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Procrastination and Motivation: Breaking the Cycle
Episode 2819th December 2024 • Smart ADHD Podcast • Ian Anderson Gray
00:00:00 00:27:32

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Have you ever wondered why procrastination seems to have a mind of its own when you have ADHD? 

How can you tap into your natural motivation and break the cycle of delay? 

What practical strategies can help turn overwhelming tasks into manageable steps? 

🔗 Read / Listen more: https://smartadhd.me/28 

In this episode, we tackle these burning questions with the help of Jonathan Hassall, an ADHD and executive function coach. Jonathan shares his expertise on overcoming procrastination and enhancing motivation for those of us living with ADHD. He introduces practical strategies to make tasks feel more achievable and less daunting, while also exploring the concept of 'organic calendaring' to revolutionise how we manage our time. 


🎙️ In this episode: 

00:00 Understanding ADHD and Time Blindness 

00:53 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest 

03:00 Procrastination and Motivation in ADHD 

06:36 The Illusion of Motivation 

14:31 Effective Use of Calendars 

20:25 The CIMAA Model for Task Management 

26:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts  


Resources:

Jonathan's Talk: The Illusion of Motivation (YouTube)

Jonathan's Book: Decoding Doing: ADHD Solutions for Procrastination



🕺More about Jonathan Hassall. 

Jonathan is an ADHD & Executive Function Coach and director of Connect ADHD Coaching, providing services internationally from Brisbane, Australia. His background includes psychiatric services and as Scientific Advisor for ADHD in the pharmaceutical industry. Jonathan trained as an ADHD coach through the US and offers individual and group programs for people with ADHD. He is a regular speaker at national ADHD meetings in Australia and the US. He has previously held roles as a board member of ADHD Australia and ADDA. He also co-authored “Decoding Doing - Solving ADHD & Procrastination” in 2023. His current practice focuses on working with Adults and Couples with ADHD. His approach includes the translation of relevant executive function theory to facilitate individuals with ADHD finding and embracing their “neuro-native” state supporting adaptation and realisation of potential. 


Connect with Jonathan: 

Website: https://www.connectadhd.com 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@connectadhdcoaching3658 

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jonathanhassallcac 


What’s your biggest challenge in navigating ADHD as a smart creative? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, and don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! 


—---------------------------- 


🎤 About the Smart ADHD Podcast 

The Smart ADHD Podcast is for smart creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are navigating life with ADHD. We celebrate unique brilliance, whether we’re intelligent, exceptionally talented, or both. I interview experts to uncover the real story of ADHD for smart creatives, busting myths and discovering effective strategies to improve our lives, unleash our creativity, and grow. 


🔗 Find out more at https://smartadhd.me/


—---------------------------- 


🕺More about Ian Anderson Gray 

I am the host of The Smart ADHD Podcast and a live-streaming video coach and consultant. I help business owners and entrepreneurs broadcast live confidently, communicate better, and set up the right gear and tools. I run Seriously Social, a business aimed at helping others be more productive and level up their impact online. I’m also a professional singer, web developer, and an international speaker. I live near Manchester in the UK with my family. 


—---------------------------- 


🤗 Connect with Ian 

Website: https://iag.me/ 

X/Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/iagdotme 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ianandersongray 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianandersongray/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iagdotme 

Threads: https://threads.net/@ianandersongray  


Transcripts

Jon:

everyone I've ever met with ADHD is effectively time blind so we have a

Jon:

very different relationship with time to the rest of the world and it doesn't

Jon:

need to be a significant impairment in life but until we address it it will be

Jon:

for anyone to achieve or do anything they have to be able to see the task they

Jon:

have to be able to see themselves doing it they have to have the right resources

Jon:

to do it including time and then they have to convert it across into real time

Jon:

It actually removes the need for extensive planning I call it organic calendaring

Jon:

when something pops into my head that I think I want to do I put it in my

Jon:

calendar straight away my calendar is a topographical map of my time and my

Jon:

energy I see my life in my calendar so once you get to that point and you've

Jon:

learned to manipulate your environment and to be aware of your internal

Jon:

functioning then before you know it it's very easy to set yourself up for success

Ian:

Hello and welcome back to the smart ADHD podcast.

Ian:

Today we're tackling the thorny issues of procrastination and motivation.

