MMP #087 - ADHD Survival Guide for Online Business Owners

I share what it’s been like getting diagnosed with ADHD at 36 and why it felt like I’d been building my business on hard mode. I break down the symptoms I missed, what the online assessment was like, and the simple systems that help me focus without living in a shame spiral. 

I cover topics including:

1. How did I start to have a hunch that I might have ADHD?
2. My personal symptoms and struggles
3. My past symptoms I didn’t even know
4. The online diagnosis process
5. Things that are currently working for me
6. My experience with Rx so far
7. What I’ve learned about ADHD so far
8. Re-engineering your environment
9. Hiring an ADHD Coach
10. And a Checklist for online business owners to go through and make sure they can perform their best

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Make Moves podcast. I'm your host, Clayton Moves, and this is the podcast for all health and fitness experts to land dream clients from Instagram and learn marketing and sales that doesn't feel salesy. All right, let's dive in. So I had no idea that I had been raw dogging ADHD for 36 years without knowing it. So I was officially diagnosed with ADHD in September of 2025, and I just started taking medication in October 2025. So in this podcast episode, I want to share my journey and what I've learned so far. We'll cover topics such as how did I start to have a hunch that I might have ADHD, my personal symptoms and struggles, my past symptoms that I didn't know were symptoms, the online diagnosis process, things that are currently working for me, my experience with medication so far, what I've learned about ADHD, re-engineering your environment, and a checklist for online business owners to go through so they can make sure that they perform their best. So what is this episode not? This episode is not medical advice. You will not be diagnosed. I am not an ADHD expert. But what this episode is, is to help you realize that you might, maybe your procrastination could be ADHD related and help you navigate your own ADHD. So if you already know if you have it, and provide you with resources that can further help you. So let's dive in. So the first thing, how did I start to feel like I had ADHD? The short answer is the Instagram algorithm. So the long answer, the Instagram algorithm, self-reflection, researching through reputable reputable resources, scheduling for a six-hour online assessment, including questionnaires, evaluation from a psychologist, and an in-depth medical history. So I highly recommend against self-diagnosing yourself with anything from social media. But if some of the stuff starts to sound like you and more and more evidence might be piling up, it might be a good idea to look further into it. So my awareness of these symptoms became much more prevalent once I lost my health coaching job of 13 years. So I was working full-time as a health coach. Um when did I start? And then I worked full-time from 2013 to 2018. Um and then right around 2018, um, I decided to go part-time. So I worked two 10-hour shifts. Those were Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then Monday, Wednesday, Friday was my business, make moves coaching. So that provided me and my brain nice bookends and kind of boundaries to get shit done because I couldn't work on my business or post on social media on the days that I was quote unquote working for the man. Um I didn't want any conflict of interest or raising the eyebrows for someone to fire me with that. Um, but when I lost my job um this past year um that part-time job, all of that structure went out the window. And I was really now full-time all in on my own business and fully my own boss with zero structure and zero accountability. So overwhelm, tasks, and productivity all started to kind of crumble and begin to spiral. So I needed to know if just I was being a big baby and just procrastinating, or if something was actually different about my brain. So next thing, my personal symptoms and struggles. I am one hell of a to-do list maker. Um you can ask my wife. Um, I've used no Molskin notebooks, post-its, iPhone Note apps, Notion Doc templates, Notion spreadsheets, to-do apps, you name it. And I'm really good at what we call the brain dump part, aka just getting all of my ideas out, things I need to do, new projects, big next steps, big ideas, and just day-to-day daily chores. But then I would look at that brain dump list and I would just freeze and just feel overwhelmed. I didn't know what to tackle first, and I would spend so much time stressing and you know, try to soothe myself with doom scrolling on Instagram. And side note, this is called executive dysfunction due to lack of dopamine in my brain. Um, I'm just I'm learning as I go about ADHD. Um, and this is my uh body's creative way to try and seek quick and easy dopamine with scrolling. Um, and then I would just blink and it would be an hour or two just gone, just like that. And I would be so disappointed and angry with myself, and the stress to try and get myself to get things together and just the the shame spiral that would happen from that was also um pretty debilitating. Um so the stress would pile up, and then I would scroll some more into my next client session, and I would blink and it would be 3:30, and I'm like, shit, I have to hop into Daddy Deodie at 4 p.m. And that would cue the adrenaline-fueled panic fest that would bring about superhuman ability to actually get shit done. So client support, client deliverables, you know, chuck up a half-ass intro Instagram post, eat a protein bar. And so I essentially got the what I coined and I stole this from one of my clients, BAM, which is bare ass minimum, right? So, but I never really each day I could never really get