#075: In this episode, I share my personal journey and provide valuable insights on how to make informed decisions when you have ADHD. I share four steps to making good decisions, including getting enough sleep, being well-fed, changing your environment, and deciding from a place of abundance. Enjoy listening!
ADHD POWER LINKS
Sources
Timestamps
(00:00:39) Choosing Between Options
(00:02:30) Productivity Techniques
(00:05:23) Step 1: Getting Enough Sleep
(00:09:01) Step 2: Eating Well
(00:11:28) Step 3: Changing Environment
(00:13:21) Step 4: Deciding from Abundance
(00:15:03) Summary
#075: In this episode, I share my personal journey and provide valuable insights on how to make informed decisions when you have ADHD. I share four steps to making good decisions, including getting enough sleep, being well-fed, changing your environment, and deciding from a place of abundance. Enjoy listening!
ADHD POWER LINKS
Sources
Timestamps
(00:00:39) Choosing Between Options
(00:02:30) Productivity Techniques
(00:05:23) Step 1: Getting Enough Sleep
(00:09:01) Step 2: Eating Well
(00:11:28) Step 3: Changing Environment
(00:13:21) Step 4: Deciding from Abundance
(00:15:03) Summary
The most successful ADHDers in the world see ADHD as a superpower. This podcast, adhd Power, is my attempt to document the many failures and lessons I've learned on my journey of living a high performance life with ADHD. My hope is that you use these lessons to increase your productivity and maybe someday soon, turn your ADHD into a valuable asset in your life. Please share and enjoy. So, hey, adhd Hyperforbers.
Speaker 1:At the end of the last year 2022, my ADHD brain was confronted with an important decision to make. Option one was basically should I pause my master's degree in general management to go for six months to the US, to Salt Lake City, to do there an internship as the executive project manager to the COO of a large Swiss corporation that also has a location in the US? That was basically option one. Option two, on the other hand, was should I continue my master's degree and finish one semester earlier? Because, obviously, if I go to the US, I will work for six months and therefore do a break from my master's degree and finish one semester later. Those were basically the two options internship or continue my master's degree. Now the answer was clear to me I will do the internship because that is really a maybe once in a lifetime opportunity to go into another country, to move from Switzerland to the US to work there, work in another country, which is really a huge privilege, and I thought, okay, definitely, let's do that. And I'm highly grateful, by the way, for the person who connected me with the COO. It's a friend at university from the University of St Gollum, so if you listen to this podcast, thank you so much, my friend. I highly appreciate it that you did that for me.
Speaker 1:Now, as I said, the decision in the end was pretty obvious for me. I will do it Because, anyway, I wanted to gain international experience, either through an exchange university semester or an internship, but the second option, doing an internship, was definitely my preferred one. Why? Because, as you know, I like to learn a lot, but also I like to implement the stuff, and I actually figured out that through implementation, for example, through my own business, I learned so, so much. Some things it's really hard to teach to other people, because if you implement certain things like when it comes to a business, but also, on the other hand, when it comes to productivity techniques if you implement those tools, you start learning the details, the nuances, basically, and that is so, so valuable experience and therefore the second option doing an internship working in the real life was definitely something I preferred and I decided in the end to go for that option. Now the point here is okay, that was an important decision for me.
Speaker 1:But one thing here as you know, making a good decision as an ADHD year can be a challenging thing. That's what I experienced sometimes in the past, especially since we tend to be more emotional than the average person. Yeah, some of us have the tendency to be more emotional because oftentimes we are also more sensitive than the average person. Some people say also that ADHD simply means sensitivity, and so and that's kind of an interesting thing, by the way, and by the way, sensitivity is a highly valuable thing, because sensitive people can see in conversations that things that other people are not able to see, which is a really valuable thing. I would say.
Speaker 1:Now the point here, what I'm making, since we tend to be a little bit more emotional, maybe, than the average person, this can lead to a more volatile and rushed decision making progress. And one thing I learned as someone with ADHD is strong emotions can lead to a rushed decision. Yeah, a lack of impulse control, strong emotions can lead to a rushed decision, and mistakes love a rushed decision. I will repeat that Mistakes love a rushed decision. Therefore, I try at least to pay attention on four things when I want to make a significant long term decision, like, for instance, in that case, what I shared with you before. To be 100% transparent with you, I didn't apply all of those tactics that I will share with you in regards to that decision, but in general, I try to apply at least one, two or three of them when it comes to an important decision to make in my life. And before I share with you those four tactics or steps you can be going through in order to come up with a good decision, I want to mention at this point that those tactics that I will share with you I learned from entrepreneur Alex Hermosi, more specifically from his podcast called the Game.