Ian:

These are definitely two of my biggest ADHD struggles, but there is definite

Ian:

hope, especially as Jonathan Hassall is returning back to the podcast.

Ian:

He's an ADHD and executive function coach and the director of connect ADHD

Ian:

coaching, working with clients around the globe from Brisbane, Australia.

Ian:

He's a speaker, author and trainer.

Ian:

And we're going to be covering some of the methods he talks about in the

Ian:

book he co authored with Madeleine O'Reilly, which is called Decoding Doing

Ian:

ADHD Solutions for Procrastination.

Ian:

So let's not procrastinate.

Ian:

Let's get on with it right now.

Ian:

Hello, I'm Ian Anderson Gray, and this is the smart ADHD podcast.

Ian:

Now if you're a smart, creative entrepreneur or business owner

Ian:

navigating your life with ADHD, This is the podcast for you.

Ian:

Now, I'm no ADHD expert, but I'm eager to share my story on what I've learned

Ian:

by talking with experts, as well as digging into the personal ADHD stories of

Ian:

successful creatives and entrepreneurs.

Ian:

I was diagnosed at age 46, and it answered so many questions in my life.

Ian:

But of course, that was in many ways, only the start of my journey.

Ian:

So let's learn together.

Ian:

Smart stories, smart strategies, smart ADHD.

Ian:

Hello, Jonathan, welcome back to the show.

Ian:

How are things going with you?

Jon:

I am very well.

Jon:

Thank you.

Jon:

And how are you?

Ian:

I'm I think I'm good.

Ian:

Yeah, my brain is exploding with all these new ideas.

Ian:

We're just actually just recorded the last interview.

Ian:

And yeah, it's just so interesting to think about how

Ian:

the brain works neurologically.

Ian:

But in today's episode, I'm really interested, excited to learn about

Ian:

Your views on procrastination and motivation and breaking the cycle.

Ian:

This has probably been the biggest thing I've struggled with.

Ian:

And before I was diagnosed, I think it was the bit that I was pouring so

Ian:

much guilt on myself when I was then diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago.

Ian:

So much of the guilt that I was holding disappeared because

Ian:

I've thought, ah, that's why I struggle with procrastination.

Ian:

I'm not lazy.

Ian:

Maybe I am a bit lazy, but it's not down to, it's not down to the ADHD.

Ian:

So, procrastination is clearly, it's a struggle for everybody, but that

Ian:

chronic procrastination is a particular struggle for those of us with ADHD.

Ian:

What's going on in our brains when we procrastinate?

Jon:

Wow.

Jon:

Okay.

Jon:

So now this is the stuff I love talking about because now we're

Jon:

taking what is known research and theoretical research and then trying

Jon:

to apply it to behavioral models.

Jon:

Now, if we look at ADHD and procrastination, I prefer

Jon:

to say, let's flip that and let's look at doing with ADHD.

Jon:

Because the thing is, it's not like we never do anything.

Jon:

However, there's a few factors that are at play in there that we need to be aware of.

Jon:

So for anyone to achieve or do anything, they have to be able to see the task.

Jon:

They have to be able to see themselves doing it.

Jon:

So the process or procedure, they have to have the right

Jon:

resources to do it, including time.

Jon:

And then they have to convert it across into real time.

Jon:

They have to make it an action that happens reliably.

Jon:

Now with ADHD, if you think about the problems that are involved with

Jon:

that, even if we use an executive function framework as a starting point.

Jon:

So the first thing is, okay, we've got to hold our attention on one

Jon:

thing long enough to decide, yes, we definitely want to do it and

Jon:

also validate why we want to do it.

Jon:

And if it's reasonable.

Jon:

But the bigger question really there is keeping our attention

Jon:

and our working memory, holding all the steps to get it done.

Jon:

Now with ADHD, we usually skim it.

Jon:

30, 000 feet and think, we see the tops of the mountains.

Jon:

We don't see all the details of the task.

Jon:

We, it's not that we can't figure it out and that's part of the problem.

Jon:

We know we can figure it out.

Jon:

If it was something that we'd never done before, it was difficult.

Jon:

We're probably going to give it attention because it's interesting.

Jon:

So the second part is then I've got to.

Jon:

convert those tasks and resource them, which often, if we can't see

Jon:

the detail of the task, we're not going to resource it effectively.

Jon:

And then I have to find a place for it in time.

