The ADHD Skills Lab

She stared in the mirror one night, still wearing the workout clothes she'd put on that morning, and realized she couldn't remember if she'd had a sip of water all day.Years before being diagnosed with ADHD, Sharon Pope was successfully leading startups while privately struggling with the basics of everyday life.So she built the tool she wished she'd had: an AI task manager that follows up like a person instead of another notification.In this conversation, Sharon shares how that breaking point became Shelpful, why she still relies on it every day, and what she's learned about building a company around a problem she still hasn't completely solved.What We CoverWhy doctors dismissed her ADHD because she was "too successful"The night she built the first Shelpful prototype in 24 hoursWhy human accountability didn't scale into a businessHow "Mega Remind" follows up until a task actually gets doneWhy she still depends on the product she built herselfConnect With Sharon PopeWebsite: https://shelpful.comInstagram: @shelpfulIf you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You keep rereading the same task on your list. You know it matters. You still haven't started.If that sounds familiar, it probably isn't a motivation problem. It may be because you're treating a project like it's a task.In this episode, Skye and Robbie unpack why hidden complexity makes seemingly simple tasks feel impossible, why the ADHD brain mistakes importance for urgency, and how giving tasks a trusted "home" can dramatically reduce overwhelm. They also share practical strategies for breaking projects into manageable steps without falling into perfectionism or all-day hyperfocus. These ideas are grounded in the episode's central insight: urgency often comes from the fear of losing the task—not the deadline itself.In this episode, you'll learn:Why some "tasks" are actually projects in disguiseHow hidden complexity leads to procrastination and overwhelmWhy breaking a project down is progress—not procrastinationThe real reason everything starts to feel urgent with ADHDHow to build a system you actually trust to hold your workWhat to do when you've stalled on a project and don't know how to restartWhether you're running a business, managing a team, or simply trying to get through your to-do list, this episode will help you understand why certain tasks feel so much harder than they should—and what you can do about it.If you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

If planning your week, remembering the small stuff, or keeping up with admin feels harder than the actual work, you're not imagining it.This week, Skye sits down with Mike Legett, an ADHD coach and executive functioning specialist who was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. Mike studied molecular genetics at Emory before leaving graduate school when its vague, paperwork-heavy demands became unworkable. She went on to build a career as an internationally recognized swing and blues dance instructor and now helps adults with ADHD build systems that work with their brains instead of against them through the Center for Living Well with ADHD.Together, Skye and Mike unpack why ADHD isn't a lack of effort. It is often a mismatch between the person and the systems they are expected to work within. They explore why planning, memory, time management, and admin can become the biggest sources of stress, and what actually changes when you stop relying on willpower alone.If you've ever wondered why the "boring parts" of running a business seem to drain you more than the work you love, this conversation will leave you with a clearer understanding of what's really happening and what you can do to make life easier.What We CoverWhy planning and admin create so much friction for ADHD brainsHow paperwork and unclear expectations led Mike to leave academiaWhy "just push through it" usually makes things worseWhat changed when Mike stopped trying to manage everything aloneHow better systems reduce mental load without requiring perfect disciplineWhy working with your brain beats fighting against itConnect With Mike Legetthttps://www.mikelegett.com/If you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

Everyone says people with ADHD have "time blindness." But what does that actually mean?In this Research Recap, Skye Waterson and Will Curb review a decade of research (2012–2022) on time perception in adults with ADHD. Rather than treating time as one skill, the research separates it into three: estimating how long something will take, reproducing a duration, and managing time day to day.One finding stands out: many ADHD struggles begin with inaccurate time estimation. If your brain can't reliably predict how long a task will take, missed deadlines, last-minute work, and chronic lateness start to make much more sense. Skye and Will also explore what the research suggests actually helps—from visual timers and external cues to breaking projects into smaller pieces that are easier to estimate.What You'll LearnWhy ADHD affects time estimation, time reproduction, and time management differentlyThe difference between circadian, interval, and millisecond timingWhy visual timers often work better than clocksWhy giving yourself "more time" usually isn't the solutionHow breaking projects into smaller steps improves time estimationWhy external accountability is often more effective than self-imposed deadlinesLearn more from Will at HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe to the Hacking Your ADHD podcast.If you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You don't need another productivity hack. You need systems that still work when your brain doesn't.Cas Aarssen built the Clutterbug Method, hosted HGTV's Hot Mess House, and grew a global brand by stopping the fight against her ADHD and designing her home and business around how she naturally works.In this conversation, she shares the hard lessons that came from burnout, why traditional organizing advice kept failing her, and how building systems around real habits instead of ideal ones changed everything. From running a team without endless SOPs to creating spaces that stay functional even on hard days, Cas explains what it actually takes to build systems that last.If you've ever felt like you're constantly rebuilding your life from scratch, this episode offers a more sustainable way forward.What We CoverWhy burnout pushed her to rethink the way she workedBuilding systems around your actual habits instead of your ideal selfThe Clutterbug Method and why one organizing style doesn't fit everyoneDelegating through ownership instead of endless SOPsCreating a home and business that work with an ADHD brain, not against itConnect With Cas Aarssenhttps://clutterbug.me/what-clutterbug-are-you-testIf you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You've been told you pivot too fast. This research suggests your timing might be right.A 2024 Royal Society paper tested how long people stay in a depleting resource before moving to a new one, using a model from ecology called the marginal value theorem. The prediction was that ADHD traits would cause people to leave too soon.The data found the opposite. ADHD participants left patches closer to the mathematically optimal point and ended up with more total reward. Skye and Robbie break down the bias built into the original prediction and what it means for telling the difference between a smart pivot and flailing.What We Cover:The 2024 study and the foraging game researchers builtThe marginal value theorem and what "optimal" leaving looks likeWhy the prediction assumed ADHD would underperformWhat the actual results showed about exit timingHow to tell a strategic pivot from impulsive flailingIf you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You get bored with the offer that's working, so you go build a new one. James Wedmore has run the same program and the same live event for ten years and says that's the entire reason it grew. He explains the difference between a real "this isn't working" and a feeling that just shows up the moment things get hard. He also breaks down why he became a bottleneck in his own business, what changed when he got specific about role clarity, and why he keeps his identity and worth separate from his revenue numbers.What We Cover:Why James calls novelty-chasing "first gear" and how it traps founders for yearsThe test for telling a real pivot signal from a hard-moment feelingWhat changed when his business went from $2M to $10M in one yearWhy role clarity exposed the real reason he couldn't delegateHow separating his identity from his revenue numbers changed everythingConnect With James Wedmore https://www.jameswedmoretraining.com/https://www.instagram.com/jameswedmore/?hl=enIf you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You're exhausted all day, then suddenly wired at 10pm. That's not random. Research suggests it's tied to a delayed circadian rhythm that's common in ADHD.In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a paper examining ADHD as a circadian rhythm disorder. This isn't a list of sleep hygiene tips. It's a look at what's actually different in the ADHD body's clock, and why typical advice misses it.Understanding the delay changes how you plan your day, not just your bedtime.What We Cover:Why energy peaks late even when sleep is the goalDaytime melatonin levels found in kids with ADHDHow light therapy and timing affect circadian resetMelatonin dosing research (less works better than more)What ultradian rhythms are and how they differ from circadian onesWant more of Will's work?Visit HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe on YouTube.If you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You've reread the same paragraph three times and still couldn't tell anyone what it said.Skye and Robbie return to the DSM-5 for Part 2 of their criteria breakdown, this time on criterion B: difficulty sustaining attention. They work through real examples, rereading pages, checking out of meetings, losing focus on audiobooks even at double speed, and land on why none of it happens during a good movie or video game.The conversation distinguishes between attention that drifts because a task is boring and attention that locks in because something is stimulating, and why that distinction matters more than effort or discipline. If you've ever wondered why you can sit through eight hours of a game but not eight minutes of a report, this explains the mechanism.What We Cover:Why criterion B shows up in reading, meetings, and lectures specificallyWhy audiobooks don't solve the problem, even at 2x speedWhy games and gripping movies don't trigger the same driftThe difference between voluntary distraction and involuntary attention lossWhy removing stimulation (a quiet room) often backfiresIf you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

