June 8, 2024 • 25 mins
Struggling with ADHD? You're not alone, and it might be more awesome than you think! This video summarizes the empowering book "ADHD is Awesome" by Penn Holderness and Kim Holderness, with a foreword by Edward Hallowell.
Discover the strengths of ADHD:
- Unleash your creativity and hyperfocus to achieve amazing things.
- Develop innovative thinking skills to solve problems like a pro.
- Learn practical strategies to manage your ADHD and maximize your potential.
In this video, you'll also find:
- Tips for thriving with ADHD in a neurodiverse world.
- Strategies to improve productivity and stay focused.
- The importance of ADHD acceptance and community support.
Ready to unlock your ADHD superpowers? Watch now and subscribe to Ramis Book Library for more empowering content on ADHD, personal growth, and neurodiversity!
Keywords: ADHD, ADHD strengths, ADHD management, ADHD tips, ADHD resources, ADHD success, ADHD hacks, neurodiversity, thrive with ADHD, ADHD book summary, ADHD is Awesome, Penn Holderness, Kim Holderness, Edward Hallowell, Ramis Book Library
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Albert Einstein, you know, he is a
legendary scientist who make all the
thought experiments in his head.
You don't need any lab or anything like
that. He make equations in imagination,
he go through and travel in the speed of
light and all that until he died was
considered to be a part
of a genius. But later on a pathologist
named Thomas Harvey has
(00:20):
been stolen his brain and do
his investigation and he found that there
are a lot of different
things in his brain which is
contributing to the spatial, abstract
thinking, divergent
thinking and all this hyper focus,
all these things was also contributing to
the changes in the
brain. But essentially,
(00:41):
it's not only the brain that is making
the things but brain
inevitably was that weakness or that
weakness was a strength to Albert
Einstein. ADHD is awesome. A
book by Kim and Penn Holderness
it is actually a book talking about not
something on a stigma point
of view or something. Instead,
we are approaching on a practical aspect.
(01:01):
They try to see how we can
utilize this gift and move on in
life. So ADHD is normally considered as
something like lazy, boredom
and all but actually it is not
a character flaw or anything like that.
It is actually a
neurobiological condition and it
does not happen because of any particular
reason. It just happened
like that and because of that,
(01:22):
you are having this problem. And first of
all, this ADHD attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder
that word itself has, it's not properly.
Attention is not deficit actually, there
is too much attention
and we don't know where to attention and
hyperactivity and last
one disorder. We cannot call
it a disorder. It is something like an
(01:43):
extreme form of a normal trait. Whatever
you consider normal,
it is staying on the boundary of that. It
is still not abnormal. So
as I mentioned dual nature of
ADHD, ADHD have its weakness like
focusing on something and will be more
impulsive to something
emotional and all will be restless.
That's all there. But along
(02:03):
with that, ADHD will make you
more creative, more efficient in problem
solving and all these things
and you can be hyper focused
on something that's all there. But
somehow you have to manage this. It's
something like you have a
Ferrari engine with a bicycle brakes,
something like that. And as I mentioned,
ADHD is not a choice.
(02:24):
It doesn't happen because you did not
take a proper choice on
some point in life. No. Also,
it is not because of your parent has not
taken care properly. Instead, it is a
pure neuro biological
condition. That means something is
different in your brain that
is making it happen. That's what
happening all the things and it is mostly
involuntary. You are not
(02:46):
voluntarily doing like your
heart is beating, your blood is flowing.
All these things are
involuntary. You are not putting any
effort on that. Same way is how ADHD that
actions or that responses is
working. And ADHD is a spectrum
disorder. What I means is that you cannot
see it clearly. It varies
between the person to person.
(03:07):
So for example, if you have a fever, that
is very clear. You have this much level
of body temperature.
Similarly, any other things. But here,
this is a spectrum. And most of the
people who have ADHD,
maybe they'll be immensely successful.
And this one will be
hidden somewhere. They don't see
themselves. They have this. That's what
ADHD is giving us. So how
(03:28):
to diagnose ADHD? Naturally,
it has to be done not in a lab
environment because nothing you can do.
