Welcome back to ADHD-ish! I'm your host, Diann Wingert, and today we're delving into a powerful collection of tools specifically designed to support neurodivergent individuals—Goblin Tools. 

Created by Belgian AI software and data engineer Bram de Buyser, these eight simple, single-task helpers can transform your daily routines.

From breaking down complex tasks into manageable steps with 'Magic To Do' to converting your communication styles with 'Formalizer,' each tool serves as an unpaid virtual assistant tailored to our unique brains. 

We'll explore each of these tools, discuss their benefits, and also touch on their limitations. So buckle up, and let's dive into Goblin tools, and how each of them will boost your executive functions and productivity.  

📌 Here are three of my favorite Goblin Tools: 

1.Magic To-Do:

• Breaks down complex tasks into manageable chunks.
• Helps you get started, stay on track, and finish tasks you've been avoiding.

2.Formalizer:

• Converts your text into various communication styles.
• Includes options for tone and format, making it perfect for both serious and fun communications. Customize with up to 3 chilis to "add a little spice.” 

3.Estimator:

• Ideal for those with time blindness. You know who you are!
• Estimates the time needed for tasks and integrates with your to-do list.
• Pair it with the Energy Accounting Method from Episode #241 for best results!

There is no Magic Pill (perfect tool) for every single individual, Goblin Tools offers unique aids that can significantly improve executive functioning for most adults with ADHD traits .

Plus, they're continually evolving and totally free.  Finding the right tools is all about trial and error, so give Goblin Tools a try.  They might just become your new go-to virtual assistant. 

Love Goblin Tools and can’t wait to make them your new biz besties?  Thank the developer Bram de Buyser and  Connect with him on LinkedIn here. 

Want to thank ME for introducing you to Goblin Tools?  Sweet!   You can do that by leaving a review on this episode here. 

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays from me, and the team at ADHD-ish and Diann Wingert Coaching! 

© 2024 ADHD-ish Podcast. Intro music by Ishan Dincer / Melody Loops  / All rights reserved. Outro music by Vladimir /  Bobi Music / All rights reserved. 

In the words of the developer, Bram de Buyser, an AI software and data engineer out of Belgium, Goblin Tools is a collection of small, simple, single task tools mostly designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult. As for me, I tend to think of them as my unpaid virtual assistants. I'm going to explain the 8 current tools, I know the developer keeps adding all the time, but here are the 8 as of the day of this recording. You ready? Starting with magic to do. Magic to do is the most used of all the Goblin Tools and one more I think this app really shines.

Those of us with executive functioning deficits, and I mean, pretty much all the neurodivergent people I've ever met, will be able to use this tool to their advantage. It breaks down any complex task into a checklist of manageable sized chunks and puts them in the most logical order. This tool alone can help you not only start those tasks you've been avoiding, and you know the ones I'm talking about, but also help you get unstuck when you hit the messy middle of any project and you just don't know how to move forward. You can reboot with the magic to do.

Next up, we have formalizer. If you tend to put off important communications because you struggle with trying to find the perfect way to word things, the formalizer tool converts your text instantly into more formal, more professional, more grammatically correct version, if that's what you want. But I think for shits and giggles, you should also take a look at the drop down menu, which includes more to the point, bullet point, more accessible, and also more passionate, more snarky, and more sarcastic options. You can even further customize by spicing it up with 1, 2 or 3 chili peppers. I have a lot of fun with this one.

Judge is for those moments when we wonder, am I reading this right? When looking at a text or email. Now if you are like most of us with ADHD, this happens quite often. The judge tool will help you better understand what the sender probably meant before you reactively fire off an F bomb filled response or go into a rejection sensitivity spiral. Next up is professor. Professor will give you a crash course in a single paragraph on any topic you enter and also give you an example so that you have some context. If you are a wannabe polymath who's short on time, this tool will become your unfair advantage. The consultant tool is one I tend to think of as decision support. If you have to make a choice on something, but need to figure out the pros and cons and just wish you had a trusted advisor to tell you what you need to consider.

For most of us, our decision settings come down to impulsive and overthinking. So consultant just might become your new biz bestie by not only slowing you down, but helping you pay attention to the pros and cons to consider so that you can make confident decisions you can act on and live with. Then there's estimator ADHD time blind? Yep. Don't have any idea how long something will actually take. So you either don't give it enough time, you rush through it, or you just don't do it because you don't think you have enough time. Well, plug it into this baby and fire up the engine because estimator is also integrated into magic to do. When you get your checklist, your new magic to do list, you can also use the estimator tool, which is built right in to tell you how much time you need to plan for, freaking love it.

