ADHD Coach Katherine Sanders
Does building habits as someone with ADHD feel like you're herding cats?
Join ADHD coach Katherine as she explores a playful, perfectly possible approach to "firing up" productive habits, inspired by the celebrated potter Josiah Wedgwood.
You'll discover:
Katherine shares practical tips like starting tiny, using external cues, and finding meaningful rewards. Her key message?
Embrace the journey - even Wedgwood's iconic glazes involved many "failed" experiments.
Listen for an energising new perspective on habits and ways to make them stick while honouring your ADHD brain!
Connect with Katherine here:
Blog post: ADHD & Time 'Agnosia' (blindness): https://lightbulbadhd.com/blog/adhd-time-discounting-blindness
Podcast episode on time: https://pod.fo/e/20b52a
Learn more about Josiah Wedgwood and his experiments: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1715422/trial-tray/
My favourite AI tools to play with: this Canva link opens a PDF which you can save and download.
Hello my friend, it is ADHD coach
Katherine here again with ADHD, powerful
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:possibilities, exploring the edges
of what is possible for all humans
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:with ADHD and thinking in terms of.
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:Possibility rather than productivity,
which is ironic because today's episode
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:is all about time, how to handle our time
rather than manage it, the exploration
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:of playfulness and experimentation
and a tiny bit about Habits.
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:Yes, I said habits, the five letter
word that is second only to the four
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:letter word goal in making many people
with ADHD shudder and run away in shame.
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:Please don't run away.
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:We've got some really fantastic
information about habits
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:coming up and I am looking
forward to sharing it with you.
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:I want to say thank you so
much for the great feedback
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:on the procrastination episode.
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:I think it's a really important one,
especially at this time of year.
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:We're in Q2 many people with businesses
or who are teaching, who are organizing
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:other people, are feeling a bit anxious
it's already the end of April:
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:And maybe you're thinking, why?
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:Do I feel like I'm always
busy and nothing gets done?
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:Or why do I keep putting things
off when I've got so much to do?
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:This week, the episode is generally
about time and how we interact with it.
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:I know that I keep wanting to say
time management, But I don't mean time
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:management in the traditional time and
efficiency sense, when you think of
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:time and planning and productivity,
which is another word I'm not very fond
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:of, many people with ADHD immediately
start to feel the same kind of shame
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:and guilt we feel with procrastination.
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:So I wanted to bring that in.
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:As a follow on from our discussion
about procrastination, which
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:involves a lot of saying should,
a lot of shame and a lot of guilt.
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:There are, episodes on time and
dealing with time back about
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:10 episodes ago from this one.
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:And I will include a link in the show
notes to the previous episodes about
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:time and why time is so confusing for
people with ADHD and what it is that we
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:experience when we talk about things like
time blindness or now, not now thinking.
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:But you've probably heard all of that.
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:And you understand that
time is now or not now.
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:You understand that you find
it difficult to estimate how
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:long things are going to take.
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:You understand that one of the ways to
get things done is to break it down.
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:It's still hard.
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:What can you do?
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:This week, we're going to talk about some
more advanced ways to think about it.
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:And when I say advanced, I don't mean
you need to have a degree, in any sense.
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:It's the idea that Basic understanding
of time, which is a number of minutes
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:per hour, and what we can accomplish in
that, isn't really enough if you have
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:ADHD, and it's certainly not enough if
you're trying to do something remarkable
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:with your time, whether you are a
business owner, a creative, or not.
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:A parent, a teacher, it doesn't matter.
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:If you want to do something meaningful
with your time, simply knowing how many
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:minutes are in the hour and how long
something takes isn't going to be enough.
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:And one of the reasons we find time and
time management difficult is because
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:the tools that have been invented for
it so far often rely on a neurotypical
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:way of managing information and data.
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:And for many of us
that's just not helpful.
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:We may be much more visual,
we may struggle with numbers,
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:we may find the whole idea of
measuring it Just too much effort.
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:It's another job on top of
what we're trying to do.
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:So we don't try to measure time.
