns off. To this day, my brain does not shut off. And sometimes I can come at the mental load from this place of, like, urgency instead of presence. Like, my dream is to just be this, like, very grounded, very here, I'm in the moment woman. And I am. I mean, I've learned to do that much better than I have in the past. But in understanding that, like, my brain is going to be the busiest place to be, and I need to figure out ways and boundaries and systems to allow my brain to rest and to allow me to rest knowing that the important things are going to get done and. And everything's gonna be okay, that has allowed me to shift so much into a more mindful and present person. Because even when I think about the word present and being present, like, being present is like being in this moment right now. In this moment right now, I'm wondering, what are my kids doing? Is Drew okay? What are we eating for dinner? I forgot to respond to that rcp. Like, I. My brain is thinking of all these things even while I'm sitting here recording this right now. And so I have to, like, come back to myself and come back to my body. Even this morning, one of my daughters is having a tough moment, and I could tell she was just, like, feeling a lot again. Deep feelers. We've got deep feelers here. And so I sat down on the floor with her, and I was like, where do you feel this in your body? And she pointed to her chest, and I sat with her, and I was like, that's where I feel things, too. And so we put one hand on her chest, one hand on her belly, and I said, when you feel. Feel that. When you feel that, like, nervous feeling in your chest, the best thing you can do is to get back into your body and just remind yourself that you are safe. And so we sat there, and then my other daughter came over while sitting there on the floor. We have one hand on our chest, one hand on her belly. We're taking deep belly breaths. And I was like, a lot of times that, like, feeling that anxiousness comes when we're not grounded in our body. And I feel like that right there, just not only as a mom, but just as a human, was like a reminder of, like, the grounding work that I need to do, that I think we all need to do, whether you have ADHD or not, to just get back into your body and to get back into your moment and get back into your life. Okay, so let's talk about what's actually helped. I think it's really awesome to look back on my business and say, okay, these are the areas where I have been able to shine. These are the areas where I've struggled. But, like, now what? Right. People ask me this a lot. What helps? So here's kind of what's worked for me. And again, I am not a therapist. I'm not a psychologist. I am someone who has just had this lived experience. So first things first. I have personally chose to not medicate. It's something that I have not written off at all. It's not off the table. It's just something I haven't pursued yet. When I was first diagnosed, it was in between my daughters, and we were trying to figure out, like, when I was going to get pregnant again, breastfeeding and all this stuff. And I just didn't want to throw another variable into the equation. And so it's just something I remain curious about, but I have not done yet. Now, I have tried microdosing, and I have found it helpful in a really quiet way. I didn't know anything about microdosing. I learned about it from a friend who is incredibly passionate about it as a mom herself. And it's a rabbit hole you can go down if you so choose. I do find it helpful. I microdose on certain days when I just have a lot on my plate and I need to be more focused. It's not something you do every single day. It's just been interesting and I haven't really shared a lot about it because it can be slightly controversial. But for me, it's just been a path that felt a little bit more aligned and something I was curious about and willing to experiment with. But here's what's helped me the most. So one of the things that has helped me a lot is movement. And I used to be somebody who. I hated working out. I didn't crave it. I didn't understand it, because my husband is someone who, like, needed to work out. I didn't get it. I was like, I don't need to work out. I should work out. I don't need to. Now I feel that, like, even last night as we were going to bed, I was looking at my day today. I had a ton of podcasts, just a lot of work, and I was like, I've got to get a movement break in. And so movement for me has been incredibly helpful, even doing things like rowing, joining the rowing team last year, and I'm going to be doing it this year as well. When I am out on the water and all I can think about is my hand on the oar and how I'm going to be moving it and all the different things, I can't think about anything else. Right. I. I remember texting Drew last summer. I was out on Lake Superior. The sun was rising. I was in a solo rowing boat, and I was rowing, and I remember just texting him. Like, I don't remember feeling this happy or free in a long time. Not because I'm