above that bare ass minimum, and I would just kind of repeat that whole cycle. So all of those trainings that I wanted to create, all those courses that I wanted to watch and learn new skill sets and strategies for my own business, all of those leads just sitting in my DMs, all of that had to be tabled to the next day, and I would just repeat this kind of vicious cycle. And the the panic-fueled adrenaline sessions were burning me the hell out, making me depressed and zapping my self-confidence and my ability to just do things. Um, so the shame was piling up too, and not living up to my attention really started to weigh heavy. My to-do list became chaotic with so many things piling up, it felt overwhelming. And I also became aware of weird ways in which I procrastinate. Um, obvious ones, which would be doom scrolling, but then the not so obvious ones that started to pop up as well. Um, so I know this might sound odd, but like even things like just like picking at my arms and like popping pimples on the backs of my triceps, um, and you know, just cleaning up the house, like organizing, you know, kids' toys, doing the dishwasher, unloading that. So, really just things that yes, those things needed to be done, but did they need to be done right then and there? And what I realized what I was doing was I was avoiding the big scary task. I was avoiding the thing that was on my to-do list for weeks or months now, and it felt like the more I put it off, the bigger the and scarier the task became, and the harder it was to jump into it. Um, and so basically anything that needed done, but didn't need to be done right there, I would kind of procrastinate on. And it felt like this fake productivity, but in reality, I was avoiding the thing that would actually move my business forward. Cool. So, next thing here is past symptoms that I had that I had no idea were symptoms of ADHD. So drinking alcohol and smoking weed excessively in college, hello, cheap dopamine. Um, putting off big projects and papers and studying until the literal last minute. Um, I just thought it was normal college behavior, but it was actually really ADHD. Um getting almost a 4.0 in college and in grad school, but feeling like a failure and like I could and should be doing more. Um jumping from task to task with little progress to show for either of the tasks that I was working on. Coming up with ideas and getting them half baked until it got boring, and then I would just abandon them. Getting super hyper focused and obsessed with new hobbies. 147 unread texts and over 25,000 unread emails, um, never being able to put away laundry, avoiding opening mail, um, any paperwork related to taxes, car registration, or scheduling doctor's appointments, I would avoid like the plague. Um, I always thought it would take forever, so I just kept putting it off. And in reality, all of the shit would just realistically only take five to ten minutes. Depression. Um, I was never fully diagnosed or took medication for depression, but it actually turns out, as I learned through my psychologist, that a lack of dopamine in your brain can actually make people feel depressed and or anxious. And when you boost those levels with medication, it can actually dramatically improve those other symptoms of depression or anxiety as a byproduct, which is pretty cool. And listening to the same song on repeat for months, hello Hansons Mm bop. Like a very core memory in the 90s of just sitting on the floor and listening to that song on repeat. Um, to this day, too. I don't I don't binge listen to MmBOP anymore, but I do listen to a song and then that earworm just gets in my brain, and I will literally listen to that same song for weeks on end or back to back to back and just hit on repeat. Um, so that that is a um telltale sign of ADHD, and I had no idea about it. Um, people pleasing is a big one, um, and just like kind of feeling on and off the press that I had no idea was a symptom. So let's talk about the online diagnosis process. So I won't go into huge details here, but I want to give you enough so you can seek it out if you wanted to, you know, try this out for yourself. So I had found a local therapist that did in-person ADHD assessments and diagnosing. Um, I booked on their website, but the earliest opening they had was like literally four months away. And I was like, well, damn, that's a long way away, but okay, fine, I'll book it. Um and they had later emailed me that week um that they could do an online assessment um this month if that was okay with them. And I was like, uh yes, please. So it was a six-hour assessment, it was long. Um and prior to that, I had to fill out a ton of paperwork, which if you have ADHD, you know, that can be the bane of your existence. So it was an effort to get through that. Um and the assessment kind of felt like a cognitive memory, kind of almost like Alzheimer's dementia testing. Um, but it also had tons of questions of how much you agree or disagree with certain statements. Um, so they tested memory, short-term working memory, and recall and things like that. Um, the exam also involved me speaking with a therapist directly and giving anecdotal accounts of my experience with my personal symptoms. Um it took about three to four weeks to get the results, and the therapist reviewed them with me over a Zoom call, and I was connected with a local psychiatrist who I had a consult with, and they decided to try the Adderall extended release and see how I responded to that. So, what's my experience been like so far with medication? Um, I immediately immediately noticed a difference. I literally started to cry the first day I took it. Um I was crying because I now realized that I was playing entrepreneur on hard mode, essentially. And if I could hit six figures with a