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:And then the time, as one of my
clients said, the time slips away.
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:We have time slippage where an hour can
disappear in what feels like five minutes.
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:Even if we're not doing
something that we really enjoy.
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:I have been experimenting on your behalf
with some artificial intelligence tools,
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:which I'll talk about in a minute.
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:And then I want to talk a little bit
about the value of experimentation.
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:And this is a slightly
different way to think about it.
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:And it's a bit of a story,
which I hope you will enjoy.
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:And finally, when we get to the habit
part of it, I hope you will hang around
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:and not feel like, this isn't for me, I
can't make a habit, it's not relevant.
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:Again, this could be the time that
the information will be relevant.
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:make sense and you suddenly discover,
oh, wait a minute, I'm not saying that
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:this is going to solve your problems,
but it might help you to work out how
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:you are going to solve your problems,
which is what coaching is about.
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:You would have to have been living
under a rock or in a cave Up in the
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:mountains, not to have heard of artificial
intelligence tools like chat GPT, Gemini
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:or Claude, whatever they're calling it
now, and newer tools like Kin AI, ones
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:that form conversations, conversational
model, and there are whole books.
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:Reams of books written about how to use
chat GPT to get any kind of information
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:about the problems with using AI.
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:Coming at it from a neurodivergent
perspective, I would say I think
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:it's one of the most exciting
opportunities for us in many years.
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:And I will explain.
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:When somebody says to you, I want you to
do this task, and your brain automatically
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:jumps to the end result, The common
advice is to break it down into steps.
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:What we hear is I'm going to give
you 50 tasks instead of one, and
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:we switch off, we give up, or we
get through the first two or three
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:and think, no, I'm not interested.
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:What I've been doing with ChatGPT, I've
been using the OpenAI model, GPT 4,
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:which is the paid subscription, mainly
because I can talk to it for longer,
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:I have been asking it to help me break
tasks down into chunks and then within
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:each chunk go through each step and I'm
using it to ask questions and say does it
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:make sense to do the steps in this order?
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:What would happen if I
tried it in this order?
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:And I'm using it as an external brain.
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:I'm using it as a verbal whiteboard
because you can talk to it.
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:which is slightly less
effective than the typed input.
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:But instead of having 50 tasks,
I'm breaking it down into three
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:to four stages or chunks, and then
looking at each one individually.
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:And the other thing that I've been
doing with AI is asking it to help
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:me design a daily routine for myself.
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:I really struggle with routines.
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:My family has a wide
variety of things going on.
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:We quite often have a routine
that changes from day to day.
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:So how can I possibly create a routine?
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:I've been working with
chatJPT to design a framework.
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:Within which, lots of things can move
around, but I have some cornerstones
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:that are Built in there, but can
be moved within the framework and
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:playing with different models.
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:What does it look like on
a day when there's school?
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:What does it look like on a day
when people aren't feeling well?
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:What would it look like if I
was by myself for three weeks?
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:All these different options and
talking it through with ChatGPT,
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:not only does it give me ideas.
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:That I might not have thought of back.
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:I can move things around and
nobody gets offended because
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:there's no agenda involved
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:instead of asking a friend for advice.
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:I just asked ChatGPT and if I don't
like it, I say no, I don't want to
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:do that, give me another option.
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:That is quite liberating for this middle
aged people pleaser who still finds
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:temptation to make people happy even if
the advice they offer is not ideal for me.
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:So I will include a list in the show notes
where you can get a download of the free
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:chat Favourite AI tools I've been using
and playing with as somebody with ADHD.
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:It's completely free and it's just a
way for me to say, go and have fun.
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:See what you can do.
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:And now we're going to talk about
experimentation and that's partly
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:what I've been doing with this AI.
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:I've been experimenting and seeing
how far it can go and it does come
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:out with some absolute nonsense
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:And one of the reasons that
experimentation and adaptation are
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:really important whenever you try
something new with ADHD is that
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:how it presents in each person, the
circumstances of each person's life
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:and their needs and ability will vary.
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:So there's no one tool that will
work for every single person
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:with ADHD, but there are We also
struggle with cognitive flexibility.