Jon:

Now, guess what?

Jon:

Everyone I've ever met with ADHD is effectively time blind.

Jon:

So we have a very different relationship with time to the rest of the world.

Jon:

And I don't think we can under underestimate that.

Jon:

It doesn't need, to be a significant impairment in life, but until we address

Jon:

it, it will be so you can see there's multiple stages where we trip up.

Jon:

And, when I worked on the book with my colleague, Madeline O'Reilly, who's

Jon:

a lovely clinical psychologist here in Australia we switched our focus

Jon:

from the idea of procrastination, like the error in effect.

Jon:

And okay what's not happening.

Jon:

Let's come back and look at those functional areas and then

Jon:

look at it through an executive function lens with ADHD.

Ian:

So that is a very different way of looking at it.

Ian:

I've heard there's so many myths and things that people talk about.

Ian:

We've talked about dopamine in the last episode that we

Ian:

don't have enough dopamine.

Ian:

That's might be the reason or that we struggle with these things.

Ian:

I've heard people talk about like the motivational bridge where you

Ian:

want to get to the other side, but there aren't enough rings on the

Ian:

what do you call them on the bridge?

Ian:

And it's like a rope bridge.

Ian:

And it's steps or whatever it's called.

Ian:

Yeah, my, this is my brain's gone.

Ian:

But this is a different way of looking at it, isn't it?

Ian:

Maybe if you could talk a little bit more about motivation, I think

Ian:

you've in the past, you've talked about the illusion of motivation.

Ian:

So what is that and what's going on in our brains?

Jon:

I gave this talk last year to our National Professional Association, and

Jon:

you can find it on online on my website.

Jon:

Basically, I called it the illusion of motivation because something I

Jon:

became aware of is that all of my clients with ADHD were talking about

Jon:

motivation in a very consistent way.

Jon:

It was this big feeling.

Jon:

I've either got to really want to do it, it's got to be rewarding and

Jon:

exciting thing I want to do, or it's got to be a very threatening thing.

Jon:

And it has to be close in time.

Jon:

So either the thing is really appealing, or it's really threatening,

Jon:

or something associated with it is, and it's close in time.

Jon:

Now if we think about that.

Jon:

That's a really dangerous approach to motivation, because we're relying on a

Jon:

very big emotion, which is expensive.

Jon:

Then on top of that, we're relying on these external

Jon:

things to create that emotion.

Jon:

That's not me creating it.

Jon:

That's the thing being fun or the thing being threatening.

Jon:

Now, which, so I'm not in control of that.

Jon:

I'm just reacting to that.

Jon:

And then the other part of it is, it has to happen in a very close period of time.

Jon:

Which means.

Jon:

I don't have a lot of room for error there, and that's the problem

Jon:

we come across all the time.

Jon:

I, one of the, one of the areas I work in beside adults and

Jon:

couples is with uni students.

Jon:

And the recurring problem with uni students is that they try and do the

Jon:

assignments at the very last minute.

Jon:

Of course, they usually, it's more work than they thought it was.

Jon:

They run over time.

Jon:

They still have trouble activating, but they still have a mythology that

Jon:

it's the best work, best way they work.

Jon:

last minute.

Jon:

I do it under pressure.

Jon:

That's the best work I ever deliver.

Jon:

And I'll tell you, categorically, it is not.

Jon:

I don't care who you are.

Jon:

It's not.

Jon:

It's just what it feels like.

Jon:

And I can say that because I've been there.

Jon:

So motivation, if we look at how people without ADHD use motivation,

Jon:

they do it very differently.

Jon:

They imagine at first they decide that the task is worth doing.

Jon:

And that's just a simple cost benefit argument.

Jon:

Then they move very quickly onto imagining the task.

Jon:

So they see themselves doing it.

Jon:

And obviously, the more often they've done it, the easier it is to see

Jon:

it, but they can see it in detail.

Jon:

They're, they can hold their attention on it and hold the different procedural

Jon:

steps in working memory quite easily.

Jon:

They're not relying on emotion here at all.

Jon:

So they're just saying practically, is it possible?

Jon:

Yep.

Jon:

And this is what I'll need to do it.

Jon:

Then they do a really interesting thing.

Jon:

They say well, when will it fit in my life?

Jon:

What's the time context?

Jon:

Oh yeah.