chaotic brain that couldn't really focus on anything, um, what could I do with a more regulated and focused brain? Um and I felt like I finally could sift through thoughts and actually get myself into motion and actually start tackling tasks that felt paralyzing before. Um, and there is there's definitely sort of a lift-off um with these types of stimulants where I could feel my brain starting to kick into gear in a little little bit more of a linear and organized way as opposed to just like this lateral thinking and connecting random ideas, which is kind of like my brain's baseline. Hey friend, this episode of the Make Moves Podcast is sponsored by me, Clayton Law. And if you are sick of trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together with how to land dream clients from Instagram, I'm here to help you. There are two options that you can choose from. Option one, join MakeMoves Nation. It's an online community with full access to all my trainings and courses. You work at your own pace, attend monthly community calls, submit questions to the community, share wins, get inspired, and gain momentum and clarity. You can say as long as you'd like, and feel free to pause the membership and rejoin whenever it's less than a dollar a day, with the membership access being$30 a month. The link to join is in the show notes. Option two, you can do one-on-one coaching with Clayton. So this is for you if you're ready to quit messing around and you're ready to do the work. Weekly Zoom calls with me, Monday through Friday support, voice memo, and text, custom Loom video tutorials, custom GPS action steps for what you need to do and when. And it's a way to fast track your way to success to generate leads every day and clients every week. And if you're ready to explore one-on-one coaching and discuss your goals and have me lay out a game plan for you, you have two options that you can do. Click the link in the show notes where you can schedule a free Zoom call, chat with Clayton, or option two, DM me the words make moves on Instagram, and we can text and voice memo back and forth, answer any questions you have that you might have before I send the payment link your way. Now, back to the show. So, what are things that are currently working for me? Um, first and foremost, Adderall. Um, I think I'm on the 20 milligram extended release. Um, everyone don't look at the dosage, right? Like everyone's body and how they process anything is is always going to be different. So if you have friends that are on medication like Vivance or Adderall or you know anything else, like don't look at their dosage and compare it to yours. Like it you have to really listen to how your body responds and make it make sense for you. Um, so using the brick to turn my smartphone into a dumb phone is awesome. I'm not sponsored by brick, but it's an awesome device. It's basically like a piece of plastic where you can tap your phone to, and then you can turn you know certain apps on or certain apps off. And it's it's a really great um thing to just like if you struggle with Doom Scrolling, get yourself a brick. It's awesome. Um, things like fidget toys, like Ono rollers, spinner rings, um, that kind of stuff was helpful. Um, and again, if you recall, like the the weird symptom of procrastinating I had was like you know popping pimples on the back of my arm. So a a work around that is to um wear long sleeves when I'm working. Um, so and again, this is the this is such a key point. I'll get into ADHD coaching in a bit. But like this, it is so important that there's not a silver bullet or one size fits all for like improving your ADHD and like you know solving it essentially. But you you kind of have to look at like what are the ways in which I procrastinate and what are the ways that like what are things I'm procrastinating on, how do I procrastinate? And then you you re-engineer your environment to work against that. So my way of re-engineering my environment is to wear long sleeves. So then when I reflexively go to you know, scratch the back of my arm or look for like pimples to pop, I can't because I have long sleeves on, right? And so it sounds silly, but if you can make it harder, if you can add more friction and resistance to doing a behavior that is you know counterproductive, and then if you make um the like the behaviors that you do want to do with a whole heck of a lot less friction and more in your visual field availability, then you're more likely to do those good behaviors. So um next one is eating lunch every day. I always forget, like I'm good at breakfast, I love breakfast, so like just eggs and eggs and toasts, coffee, like that. That was no problem for me. But I realized that like, you know, later in the day, or you know, when when we're done with the work day and then you know, hanging out with our kids and and taking care of our kids, I realized that like if I was like uber cranky or just like you know, the the kids were very overstimulating for me, I would look back and realize, like, well, what was my lunch today? Well, I think it was like six sour gummies and uh a protein bar. So I was like, I didn't really eat, like I'm I'm a 200-pound man, like I I need way more food and and protein than that. And protein is a really great precursor to creating more dopamine in your brain. So that that's the thing I realized like on the days I don't eat lunch, I struggle. Um, so just trying to make sure that that is a priority, right? Whether it's leftovers from the previous night's dinner or just like something. So again, you want to notice where you struggle with your ADHD and come up with creative solutions and essentially experiment with it. So I have eating lunch literally on my habit tracker for my business. Um, and it's a paper habit tracker that