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:That's one of the executive
functions that is affected by ADHD.
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:And so we tend to look for absolutes.
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:We want the right answer.
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:We want the one and done solution.
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:It's partly to do with our education
system, but it's also to do with our
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:brains, which is why I mention it here.
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:And when we're asked to be flexible,
it can be really difficult because It
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:affects all of our executive functions.
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:We're asked to hold different options.
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:There's working memory.
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:We're asked to think about possible
futures, which is our planning,
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:our prioritising, which is affected
if different things are happening.
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:So I can understand why it's very
difficult when we experiment.
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:Really interesting things happen.
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:I'm going to tell you the story
of Josiah Wedgwood and bear with
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:me because this is very relevant.
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:Josiah Wedgwood was born in
:
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:experimenter, I would say.
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:Not only did he campaign for
the abolition of slavery,
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:But he continuously experimented and tried
hundreds and hundreds of recipes for each
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:glaze that his factory became famous for.
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:If you've never seen Woodward Pottery,
it's typically pottery with the white
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:figures is inspired by neoclassical
Greece and Rome, which was incredibly
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:popular in the 18th century.
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:But what Wedgewood did was, as soon as
he perfected one glaze and it became
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:popular, he would move on to the next one.
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:And the next one, and the next one,
whether it was cream glaze, jasperware,
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:a green glaze, it didn't matter.
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:He would move on to the next one
as soon as someone copied it.
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:And once he understood how to
make the production of his pottery
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:efficient, he thought, how can
I make the sales more efficient?
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:And when that was working, how can
I make distribution more efficient?
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:almost pioneered some of the very first
experiments in sales catalogues in sailor
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:he, he pioneered things like direct
mail, selling directly to the customer.
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:He was offering a money back guarantee.
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:He offered free delivery and
even illustrated catalogues.
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:Wedgwood experimented I tried new things
all the time need both for experimentation
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:and for openness to recording the results.
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:He didn't hide away.
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:The fact that he was failing, if you
look at his notebooks, you will see that
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:each mistake is meticulously recorded.
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:I don't expect you to have to do
that, but it is really important to
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:get some data about what is working
and what isn't working, because the
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:other aspect of ADHD, that can affect
our ability to experiment and develop
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:our own way of working is our memory.
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:And although he was the fifth
generation of Potters in the Wedgwood
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:family, he was the one that committed
most radically to experimenting.
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:And the reason I've spent a few
minutes talking about Josiah Wedgwood
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:is because all of the information
that you get from me or from anybody
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:else about ADHD needs to be looked
at through the lens of your ADHD.
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:And that means you're going to
have to experiment and adapt
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:things so that they work for you.
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:Whether it's a different app,
a planner, a whiteboard, even
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:a way of thinking about things.
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:If we expect to get things right first
time, we're going to avoid taking action
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:because we know it's almost impossible
to get things right straight away.
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:And learning to experiment,
adapt, fail and keep going is
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:the key to growth with ADHD.
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:So having explained all about
experimentation and why I want you
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:to play and get used to failing and
trying again, let's look at time
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:and habits with a different Agenda.
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:In the past episode talking about
time, I looked at what I call
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:standard time interventions,
things like externalizing time,
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:using different planners, using
whiteboards, using time timers,
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:these visual timers, using
your watch to set alarms and
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:reminders, which I do all the time.
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:These are Foundational ways to
experience time for somebody who
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:has issues with working memory,
planning, prioritizing and so on.
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:But there comes a point where
we want to go further than that.
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:We may always need those
scaffolds around us.
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:The external structure, which
is something that I rely on,
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:but we want things to
start to become easier.
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:And one of the ways that most
people try to make things
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:easier is by forming habits.
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:A habit is simply a set of behaviours
that has been repeated so often, it's
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:become automatic and almost unconscious.
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:Because habits are really powerful,
people who care about them.
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:Maximizing their time, being time
efficient, or who want to fit more into
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:their days, to get very excited about
habits because it's a way to reduce
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:the mental load, the decision fatigue,
and the time it takes to process each
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:of those steps to achieve an outcome
that you might want to do every day.