Possibilities only to look at
the behavioral symptoms like
hyperactivity, inattention, impulsivity
for at least six months
period. That is somehow a way of looking
at the things in a more
therapeutic way than something
(03:49):
like a pill or a tablet or capsule way of
thinking it. There is no
blood test going to tell you you
have ADHD. Common symptoms. First one is
inattention. That simply means like
you're not able to focus on
something. You're not able to complete
that task. And you lack the
attention to detail. That's
another thing. And you lost something
like maybe this is very
(04:10):
common. Like you forgot your car key
somewhere and you have no idea at all
where is it and multitasking overload.
You are struggling to
multitask even though multitask for a
normal person itself is difficult for
ADHD person. It is a
nightmare. Second one is hyperactivity.
It is something like a
restlessness. Constant need to
move or doing something can be anyway.
Even nowadays it can be
(04:30):
considered as constant need
to be filled with your mobile phone or
anything like that. So
that level of hyperactivity is
required for the brain and they seem to
be inattentive in the conversations as
well. Like they're not
there because of that restlessness. They
have to move. They're not
in one. Their whole energy is
not focused on any one thing. It is
distributed and it is always trying to
(04:51):
change the next task
Then third one is impulse control.
They're not able to manage their
impulses. Which means
emotional reactivity. Some simple things
which feel small to a
person. The huge response will
happen involuntarily in an ADHD person.
They are poor themselves in
doing the self-organization.
That's a thing. And poor time management.
(05:13):
That's another part. So
all these things that impulse
control. How much that impulse and
stimulus is happening. That control is
not there. So coming
back to Albert Einstein again. Why I
mention Albert Einstein is
because all that is happening
in ADHD is because of the frontal lobe.
Human brain have different
portions. Like behind we have
(05:34):
cerebellum, stem and all doing
involuntary actions and all.
But if you open your forehead
you will see a squishy cauliflower
things. On the top that is the frontal
lobe and that is doing
all the executive function. Which means
that is the CEO of your
brain. All other things are
doing a lot of bodily involuntary things.
But executive functions
(05:55):
means like prioritizing,
decision making. All those things which
make you more into what you
are as a somebody like in a
work or a school. All these things. How
to manage or how to respond
to a person. How to listen to
a person. Understand it. Empathizing it.
All those cognitive
functions is happening in the
(06:16):
executive level. And that frontal lobe of
an ADHD person is smaller.
Because of that smaller thing
it has part and parcel have lot of
impacts. That's all contributing to the
ADHD. So as I mentioned
brain differences prefrontal cortex is
smaller and there is low
activity in the prefrontal cortex.
No slow wave activity. And the result of
(06:37):
is that you have
struggling focusing, concentration,
impulse control, attention or activity
level. All these things is
affected and you will feel more
drowsy and lazy because of this reason.
And dopamine. Dopamine
is the neurochemical or a
pleasure chemical you call it whatever it
is. That is less in the
(06:58):
ADHD brain. Put it simply.
ADHD is what make you interested on
something. So your level of
dopamine means you have less
interest in doing. Or in another way you
are struggling to gain
interest to do something.
So you are getting bored. That's the
point. One way to tackle it is to just
split your work into
multiple short terms. Using timers and
(07:19):
all these things. That's one way of
doing. So making it and
also rewarding or appreciating yourself
for small things. So that reward and
appreciation will be
used as a body to create some dopamine.
So you have to trick your
body because naturally it is
creating less dopamine. And you are less
interested on many things. And hyper
focus. Also because of
(07:40):
this low dopamine level you are trying to
cope up with that and trying to be
focused on one thing
in a too much high bandwidth to gain some
interest. But it also depend on the
interest you have as
well. Suppose you have a text book and
you have a story book or a novel or
something. Maybe you
will be focused on reading the novel. You
(08:02):
lost your time and the
feeling of time everything and you
forget about how the time is flowing. So
you were that much immersed
on that. That hyper focus. As I
mentioned previously Albert Einstein have
a similar situation
where he get immersed on
thought experiments and playing violins
and all these things. So
such things you will try to be
focused too much so that way you can try
(08:24):
to cope up with that low
dopamine levels. Strategies for
managing ADHD even though we talk about
it. So first one as we
mentioned like put some timers so
that you can control your focus. That's
one way to manage it. So
you will not be burned out or
something out of it. And you can try to
just switch between the things.