I use. So um, because again, that that was an important thing for me. If I can eat lunch every day, it drastically improves how my brain works. Um, next thing is daily walking. Um, ideally outside in nature, getting some sunshine. It's been like miserable in Pittsburgh for you know months. I just this this time of year is just uh it's it's rough. Um so but anyways, outside is is is ideal. But um if not, I do have a standing desk that I have a walking pad treadmill underneath it. So then I could basically you know walk in the treadmill and take a client call if it's not something too technical. Um, or I can you know walk in the treadmill and you know follow up with leads in my DMs or message my clients' voice memos and things like that. So um walking was a huge thing. Um and noise canceling headphones is awesome. I actually stole my wife's and then she ended up buying a new pair. So thank you, Carrie. Um, but noise canceling headphones and then using like a type of music or curated playlist um that helps you dive into whatever the task is. So certain things I can do with music, like if I'm writing scripts for content, like storytelling content or carousels, um, if I'm kind of doing my brain dump or you know, other certain tasks I can do, I can do music, but like if I'm editing a video or if I'm you know on a client call, obviously, or you know, doing some other task for work, the music isn't really a great thing, but I might still have my noise-canceling headphones. And so experiment with different music. Um, so sometimes I'll I'll balance between classical music. Um, there's a really good like classical focus music uh channel on Spotify, um, or you can just like literally curate your own playlist, or they have like ADHD playlists for focus. So play around with it, try on different things, be open to experimentation, and you'll kind of find something you like. Um, for me, if I'll listen to a certain song that I'm just like really groove into and really liking, it'll just kind of tickle my brain in the right way and just kind of get me into a um a groove. Like, for example, I listened to Dramamine by Modest Mouse on repeat. The the one day I was like writing a ton of content scripts. I think I listened to it pretty easily like 15, 16, 17 times in a row just on repeat. And it's like a four or five minute long song, but I it just it just sounded great and I just kept rolling with it. So um the last thing that's really, really helped me, and I want to go into a little bit more detail here is hiring an ADHD coach. Um, and I'm really big at you if you've seen my content on Instagram, you know I talk about the importance of hiring a coach. Um, anytime I go without a coach for a stretch of time, my business just kind of stays stagnant. I don't really have that like urgency to um to build it up or to improve it or to scale it in any way. But when I'm paying a coach like hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars a month, like it really kicks my butt into gear and and gets a lot of stuff done. So, but I want to really talk about my experience so far. So I'm currently one month in um and I just wanted to kind of share what I'm learning and and what I'm implementing and what I learned about my myself and my own habits. So vagueness is my enemy, um, and specificity is my best friend. So, again, too, we talk about the brain dump. I'm an expert on brain dumping, but let me kind of lay out what I have been doing. So I I I had like to-do lists and brain dumps like in a in a couple different spots. And what I realize is sometimes when I do it virtually, like in a Notion doc or in an app or something like that, because it's not right in my face, um, there's this thing with ADHD that like if you don't see it, it doesn't exist. Like I struggle with that sometimes where it's like I I struggle with like keeping in touch with my friends who aren't local, and even like friends who are local, if I'm not seeing them on a regular basis, like I don't forget they exist, but it's just not top of mind. And I'm just going through my day, like groundhog day, work, exercise, take care of kids, hang out, and just rinse and repeat. And so I kind of just like forget to to reach out to certain people. Um, so I literally have like a note app of the like local friends and non-local friends, and I do my best to try and you know um keep in touch with them. But getting back to like visual, right? Like if you see it in front of you, like a post-it note or a three by five note card or a spiral bound notebook that's open, right? Like you can literally see it, and then it can be a visual cue and remind you of something. So I wanted to find the balance of virtual, like I love Notion because it's great on the desktop, but the Notion app is like fantastic Chef's Kiss. It's so good for so many reasons. I use it for you know, my day-to-day life and personal life, my business, um, everything. So I love Notion, but sometimes things can get kind of bogged down. Um, but I I wanted to be able to like access this stuff on the fly. Like, I'm not gonna take a you know, 11 by 8 moleskin notebook everywhere I go, or like even a smaller one. Like it just like I want it to be something that I take with me all the time, which is my phone. So that kind of acts like the the master hub like kind of like database, and then I can extract things that I'm gonna do for that day on you know actual paper and pen. So um, so the notion uh template that I use, um, I used to break it up into and I and again, you you try things on, you see what works and see what doesn't work. So I used to like I had this notion to-do list and it was great, and I broke it up into business today, business this week, business this month, and then I had personal today, personal this week, and personal