You spend years building workarounds for your own brain, then realize you could build your company the same way.Chris Wang did exactly that.As co-founder and CEO of Shimmer, an ADHD coaching platform that has delivered more than 90,000 coaching sessions, Chris was diagnosed with ADHD at 28 while building the company. Instead of treating her personal systems and her business systems as separate problems, she applied the same coaching frameworks, structure, automation, and strength-based development directly to how Shimmer operates.In this conversation, Chris shares what that looked like in practice: what she automated, what stayed human, how she structured fundraising as an ADHD founder, and why she stopped trying to build the company differently than she was learning to manage herself.Connect With Chris WangChris is on instagram: @adhd.christal and you can learn more about Shimmer at www.shimmer.careWhat We CoverWhy Chris applied her ADHD coaching framework to company operationsThe automation that removed admin work for coachesHow she decides what should stay human and what should be automatedHer fundraising system for managing outreach, follow-ups, and rejectionWhy strength-based delegation changed how her team worksHow personal ADHD systems became Shimmer's operating model P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

You've read the ADHD criteria a dozen times and still aren't sure if you actually qualify.Skye and Robbie Waterson and sit down with the DSM-5 itself and read through the inattentive criteria line by line, the same list a clinician would use for an actual diagnosis. They score themselves against each one in real time, and they don't agree on most of them.The conversation covers why the criteria were written for children and then loosely translated for adults, why "close attention to detail" means something different for someone who triple checks every payment versus someone who doesn't notice errors at all, and why your own family's version of "normal" can hide a pattern you've had your whole life. Skye also explains the difference between primarily inattentive, primarily hyperactive, and combined type, and why subclinical scores still matter even if you never meet the full six-symptom threshold.If you've ever wondered whether you "really" have ADHD or just relate to some of it, this episode shows you exactly what's being measured and why that question is harder to answer than it sounds.What We Cover:The actual nine inattentive criteria from the DSM-5, read directly from the manualWhy the same criterion can apply to one person and not the other, even with shared ADHDHow the criteria shift between children and adultsWhy family normal can mask a lifelong patternThe difference between subclinical and clinical, and why it still matters P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

Most productivity advice for ADHD is written for people who just need a nudge. If you have ADHD, you need something more honest than that.Ari Tuckman holds a PsyD and an MBA, has authored five books on ADHD, and has spent over 40,000 hours in clinical work with adults. He co-chairs the largest ADHD conference in the US and has been quoted in the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post.In this conversation, Ari breaks down what productivity actually means for ADHD brains, why "don't get in trouble" is not a good enough goal, and how business owners can use external structure and the right people to focus on where they add the most value.Connect With Ari Tuckman:  www.DrAriTuckman.com.What We CoverWhy simplistic productivity advice fails ADHD adults and what to look for insteadThe difference between managing ADHD to survive versus building a life worth havingHow to hire an assistant who will act as external executive function, not just a schedulerThe role of reputation-building when ADHD makes consistency hardAri's "things lead to things" principle and how it applies to business growth P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