Jon:

So Tuesday morning is a good time to do that.

Jon:

I can fit it in then, and then get on with the rest of my life.

Jon:

It's fine.

Jon:

So they end up with a feeling of it's doable.

Jon:

And yeah, that's a good time to do it.

Jon:

Now, for someone with ADHD, that almost feels like a flat emotion.

Jon:

That's Oh my God, it's like giving in.

Jon:

And that's another awareness we got to have that this is

Jon:

a very different feeling now.

Jon:

And just if I can tell a very quick story, I was coaching this wonderful

Jon:

artist who had to do a very boring update.

Jon:

of a very boring document for work and they were really struggling with it.

Jon:

So I applied this approach and we got to the end of a 45 minute session and

Jon:

I foolishly asked the wrong question.

Jon:

I said, so are you motivated to do that thing now?

Jon:

And the person looked at me and said, Oh God, no.

Jon:

And I thought, there goes, that was, I've wasted his time.

Jon:

That was a terrible session.

Jon:

And then he said, but I'm going to do it.

Jon:

And I said how do you know that?

Jon:

And he said it just feels doable.

Jon:

And it's a good time to do it.

Jon:

It's fine, but don't call it motivation.

Jon:

And that, which highlights the fact that we actually have this distorted

Jon:

perspective of what motivation is.

Jon:

So now if we do it.

Jon:

The neurotypical way, if you like, it means we decide what motivation when

Jon:

we create motivation, we create it by imagining the task, we create the

Jon:

appropriate time because we can see it in the detail of the task, and we

Jon:

choose a time that works best for us.

Jon:

Which is all lovely and internally driven.

Jon:

It's not, doesn't require to be close in time because we can generate

Jon:

that emotion anytime we want.

Jon:

In fact, we can generate it six weeks before and have

Jon:

heaps of time to get it done.

Jon:

And all we have to do is practice that approach and we can

Jon:

completely shift how we approach.

Jon:

Motivation and procrastination.

Ian:

mean this I think this is so Mind blowing I think that I'm probably gonna

Ian:

have to go back and listen to what you just said a few more times because it

Ian:

is so radically different I think to the way I've been used to my brain working.

Ian:

I've always relied on having an emotion to push me forwards to get the stuff done

Ian:

and I think about like the blog posts that I've written in the past that I've had to

Ian:

wait until I've been in my, I don't know, whatever you want to call it, zone of

Ian:

genius, down the rabbit hole, hyper focus.

Ian:

And then when I'm not like that, I beat myself up and I try and

Ian:

get myself into this anxious state in order to do the stuff.

Ian:

But what you're saying is there is actually Another way.

Ian:

I have a question, though, that what you say sounds amazing.

Ian:

It seems to me to sometimes lack the spark.

Ian:

So like I've seen, for example, I'll use my blog post thing as an example.

Ian:

I've written some like blog posts that have gone viral in the past, people have

Ian:

thought they were like really helpful.

Ian:

And that's because I got into this hyper focus down the rabbit hole side of things.

Ian:

I was so motivated.

Ian:

I was excited about it.

Ian:

And my concern would be that if I was to do it the more neurotypical way that

Ian:

it would lose that spark how do we get that balance between doing it this way?

Ian:

We by doing it not necessarily, being motivated to do it, but just

Ian:

doing it but also have that spark

Jon:

I think a big thing we got to remember with ADHD

Jon:

that this is a lifestyle.

Jon:

Like we're, we're not changing our brains.

Jon:

So by all means if you have the spark and you want to write, I do the same

Jon:

when I'm writing or when I'm doing music and stuff and I'll get lost in it.

Jon:

I'll hyper focus.

Jon:

And that's a lovely place to be.

Jon:

The only thing we have to watch out for is if there's any

Jon:

detriment attached to it now.

Jon:

So when that happens.

Jon:

Brilliant.

Jon:

Go with it, do it.

Jon:

Just be aware that you still need to manage it.

Jon:

So you don't, effectively hyper focus by definition can be problematic because what

Jon:

hyper focus is, as opposed to being in flow, is that we lose all concept of time.

Jon:

We usually we can actually drift off the target activity because we're

Jon:

doing a lot of free association.

Jon:

So it can become a little bit unfettered.

Jon:

And a little bit inefficient, however, that can be fine.

Jon:

But I'll tell you what you can do better.