this month. Um and I and I had like it was like green, yellow, red, green, yellow, red, you know, so green was today, yellow was this week, and red was this month. And I thought, like, this is great, you know, I'm I'm categorizing things, I'm sec separating things, um, you know, I'm I'm kind of saying, like, hey, this is a today thing, and this can be this can wait a little bit later, and then you know, this is more of an eventual thing. Um, and and I thought it was great because it was like organized. But what I didn't realize was that my brain kind of thought everything was a priority. So, like, if you looked at my like how I used to use that old list, like everything on the today list, like I had like 30 things on that list that get done. And it was just like, yeah. Yeah, fat chance, dude. Like, you're not gonna get that done. And what would happen was when I wouldn't get that done, I would feel guilty, I'd feel ashamed about it. And then the the day would kind of repeat. And the longer those things stayed on my today get done list and I didn't do it, like it just zapped my confidence and my ability to like do anything. And so what I realized is that categorizing it like that wasn't helpful for my brain. I needed to be able to organize it in a different way. And so, like what my coach was able to help me reflect on is like, you know, what are the things that I'm avoiding? Right? What are the big scary tasks? What are the avoiding stuff? What are the important things that I need to get done? So I kind of did uh again another brain dump, but essentially was what are all my tasks for my business, right? What do I do on a given day, given week, given month? Like, what are all the things I do, right? The things I do on a daily basis, weekly, monthly. And when I looked at that, I could start identifying, like, oh yeah, I procrastinate on this, I procrastinate on that. So then I started to like extract anything that I found myself procrastinating on. Um, and stuff that felt important, client care stuff, um, you know, just like, you know, really in-depth storytelling, kind of like the things that I know are important and that move my business forward, like because it felt important, I would then kind of freeze and stall on it because I'm like, oh, this is important. And then I would just like overthink it and and have perfectionism about it. And you know, it was just it was a vicious cycle. And so what I when I extracted that kind of stuff, I had that list of like, okay, these are the important things that I avoid doing. Um, and now that I knew that, we were also able to discuss like brain power. So think of like, you know, if you're playing Mario Kart and you have like a turbo or a power button or something like that, you can press and hold that button, but then that power meter goes down, goes down, goes down, goes down. And when it's done, it's done, right? And so your ADHD brain is very, very similar, right? You start off with like, you know, kind of low dopamine in the morning, and then you take your medication, you eat some breakfast, and then that starts to pick up, right? And then what you can do is you want to pay attention to when do you work best, right? When do you when do you feel in a flow state? When do you get the most done? When are you the most creative? Um, and so for me, and just like how my day works, I by the time we drop off the kids and get back home, uh, you know, it's like 9 30-ish. And then I don't normally take client calls until 10 a.m. So I either at like 10 a.m. have my first client call or um you know a one to two hour of like what I call deep work from you know Cal Newport. So when I when I have that, then you know that that's that's when my brain works best. That's when I'm most creative, that's when I can be the most prolific, that's when I can like start tackling stuff. Um and so knowing that what we started to experiment with is to um front-end load uh like my calendar with like important tasks, uh things that I want to get done, or um things that I've been like avoiding or procrastinating on. So um the other thing too is that uh the there's a concept out there. It's a book that I never read, but I would refer to a lot. It's called Eat the Frog. Um so the main premise is that the thing that you've been like, you know, uh procrastinating on or avoiding or whatever, like the the big intimidating thing, eat the frog, get that done right away. Um and for most kind of like what you you know call like neurotypical brains, like yeah, they can kind of jump into that, but for someone with ADHD who already struggles with like the decision and and getting into a task and waffling back and forth, like I was trying to eat the frog, and it was just I I could never even start it. Um and so that would again just piss me off and and be frustrating. So um, but the the thing that I identified was being able to ease into tasks. So um I'm gonna sorry, my brain kind of going everywhere, but let me rewind here, roll back and go to the um new categories of tasks that I came up with, right? So the new tasks, instead of doing, you know, today, this week, this month for business and personal, the new categories that I'm currently testing out, and it's working well, but I'm gonna continue to test, is um there's a brain dump category, um, and then there's momentum tasks. So momentum tasks are kind of like green tasks that I can just start chipping away, right? And it doesn't feel like effort. I can just like boom, did that, did that, did that. So these are small tasks, maybe like some admin stuff, maybe checking in some stuff, things that don't feel like a heavy lift, and I can just do things. So if let's say on 10 a.m. I've got a block of deep work to do a specific like big scary task that I've been avoiding. Um, I give