 P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

You've launched things that seemed solid, only to watch them unravel for reasons that felt obvious afterward. That's not a judgment problem. For ADHD founders, retrospective clarity comes naturally. The pre-mortem is a tool that pulls that clarity forward, to the start of a project, when fixing problems is still cheap.Skye and Robbie break down the pre-mortem method, developed by cognitive psychologist Gary Klein and later popularized by Daniel Kahneman, and explain why it fits ADHD-wired brains in particular. ADHD founders tend to communicate broad vision without the full set of dependencies, leaving teams misaligned and triggering micromanagement loops. They're also prone to hyperfocused tunneling in the wrong direction. The pre-mortem interrupts both patterns before they cost you.They also cover how to use it as a minimum viable test. Before a prototype, before a hire, before a pivot, spend an afternoon stress-testing the idea. Sometimes the right output is: don't do this.What We CoverWhy ADHD founders naturally access retrospective clarity, and how to use it at project start instead of after the factHow incomplete vision communication creates micromanagement loops, and what the pre-mortem does to close that gapThe novelty bias and hyperfocus tunneling problem, and why planning for failure acts as a directional checkHow to run a pre-mortem solo, with a team, or with AI, including a specific reverse prompting approachWhy a half-day pre-mortem with AI or a mentor counts as your minimum viable test before any build P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

Sitting in a parking lot after leaving the bankruptcy attorney's office, $600,000 in debt written off, home gone, Galel Fajardo told himself no one would ever hire him again.Galel Fajardo is a business coach, digital marketing consultant, and fractional CMO with 23 years of entrepreneurial experience and a Master's in Performance Psychology. He specializes in helping high-performing entrepreneurs, especially those with ADHD, whose businesses look successful from the outside and feel like a prison from the inside. His clients have doubled their revenue, with one scaling from $2.5M to $10.1M in three years, not by working harder, but by building the right structure first. He coaches from the only credential that actually matters: he has lived every problem he teaches.What he learned through that experience, his ADHD diagnosis, and years of coaching shapes how he thinks about execution, delegation, and the internal stories that stall growth.This episode covers the specific frameworks Galel uses in his own business and with his clients.What We Cover:Why the systems that work in your 20s tend to fail once a business reaches real complexity and what to replace them withHow Galel uses AI as a ruthless critic rather than a yes-machine to pressure-test ideas before committing resourcesThe structural reason ADHD brains are strong activators but need an external check to finish and executeWhy transparency about ADHD with your team tends to improve delegation rather than undermine authorityHow Galel identifies the belief underneath an activation problem and works with clients to shift itConnect With Galel Fajardo Website: https://www.galel.com P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

You've built systems before. You probably built them well. The problem wasn't creating them. The problem was maintaining them once the novelty wore off.Wednesday's episode explored why ADHD founders often struggle with operational consistency. This episode covers the structural solution.The systems integrator role sits between the ADHD founder and the rest of the business. It captures ideas, filters priorities, protects the team from constant pivots, and builds the documentation that turns founder insight into repeatable execution.Skye and Robbie break down the four functions of the role, how it differs from an EA or COO, how it scales as a business grows, and the hiring mistakes that cause founders to recreate the same bottlenecks they're trying to solve.What We CoverThe four functions of a systems integrator and how they differ from a standard EA or COO roleHow raw creative output gets processed through pre-agreed prioritization filters before it reaches the teamWhy the role acts as a gravitational buffer against novelty-seeking attention wells pulling the team off courseHow the role scales from solopreneur to COO-led teamThe three hiring mistakes ADHD founders make when trying to solve the structural problem P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

Your business is doing well. Momentum is real, clients are happy, and structure feels like the enemy right now. But if you turn that camera around and look past the founder, you find a stressed team running on broken systems, one sick day away from everything slowing to a stop.Research on ADHD traits and project management suggests operational effectiveness, specifically goal setting, milestone tracking, and resource allocation, drops measurably when ADHD traits are present. The mediating factor is not inability. It is role stress: the compounding weight of having more tasks than your brain can hold and no clear sense of what matters most.This episode breaks down what the research found and what it means for ADHD founders building a team. Friday covers the practical response.What We CoverWhy teammates rated people with higher ADHD traits lower on operational effectiveness, including goal clarity, milestone mapping, and resource allocationWhat role stress is and why the research found it significantly mediates the relationship between ADHD and project management performanceWhy the disorganization doesn't stay at the founder level. It cascades onto the team below.How the creative strengths in ADHD are real, and why the research suggests they need a specific kind of support to workWhy entrepreneurship gives ADHD founders a structural option that teachers, nurses, and academics never get P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/

You've tried the calendars, the timers, the hacks. They work for two weeks and then stop. Jenna Free says that's not a discipline problem. It's a regulation problem.Jenna is a counselor for ADHD with ADHD, author of The Simple Guide to ADHD Regulation, and has worked in-depth with over 1,000 people through her ADHD Regulation Method. Her position is direct: dysregulation is not a fixed trait of the ADHD brain. It is a learned response to a lifetime of friction. And it is the reason every other system eventually fails.We cover her three-level regulation framework, why she skips meditation and breathing exercises entirely, how dysregulated beliefs quietly block delegation and visibility in your business, and what physical signs most ADHD business owners have normalized as just a Tuesday.What We CoverWhy regulation has to come before any other system or toolThe three levels Jenna works on: nervous system, thoughts and beliefs, behaviorWhy negative self-talk and urgency feel like they work, and what they actually cost youHow dysregulation shows up as delegation avoidance and RSD in businessThe first practical step to start noticing and interrupting dysregulation todayConnect With Jenna Free Book Title: THE SIMPLE GUIDE TO ADHD REGULATION: The Secret to Finding Balance, Getting Things Done, and EnjoyingSocial Media Links & Show Notes:TikTok: @adhdwithjennafree ; www.tiktok.com/@adhdwithjennafreeInstagram: @adhdwithjennafree ; www.instagram.com/adhdwithjennafreePodcast: ADHD with Jenna Free; https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/adhd-with-jenna-free/id1801356817Website: https://www.adhdwithjennafree.com/Here is the link for the free PDF I mentioned www.adhdwithjennafree.com/adhdguide P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Why do so many people start ADHD medication... and then quietly stop within a year or two?In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a systematic literature review examining why over half of all patients discontinue or significantly reduce ADHD medication within 2 to 3 years of starting.This episode isn't about whether you should take medication.It's about something more practical: what the data actually found about why people stop, where expert assumptions conflict with what patients reported, and how access barriers, drug holidays, and whether someone chose treatment for themselves all appear to shape long-term adherence.If you've ever let a refill lapse and told yourself you'd sort it later, this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar.What we cover:Why over half of patients discontinue ADHD medication within 2 to 3 years, and what the data found as the top reasonsThe gap between what experts assumed drove discontinuation and what patients actually reportedHow drug holidays, sometimes recommended by doctors, complicated how researchers tracked real adherenceWhy access barriers like pharmacy friction, moving states, and losing a prescriber show up as a real factorWhat the research suggests about people who sought treatment themselves versus those pushed into itWant more of Will's work? Go check out HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe to his YouTube channel. P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