Jon:

So you can still have that.

Jon:

That's great.

Jon:

The way I'm talking about is how we make things happen far more reliably.

Jon:

Now, but if you think about it, there's actually a few different systems that

Jon:

are, I was actually just coaching someone before I came on this call.

Jon:

We were talking about that, we went through all the principles

Jon:

about, we now see my code.

Jon:

We talk about connecting, we talk about imagining it so we can see it, which

Jon:

creates the motivation, which in turn, We call up whenever we want to activate.

Jon:

And then we utilize that imagined state for the actions where

Jon:

we problem solve in real time.

Jon:

And then we recognize achievement and change right now.

Jon:

But then we got to the end of that theoretical approach.

Jon:

And then we talked about what, how are we going to make it

Jon:

happen now to make it happen?

Jon:

You need tools, anything in life, in real life, you have to use tools.

Jon:

Now, what are the tools that we need to make that happen?

Jon:

Reliably?

Jon:

Well, We need time.

Jon:

Which we've already covered and we're not great with and we don't have, we're not

Jon:

good at using the tool so that we can be.

Jon:

The other thing we need to be able to do is we need to be able to manipulate

Jon:

our environment to support us.

Jon:

And the other thing too, as you mentioned before about

Jon:

having, the dopamine to do it.

Jon:

And this is where, we're really talking a couple of steps back along the chain.

Jon:

There's, it's not as direct as that.

Jon:

But if we think about dopamine availability if I'm exhausted, why

Jon:

would I try and do some detailed work?

Jon:

And the only reason we think we have to is because we've worked

Jon:

unreliably in the past because we had to do it when we're exhausted

Jon:

because we left it to the last minute.

Jon:

Whereas if you have your life organized, so if you learn how to effectively use

Jon:

a calendar and, you know, the way I talk about a calendar and I've got to stress,

Jon:

I was terrible with calendars at one point in my life for the last 15, 20

Jon:

years, I've been brilliant with calendars.

Jon:

I never miss anything.

Jon:

I'm never stressed by time.

Jon:

I get more done than I ever thought possible because my

Jon:

calendar is a topographical map of my time and my energy.

Jon:

I see my life in my calendar, and because I can see when I'm active, I can see

Jon:

when I plan to have breaks and rests, so I can make my time very reliable,

Jon:

and even with any task I have to do, I always have a fallback time somewhere

Jon:

in there that I could utilize, that I just leave as a space, so once you get

Jon:

to that point, And you're utilizing that way and you've learned to manipulate

Jon:

your environment and to be aware of your own function, your internal functioning,

Jon:

then before you know it, it's very easy to set yourself up for success.

Ian:

Wow, I just I'm just my mind is blown by your your calendar.

Ian:

I'm just I kind of want to see your calendar.

Ian:

Now.

Ian:

How is it?

Ian:

How are you planning it all?

Ian:

Because like, so I mean, one thing that I know a lot of people

Ian:

recommend is time blocking.

Ian:

So you're putting your tasks in those, but it sounds like you'll take

Ian:

you're taking that a step further.

Ian:

And you're thinking about the, you know, You, you have an idea,

Ian:

it seems to me, correct me if I'm wrong, that when you're, you've got

Ian:

higher energy, when you've got your downtime, you're planning in your rest.

Ian:

I've always been told in the past, planning your date times with your wife

Ian:

or what, with your partner or whatever, put it that in your calendar as well.

Ian:

So can you tell us a little bit more about how you use your calendar

Ian:

and what you're planning in there?

Ian:

Because that sounds fascinating to me.

Jon:

No, that's a really good question.

Jon:

So the first part is, yeah, the whole time blocking thing.

Jon:

And I've even heard of people being quite rigid with their time blocks.

Jon:

The first thing I'll tell you is It actually removes the

Jon:

need for extensive planning.

Jon:

The way I do it is I call it organic calendaring.

Jon:

So that it's very simple when something pops into my head that I think I want to

Jon:

do, I put it in my calendar straight away.

Jon:

So if you said, Hey, let's go and catch a movie.

Jon:

That would go straight in the calendar.

Jon:

Now, why would I do it straight away?

Jon:

Firstly, obviously, because I might forget it.

Jon:

Secondly, though, more importantly, it allows me to see the logistics

Jon:

of okay, you're talking about tomorrow night going to movies.

