Translating ADHD: Journey Thinking – Staying Present When ADHD Feels Overwhelming

Hosts: Asher Collins (A), Dusty Chipura (B)
Date: October 6, 2025
Episode Theme:
This episode centers on “journey thinking” for adults with ADHD—a mindset that emphasizes staying present, being curious about the current moment, and detaching from the pressure of single-minded outcomes. Hosts Asher and Dusty share personal experiences, client stories, and concrete strategies for combating overwhelm, magical thinking, and all-or-nothing tendencies. Their goal is to empower listeners to reframe both struggle and success, fostering real, sustainable growth.

Main Themes and Purpose

• Defining Journey Thinking:
  Moving away from destination-focused, outcome-obsessed mindsets, journey thinking encourages ADHD adults to ground themselves in the present moment, become curious, and notice what’s actually happening now.
• Addressing Common ADHD Pitfalls:
  The episode explores habitual all-or-nothing thinking, magical fixes (“Once I X, then Y will happen!”), and negative self-stories that frequently trap people with ADHD.
• Building Resilience and Motivation:
  By reframing how we measure success and struggle, adults with ADHD can build self-compassion, see small wins, and create positive momentum even when perfection or dramatic change is out of reach.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Journey Thinking vs. Destination Thinking

[02:35 – 03:56]

• The Stepping Stone Metaphor:
  Asher paints the classic metaphor: Picture standing on a stepping stone in a foggy pond. Destination thinking is trying to flail toward an imagined outcome; journey thinking is staying put, gently lifting the fog to see the next step.
  • Quote: “Journey thinking is about being where you are, standing on the stepping stone, getting curious and trying to lift the fog enough to see what the next stepping stone might look like.” – A (03:20)
• The Power in Detachment:
  Letting go of “shoulds” or imagined destinations reveals unexpected possibilities.

2. The Challenge of Being Present

[03:56 – 04:18]

• ADHD brains are naturally drawn to “mental churning” and future-or-past thinking.
  • Quote: “Our brain always wants to skip over...what’s actually happening...it’s so hard to bring our attention away from all the should-dos and to-dos.” – B (03:56)
• Clients often arrive at coaching in a state of overwhelm, craving an immediate fix.

3. The Difficulty—and Value—of Staying with Discomfort

[05:42 – 07:08]

• Resistance to Being Uncomfortable:
  Journey thinking asks you to sit with discomfort—not to wallow, but to get curious about what’s possible now.
  • Quote: “Just because it’s uncomfortable doesn’t mean that there’s no opportunity to learn, to discover something new, to lift the fog a little.” – A (04:28)
• All-or-Nothing and Magical Thinking:
  Waiting for everything to resolve or for “the next solution” perpetuates self-defeat.
  • Quote: “If all you coaching is ‘Okay, I tried that and it didn’t work, I’m still not doing it…', you can be working with an ADHD coach and still have a really disempowering experience if all you do is keep trying the next thing.” – B (05:42)

4. Success and Struggle Can Coexist

[07:08 – 11:09]

• Reframing Success:
  Asher shares two mantras:
  1. “Well, I’m here now.”
  2. “What can I do?”
     These help unhook from “shoulds” and orient toward constructive next steps in the face of adversity.
  • Quote: “Success and struggle can and do go hand in hand. They are not mutually exclusive concepts.” – A (10:07)
• Small Wins Matter:
  Sustained, incremental progress often goes unnoticed when only big successes are counted.

5. Effort vs. Outcome: Recognizing Hidden Wins

[11:09 – 14:08]

• ADHD often splits apart effort and outcome, leaving people blind to their persistence and hard work if the result isn’t perfect.
  • Quote: “If I’m putting in all that effort over and over and not seeing the outcome, I’m liable to not count it at all. And that’s really demoralizing.” – B (13:16)
• Self-validation and credit for effort are essential for motivation and self-worth.