You're generating real revenue. But every time you open your banking app, your brain shuts down and you close it again.Nicole Stanley is the founder of Arise Financial Coaching and creator of the Money Momentum Method. Late-diagnosed with ADHD at 30, scoring in the 99th percentile for severity, she built a financial method that turned out to be designed for ADHD brains before she knew she had one. She crossed $250,000 in revenue last year and has helped clients save an average of $40,000 annually.Nicole explains why standard budgeting fails ADHD brains, why most business owners are solving the wrong financial problem, and how her method works without willpower or expense tracking.She also walks through her five-problem financial diagnostic. Less than 10% of people actually have a spending problem. Most are misdiagnosing themselves entirely.If avoidance has been your default financial strategy, this conversation gives you a different place to start.What We CoverWhy budgeting fails ADHD brains - it looks backwards and produces shame, not behaviour changeThe five financial problems and why most business owners are fixing the wrong oneHow the Money Momentum Method was ADHD-designed before Nicole knew she had ADHDThe curiosity framework: look at your numbers as if they belong to a friendWhy financial problems are solvable problems, not evidence of who you are P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

You know what your most important work is. You still spend the first four hours of the day doing everything else.Casey Neistat recently posted a video called *Navigating the Matrix* showing how he organizes his workday as a creator with ADHD. He tracks his tasks in real time, explains the system he uses to manage everything, and ends by accepting the chaos as part of the deal.Skye and Robert disagree with that conclusion.In this standalone episode, they break down the hidden problem underneath Casey's system — why ADHD business owners keep ending up trapped in urgent work, why prioritization systems collapse under pressure, and why the issue is usually structural, not motivational.What We Cover:- Why ADHD urgency bias overrides even well-designed prioritization systems- How Casey's four-color framework mirrors the Eisenhower Matrix — and where both break down- Why task capture and task prioritization are two completely different cognitive jobs- The real reason everything keeps ending up in the “urgent” category- Why delegation is usually delayed far too long by ADHD business owners- What changes when low-value operational tasks are consistently removed from your plate- Why “being good under pressure” quietly creates long-term business chaosThis episode is less about productivity tactics and more about the hidden operating system underneath ADHD work patterns. P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

You built something people love. Running the business of it is a different problem entirely.Dani Donovan is the creator of The Anti-Planner, a self-published ADHD productivity workbook that generated over $1 million in its first year and has now sold more than 115,000 copies with a 4.9-star rating. She built it without a business plan, without onboarding documents, and without a team that had done any of this before.In this conversation, Dani explains how a single ADHD comic from 2018 nearly never got posted, how a business coach's field guide exercise became the product she actually needed, and what happened when she had to tell 28,000 pre-order customers their books were running late.We also get into the part nobody warns you about: what hiring looks like when there are no SOPs, no infrastructure, and no clear handoff between the creative work and the operational side of the business.This is a conversation about the hidden cost of scaling creative ADHD-led businesses — and why building the thing is often easier than building the systems around it.What We Cover:How Dani designed The Anti-Planner around what she actually used instead of what productivity systems were “supposed” to look likeWhy she turned down traditional publishing and protected creative control over the productThe pre-order strategy that generated 42,000 orders across two launchesWhat happened when she had to email 28,000 customers about delayed orders — and why almost nobody asked for refundsWhy scaling an ADHD-led business gets operationally difficult long before it looks successful from the outsideConnect with Dani Donovan:Website: https://anti-planner.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/danidonovanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danidonovan P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Nobody agreed on what done looked like. The handover happened anyway. That is where it fell apart.This episode is the practical follow-up to Wednesday. Skye and Robbie walk through the specific hiring and handover process they use with ADHD founders, including what they have lost money figuring out so you do not have to.The hiring side covers why video applications and paid test projects replace interviews, how to write a role description that filters for initiative rather than compliance, and what it looks like when you have found the right person versus when you are about to make an expensive mistake.The handover side covers the 10-80-10 rule, writing a one-sentence definition of done before anything starts, naming your re-entry triggers upfront, building a decision boundary so the team knows what comes back to you and what does not, and scheduling check-ins so the anxiety has somewhere to go other than a late-night message.They also cover the two failure modes when none of this is set up: the founder absorbs everything back, or the team stops trying.What We Cover:How to write a role description specific enough to attract the right person and filter out everyone elseWhy paid test projects show you more in two hours than an interview shows you in two roundsThe 10-80-10 rule and how to use it to stay connected without pulling work back through the middleWhat a definition of done actually looks like in writing, and why naming your re-entry triggers before the project starts changes everythingHow scheduled check-ins replace anxiety-driven re-entry and give the founder's worry somewhere structured to land P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