unhappy, but because I felt like my brain was able to just, like, fully relax. I feel the same way when I'm walking, when I'm gardening. It's like when I can keep my body busy and my brain can slow down. If you are somebody who has, like, impeccable shower thoughts, like, you have the best ideas in the shower. I've had people who listen to this podcast and they send me. They have, like, a drawing pad that is waterproof that they keep in their shower. If you are somebody like that, this is an interesting thing is because it's. You're busy enough that your brain is still kind of thinking about a task. Like, you're still thinking about, you know, washing your hair or sudsing up your body or whatever. So it's busy enough that you're not lost in your thoughts, but it's open enough because you know what you're doing and you've done it a million times to think of other creative things. And so what's helped me a lot is finding movement in ways that allows me to just kind of slow my brain down and be present in what I'm doing, but also just slow the amount of thoughts and the stream of consciousness down a bit. So movement has helped so much. It is something that I crave daily. It is something that I do daily now and in different ways. There are days where it's like chasing my kids is my movement. But most days I am in the gym, I'm moving, I'm walking, I'm doing things. I've even noticed for me, taking meetings while I'm walking. It helps me tick that box of, like, wanting to feel hyper productive all the time, which is something that I've just, just always had. But it also allows me to kind of slow things down because I'm still kind of thinking about walking on the treadmill. I don't want to land on my face. And so I do a lot of my meetings walking. And that has helped me not only get in my steps for the day, but also just kind of slow down. My brain. Therapy has been absolutely huge for me. Not just for support, but for exploring myself and, like, my inner world more. It has helped me understand patterns that I have. It has unraveled self belief. It has helped myself talk. It has helped me see and honor how ADHD has shaped my story. Therapy has been so transformative to me. I work with an incredible therapist. Her name is Ann Davin. Mel Robbins was my dear friend who recommended. I'd never done therapy before in my life. And oh my gosh, it has been so transformative for me. And what was interesting is, is that Mel and I were on a girls trip. We were talking about just a lot of deep stuff, and Mel was like, you know, I really think you would benefit from doing therapy, which, by the way, I think all of us would. And I started working with Anne and like, I have just learned so much about myself, about things that can trigger me, about things that are untrue that I've believed. Like, it has been just incredible. It's so incredible. I think my mom would be okay with this, but my mom is now doing therapy with Anne and, like, just seeing how powerful therapy can be. It's like this beautiful, beautiful honoring of who you are and what you've been through and walking through it. And I think I had all of these, like, Hollywood visuals of therapy, like, laying on a couch and, like, talking to somebody. It's not that. At least for me, it's not that. And so therapy has been amazing. I've also been really trying to focus on, like, deep work windows. So, like, even today, I have four hours of just straight up recording sounds. Exhausting. It is exhausting. But, like, this is the only task I need to do. We as a team are implementing like slack off hours as not in like slacking off, as in turning slack off and doing deep work so that we're not constantly pinged and pulled in a million directions. I've also been a huge person of like having the phone in the other room. We do not have our phones in our bedrooms. We've done this for probably a decade and I joke because I am trying to get to one tab open on my computer I recording this and There are probably 12 tabs open so you can see how well I'm doing on that one. But trying to like be more linear and like complete something from start to finish, which is probably my greatest Achilles heel. My team has been using Monday.com for years. It's how we manage launches, projects and all the moving pieces in our business. When we made the switch, everything changed. We went from scattered docs and slack chaos to a single space where everyone could see what's happening and when. 