Prioritize your things based
on your importance as well. That's one
(08:45):
way of doing it. Another one
is through distraction free
environment. Because as I mentioned the
problem is not a deficit of
attention. It is something
like it have attention to lot of things.
So if you reduce the things it has
attention to that way you
can concentrate on something. And last I
think other one I already
mentioned about is rewarding
yourself as well. And using some sticky
(09:07):
notes and reminders you can do digital
and non-digital way.
That's another way. And also try to just
do some level of
therapeutic or some some support from
the coach or something that also will
helps. So emotional impact
as I mentioned for ADHD person
emotional impact will be out bursting
like that. It will be just
flooding and that reasoning will
(09:28):
be replaced by emotions. They are not
having a time to just
reason. The brain will just spread
that emotion with very high intensity and
you will think what's
really happening. It's not anger.
It's not something else. It's something
like an outburst of emotions. Also
another important is
to change the narrative of this ADHD to
(09:49):
yourself and to the people around.
Because many successful
people as I told you is because of they
can use this as a
strength to excel in their life.
So there are a lot of things which like
creativity innovation
and all these things.
These people can focus on something. They
can do problem solving
and abstract thinking,
(10:09):
divergent thinking, all these things in a
good way. So all these
things you will see. So ADHD
is not defining one potential or
something. Also it is not a disorder. It
is just a neuro-biological
condition. Like for example like someone
hand is less someone hand
is big whatever it is look.
(10:29):
You are tall somebody short like that
your brain has some level of
neuro-biological condition
and that is giving you some level of
weakness and some level of
strength and opportunities.
So creativity and innovation as I
mentioned those people can look at the
things and generate ideas
and from fresh angles. So some way you
(10:51):
have attention to a lot
of dimensions. So you are
spread and your patterns are different
and in another way you
can hyper focus as well.
So that two things combined together can
create a lot of creative
and innovative solutions. So
creativity and innovation will be a gift
coming out of ADHD. Effective task
management. Even though
(11:12):
the people with ADHD have struggles in
managing multitasking and
all. They can do effective task
management if the tasks are very clearly
defined and it match with their
strengths. So you can watch
or you can put laundries together better
way. You can hang the
pictures or watch TV. A lot of such
things which cope with your interest then
(11:35):
you can do task
management more effectively than a
non-ADHD. So compassion and empathy.
People with ADHD they have a strong
understanding of the people's
struggles and frustrations. By
understanding that they will be more
empathetic to the other person's
problem and all. So that way they can
help or they can work like a
(11:57):
good support system and they can
become more friends and all this thing.
So that way there will be
more empathetic with their brain.
So historical perspective of ADHD
treatment. So treatment previously as I
mentioned even though
we don't know whether Albert Einstein
have an ADHD because that was not that
much pronounced those
times. Even in 18th century the solutions
(12:19):
or medication for ADHD
was something like using
herbs or riding horses and all these
things. But nowadays we have
been have a new way of looking
at it more therapeutic way and all these
things has evolved already
there. But over the centuries
there was not really attended properly.
Even nowadays we have
this one but even nowadays
(12:40):
there is a big majority of people of
having ADHD. Very few of them have been
diagnosed and treated
as well. So behavioral interventions
that's also helpful like
therapy is one way of doing it.
But in another way if there is a talk or
accommodation or
behavioral accommodation or
behavioral training that will be more
(13:01):
helpful than the training partners. Also
such treatments will
take time. So implementing one change at
a time rather than doing it
all together is the best way
and try to see try to focus on that the
root cause of it or
somehow prevent the challenges
and motivation. Motivation is actually
(13:22):
one of the best medicine for
ADHD. As we mentioned because
of this small prefrontal cortex and low
level of dopamine if you
have a reward and motivation
you make it somewhere like immediate
chosen and tailored for you.
So that way for every small
things you give yourself some reward in a
manageable way that
(13:42):
will allow you to motivate
yourself. Six elements for maintaining
control. First one
exercise. As we know the ADHD have a
low level of dopamine and exercise or
doing exercise will actually
increase the dopamine level
and neurochemicals. So that way you can
increase your body and
somehow you can rejuvenate your
(14:03):
brain as well. One way of doing it.