You hired someone good. The work was fine. You still sent the late-night Slack message, redirected the task, and checked in on something that had already been handled.This episode looks at what the research suggests is actually driving that pattern. Not trust issues. Not a bad hire. A specific kind of perfectionism that shows up differently in people with ADHD.Two studies help explain it. A 2016 study found perfectionism was the most common cognitive distortion in adults formally diagnosed with ADHD, endorsed by 55% of the sample. It was not close. A 2023 study then looked at what kind of perfectionism. Their findings indicate ADHD founders are not setting impossibly high standards. They are feeling the gap between what they expected and what was delivered more intensely than others. What drove avoidance most strongly was not perfectionism in the traditional sense, but the persistent feeling of falling short, even when the original standard was reasonable.Delegation becomes the thing most associated with that painful shortfall. So the brain starts treating it as a threat.Friday's episode covers the practical side: how to structure delegation so the gap is smaller from the start and your perfectionism has less to react to.What We Cover:Why ADHD perfectionism research suggests it is not about high standards but about feeling any shortfall more acutely than othersHow the discrepancy between expected and actual output drives avoidance in ADHD founders specificallyThe two scenarios where delegation breaks down even when the team is competent and the work is solidWhy the founder who re-enters delegated work is not micromanaging but responding to a learned pattern of emotional painWhat Friday's episode will cover on structuring delegation to reduce that gap from the start P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

The school sent her daughter to a desk with her head down because she could not sit still during circle time. That was the moment Jessica stopped waiting for someone else to figure it out.Jessica Shaw is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Vanity Fair. She is the host of Everyone Gets a Juice Box, Understood.org's podcast for parents raising neurodivergent kids. She is also a mom of two teens who think differently, and someone who recognized her own ADHD only after researching her children's.Skye and Jessica get into what the detective process actually looks like. Why parents are often dismissed first and believed later. How the school system's default response to a kid who cannot conform is to remove them rather than support them. What guilt sounds like when you feel like you should have seen it coming sooner. And why the window between noticing something and getting real support is longer, more expensive, and more isolating than it should be.What We Cover:Why parents are often the last ones taken seriously, and what it takes to keep pushing anywayHow school systems send a conformity message to neurodivergent kids and what it costs them long-termThe financial and time barriers to evaluation, and why they fall unevenly across familiesWhat the detective process looks like when the parent doing the investigating also has undiagnosed ADHDWhy one parent's decision to reduce work hours for her neurodivergent child was called "trad wife" by colleagues, and what that reveals about the support gapConnect With Jessica ShawPodcast: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxec!podcast_guestADHD Articles: https://www.understood.org/en/topics/adhdADHD & Women: https://www.understood.org/en/topics/adhd-womenUnderstood.org's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/understood/Understood.org's Instagram: @Understoodorg P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Understanding why ADHD happens can feel like chasing a moving target. This study adds a biological angle most people haven't considered.We discuss a prospective study examining whether maternal inflammation during the second trimester is associated with ADHD symptoms in children later in life. Researchers measured cytokine levels in 62 pregnant women and followed up on ADHD symptoms in 68 children using teacher and parent reports.The study suggests there is an association between those inflammation markers and later ADHD symptoms. It does not establish cause. The sample was small, blood draws were not standardized by time of day, and the researchers framed this explicitly as preliminary work to identify what warrants deeper investigation.What We CoverWhat cytokine levels are and why researchers used them to measure maternal inflammationWhere the methodology falls short and why the researchers themselves framed this as preliminaryWhy future research in this area needs a systems-based approach rather than adding more pressure to mothers Want more of Will's work? Go check out HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe to his YouTube channel P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Description:Presented by Understood.orgYou don't have a lack of focus. You have too many ideas pulling it in different directions.This episode builds on Wednesday's breakdown of ADHD novelty bias and shows you how to actually manage it without shutting it down.Because the goal isn't to stop having ideas. It's to stop them from constantly disrupting execution.You'll hear how to treat novelty as input instead of immediate action, how to capture ideas so they stop feeling urgent, and how to create a buffer between what you're thinking about and what your business actually does.Right now, every new idea feels important. And when your attention shifts, everything else follows.This is about keeping the ideas, without letting them take over.What We Cover:Why novelty needs a system, not suppressionHow capturing ideas reduces the urge to act on themThe “novelty as input, not strategy” approachWhy your team follows your attention automaticallyHow to create a buffer between ideas and executionWhy most ideas lose urgency if you don't act on them immediatelyIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Presented by Understood.orgYou keep switching direction mid-project, and now nothing in your business is fully built.In this episode, we break down ADHD novelty bias and why new ideas don't just feel exciting. They feel urgent, important, and hard to ignore.You'll hear how this shows up in real businesses. The team is aligned, work has started, and then a new idea comes in. It sounds better, feels right, and within days everything shifts. Six months later, you've got multiple half-built projects and no clear direction.This isn't random. Research shows ADHD brains assign higher reward value to novelty, even when it works against long-term goals.We also look at the other side of it. Why boredom feels almost painful, why sticking with one direction gets harder over time, and how this pattern quietly impacts growth, team focus, and execution.This isn't about lack of discipline. It's about understanding the pattern that's driving your decisions.What We Cover:Why new ideas feel urgent instead of optionalHow novelty bias overrides long-term plansThe “half-built business” pattern many founders fall intoWhy teams follow the founder's attention automaticallyThe link between boredom, disengagement, and switchingWhen novelty is useful and when it starts breaking the businessIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Presented by Understood.orgGetting diagnosed with ADHD explains a lot. Then it starts explaining too much.In this episode, Nir Eyal breaks down what happens after that initial relief. When ADHD stops being useful information and starts becoming your identity.He shares how that shift can quietly limit effort, create anxiety loops, and turn every struggle into “this is just how I am.”This isn't about ignoring ADHD. It's about understanding the difference between what's real and what you've started to believe about it.Because those beliefs don't just describe your behavior. They shape it.You'll hear how to separate facts from interpretations, why beliefs are tools not truths, and how small shifts in how you think can reduce friction and make action easier.What We Cover:Why ADHD diagnosis brings relief, then can create new limitsThe difference between a label and an identityHow “this is just my ADHD” becomes a stopping pointWhy beliefs increase or reduce effort before you even startThe difference between pain and suffering in focus and workA simple way to question beliefs that aren't helpingIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslabConnect With Nir EyalBook: geni.us/beyondbeliefWebsite: nirandfar.comInstagram: instagram.com/nireyal P.S. Losing work because the admin layer around your business can't keep up with you? Invisible Systems is a 90-day done-for-you sprint where I (Skye) extract the processes from your head, build the operating layer, and find the right person to run it. Six spots left at the founding price, book a call at invisiblesystem.co