Speaker 1:I highly recommend this podcast If you are an entrepreneur. He shares so much valuable lessons from his life. So if you are an entrepreneur with ADHD, definitely listen to this podcast, the Game of Alex Hermosi. So thank you so much, alex, for all the great content you put out there. You helped me a lot on my entrepreneurial journey. All right, guys, now let's move on and I want to share with you those four steps to come up with a good decision as someone with ADHD.
Speaker 1:The first step is good sleep. Question for you guys Do you know this feeling of waking up like a newborn child? Yeah, you wake up and you feel amazing, like you could tear out threes and I don't know what to do. You have so much energy you could work out and tackle your task whatever. This is definitely a great day to make a good decision if you feel like that. So what I'm basically saying here is be well rested when you are faced with an important decision.
Speaker 1:Sleep enough, basically and that's something that definitely helped me tremendously on my ADHD journey to be really to have to build up also strong impulse control, for example, because in the past I struggled a little bit with impulse control, all the time got distracted, etc. And by simply having a fixed sleep routine, going every day at the same time to sleep more or less and waking up precisely at the same time. That really was a huge game changer and basically having a sleep schedule. In my case, currently it is. I go to sleep around 830. The latest is really 9, 9pm, and then I wake up in 430 am 430 is non negotiable, really 430. Basically, then I'm awake and I can tell you I experienced a lot of improvements in my life Definitely way higher energy level in general, I would say.
Speaker 1:And why this is so important, I would say in general, is because studies have shown that if we don't sleep enough, as some with ADHD, the symptoms of ADHD can get worse. Therefore, I try to make sure that I get enough sleep, the best case I try to get eight hours of sleep, or even more. I would say. Less than seven hours I'm really not productive at all, so I try really at least to get seven, seven and a half hours to eight hours every night. That is the ideal case. Actually, eight hours. In most cases I get eight hours. That is really the best case that I'm the most productive, I'm more creative. So many nice benefits. So that's really something that helped me tremendously, having a fixed sleep schedule.
Speaker 1:I guess in the future it will change again. Maybe I will wake up a little bit later and go to sleep Then later. Obviously depends where I'm. Currently I'm in the US and here. I can do that pretty much because working here, my internship, working on my business, and I'm more or less here alone. But if I get back to Switzerland maybe I will change it again, maybe waking up six, six AM and go to sleep at around 10 PM. But I will see. Guys, I will keep you updated. Point.
Speaker 1:What I'm making here is really fixed sleep schedule is also important, and having enough sleep is also crucial to come up with a good decision, because if you don't sleep enough, you are, maybe your emotions are way stronger and, again, maybe also your impulse control is not so good as it actually could be, and, especially with ADHD, many of us we tend to be a little bit more, let's say, impulsive, and that can be really dangerous when it comes to decisions. Yeah, therefore, really make sure you get enough sleep and if you have this feeling of really I woke up like a newborn child, that's a good indicator for a day where you can do a good decision or to come up with a good decision. So, first thing here is good sleep. Second step to come up with a good decision is well fed. If you eat enough, you are more stress tolerant, your dopamine is higher and you feel better and, as you remember, as Dr Aiman said, adhd is actually a dopamine deficit disorder. Maybe we need to work a little bit on our dopamine and if we eat properly and especially also healthy food, our dopamine increases. We are more stress tolerant, yeah. So basically what I'm saying here make sure to have a full stomach before making decisions. At least that's what helped me on my journey. If I'm hungry, yeah, and quite frankly I do intermediate fasting. So it's kind of a double edged sword when it comes to decision, quite frankly. But the more I practice it, the better I feel at it. Do that since many years now. But I would definitely more say if I have a really important decision to make, I will do that decision after I ate my first meal, which is around lunchtime. So point here simply be well fed If you want to come up with a good decision.