Another way is sleep. Sleep is actually
make your brain more
compassionate or it will allow itself to
recover and it will be more
relaxed. Like if you have a
sleep deprived night and you go in the
morning you already have that sleep
(14:24):
deprivation effect of in
the brain and then you are having this
ADHD challenges it will
be more difficult. Instead
if you have a very good sleep that makes
very different. And
another thing is about nutrition.
Providing good food that is best for your
brain. If you select in that way that
will be also helpful
(14:44):
for the ADHD brain. And connections.
Connect with the people who
have similar problems like ADHD
or another thing that surrounding
yourself with people around you. You are
an average of the five
people around you or something like that.
So surround yourself with
such people will also help you.
And then meditation and mindfulness
that's another way to look
at it. There will be more
(15:06):
enhancing your awareness with your body
and other things as well.
That also will be helpful. And
finally something about self-compassion.
You can be compassionate
and empathetic about other
person but same way if you be more
compassionate with yourself your
limitations and your strength
that kindness towards your body. Like if
(15:27):
you're stressing yourself
just be kind and compassionate
with your body and let it relax. That's
the point. So mastering your daily
routine with ADHD. So first
of all one way is to understand where
ADHD is disrupting your
daily routine and try to attend
one goal at a time. Try to see one
(15:48):
particular part of your routine
disaffected and focus on solving
that one or managing it or a behavioral
adjusting it. That is one way of
approaching it. And understand
your daily rhythms. Like you will be able
to understand which part
of the day you are most
productive. Based on that you adjust your
worth and life around that
(16:10):
level of your brain activity.
Then you can be more productive and more
adaptive and more ADHD
friendly and you can achieve more
out of it. Write it down. So writing
written reminders like for
example if you have a difficulty
in focusing a lot of things put a
notebook around you and write the things
(16:30):
which you have to do.
Then focus on one at a time each of them
and crossing it. That
way you'll be more friendly
with your brain and also try to make
nowadays we have smartphones
and a lot of things but try to
do it as much analog as possible. So you
can be digitally free or
digitally distraction free.
Try to use sticky notes or such things if
(16:52):
possible. Otherwise
you can use your digital
reminders and calendar reminders and all.
And follow a schedule that's
important. Like try to plan
your schedule in such a way that you have
a productive period
you have a break period.
That way you plan meticulously that will
help you. Prioritizing the unfun task.
(17:13):
Like suppose you have
a lot of tasks to do in a day. Prioritize
the less interesting one
first so that your brain will be
more effort then whatever is interested
it put it for the last. So
that way your brain will somehow
adapt to the change in the interest and
out. And boredom busters
(17:33):
like when you're really bored
try to just engage your brain with
something which it gets interested on. It
can be puzzles. It can be
anything. Just do some level of brain
friendly boredom busting
topics. So that way all these
things you can somehow master your daily
routine and thrive with ADHD.
(17:55):
Optimize the item placement.
Like okay if you're an ADHD person you
will be most frequently
have having issues with
lost items or you don't know where you
put the items and all. One
strategy is to just make one
place defined for one item. Like for
example you have
certificates that will be in that
(18:16):
that closet or somewhere. And we have
another things or like keys
or a lot of things it will
be in one drawer or somewhere. So that
way you can somehow reach to
one place to take all these
things. To have that discipline that will
allow you to manage your
daily routine and problems
in losing items and misplacements and
(18:37):
all. Also lastly you can
somehow use some practical gadgets.
It can be really things like you can add
tags like you have now air
tags or Samsung tags. A lot
of things I think tags are there. So that
way you can tag with those
items so you can track it.
That's one way of doing and a lot of
other way like using a good
(18:57):
big keychain which you can be
seen everywhere. Such things are a
practical way to just keep track of such
item. Don't keep your
key as key itself. Keep something along
with it or group it somewhere or put a
key holder something
like a leather pocket or something like
that which can hold this thing so that
every keys will be in
one place. A lot of such strategies can
(19:19):
be controlling your
environment. So because of the
ADHD person you should have some level of
distraction free
environment. You have to secure your
perimeter. So whenever you're working or
whatever you're doing focus
thing try to make yourself in
a secure environment that will help you.
Then edit your space wherever you're
(19:39):
working try to remove
the distractions like smartphone or
television or a lot of such
distractions. It can be a lot of
things. Try to avoid the distractions
from your space. First way
you control your space from the
noise and distractions. Another way
whatever is inside that space try to
manage it and try to
(20:01):
make it ADHD friendly and get
comfortable. Wherever you're working that
space should allow you to be
comfortable and relax. That's important.