Presented by Understood.orgBad environments can train ADHD entrepreneurs to second-guess themselves long after they leave those environments behind. Brandon Smith shares how years of struggling in school, standardized testing, and constant negative feedback shaped the way he saw himself, and why finding practical work completely changed how he viewed his ADHD brain.In this conversation, Brandon breaks down how environment affects confidence, self-trust, business growth, and leadership. He also shares lessons from building a construction company, learning to delegate, and realizing that many ADHD business owners stay stuck trying to perfect systems long before they actually need them.What We CoverWhy ADHD people often confuse environment problems with personal failureHow Brandon rebuilt confidence through practical workWhy school experiences still affect ADHD adults years laterThe mindset shift that helped him hire and delegateWhy unfinished systems can still move your business forwardIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou feel seen by something that wasn't meant for you.Skye and Robbie explore whether Bluey reflects ADHD patterns or just captures behaviour accurately.Using DSM criteria, they break down distraction, unfinished tasks, and how patterns are identified over time.This episode sits right on the line between observation and diagnosis and shows you how to think about both.What We Cover:Where observation stops and diagnosis startsWhy realistic behaviour can feel diagnosticHow ADHD criteria actually gets appliedThe risk of over-interpreting behaviourWhy this conversation matters beyond the showIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou build a new system, follow it for a few days, then quietly stop using it.Craig Ballantyne has coached high performers across multiple industries and his approach focuses on building systems that survive real life, not perfect conditions.This conversation looks at why most systems fail for ADHD brains. Craig explains how self-awareness, environment control, and honest constraints matter more than motivation.You will leave with a different way to think about systems that actually hold when your brain resists structure.What We CoverWhy most systems fail when they rely on motivationHow to design systems based on how you actually behaveThe role of environment in making systems stickWhy honesty about how you learn changes everythingHow to remove friction instead of adding more structureIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslabConnect with Craig: Craig Ballantyne Coaching: https://craigballantyne.com/Instagram: @ realcraigballantyne P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou get a new idea and immediately want to drop everything else.This episode builds on Wednesday's research around ideation bias in ADHD. The research suggests people with ADHD prefer the idea phase and are more likely to move on before execution is complete.We break down how this creates the “never-ending pivot” and why projects keep getting abandoned halfway through.You'll learn how to use minimum viable product thinking to actually finish things, even if your brain keeps pulling you toward the next idea.What We Cover:Why ADHD brains prefer ideation over executionHow constant pivots destroy momentum without you noticingTurning new ideas into small, testable outputs instead of full pivotsFinishing projects without suppressing creativityHow to make ideas small enough to complete before switchingIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou spend weeks building something before anyone ever sees it.Not because it needs to be that big. Because once you start, it keeps expanding until it feels impossible to finish.This is where minimum viable product actually matters. Not as a business concept, but as a way to stop overbuilding everything and start testing things earlier.ADHD makes it easy to over-scope, get pulled into the wrong details, and delay real feedback. So instead of finding out what works, you stay stuck refining something in isolation.This episode breaks down why that happens and how minimum viable thinking helps you start smaller, move faster, and avoid getting trapped in the build phase.On Friday, we'll show you how to apply this in real situations so you can actually ship things without burning out.What We CoverWhy ADHD leads to overbuilding instead of testingThe pattern of expanding a task before it ever gets real feedbackHow minimum viable thinking cuts through overthinkingWhy starting smaller makes it easier to stay in motionHow to recognize when you're building instead of progressingIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou keep starting new things and abandoning the ones that were working.Katy Weber is the go-to voice behind the Woman and ADHD podcast, reaching millions of listeners and building a multi-stream business from lived experience. Her approach to growth is grounded in what actually works with ADHD, not what sounds good on paper.She explains why ADHD pulls you toward new ideas, how pivoting too early kills momentum, and what changed when she stopped rebuilding from scratch. The conversation also covers how she used her podcast as the foundation for everything else.You will leave with a more stable way to grow without constantly resetting your progress.What We CoverWhy ADHD brains pivot too early and lose momentumThe hidden cost of constantly starting overHow to build around one stable “core” systemWhat changed when she stopped chasing new ideasWhy expansion works better than reinventionIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslabConnect with Katy Weber:Website: https://www.womenandadhd.com/Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/womenandadhdpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katyweber.adhd/ P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