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:How do we form a habit in the first place?
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:Let's get down to the level of your brain
before we think about what a habit is.
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:Inside your brain there are a group
of structures called the basal ganglia
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:they store and they recall A repeated
group of behaviours or actions
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:that are repeated frequently and
the reward that comes with them.
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:That's the key.
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:There's no such thing as a
behaviour without a reward because
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:otherwise why would we do it?
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:The reward can take many different
forms of course but as you can
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:already tell people with ADHD might
find it a little bit more difficult
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:because we have a reward deficiency.
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:Dopamine cells do not respond in the
same way as non ADHD brains because we
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:don't get the same boost of dopamine
in anticipation of the reward.
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:And that's why when books talk about
the habit loop, you might think
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:there's something wrong with you.
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:Because the loop of the cue, the thing
that starts the behaviour, action, the
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:behaviour of the habit, and then the
reward, isn't enough in itself, for you
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:to take on that behaviour and for it
to become an automatic habit or action.
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:Because we have problems with working
memory, with impulse control, with self
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:awareness, with planning and organising,
all of these things are involved around
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:the structure and formation of a habit.
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:So from the get go, from the very
beginning, people with ADHD have to
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:work harder to make habits stick.
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:They can stick but they need a
different way to set things up.
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:One of the difficulties with standard
habit advice is our reward policy.
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:Processing is different and that's
because we almost always prioritise short
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:term reward over long term goals way
more than our peers of a certain age.
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:We've all seen the marshmallow experiment
where very young children are told they
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:can have two marshmallows now or if
they wait 10 minutes they can have 5.
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:9 times out of 10 the kids have
the 2 marshmallows now because
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:why would you wait longer for
these imaginary marshmallows
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:when there's 2 in front of you?
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:Brains are very like that.
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:If we can have some pleasure, enjoyment,
some comfort, some satisfaction now,
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:we will choose that almost every time.
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:It's one of the reasons I'm
currently about 50 pounds overweight.
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:Because habits rely on the reinforcement
of a delayed reward, and sometimes
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:that reward can be a month, six
months, a year in the future,
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:people with ADHD are going to
find motivation to keep going with
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:that habit much more challenging.
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:We also prefer a bit of novelty.
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:We like to change things up.
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:We find routine and consistency
more challenging to stick to.
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:And that means that the other
elements of routine, repetition,
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:are also affected by our ADHD.
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:Even though It matters to us a great
deal to form some of these habits,
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:for example, learning to brush your
teeth twice a day and do it without a
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:parent or someone else to remind you.
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:It really matters to us.
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:Even then, it can be a
challenge to stick to.
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:So much more so when it's something like
remembering to put money away for your
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:tax at the end of the week, remembering to
send out your invoices, doing your filing,
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:all the admin type tasks that business
owners have to do for the end of the year.
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:364 days of the year.
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:That's in the future.
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:It's not relevant to right now.
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:I hope you can see that your brain
and not you as a person is what
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:makes forming a habit more difficult.
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:We know that habits are helpful
because they save us repeated time
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:of thinking through each step in a
process and having to hold it like
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:a live object in your hands instead
of having it done automatically.
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:So what can we do when we
need to build these habits?
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:I'm going to explore a few options for
you to play with, and I do mean play with.
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:I want you to experiment and
see which ones are easiest
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:for you to take in this week.
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:So first of all, When we think
about habits, we tend to go big.
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:Go big or go home could be
the ADHD motto generally.
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:And because we have these great big
goals, the habits to get us there.
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:are really challenging.
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:Not many of us could commit to the type
of consistent behavior that will help
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:you run the London Marathon in under
a year from couch to 5k to 26 miles.
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:Start small sounds boring.
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:I said it, it sounds boring and
that is the challenge many people
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:with ADHD face when I say to them,
what can you do today that takes you
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:one step closer towards that goal?
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:They're not interested
in taking the small step.
