Hacking Your ADHD

We are kicking off our summer archive series with one of our absolute favorite, high-impact episodes from the vault . Originally airing at the start of the year, this conversation with Alyece Smith—founder of Socially Awesome, neurodivergent entrepreneur coach, and host of the ADHD CEO podcast—is the perfect reality check we all need as we try to navigate summer schedules without completely burning out .
In this episode, Alyece and William dive deep into the exhausting ADHD trap of feeling like you constantly have to earn the right to sit down and rest . They unpack the difference between being truly productive and engaging in "fake productivity"—inventing random, low-priority tasks just to keep our brains in overdrive and avoid basic needs .
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
The "Earned Rest" Trap: Why the ADHD brain struggles to recognize non-business achievements (like household chores) as real work, leading to chronic overworking and severe burnout .

Protecting Your "Spark Times": How to map out your day based on your natural biological energy peaks rather than traditional clock-based schedules, saving your best brainpower for things that actually matter .

The Power of Voice Dumps: How Alyece uses voice-to-text apps (like VoicePin) to execute a "60-second brain dump" right out of the shower, preventing mid-day context switching and freezing .

Removing Daily Decisions: Tactical ways to systematically eliminate decision fatigue from your life, from building a personal "uniform" to outsourcing your product research to AI or a trusted partner .

Bypassing the Monetization Trap: A honest look at the pressure to monetize every single creative hobby and how to search for authentic clarity and fulfillment instead .

Whether you're an entrepreneur struggling with a complete lack of office boundaries or just someone tired of trying to force a square peg into a round hole, this episode is full of permission slips to stop, breathe, and put your hands down .
Connect with the Show:
Newsletter: Sign up for Any and All Distractions at hackingyouradhd.com/newsletter .

Patreon & Discord: Support the show and join the community at hackingyouradhd.com/patreon .

YouTube: Watch us at youtube.com/@hackingyouradhd .

Today's Moment of Dad:
"Since it's a brand new season, I decided to get some shoes with clocks on them... you know, so I can watch my step."

Welcome back to the Hacking Your ADHD rewind queue, team. In this highly requested rebroadcast, host William Curb sits down with illustrator, podcaster, and creative powerhouse Andy J. Pizza (host of Creative Pep Talk) to unpack the exhausting realities of masking and what it truly looks like to live "right side out." Using a hilariously relatable mishap involving a graphic T-shirt at a family memorial service, Andy illustrates how neurodivergent individuals slowly clip away their own tags and forget who they are just to blend into a neurotypical world. The two dive deep into the heavy emotional toll of constantly performing rather than just being, exploring that liberating "pro-being pride" that only happens when you step out of a performance and into a space that actively celebrates individuality.
Beyond the philosophy of self-acceptance, this conversation serves up an essential masterclass in ADHD-friendly productivity, hacking the rigid definitions of habits, and managing creative burnout. Andy and William challenge the traditional advice of doing things consistently, revealing that the real secret to sustaining momentum for an ADHD brain is doing the same task differently to feed our constant craving for novelty. From bundling tedious chores like mowing the lawn with juiced-up playlists, to embracing the natural "incubation" period of the creative process, this episode delivers a vital reminder: stop trying to hate yourself into changing, and start building dynamic systems that allow your unique brain to thrive.
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/221
YouTube Channel
My Patreon
This Episode's Top Tips
Masking isn't inherently a bad thing, but it certainly is when we're doing it all the time and unconsciously. We want to be intentional about when and why we mask, and aim for authenticity when possible.
It's okay to embrace opposing truths. We need structure and flexibility, goals and play. We don't have to fall into all-or-nothing thinking, and this can help us balance some of these ADHD "contradictions".
Celebrate difference, don't just tolerate it. Safe spaces are good, but celebration spaces—where your uniqueness is actively valued—are better. Look for relationships or communities where people enjoy your way of being, not just what you can do

Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today, I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper and dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try to find any practical takeaways.
In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called "ADHD as a Circadian Rhythm Disorder: Evidence and Implications for Chronotherapy." Now, this is a perspective paper looking at the available research on circadian rhythm dysfunction in ADHD and what works for correcting some of that dysfunction.
So as we get into it, I think a great place for us to start is to talk about what a perspective paper is, because it's a little different than what we usually take on.
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/300
https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link
https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube
https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey Team!
As many of you know, I have a passion for writing, and so I'm excited that today we are diving deep into that world and why it often feels like an uphill battle when you have an ADHD brain. I'm talking with Susanne Schotanus, an expert ADHD coach who holds the unique distinction of being the world's first dedicated ADHD writing coach, as well as the founder of the annual Basecamp to Brilliance writing summit. Susanne brings a wealth of clinical and practical insight from her years spent coaching everyone from burnt-out university professors to memoirists struggling to organize decades of research.
In our conversation today, we discuss why standard linear approaches to writing clash so intensely with our multi-dimensional thinking styles. Susanne explains the mechanics of the "messy middle" in long-term projects, how our constant craving for novelty can derail a draft after just two weeks, and why we might want to reconsider our view of consistency. We also explore practical ways to gamify your workflow and create structural frameworks that adapt to your brain rather than forcing your brain to adapt to them.
And while this episode's core focus is on writing, I think there is a lot to get out of this when considering any kind of long-term pursuit.
Susanne's Website - https://passionatewritercoaching.com/
Free Guide - https://passionatewritercoaching.com/hackingyouradhd/ 
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/299
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD
This Episode's Top Tips
Waiting until you magically feel motivated to start a task is a losing game because our brains require action to generate momentum. To trick your brain into gear, lower the barrier to entry by making the first step absurdly small. Writing a single sentence or fixing a minor typo requires almost zero initial effort, but that tiny completion can give your brain the dopamine boost it needs to transition into work mode.
Your note-taking and organizational systems are here to serve you, not the other way around. Using a brand new productivity tool for two glorious weeks and then completely losing interest isn't a personal failure; it's just the natural lifespan of a novelty-driven dopamine source. With this in mind, keep your architectures simple, make sure your data is easily exportable, and make it easy if you need to switch tools in the future.
ADHD brains run on an system driven by interest, novelty, challenge, urgency, and passion. Most of us default to novelty (which leaves us with a mountain of half-finished projects) or panic-induced urgency (which runs us straight into burnout). To break the cycle and handle long-form projects, start intentionally leaning into the underutilized levers of challenge, gamification, and genuine playfulness.

Hey Team!
When I moved into my neighborhood, most of the houses weren't built.  So I got to see over the course of a few years, a lot of the work that went into putting those houses up, all the day-to-day progress that always kept happening, and how every step seemed to set them up for the next step. Now, nobody expects a brick wall to just materialize out of midair on pure willpower or a house to get completely built with no effort. yet when it comes to managing our daily routines, that's exactly what we try to do. We expect our internal motivation to keep us on track despite our own track record, and then we get frustrated when they fall flat.
In this episode, we're taking a look at why our attempts to build traditional habits often doesn't work with ADHD, and why it isn't a moral failure or a lack of trying. We're going to explore the critical mechanics of external scaffolding versus internal habits, digging into how we can stop burning through our limited supply of daily executive function and start building physical infrastructure that does the heavy lifting for us
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/298
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD
This Episode's Top Tips
Traditional habits rely on an internal dopamine reward to lock them onto autopilot. Because ADHD reward chemistry is wildly inconsistent, that "autopilot" switch rarely flips. Instead, we want to work on designing our environment through systems to help make our intentions inevitable.
Passive reminders are entirely too easy for an ADHD brain to ignore. Instead, use design psychology to create physical roadblocks that force conscious awareness. Putting your clean laundry basket directly on the couch cushion where you want to sit forces your brain to actively negotiate with the task before you can proceed.
Human brains naturally drift toward the path of least resistance. Take advantage of this by manipulating that friction. Lower the friction for positive intentions by creating one-step solutions, like a dedicated key basket by the front door, or crank up the friction for distractions by doing things putting your phone completely out of reach so you can't just pick it up without thinking about it.
Your physical environment is never neutral; it is actively directing your behavior right now, whether you designed it or not, which means relying on willpower is a losing game. Treat environmental design as a handoff between two versions of you: let your "Good Brain Day" self build a physical world that protects and supports your "Bad Brain Day" self.