Compiler. Use this one when, you know, you know, when you get the advice, if your mind is racing and it's time to go to bed, you got so many thoughts, so many things to do the next day, you should do a brain dump. You should write it on a piece of paper, and just clear your mind. Well, most of us are gonna fall asleep and forget to do that. So we wake up with a tangled mess of tasks in our brain and a feeling of anxiety. Take all that stuff, all that whole tangled mess, throw it into compiler and it will convert it for you into an organized list.

And last but not least is chef. Now I prefer to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible, but if you have a full fridge and or pantry, but no idea what to make for lunch, instead of Door Dashing, try the chef tool. All you have to do is enter your available ingredients, how much time you have, what equipment you have to use, and even your dietary restrictions. Chef will decide what you're gonna make and lay out the plan, easy peasy. Now, I think you know how I feel about magic pills, right? Well, actually you may be new to the podcast and might not know what I'm talking about.

So magic pill is my term for the tendency that many, well, actually most adults with ADHD have, where we are constantly searching for the perfect tool, the perfect technique, the perfect system, even the perfect guru that we believe will make our lives easier. And, you know, sometimes it is quite literally a pill for those who are seeking a formal diagnosis because they think once they get their hands legally on stimulant medication, all their problems will be solved. And you know what, just like there is no perfect ADHD medication that works for everybody, has no side effects, you can tolerate and it's always in stock at the pharmacy.

There's also no way to automagically eliminate all of our struggles by finding the perfect planner, the perfect project manager, or the perfect procrastination proof, anything. They simply don't exist. It's trial and error and you know what? Even though I love it, Goblin Tools does have a couple of shortcomings so let me tell you about those. The more routine, commonplace, and generic your task is, the more you're gonna love the result that Goblin Tools gives you. But there are gonna be times when you need a more refined, a more specific, a more niched answer. So you can still use Goblin Tools, but in this example, you're going to use it as a kick start to get you out of procrastination and overthinking and get you into action.

And then you're going to take the answer you get and edit, revise and refine it. So the result will be the one that will get you going. Now, estimator is also a good tool, solidly good tool in the Goblin Toolkit, but it does have one shortcoming and I'm gonna refer back to last week's episode number 241, where I was talking all about stretching your time horizon. If you haven't listened to it, you should do so after you listen to this one. One of the strategies I shared, and you can get the PDF that includes all of them for future reference. One of the strategies I mentioned in the last episode was called the energy accounting method. Energy accounting focuses not on the amount of time a task will take, but the amount of energy that it consumes.

So in the energy accounting method, you have a 100 points of energy at the beginning of the day, and for each client call, you use up 30 points for each meeting, 20 points and so forth. So that we can better plan our day according to what we're actually capable of getting done when we take our capacity into account. Estimator in its current form is not able to do that, it's only able to estimate time. But when you have ADHD, estimating time is important, absolutely. Especially because most of us are time blind but I believe we also need to estimate energy.

So I recommend using estimator and the energy accounting method together when you have ADHD. You know, the beauty of Gobletools and why I like it so much is that it is built for brains like ours and most tools aren't. Plus, the developer has a commitment to keeping it free forever and keeps adding new tools. You can even suggest future tools right in the app. I personally choose to support Bram De Buyser with a couple of bucks each month via their Patreon because that enables him my couple of bucks combined with many other people's couple of bucks can buy him a little bit more time to work on the app and allow it to stay free permanently for everybody else. And I'm happy to do it because it's a major help to me that I use multiple times a week and literally recommend to every one of my coaching clients.

You know there is no magic pill and no matter how much I may love Goblin Tools, the only way to know if it's going to work for you is trial and error. You need to try them out, you need to experiment with them. And by the way, don't forget to have fun because nothing works for everybody. But I have a sneaking suspicion that at least a couple of the 8 Goblin Tools are gonna make you very happy and just might become your unpaid virtual assistants. And lastly, as we're getting ready to say goodbye, I want to wish you happy holidays from me and from the team here at ADHD-Ish podcast and Diann Wingert Coaching. We will be back with one more episode this year on New Year's Eve day. I'll see you then.