Speaker 1:I will not give you an exact recommendation. I'd simply tell you what I personally eat as someone with ADHD and what helped me to improve my symptoms, and that is basically a more protein heavy diet. That simply means lean proteins. What I'm eating a lot of vegetables, good fatty acids like flaxseed oil, good olive oil, for example, and I try to avoid sugar bad sugar, basically because I experienced worsened symptom of ADHD if I eat that kind of things, or drink beverages with sugar like Coca-Cola. That basically, I stopped completely. I only drink water, protein shakes and sometimes a tea. Maybe that's definitely also something. So mainly my diet consists out of lean protein, more protein, heavy diet and some natural based protein, some meat, et cetera. You have a lot of protein sources I will not get into that now Vegetables, obviously, broccoli, that kind of stuff, and good fatty acids. And if I eat carbs then I will want to make sure those are complex carbs like, for example, sweet potato or whole grain stuff. That's also a really important thing, what I try to pay attention on. But long story short, what I'm saying here is be well fed If you want to come up with an informed decision or, in general, with a good decision. Eat enough and then you are more stressed and maybe that will increase the likelihood that you can come up with a rational decision.
Speaker 1:Real quick ADHD high performers. You may know that we don't run any ads to grow this podcast, so the only ask that I have for you is that you help me spread the word to help more working professionals and entrepreneurs with ADHD overcome procrastination, be more productive, have their life in order and use their superpower to make the world a better place, and the only way we do that is if you could rate, review and share this podcast. The single thing that I ask you to do is just leave a review that takes you 10 seconds or one time with your thumb. That would mean a lot to me and, more importantly, it may change someone else's world. The third thing is change environment. So you likely have emotional anchors where you currently are, for example, you're at your office, maybe at your home or where you are. You have maybe some emotional anchors, especially if you spend a lot of time there, like, for instance, in my case, I spend a lot of time basically in my office, which is currently in my bathroom, or a little bit in the wardrobe, basically next to my bathroom. I created there like a booth where I can do focused work. I basically have no distractions at all, which is a great thing, but Obviously, I have some emotional anchors here.
Speaker 1:Now the point is to come up with a good decision. What we can do is we can change the environment. For example, we can go on holidays. Go on holiday, for example. That's an option. Or you work from somewhere else yeah. For example, you go to rework. For example, let's let's say, a cool working, or you simply change the environment. You go in a coffee shop or somewhere else, it doesn't matter where, but changed the environment basically and try to create some space for yourself. That's also something important to mention here, and emotional attachment can prevent a rational decision. That's why I just bring that up. So, basically, try to change the environment. You can also go for a long walk in nature. That sometimes also calms the ADHD mind. Some authors mentioned that in their books about ADHD Also an interesting thing, maybe. But basically what I'm saying change the environment if it's a really, really important decision. At least that is what helped me so far.
Speaker 1:And that was the third step change the environment. And now the last one. The fourth one is decide from abundance, and I believe this is a really important one. So basically, be happy with what you currently have. Make the decision to meet nothing you can think of. I have everything I need. When you have enough, you don't care about the outcome. So if you think like I have everything I need, I don't care so much about the outcome of this decision. In the end you don't need basically this decision and the cool thing, the side effect is then that removes pressure and helps you to focus on the facts at hand, if you can decide from abundance, basically. So I hope that was helpful. So the last step is basically decide from abundance like I have everything I need. I don't need that decision, and maybe that removes a little bit the pressure you have on yourself, the burden on your shoulder, that maybe it can help you to remove that a little bit. All right, so those were basically the four steps I'm going through to come up with a good decision, to make a good decision, to increase the likelihood of making a more rational decision, which is, I guess, really really crucial. If you have ADHD you just mentioned emotionality etc that can maybe, yeah, make it a little bit more difficult.
Speaker 1:So now let's do a quick rundown, quick summary of what I covered. First I share with you a quick intro story from my journey regarding my internship here in Salt Lake City in the US, and then I share with you four steps. The first one was be well rested. The second one was eat enough. The third one was change your environment and the fourth one decide from abundance. All right, adhd, high performance. I hope that helped and I would say thank you so much for listening to this episode and see you in the next one. Bye, guys.