Jon:

Oh, I've got a massive day tomorrow.

Jon:

I might be pretty brain dead and you want to see the whole trilogy of

Jon:

the Lord of the Rings back to back.

Jon:

Oh, Ian, I'm not going to cope.

Jon:

So I might look at that and go I can see the lack of energy there.

Jon:

So that, which is now I'm, now I'm visualizing the future, something

Jon:

that we don't do well with ADHD.

Jon:

So instead I might say, maybe not tomorrow night, Ian, but what

Jon:

about if we did it on Saturday?

Jon:

And I can even see the travel time in there and I can even now start projecting

Jon:

and say I'm going to make sure I keep some time free before Lord of the Rings epic.

Jon:

So you put things in.

Jon:

So first off, what do you put in the calendar?

Jon:

You put in anything you want to happen, including your

Jon:

rests and breaks in the day.

Jon:

Really important.

Jon:

When we first use calendars, it's like, it's like somebody who does no

Jon:

idea what time is uses a calendar.

Jon:

We just cram things in there one after another, and then we

Jon:

wonder why we don't do them.

Jon:

Because we're exhausted.

Jon:

Like we can't do them all.

Jon:

We don't allow transition time.

Jon:

We, retooling time.

Jon:

We don't have backup time.

Jon:

So for example, in my calendar, every day there were three breaks in there.

Jon:

Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Jon:

All or half an hour.

Jon:

Morning tea and afternoon tea might be just five minutes,

Jon:

depending on what I need.

Jon:

But morning tea is a pause, reflection and projection.

Jon:

It's a way of breaking the flow for a bit to allow myself to recharge.

Jon:

Lunch is a check out.

Jon:

I check out for half an hour.

Jon:

I eat.

Jon:

I don't think about work.

Jon:

It allows me to refresh my perspective.

Jon:

So whatever was I was working on before, I see with new eyes when I come back.

Jon:

And then the last one, afternoon tea, is my favorite one.

Jon:

It's interesting.

Jon:

Afternoon tea is the first one most businesses cut, but I love afternoon tea.

Jon:

Afternoon tea breaks up that afternoon.

Jon:

It allows you to check to see how the day's gone, or if there's

Jon:

anything you need to rescue.

Jon:

It allows you to plan finishing on time, so you can finish feeling finished.

Jon:

Because it's only a couple of hours by that point, but even

Jon:

better, you can see tomorrow.

Jon:

I can look at my calendar tomorrow and say, Okay, is it looking good?

Jon:

Is there anything I need to put in there for tomorrow that's not already there?

Jon:

And most importantly, what will I hit the ground running with tomorrow morning?

Jon:

And how will I set myself up for that?

Jon:

Now, so then, see how it's all happening organically, right?

Jon:

I'm just sticking in as it comes in.

Jon:

I'm leaving gaps between things.

Jon:

I'm making sure I allocate for downtime.

Jon:

And this is all just my breaks I just put on a recurring,

Jon:

repeating appointment with myself.

Jon:

But the other stuff is just going in as it comes up.

Jon:

And it populates itself.

Jon:

Now, I hear you.

Jon:

I hear you wonder, but what about if something of a greater priority comes up?

Jon:

How do we prioritize?

Jon:

It's easy.

Jon:

Something more important comes up.

Jon:

You bump something less important from now.

Jon:

If let's say if Prince Charles says, come play polo, does he play polo?

Jon:

Who can say?

Jon:

He's king.

Jon:

Oh my God.

Jon:

He's your king.

Jon:

Sorry.

Jon:

King Charles.

Jon:

Um, Sorry.

Jon:

Sorry.

Jon:

It's us colonial people.

Jon:

We're a bit behind the times.

Jon:

Um, I apologize.

Jon:

But So if there's something really exciting and important comes up, I can

Jon:

just reschedule something that I've scheduled for now that's not as important.

Jon:

So it takes away all that idea as I have to see my entire life

Jon:

to be able to prioritize things before I put it in the calendar.

Jon:

The other thing is too, you abandon lists.

Jon:

Lists are only useful to to use as a default working memory to capture

Jon:

like process or break down the steps.

Jon:

Soon as you've got it in a list, you need to move it into the calendar

Jon:

where it's allocated to time.

Jon:

I'm sorry you got me going on calendars.