You keep being told ADHD is genetic, but part of you suspects something in your environment is making it worse.In this next episode of the Research Recap Series Skye and Will (Hacking Your ADHD) discuss research on environmental exposure and ADHD-related behaviors.Together they explore what the science suggests about how certain chemicals may influence attention, impulsivity, and neurodevelopment. The focus stays on association, not certainty, and what that means in practice.The conversation also breaks down how to think about risk without spiraling. What matters. What is still unclear. And how to approach this without adding more pressure.What We CoverWhy research is shifting toward ADHD symptoms, not just diagnosisThe possible role of environmental exposure alongside geneticsWhat endocrine disruptors do and why they matter for brain developmentHow to interpret early-stage research without overreactingThe gap between scientific findings and everyday decision makingWant more of Will's work?Visit HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe to his YouTube channel. P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou keep improving the idea instead of finishing the project.In Wednesday's breakdown, we showed why ADHD brains prefer ideation and discount future rewards. Today is about building around that.This episode gives you three systems. A written decision log. A structured ideation window. And a clear threshold for when changes are allowed.These systems help you move from “this could be better” to “this is done.”What We Cover:Why ideas expand until you force a stopping pointThe system that turns decisions into something concreteHow to keep ideation from leaking into executionUsing future logs to capture ideas without derailmentWhy finishing requires leaving your strongest skillIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou have a good plan. But your brain keeps pulling you back into new ideas.Skye and Robbie explain why ADHD brains get stuck in ideation.This episode connects real-world behavior to research. ADHD brains perform well in divergent thinking. But they also prefer it. And they value immediate rewards over delayed ones.That combination makes finishing harder than starting.What We Cover:Why ideation becomes a loop instead of a phaseResearch showing ADHD strength in divergent thinkingThe preference for idea generation over refinementHow reward timing affects executionWhy finishing feels harder than startingIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou built something that works. Now you cannot stop working without everything feeling like it might fall apart.Krista Mashore is a powerhouse in digital coaching. She built a $70M business after leaving real estate at her peak. She is the gold standard for fast execution and high-output growth, and her systems come directly from managing her own ADHD at scale.We break down what burnout actually looked like behind the scenes. From selling 150+ homes a year to walking away overnight. Krista explains her “stop, snap, switch” framework, how she manages constant mental noise, and why ADHD makes fast decision-making a real advantage.You will walk away understanding why success does not remove burnout, and what needs to change if you want to keep growing without breaking yourself.What We CoverWhy ADHD high performers push past burnout signalsThe moment she walked away from a $1.8M incomeHow “stop, snap, switch” interrupts negative thought loopsWhy fast decision-making works with ADHDThe real cost of building without systemsIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslabConnect with Krista:YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KristaMashoreCoaching Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristamashore/ DM Krista the word BOT and she will help you find the real constraint in your business. P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Description:Presented by Understood.orgYou're guessing how long things take.That guess feels reasonable.It's just wrong, over and over again.In the last episode, we broke down why ADHD time blindness happens. This one is about what to do about it.Because the real problem isn't planning. It's relying on estimation at all.In this episode, Skye and Robert walk through how to replace your internal clock with systems that actually hold up in real work:why you can't “get better” at estimating timehow to use past projects instead of guessinghow teams quietly adjust for you (and why that creates tension)why buffers and “extra time” don't workhow to build timelines that don't collapse halfway throughIf you're tired of missing deadlines you genuinely thought were realistic, this will show you what's actually going wrong, and what works instead.If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou think it'll take two days.Your team knows it's two weeks.And after a while, they stop saying anything.In this episode, Skye and Robert break down why ADHD founders consistently underestimate time, not because they're overconfident or disorganized, but because their perception of time is genuinely off.They walk through the research behind time blindness and estimation failure, and how this shows up in real businesses:why your timelines feel right when you set themwhy your team starts padding estimates (without telling you)how this quietly damages trust and reputationwhy this problem gets worse as you scaleIf you've ever felt like you're constantly behind - even when you're trying to be realistic - this will explain why.If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Sorry, I Missed This.Listen here: https://lnk.to/sorryimissedthisPS!theadhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou're funding everything yourself, and it's quietly slowing your business down.Not because you're doing anything wrong, but because you're relying on the most limited resource you have: your own cash and capacity.Kat Weaver has helped founders raise over $70M and won 22 out of 23 pitch competitions herself. But her approach isn't about chasing investors, it's about using the right kind of money at the right time.In this episode, she breaks down:Why self-funding creates a ceiling most founders don't noticeThe funding options that actually make sense for service-based businessesWhy grants are one of the most overlooked (and accessible) starting pointsHow to think about money as leverage, not pressure or validationAnd how to follow through on applications without getting stuck or avoiding themIf you've ever felt maxed out, stuck at the same level, or like growth depends entirely on you pushing harder, this will probably hit.If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslabConnect with Kat:DM the word “GPT” on Instagram to get Kat's free capital calculator, designed to help founders determine how much to raise and what type of capital is best for their stage: https://www.instagram.com/iamkatweaver/Apply to work with us: https://powertopitch.com/apply/Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katweaver P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