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:However, when we look at things like
ocean liners, an ocean liner going at
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:72 degrees in one direction is going
to end up in a very different place to
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:the liner that's going at 71 degrees.
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:And I'm making this up because I know
nothing about ships because I get
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:sick watching films about the ocean.
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:But that one degree is going
to make a huge difference.
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:It could be hundreds of miles apart.
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:When I say think small, picture
that ocean liner and think about
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:the smallest possible thing that
you can do without effort today.
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:The reason that small actions are
important is because I want you to
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:celebrate each of them as a success.
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:When you celebrate the small
stuff and it goes well, Reinforces
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:that you can make changes.
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:Other changes feel easier and it helps
your brain to anticipate a reward, a
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:celebration, which is the next step
when you do something small instead of
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:berating yourself for not doing something
when you had promised that you would.
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:The second thing to add in is flexibility.
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:Quite often we think, I have to
do this activity five days a week.
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:If I don't, it's worthless.
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:I have to do this exercise from
beginning to end or It's pointless.
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:There's no reason to
celebrate doing any of it.
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:Any action is worth taking if
it points you in the direction
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:of where you want to go.
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:And part of a routine matters
because it's the action that
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:is going to take you there.
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:Doing part of the routine is
important because it's the fact
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:you were committing to the action,
not how much of it that you did.
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:Showing up.
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:is what matters.
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:Taking any action is what matters,
not how much of it you did.
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:Of course, if you can do more, wonderful.
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:For example, today I did about
half of my weight routine at 7.
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:30.
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:I just didn't feel strong enough.
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:But I'm really proud of
myself for doing half of it.
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:because it's a lot better than none.
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:If you want to walk five miles a day,
celebrate walking one mile, because
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:that one mile is better than zero.
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:The next step to make inhabit
formation easier for you is the
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:external cues and the structure.
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:Now, we know working memory, all of
that stuff, all of the ADHD traits,
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:make it harder for us to remember.
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:Think about external
cues that work for you.
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:Now, I know that you probably have
many reminders on your phone or
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:on your watch that you ignore.
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:If they work for you,
by all means, use them.
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:You might want to experiment with using a
different tune for different activities.
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:For example, I play a James Brown
tune, Get Up Off Of That Thing,
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:when it's time to do my exercises.
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:I have my trainers on the treadmill
in the morning, that prompts me when
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:I go to the bathroom in the morning,
see my trainers, I think, Oh okay, I'm
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:going to go there and come back and do
five minutes, literally five minutes on
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:the treadmill just to wake myself up.
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:So forming your environment to
support the behaviour that you
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:want is going to be a really big
help when you have an ADHD brain.
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:The next thing is rewards.
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:Now, if you have dopamine deficiency,
which is what A DHD really is, a reward
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:is gonna have to be almost instant.
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:And if you're trying to save
up for something, can you
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:put something away daily?
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:Instead of saving it up for the end
of the month, even if it's one pound
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:away every day, that is going to be
much more reinforcing for your brain
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:Think about what small, immediate reward
is available for you and really focus
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:on it as a reward to help reinforce
that loop of behaviour, the habit.
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:And finally, When it comes to
mistakes, problems and setbacks,
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:we know they're going to happen.
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:We are humans, we live in a world
where stuff happens all the time.
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:It could be your dog needing
to go for emergency x rays.
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:It could be your car not
having a charged battery.
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:All of these things are
going to get in your way.
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:Account for them in advance and accept.
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:You are going to be imperfect, your
efforts will be imperfect, but treat them
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:the same way as Josiah Wedgwood treated
all those failed experiments in his kiln.
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:It's just data, it's just
information, it's feedback.
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:It's got nothing to do with your worth
as a human being or how successful
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:you're going to be in the end.
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:In fact, I would say that if you
can persist in spite of the failure.
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:In spite of the setbacks, you are much
more likely to succeed in your habit
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:long term, whatever it may be for.
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:And that brings me to the three main
problems we're likely to face, apart from
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:the everyday getting in the way stuff.
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:First of all is consistency.
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:And lots ADHD say to me,
I'm just not consistent.