myself a um a grace of like five, 10 minutes. Um, and uh again, if you're not using a visual timer, I have this thing called the time timer. I got it from Amazon. It's like a little kind of like you turn the dial um and it's a 60-minute timer and it's got a beep that goes off after the timer is done. That is so great is for time blindness because again, too, you can get if you're hyper-fixated or focused on a task, like you can lose track of time, or if you're like procrastinating or whatever, you can lose you can lose track of time. So I basically say, like, okay, you know, 9 45, I'm sitting down for work, I'm gonna set a timer for 10 minutes, and I'm either going to chip away at the momentum tasks. And what happens when I do that is that you you start to gain confidence, right? You're checking things off, you're doing so like look at me, look, I'm I'm doing some shit, I'm I'm getting things done. And so that that begets more confidence and momentum that you're you're you're moving forward. And so then if I'm feeling real like, you know, like dialed in after that, I'll quickly switch gears into that big scary thing and then start chipping away at that. Now the key is what you tell yourself is like I'm just going to start this, right? So let me give you an example. Like if I'm writing an ad script for a client, right? I'm writing a new follower ad script, and I'm, you know, like it's a big process, right? I take a lot of time to really make it as dialed in as I can. So it's a very curated custom um script for my client that doesn't look like anyone else's ad. But it all starts with the script. And so there, but there's a lot of things that go into that ad script. So if I look at my calendar and see, okay, write so-and-so's ad script, okay, that's a big task. That's a big thing, right? But if I just say, like, I'm gonna start writing the first line of the ad script, I'm gonna start with the call out. Who are we calling out? What is the hook? Right. And so I just start with that. And if I just tell myself I'm just going to start that, and then I start writing it, and then my brain click clicks into the next thing and then the next thing. And then before I know it, I have the whole ad script done, right? But I I just promise myself that I was just gonna at least start it. So then I'm I'm left with this decision where I can either, if my brain's feeling kind of foggy or I don't really feel like in a flow state yet, start chipping away. It's a momentum task to like just get myself into a groove. But sometimes I'll sit down, 9 45, and I'm like, yo, I'm ready, let's tackle this thing, right? And and so then I can just dive right into the hard thing. So then I don't need the momentum task. I can kind of save some of those momentum tasks for like a midday kind of re-reboost in terms of a momentum. So again, the categories are momentum tasks, this week tasks, um, and then the important ones are do today and client care. Um, and then anything scary avoiding, and then the last category is chip away. So momentum task, this week, do today, client care, scary avoiding, and chipping away at. So the the the cool thing about this was like I'm treating the do today like honestly, it's due today. Um, and that's been so helpful for me because like again, I can take like the client care, like this ad script for that client, this many chat automation for that client, um, this content review for that client. So like anything I need to deliver for a client, do for a client, or give feedback or answer questions for a client, it goes there. And then again, I can say, like, is this a today thing, or you know, can I, you know, keep this for tomorrow or something like that. So it just really helps me to have that executive function and to pare down like, okay, is this is this urgent, is this timely, is this important? Like it just like before it was just like I brain dump everything and then I no idea what to tackle first, and it was just like chaos. So um the the other thing too is that um I I use Google Calendar that I integrate with Notion, um, and so I have it like on my Notion dashboard, and I do really well if something's on my calendar. Um and so when when it gets on my calendar, like I actually do it. So prior to working with a coach, I I did these like two-hour blocks of um uh deep work, right? So and and I thought I was pretty good, proactive about it, right? So like I would take the hard tasks of my business or things that I did, you know, that are money-making activities or things that are super important to move the business forward, like um writing scripts, recording podcasts, um you know, uh filming content, editing content, capturing B-roll, like whatever it is. And um I would look at that two hour, like I would have a two-hour block and it would just say like podcasts. I'm like, cool, cool, cool, cool. Like that's that's you know, you got the specificity of the category, but then I just be like, okay, am I writing a podcast? Am I writing an outline? Am I recording? Am I editing? Like, there's just so many things that I couldn't then decide, like, well, what do I do next? And then, you know, I would start to scroll and yeah, it just never really worked. And so um what what I was helped with, and again, specificity being my best friend, is like I put on my calendar, record episode 90 of ADHD, right? And then take a 15-minute walk and then come back and write the outline for episode 91, right? And that was way more specific. And I had a uh a call with my ADHD coach earlier, uh earlier this week, and I was like, okay, so I'm gonna record episode 90. She's like, great. And then I'm gonna take a 15-minute walk outside, great. Um, and then I'm gonna come back and then finish whatever outlines that I can in the remaining time. And she's