Jon:

I could talk for hours on calendars.

Ian:

We should probably be back to talk deeply about

Ian:

calendars, but I'm aware of time.

Ian:

I just wanted just another remaining in a few minutes.

Ian:

Would you be able to go through, I think it's the CIMAA model that you

Ian:

talk about have you, , got like a, an example of a task, for example, that

Ian:

somebody might want to do, and can you take us through the process of actually

Ian:

coaching that person to be able to actually do that task and to do it?

Jon:

Yeah, sure.

Jon:

If it's okay, I'll use, say, a university assignment because

Ian:

Yeah, that

Jon:

fairly generalized experience that most people have had.

Jon:

So if we think about a university, so C in the CIMA stands for connect.

Jon:

So that's where we're effectively making a cost benefit argument.

Jon:

Now, remember with ADHD, we have to be a bit careful there because

Jon:

sometimes we can exaggerate the cost if it's something we don't like.

Jon:

And minimize the benefit.

Jon:

Or if it's something we're really excited about, we can exaggerate

Jon:

the benefit and minimize the cost.

Jon:

So it's still worth being wary of.

Jon:

But basically it's a cost benefit argument.

Jon:

Now let's use the uni assignment.

Jon:

Within a uni assignment, the day I signed up for uni, I basically decided that I

Jon:

was going to be doing that assignment even before I knew it existed because

Jon:

that was part of the requirement.

Jon:

So the reality is a lot of the time we've already agreed, we've

Jon:

already committed to doing things and I think we're kidding ourselves.

Jon:

When we rationalize, or maybe I don't want to do it, the second stage, the

Jon:

imagine stage, which is my favorite bit, because I think that's where

Jon:

we solve a lot of the problems.

Jon:

So process.

Jon:

So I have to see the process.

Jon:

So problem with an assignment is it's not one task.

Jon:

It's multiple tasks.

Jon:

We've already said working memory and attention isn't going to cope with that.

Jon:

And we're going to have an emotional reaction to feeling overwhelmed.

Jon:

Okay.

Jon:

So what we've got to do is we've got to break it down into clear process steps.

Jon:

So I can see discrete steps.

Jon:

And the way I like to do it is I work backwards.

Jon:

I start with the end result.

Jon:

Okay, I'm handing in the assignment.

Jon:

What I've got to do immediately before that, I've got to review to make sure

Jon:

I didn't write nonsense in there.

Jon:

Then what I've got to do before that, I've got to do the introduction

Jon:

and conclusion, say, and then before that, the body points.

Jon:

And then before that, the essay plan then the research questions right

Jon:

back to understanding the question.

Jon:

So now I've got maybe seven steps.

Jon:

Okay.

Jon:

That's if counting maybe multiple body points.

Jon:

So I've got seven steps.

Jon:

None of them should be more than about an hour and a half.

Jon:

Two hours for the average university undergrad assignment, right?

Jon:

So I'm just, again, generalizing for that.

Jon:

So I can see the process and straight away I'm saying to see the resources.

Jon:

I'm going to need access to research.

Jon:

I'm going to need time.

Jon:

Is the other big thing I'm going to need.

Jon:

So now I can sit down and say in context, the assignments due in three weeks,

Jon:

there's seven lots of an hour and a half.

Jon:

I could cram them all into one day, but realistically looking at my

Jon:

topographical map of my life and my calendar, does that look fun?

Jon:

Probably not.

Jon:

So what I'll do instead is I might space it out a day, an exercise, maybe two

Jon:

chunks at different ends of the day, but.

Jon:

Have breaks in between.

Jon:

The value of that too is that if we leave a gap, a sleep between some of

Jon:

these steps, we actually do a lot of free processing when we're asleep.

Jon:

We know when we're asleep that we revisit content up to 15 times

Jon:

faster, new, particularly new content.

Jon:

So it's, we're reprocessing.

Jon:

So when we wake up in the morning, we'll be more articulate on the

Jon:

topic than we were the day before.

Jon:

So there's an advantage to that too.

Jon:

Now, the other big advantage is every day I can do that amount of work and

Jon:

know that I've finished for the day.

Jon:

I can say, no guilt, I know this assignment is going to

Jon:

happen when it should happen.

Jon:

I've got heaps of time, but I can see the allocated time.

Jon:

So there, now I have it in context.