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:And when I don't do it
once, I never go back.
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:This kind of black or white, all or
nothing, is very typical of ADHD.
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:A lot of people think of it with
autistic behaviour, but actually
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:it's equally common in ADHD.
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:Think in terms of
persistence, not consistence.
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:I don't know if that's a, an actual
word, but it's more important
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:that you are persistent and you
continue to pursue your ultimate aim
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:than doing it every single day.
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:Of course, there are instances where it
would be ideal if you were able to take
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:the action every day, maybe twice a day.
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:Ultimately, it's more
important that you keep going.
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:And that you give yourself
permission to miss a day and go back,
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:persistence is more
important than consistency.
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:And when it comes to motivation again is
an ADHD challenge because it requires us
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:to think about doing the same thing over
and over again and that motivation that
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:we often had to begin with, it wears off.
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:When that strikes, think
about your meaning.
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:Okay, I mentioned last week the
Machine, Mind and Mission model
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:from ADCA, and your mission is
your vision, what gets you there?
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:What gets you up in the morning?
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:It's one of the questions
that my coach asked me.
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:What gets you up in the
morning to do your work?
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:There are ways to think about the
meaning of what you're doing that
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:somehow change how motivation feels.
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:It's no longer just about keeping a streak
on your app or a cross on your calendar.
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:It's about who you're going to be
when that habit becomes a part of you.
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:How will you be in the world
and who can you become?
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:Think about the meaning and the value
of that habit and not just the what.
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:And finally, again, setbacks happen.
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:Anticipate it.
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:Accept it's going to happen and
know that the most important
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:thing is that you roll with it.
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:You learn to adapt.
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:You might need to move the time
that you go for your walk or
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:the day that you do your admin.
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:All of these things that we
are trying to make into habits
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:may need to change and adapt.
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:It's very rare that we can't
get back up and try again on a
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:different day or in a different way.
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:Remaining flexible and knowing that we
will find that flexibility uncomfortable
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:but manageable is an important part.
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:Building your self awareness
generally with ADHD.
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:And the biggest changes I've seen in
the clients who have great success in
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:coaching are the ones who have that self
awareness and who recognize things like,
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:I find being flexible difficult, this
feels uncomfortable, but Actually, this is
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:amazingly empowering because I know I can,
those are the clients who learn to coach
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:themselves through the sticky points and
get back up and deal with the setbacks.
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:Because when we want to change our habits,
when we want to make something automatic,
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:when we want to reduce the mental load,
the noise, the decision paralysis, the
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:decision fatigue that we experience.
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:We are going to experience some discomfort
while our brain changes around that habit.
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:And that's okay
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:it's all part of our journey.
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:It's not a destination.
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:And The tendency to think of, this hurts
right now, so I can't keep going, is very
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:much connected to not remembering our
bigger vision, the meaning, why we're
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:doing it, and who we want to be when
it's become part of our daily routine.
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:So having had a good think
about how you're going to be.
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:Exploring and playing with these
different techniques and adapting them
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:for yourself, having understood that
your brain wiring makes these challenges
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:more present for you than somebody else,
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:and understanding that you're
going to have to personalise
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:and keep personalising things so
that they work perfectly for you.
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:I would love to hear from you about
What is the habit that you have
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:struggled with in the past and how
has this information changed how
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:you're going to approach it next time?
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:Are you going to start by
doing something very small?
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:Are you going to use
the ocean liner image?
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:Are you going to
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:remember persistence, not consistency?
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:Are you going to adapt a technique
that you've tried before and
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:that just wasn't working?
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:because you were trying to be perfect
and do it in a way that was not suitable
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:for you and your life or your brain.
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:Let me know and I will share some of
your stories next week thank you again
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:for joining me today to explore Time,
Habits, Brains and Josiah Wedgwood
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:as always, in the show notes, you will
find a list of references for further
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:reading articles and studies that I've
used to put this podcast together,
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:along with a short list of my favorite
AI tools and some information about
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:upcoming episodes, as well as how you can
keep in touch with me between podcasts.