like, that sounds a little vague. And I was like, uh, yeah, I guess. And she's like, well, which one would you do? And I was like, well, you know, I would come here, and then so I started realizing, like, oh wow, but yeah, this is a this is a uh a trap that my brain would do. So I would probably go into my Notion Doc that I have all my podcasts, you know, topic ideas, outlines, different things, and I'd probably just bounce and ping pong from, you know, oh, I got this podcast idea, and oh, I could do this, and oh, this is also a content idea, and I'd open up my Instagram and like put that in my content ideas and bounce back here and then oh, surprise, now I'm scrolling, right? So because I had too much vagueness in that like write remaining podcast outlines, it gave me way too much wiggle room to just wiggle out of that task, right? But if I'm like, hey, I'm looking at my podcast ideas, okay. I want to write this idea and I want to write this outline. Cool. So then after that 15-minute walk outside around that loop that you do, you come back in and you write that outline for that podcast. And I was like, holy shit, that feels way more doable, way more realistic, and like, and it's on my calendar with that specificity, so I know I'm gonna get it done. So again, it's it's all one big Rubik's cube of figuring out how your brain works and what visual cues, reminders, or systems you need in order to make it like the most successful outcome that you can look for. So um, that being said, too, uh I use that Notion template and it's been working really good. Um, again, if you want my Notion template, um, I'll see if I can make it available to duplicate um in the show notes here. Um anything I talk about, like literally just DM me on Instagram, be like, hey, listen to this episode of the podcast. Do you have this? Um probably can share that template with you. So always feel free to reach out to me. Um and so the other thing too is that I have a three by five note cards, like just your little typical note cards. And if it's like midday, like noon or one o'clock, two o'clock, um, what I'll do is I'll extract the this is due today, end of day. Um, and I like to have things done by 4 p.m. so that like I'm not, you know, doing work at 8 p.m. after we put the kids down. Um my brain just turns into mashed potatoes and I'm never really productive then. So I want to try and get things done as much as I can by four o'clock. So I will take a three by five note card and I'll write GSD at the top, which for me it just stands for get shit done. I'll write the date, and then I'll like put number one, this, number two, this, and I'll basically just extract those next things I have to do, and then I just have that sitting on my desk right in front of my eyes so that I know, like, okay, this is my next thing, and I don't get too lost in the notion stuff. Um, and then for the um client care, I actually have a little notebook. Um, it's like a again, it's like about the size of a three by five note card. Um, I got it off Amazon. It's really cool. It's almost like a moleskin, but it's it's a different brand. Um, and the reason I like it is because it's spiral bound and I can like flip it open, like think of like a reporter's notepad, and then it can just stay open, right? Because essentially what I do is I write, you know, client care at the top and then just bullet point lists, like client's name, task, client's name, task. And so I can cross it off as I go. And so I it it's because I don't want to lose, I don't want anything to slip through the cracks of my ADHD brain and like forget to do something for a client. And so this is a way to just like visually have that in front of me and capture that, and then also kind of like a fallback plan. I also add it to the notion client care uh column. Uh it's a little bit of redundancy, um, but it it makes me feel confident that I'm not gonna miss something, um, which is really important for my work. All right, and so um covered all that stuff. So the other thing too is um knowing the work tasks that you have to do and like how much brain power does it take, or how much creativity does it take. So for for me, like if I am posting, if I'm creating an Instagram post from scratch and it's after 2 p.m., my brain's already kind of mashed potatoes, and it's it's it's really like I I can show up and get in a flow state for a client call after 2 p.m. But when it comes to like creativity work, like coming up with like storytelling content or like a really good educational post, it's hard for me to do something that I feel proud of or that I feel is really good. And so it kind of becomes almost like a not a throwaway post, but just kind of like a you know a holding pattern or like I'm gonna do kind of like more of a low effort piece of content. And I know it's not gonna really you know go viral, get a ton of eyeballs, or maybe generate a huge amount of leads, but you know, it it checks the box of me showing up. Um but ideally if I could do my Instagram posts before noon, before one o'clock, I have way more brain power and creativity to use to create something really good. Um, and then also just like client care stuff and tasks that I've been avoiding that feel big hairy and scary. Um, if I can do those early in the day, it's better. So, again, too, you want to kind of look at your calendar, and if you can schedule those things in earlier in the day, you're typically gonna be happier with the outcome. So um again, if you tried eating the frog and it didn't work, like try with some of those momentum tasks that can be really, really huge. Um, again, to the analog timer, huge, um, so so important. And uh, you just want to try and work with your brain as opposed to work against it. So um that that's the things I've been learning