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Turn your big business idea into With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com gold digger go to shopify.com gold digger again, that's shopify.com gold digger. Living six hours away from Drew's family means that we often opt to meet in the middle and get Airbnbs for our get togethers. We've stayed in some pretty unforgettable places, like a house with an indoor pool, which was so fun for the Midwest. One where I discovered Drew's dad is a pool shark. And even a place with a hot tub that the kids refuse to leave. We've even celebrated holidays in these cozy homes away from home. And it got me thinking. If you've got a few trips on the calendar too, and your home's going to be empty, you should be hosting with Airbnb's co host network. You can have a local co host take care of everything they can manage guest messages, check ins and all the details for you. It's not about turning your home into a business, it's about making it work for you on the days that you're not in it. So if travels on your calendar, this is your sign to start hosting. Your space could be creating memories for someone else while you're off making your own. Find a co host today@airbnb.com host other things that have helped. And it's really fascinating because I have been talking about productivity tips since the beginning of the show, which is years and years and years ago before I knew I was diagnosed. But what's funny is, is that when I first presented these productivity things, I presented them as hacks, but truly they were like lifelines for somebody with adhd. So batch working has been something I've done for a very long time where, you know, I'll sit down and I'll write a batch of emails, I'll sit down and write a batch of blog posts. Figuring out like, what can I do? That is one task I have to set up once for time blocking. This has been huge for me. And even like with this show sitting down, like today is a podcast show. All I want to focus on is the podcast. Anything extra that gets done, great. But it's not required. Today is a podcast show, the Pomodoro Method. Having different little timers in my life. My kids keep stealing my cute little timers, and they use them for their quiet time. But, like, having a timer, setting it for 20 minutes and saying, I'll clean my closet for 20 minutes. Usually once I get going on something, I can keep going on it, but it's the starting that really is a struggle. And so, again, like, I presented these as, like, these are productivity hacks. Nope. They are just lifelines for somebody with ADHD who struggles to get things done. Another thing that's been really helpful is we got, like, a visual calendar. So we have a skylight calendar in our pantry. So having it color coded so that both Drew and I can see what's coming up, what's on my plate. I can see when work is too heavy. I can see when there's nothing on the calendar, which is a my favorite. Having things just very visual for me. Whether it's a checklist or a printed plan or a workbook, my brain often needs to see the work in order to want to engage with it. And so inviting these sorts of tools into my life has been super, super helpful. I feel like I have just continued to learn and honor. And one of the things that I think is interesting is that it's. If you are like me, if you are like me, you might not be like me. When I found out I had adhd, I was, like, set on, like, solving it. Like, I was just like, okay, I'm gonna just, like, figure this thing out. I figured everything out in my life. The thing that I think has helped me the most is seeing where I get stuck or where I get frustrated or where I fall short and just learning to, like, honor that and acknowledge it and not try to fix it and not try to, like, figure it out. So, like, for example, in my closet, one of my worst tendencies is, is that I will get dressed for the day. I'll wear an outfit for maybe a few hours. It's not dirty, but it just needs to be put away. And I struggle with that piece. I don't know what it is. I can start the laundry and get it into the dryer all day long. I can even kind of fold it. I'm good at that. I used to work at Abercrombie and Fitch. I'm a great folder, putting things away so fricking hard. So I ended up getting a second hamper in my closet where I just put all of my clean but need to Be put away clothes so that they're not just in a pile in my closet and they drive me nuts. And I see it and I like, feel like a slob. And it just like it eats at my soul. Another thing that I'm terrible at is time blindness. So I again underestimate how long something will take or overestimate, like, how much time I have. Like, I'll notice like, oh, my zoom calls in five minutes. Why don't I start a load of clothes and do the coffee maker and create cashew milk in five minutes and then I'm running five minutes late. And I hate that about myself. It happens all the time. So just recognizing these things and then kind of putting in little checks and balances of like, okay, you are seeing this as like you have a ton of time. You don't pick one thing. So I've just learned to like, understand how ADHD can present in my life. I've tried to see the areas where I'm just gonna straight up struggle. And then I've tried to put in systems and a lot of grace to help me overcome those things so that I don't have this like self hatred or just like this misunderstanding of myself of like, why can't you do something like open up the mail? Like right now in my house, there's a stack of mail, probably all good mail. It's probably junk mail. I can't open it. That I don't know. I don't know. I