6. Measuring Against Personal Values, Not Just Outcomes

[14:08 – 20:49]

• Compare your journey to your own circumstances, not arbitrary external benchmarks.
• Asher gives examples: a client dismissing significant volunteer work as “not success” because it doesn’t fit a standard career path; attaching to goals out of desire and self-alignment versus “shoulds.”
  • Quote: “Does success have to look like a certain career path or a certain career title? Is there not success in what you’ve done here?” – A (15:32)

7. Reconnecting to “Why” Builds Resilience

[20:49 – 24:43]

• Real client stories highlight how rediscovering motivation (“why”) and making small, context-specific tweaks leads to big shifts.
• Even simple changes (e.g., managing Slack notifications, making a list of commitments) can transform work effectiveness and self-perception.
  • Quote: “Sometimes it’s not about making some big sweeping structural change… it’s just about getting back to basics.” – B (20:53)
• Memorable Metaphor: Dusty likens journey-thinking to putting ADHD challenges “under the microscope,” identifying the invisible germs (process hiccups) that really cause frustration.

8. The Role of Emotion and Gut Instinct in ADHD

[24:43 – 28:39]

• ADHDers are often “emotion-led.” Embrace this: gut feelings can offer creative, “middle ground” solutions.
  • Quote: “For three quarters of our session, we’re kind of weighing pros and cons… so I paused… 'If you had to decide right now, what would you do? What does your gut say?’” – A (25:52)
• Sometimes the right move is to wait, gather information, tune into genuine feeling, not just rush into a decision.

9. Journey Thinking Changes Everything

[28:39 – 31:20]

• The approach makes coaching (and self-coaching) more effective; creates room for “simple-but-not-easy” solutions to emerge at a humane, ADHD-friendly pace.
  • Quote: “With ADHD, simple and easy are not the same thing… finding what we needed to find to get that simple solution wasn’t easy because ADHD can make it really challenging to see what we need.” – A (30:28)
• Encourages self-compassion, experimentation, curiosity, and letting go of “shoulds” and immediate answers.
• Journey thinking is a long-term, iterative practice. Begin with small steps: “I’m here now. What can I do?”

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Stepping Stone Metaphor:
  “Journey thinking is about being where you are, standing on the stepping stone, getting curious and trying to lift the fog enough to see what the next stepping stone might look like.” – A (03:20)
• Mantras for Staying Present:
  “Well, I’m here now… What can I do?” – A (09:30)
• On Self-Credit:
  “One of the things I think is really helpful about journey thinking is bringing clients… their awareness to, like, how successful they already are based on what they’re already doing.” – B (13:35)
• Effort vs. Outcome:
  “If I’m putting in all that effort… and not seeing the outcome, I’m liable to not count it at all. And that’s really demoralizing.” – B (13:16)
• Emotion as Insight:
  “‘What does your gut say?’ All of a sudden, here’s this creative solution that allows a little time for more information.” – A (27:08)
• Letting Go of Shoulds:
  “We have this learned behavior of looking to others… we tend to just throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks and get frustrated rather than getting curious about what it is we need.” – A (30:25)
• Simple ≠ Easy:
  “With ADHD, simple and easy are not the same thing.” – A (30:28)

Key Segment Timestamps

• [02:35–03:56] – Stepping Stone Metaphor, introducing journey thinking
• [05:42–07:08] – All-or-nothing, magical thinking traps
• [09:30–10:20] – “I’m here now. What can I do?” mantras
• [11:09–14:08] – Effort vs. outcome; recognizing and honoring effort
• [15:32–17:20] – Measuring success by personal values, not just outcomes
• [20:53–21:40] – Small, personalized changes at work
• [24:43–25:52] – Coaching and the microscope metaphor
• [27:08–28:39] – Gut instincts yielding creative solutions
• [30:25–30:55] – Letting go of “shoulds”; simple ≠ easy

Takeaways for Listeners

• Success doesn’t mean the absence of struggle; the two go hand-in-hand.
• Recognizing effort—even without perfect outcome—is crucial for ADHD motivation and self-esteem.
• Stay curious about the present, especially when it’s uncomfortable or messy.
• Begin with small steps and gentle mantras to stay grounded (“I’m here now. What can I do?”).
• Let go of “shoulds” and measure progress against your own unique journey, not others’ benchmarks.
• Real change, clarity, and self-compassion develop when you are willing to look closely—and gently—at where you actually are.

Episode summary by Translating ADHD Podcast Summarizer