from my ADHD coach and working with her. Um, and I want to shift gears into some general helpful tips for you. So there is no silver bullet for solving your ADHD. Um, you probably know that like ADHD, autism, all that kind of stuff is it's on a spectrum, right? And so someone might have ADHD and have way more debilitating, paralyzing you know, symptoms. I would say I have moderate ADHD, is what they said from the um the testing and stuff like that. So like mild to moderate. So can I survive? Like, yeah, like on the weekends, I don't take my medication just because like I don't really need to be that dialed in. I can just like play dad and have fun with our family. But like if I really want to get work done, like that's when I need to take the medication. Um, it's just important because like I like if my business isn't you know getting done, then you know I'm not you know paying the bills and hitting my financial goals, right? So um, but just knowing that like your ADHD and your symptoms are gonna be unique to you. Um, and so try not to you know compare yourself too much. You want to know how you procrastinate. Like, what are the behaviors and the things that you do to procrastinate? Everyone's gonna be a little bit different, but you got you know these common vices. So just think about like what are the ways in which I procrastinate, list them all out, and then you want to find creative ways to change your environment so these procrastination mechanisms are literally out of reach, right? So you want to add friction and resistance um to the things you don't want to do, and you want to add like I was gonna say glide, but like you want to remove friction for the behaviors that you do want to do and make them easier and more in your visual field. Um, next thing is you want to create a dopamine menu. So these are things that you can do to snap your mind and body together and get some blood moving. So um, you know, just like a quick walk, um, you know, a quick little kettlebell workout, um, some push-ups, um, getting up and drinking uh water, taking a shower is a good one, right? Um, you know, just anything that can give you a quick reset. Um, getting up, petting your dog, you know, whatever you can do, grabbing a snack. Um, so you want to kind of create a dopamine menu, and you might want like this to be on a post-it or somewhere where you can see it, just so that you can, you know, recall it pretty easily. Um, you might not need that visual cue after a bit, but um you want to try and be able to have some things that can help you get going. The the most important part, in my opinion, is standing up, like literally standing up. Like if you're doom scrolling, um, this is this is what I like to do, is like I like to just call it out, like literally talk to myself and say, like, okay, brain, you're procrastinating. Um, you know, like, oh, all right, we're doom scrolling, and then literally just stand up, like stand up out of your chair, out of the couch, wherever you're at. And when you do that, like it is forward progress, and you you start to then take actual control from the autonomic just doom scroll, right? So you start to like just regain like your ability to actually you know control what you're focusing on, how you're working. Um, and then again, screw eating the frog. Um, you want to start to break it into tiny pieces, um, it's much easier. Bricking your phone, fantastic. Um, there's different apps out there, like focus apps and distraction apps and stuff like that, but like there's kind of like you know, mechanisms that you can kind of like opt out of that. And so I don't really like it as much as the brick because the brick you have to like literally stand up and tap your phone to unbrick your phone to access what you need to back. Like there is like an emergency kind of like thing you can do to like bypass that, but like it's it's much harder. Um, and so I like to when I brick my phone, put the brick somewhere out of reach. So like you can't just like unbrick your phone like at an arm's distance. You have to like literally stand up and unbrick it. It is magnetic, so you can like attach it to your fridge or something else. Um, you could be even put it downstairs, like that's probably more of a power move in my opinion. Um, and then uh the next thing here is you want to stack tasks. Um, so like stacking your life. And this comes from Katie Bowman. But one example I like to do is when I walk on my treadmill under my desk here, um, I will either uh you know uh voice memo uh clients and answer questions, or I will voice memo leads, follow up with people who opted into my freebie lead magnets, or you know, just DM people that I know are you know almost close to becoming client and just you know rift back and forth with them. And then you want to re-engineer your environment to work for you as opposed to against you. So in conclusion, here I'm still in the early stages of learning how my brain works. I am no ADHD expert or certified ADHD coach. Um, but what might work for me might work might might or may not work for you. Um, you want to be open to experimentation, that is huge. And something that works for you today might not work for you in a few weeks, and that's okay. Um, and you want to be okay with things being flexible and imperfect. So if you like this episode, um please take 30 seconds to do the following. Take a screenshot from Spotify or wherever you're listening and pop it into your Instagram stories and tag at Clayton.moves and add a quick sentence uh about a gem that you liked from this episode that you found helpful. This is a quick 30-second way to support my podcast for free and help more health and fitness experts find this and improve their life. So I will talk with you next week and go make some moves.