can't return things like bringing something back. I tell myself, I'm going to return this. I'm going to order five things. I'll keep two of them. Nope. Returns. Death of me. You are dead to me. So, you know, there's just a lot of things that I've learned and I've gotten in help and support in the areas where I struggle. Drew does all the returns. God bless him. So this leads me to my next part of my discussion, which is this. I think that when I posted my post, it was interesting because it resonated with a lot of people. And one thing that I've learned, especially about ADHD in women, is that a lot of women are getting diagnosed later and later in life. And a lot of women are getting, getting diagnosed when their children are getting diagnosed. So if you listen to Tracy Otsuka's story, she was bringing her son in to get evaluated. And as she's getting her son evaluated, the doctor looks at her and he's like, hi, it's you as well. It's not just your Son. And so a lot of women these days are getting diagnosed as their children are getting diagnosed, as awareness is being raised. I think that when we think of ADD or adhd, we often think of these, like, jumpy kids who are super disruptive, who are like squirrel and can't focus. But for women, it often presents differently. And so what's interesting to me is that as women are getting more diagnosed and as awareness is being elevated so that we can understand ourselves, we also have to learn how to discern. And here's something I'm learning. Not everything is adhd. The post that I posted, some people were arguing on it. Hey, this doesn't mean you have adhd, which, again, not a diagnostic post. But sometimes it could just be a dysregulated nervous system. Sometimes it could be chronic burnout or trauma or just motherhood or a busy season of life. The lines can blur. And I just want you to know that the lines can blur and the symptoms can overlap. And that's why just getting curious and not judgmental is the best place to start. It doesn't matter to me if you have ADHD or not. When you can start to do the inner work and explore why you are the way you are and why you do things in the way that you do them, and when you can start to honor who you are innately, that matters to me. It doesn't matter if you're neurodivergent or if you slap a label on it or not. When you start to understand how you work, how you think, how you show up, to me, that is the most beautiful work. I know that women have gone on to get diagnosed. After listening to this podcast, I get messages about it every single week of women who discovered that they had it and how it cracked them open and they learned about it. For me, that was my experience. I didn't even once think that I had it until I learned about it and I saw it. And now that I saw it, I can't unsee it. And so how do I move forward with this? And so if I could go back five years and just whisper something to myself, I would say, jenna, you're not bad at easy things. You just haven't learned how your brain works. Again, it's not about labels. It's about language. And now that I personally have it, I am building everything in my life with more compassion, with more intention, and with more clarity. So if you've been wondering, is it just me, maybe it's not. We are gonna link past episodes on ADHD in the show notes. If you want to keep exploring this, if you wanna go deeper, and if this resonated with you, send me a DM or share this episode with a friend who might need this light bulb moment. Sometimes it is easier to see ADHD in the people that we love than to see it in ourselves. There's a good chance that if this didn't resonate with you, there's somebody in your life who you're like, that's them, that's them. Send this episode to them. Help them to feel less alone. You are allowed to meet your brain where it is, not where the world told you it should be. So I hope you enjoyed this update on my ADHD journey. I will continue to share about it from my own lived experience. We'll link up all the past ADHD episodes in the show notes for you so you can go on a full blown binge. If this feels like an area that you want to continue to uncover, whether it's for yourself or for someone else. And above all, just thank you so much for hitting play on another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. Until next time, keep on digging your biggest goals and have a little empathy and compassion for you and the beautiful way you are and the way that your brain works. Thanks for pulling up a seat for another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. I hope today's episode fueled you with inspiration, gave you information that you can turn into action, and realigned you with your true north in life and business. If you've enjoyed today's episode, how head on over to gold diggerpodcast.com for today's show notes, discount codes for our sponsors, freebies to fuel your results, and so much more. And if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss a future show. We'll see you next time. Gold Diggers.