Jon:

So now I've plotted it around my other lectures or work or

Jon:

whatever else I've got to do.

Jon:

And then I move into motivation.

Jon:

So I've created, I've just created the motivation.

Jon:

Feels doable.

Jon:

That's a good time to do it.

Jon:

All I have to do is every time I activate to task, I have that particular

Jon:

task in my calendar for a specific time, not for Tuesday, but for 10 a.

Jon:

m.

Jon:

Tuesday.

Jon:

Because then at 10 a.

Jon:

m.

Jon:

Tuesday, that's my signal.

Jon:

I have an alarm just before 10 a.

Jon:

m.

Jon:

to help me activate because often we wait to the start point and

Jon:

then we don't want to start.

Jon:

So we give ourselves a warmup.

Jon:

I make sure that I've got the materials and things I'm going to need.

Jon:

So there's no barriers to me starting.

Jon:

And then I sit down and I do the task, even if I need to have a little checklist

Jon:

of stepping through the task, right?

Jon:

That which is going to support my attention, but also support my motivation.

Jon:

Then that, so now I'm activating.

Jon:

So that's the A, the first day, which is I'm activating.

Jon:

I've called up the motivation.

Jon:

I remembered it's realistic and doable.

Jon:

So now I'm as I'm activating, I'm doing it, I might run into a problem.

Jon:

All I have to do is notice if a step's not working.

Jon:

I need to be able to stop, assess what the problem is,

Jon:

correct for it, and then restart.

Jon:

And if we're only doing it in small steps, that's not hard.

Jon:

And then last but not least, I have the last A, because

Jon:

we have two A's, C I M A A.

Jon:

The last A is about achievement.

Jon:

So it's about being able to stop regularly and say what

Jon:

worked well today, what didn't.

Jon:

What would I do again?

Jon:

What would I change?

Jon:

And if you do that, you actually grow, you actually learn a whole new toolkit

Jon:

because I guarantee everybody out there will have one little trick they know works

Jon:

for them to activate most of the time.

Jon:

I get someone today who said they have an Apple pencil, but without that Apple

Jon:

pencil, that was like their Achilles heel.

Jon:

So what's yours, Ian?

Jon:

What's your magic trick?

Ian:

Oh, I don't know.

Ian:

There must be loads that I've got to help me with all that I do.

Ian:

I'm gonna have to think about that one and write it down in a blog post

Ian:

that I'm going to write next week.

Jon:

and I'll take it one step further with that achievement.

Jon:

If you can track what you've achieved, like what's worked

Jon:

and what you would change.

Jon:

So let's again stay with the uni example, right?

Jon:

So I'm just going to apply to a project to work or anything.

Jon:

When you go to that crunch time of that deadline is always

Jon:

when you have amazing clarity.

Jon:

Like hindsight's 20, 20.

Jon:

That's when you look back and go, I wish I'd started earlier, or if only

Jon:

I'd done that or this or the other.

Jon:

And if we also notice the positive things that work cause with

Jon:

ADHD, we usually ignore them.

Jon:

Then what you can do is you can look forwards in your calendar and

Jon:

say, Ooh, I'm going to have another assignment next year or next semester.

Jon:

At the beginning of the semester, I'm going to put a note to remind

Jon:

myself of the things I wished I'd done, which means I actually can

Jon:

learn from this experience and grow.

Ian:

Wow.

Ian:

That is so helpful.

Ian:

Thank you so much, Jonathan.

Ian:

I'm aware of time.

Ian:

I you've been very gracious with your time today.

Ian:

I think you've blown my mind.

Ian:

I'm sure you're blowing the minds of people watching and listening.

Ian:

So I do encourage If this has really made a big difference to you watching

Ian:

or listening do go back and listen to it again and Read jonathan's book

Ian:

as well and connect with jonathan.

Ian:

Where's the best place to Connect with you jonathan.

Ian:

You've got your website.

Jon:

Yeah, through the

Ian:

well?

Jon:

Yeah, the easiest way is connectadhd.

Jon:

com.

Jon:

And there's emails and links and phones and messaging and all in there.

Ian:

All that kind of stuff.

Ian:

Thank you so much jonathan.

Ian:

It's been great to have you on the show Thank you so much.

Ian:

And until next time, I encourage you to be smart with your ADHD.

Ian:

Toodaloo.

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