We usually think of ADHD as behavioral.But what if some of the earliest signals weren't behavioral at all?In this Research Recap, we break down a large population-based study examining pain-related diagnoses in children before they were diagnosed with ADHD.Researchers looked at over 700,000 medical records to ask a simple question:Were children later diagnosed with ADHD already showing higher rates of pain-related medical visits?The association was clear.The explanation is not.No fear-based framing.No causation claims.No medical advice.Just what the data actually shows — and what it doesn't.What We CoverThe design of the study and why pre-diagnosis data matters14% higher abdominal pain and 35% higher limb pain diagnoses before ADHD diagnosisThe difference between experiencing more pain vs requiring more pain managementTheories around neurodevelopment, neuroinflammation, and altered pain perceptionWhy this raises important questions without changing how ADHD is diagnosed P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Description:Presented by Understood.orgYou approve the direction. Then change everything at the end.Wednesday's episode showed why ADHD planning creates late-stage corrections. This episode shows how to stop that pattern.Skye and Robbie break down a system built around checkpoints, prototypes, and early feedback. The goal is not better briefs. The goal is catching problems when they're still cheap to fix.What We Cover:Why late feedback is built into ADHD planningThe 24–48 hour check-in systemConcept reviews before real execution startsWhy midpoint sign-off reduces last-minute changesHow to stop teams from losing confidenceIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgThe plan made sense in your head. It falls apart when someone else runs it.This episode looks at research on prospective memory and verbal planning. The findings suggest ADHD impacts how plans are built, not just remembered.Skye and Robbie explain why this creates a gap between intention and execution. And why teams end up producing something that feels “close, but not right.”Friday's episode will focus on systems that reduce this gap.What We Cover:Why ADHD affects plan formation more than recallHow missing detail changes execution outcomesWhy feedback often comes too lateThe role of multi-step planning in team successIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou already know what needs to get done.It's not a knowledge problem. It's not a lack of ideas.But you still don't start.Instead, you overthink it, wait to feel ready, or tell yourself you'll do it later, again.Eric Zimmer is the creator of The One You Feed, an award-winning podcast with 50M+ downloads and 800+ conversations on behavior change. He is the go-to voice on sustainable habit change, and his work shows what actually works when willpower doesn't.In this episode, Eric and Skye break down why that gap between knowing and doing is so common with ADHD, and why trying to “think your way into action” usually makes it worse.They get into:why motivation often shows up after you start, not beforewhat's actually happening when you feel resistance to simple taskshow to begin when your brain is telling you “not now”and a more realistic way to build momentum without relying on willpowerThis isn't about forcing yourself or waiting to feel motivated.It's about understanding why starting feels so hard, and what actually helps you move anyway.If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslabConnect with Eric: https://www.oneyoufeed.net/ https://www.instagram.com/one_you_feed/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericzimmer/ https://www.youtube.com/@TheOneYouFeedPod How a Little Becomes a Lot (Book Page) P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou keep setting deadlines and somehow everything still ends up happening at the last minute.You plan ahead. You move things around. You even set earlier deadlines.And it still compresses into a final push.This episode explains why that keeps happening and what to change.We build on Wednesday's breakdown of time blindness and show why most deadline strategies fail over time, especially the fake ones you don't really believe.Then we walk through how to structure work so urgency shows up earlier, not just at the end.If your projects keep turning into last minute scrambles, this will give you a way to stop repeating that pattern.What We Cover:Why fake deadlines stop working after a whileHow to create real stakes earlier in a projectWhat “no more changes” cutoffs actually doHow meetings and other people make deadlines feel realIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgDeadlines exist right up until they don't.You can see it on the calendar. You know it's coming. You've even thought about it a few times.Then suddenly it's urgent and everything else gets dropped while you scramble to catch up.This episode explains why that keeps happening.We break down what research shows about ADHD and time perception, and why this isn't just poor planning. Future time doesn't create pressure until it's right in front of you, so you end up relying on last minute urgency just to get started.If you've ever wondered why you only seem to move when things get critical, and why that keeps messing with your business, your team, or your stress levels, this will make that pattern make a lot more sense and set up the systems we'll build on Friday.What We Cover:Why deadlines don't create pressure until they are closeWhat research says about ADHD and time perceptionWhy last minute urgency becomes the default way to workThe gap between knowing a deadline and actually feeling itIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here: https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgJamie Sea built two seven-figure businesses.From the outside, everything looked successful. But behind the scenes, the pressure, urgency and burnout were becoming impossible to ignore.In this episode of ADHD Skills Lab, Skye talks with Jamie Sea, entrepreneur, educator and host of The Jamie Sea Show about the moment she realized the businesses she built no longer fit the life she wanted.Jamie shares what it was like to feel trapped inside success, how ADHD patterns and nervous system pressure shaped the way she worked, and why she ultimately made the difficult decision to close both companies and start again.They explore how urgency, identity and internal pressure influence many ADHD entrepreneurs; and how learning to work with the nervous system can change the way we approach work, money and success.What We CoverThe moment Jamie realized success was no longer sustainableHow ADHD urgency and pressure shape entrepreneurshipWhy high-achieving founders often hit burnoutThe role of nervous system awareness in business decisionsWhat it actually looked like to close two seven-figure companies and rebuild If you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here:https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslabConnect With Jamie Seahttps://thejamiesea.com/https://instagram.com/jamieseaofficialhttps://youtube.com/@jamieseaofficialhttps://thejamiesea.com/mind-body-millions P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou know how to do the work. But when a task is actually a project, you have to figure out the steps again every time you come back to it.On Wednesday we looked at the research behind this problem. ADHD planning challenges often show up when the brain has to manage the structure of a project internally.This episode looks at the practical solution.Instead of trying to carry the whole project in your head, many ADHD entrepreneurs externalize the planning layer.Skye and Robbie explain what that looks like in practice — including tools, capture systems, and support structures that hold the plan so your brain can focus on execution.What We Cover- Why projects become inefficient when the plan lives only in your head- What externalizing executive functioning looks like in practice- The three components of an ADHD project system: tools, structure, and support- Why the tool matters less than the habit of capturing work outside your head- How entrepreneurs separate planning from executionIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here:https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye. 

Presented by Understood.orgYou can handle individual tasks all day. But the moment something becomes a project, everything slows down.Research into ADHD executive functioning suggests the difference often comes down to planning demands, not motivation or intelligence.In this episode, Skye and Robbie break down what these experiments reveal about ADHD and why complex projects require building a sequence before starting. That requirement can create real cognitive friction for many ADHD brains.On Friday, we'll look at the practical systems that reduce this planning load and make complex work easier to execute.What We CoverWhy ADHD often struggles more with projects than tasksWhat “tower task” planning experiments reveal about ADHDWhy working memory and inhibition appear most consistently affectedWhy ADHD is a performance issue rather than a knowledge issueHow planning demands make complex work cognitively inefficientIf you're enjoying ADHD Skills Lab, you may also enjoy Understood.org's new podcast, Everyone Gets a Juice Box: For Parents of Neurodivergent Kids.Listen here:https://lnk.to/everyonegetsajuiceboxPS!adhdskillslab P.S. If your ADHD symptoms turn every business day into chaos, with unfinished tasks piling up and revenue stuck, it's not you. It's your operating system. Click here to book an operational strategy session with Skye.