Should not that make you
stressful. That will allow or make
your brain in a different way. Somehow if
that space is allowing to
get relaxed that is helpful.
(20:22):
Another thing is about using some
instrumental music or such things on a
background that will
take you to a rhythm or that will make
you feel more comfortable in the space.
And visual stimulation
like try to use colored forms like
highlighters using colored pens or even
(20:43):
mind maps instead of
making tables and nodes. Mind maps if you
learn mind mapping and all
you can use colored thing
that is more brain friendly than normal
tabular forms. Try to
incorporate such things as much as
possible to make it more brain friendly.
So strategies for
completing tasks. So naturally
(21:04):
for ADHD person they will have struggle
focusing struggling
completing the task and all.
So first of all try to find the meaning
of the task. Try to see
why you are doing that. That
meaning or that essence of meaning will
motivate you to do that
things. So that's first part of the
thing. Second way you have to break down
(21:27):
those tasks into manageable
steps. So that way you can
attend it as chunks instead of a long
task. That's another strategy to
completing the tasks. Then
start with what is working. There are lot
of things because of ADHD
it's not working for you.
But start with your strengths in
completing the task and then
work on what is weakness. That's
(21:49):
another way of doing it. And if you're a
child and all or if you're a parent
having an ADHD child.
First of all there is some evidence-based
parenting programs that
is more ADHD friendly.
Try to incorporate or try to be
participate on such things so that you
can just accommodate or
more adapt with that ADHD friendly
environment or parenting
(22:10):
method to your children. And also
communicating with the children teachers
as well. That's important
because if you're managing an
ADHD child majority of his daytime or
working time or a lifetime
is in the school and all.
So it should be both working together.
It's not like you are ADHD friendly
(22:31):
parent and your teacher
is not aware of the situation of your
child then that will not
work. So then another thing about
taking care of yourself. Okay you have an
ADHD neurobiological
condition. It is not a disorder
but somehow you have to take care of
yourself. So one way to do it is to make
some secret contract
and routines. I'll go one by one. Secret
(22:52):
contract is something like
you are defining a rule for
yourself. Okay I will not do this. I will
not do that. You're having
a rule in yourself so that
when there is a question coming whether I
should do or not then that
rule will apply. Something
like that. So just make your contract
with yourself so that you can make
(23:14):
decision making easy because
your executing function has a flow. Try
to help it with some rules.
That's one way. Another way is
about routines. Routine is somewhere like
a more brain-friendly way
like if you brush your shaving
lot of things. If you make it as a
routine then your brain have
less work on it. It is already
(23:36):
having a learning out of it. Try to make
lot of things as much as
possible routine for you. So
that will help your brain. Don't make
everything important. That's
another way of thinking about
it. Like you don't have to take focus on
everything. You don't have
to make things everything
important. Try to don't care of lot of
(23:57):
things and try to find meaning of lot of
things. That way you
can practice some level of self-care and
self-compassion as well. And also you can
forgive yourself and
forgive from the frustrations. And lastly
try to seek help. I mean when
you need help don't hesitate
to ask help from somebody. Seek help.
(24:19):
Mostly somebody will be
out there eagerly thinking to
help you or support your extending a hand
for you. And finally active
listening. Because of ADHD you
will have problem in listening. You
cannot patiently listen to that. So one
way is to practice that
active listening. Active listening is not
(24:40):
same as listening because active
listening means you are
completely immersed on that. And instead
of thinking about what
you will tell next, you will
be completely immersed in what the
speaker is telling and try to ask some
questions to make sure
that you understand the things. And with
your body language you
reflect that. That is what active
(25:02):
listening is. And you can practice it and
you can improve it. And
also you can improve your
communication by just improving or make
pauses between your
sentences and you can think about
what you should tell. Try to improve it.
Everything in your skill in
communication and listening can
be improved. So to make it more ADHD
friendly or use your uniqueness as a
(25:25):
strength, you can train
and hone all this communication and
listening skills. That's somehow the
conclusion of the book.
Overall the 29 points we discussed. Thank
you for watching. If you
found this summary helpful,
please feel free to follow us. And also
please check out we have
couple of other ADHD books as
well in our channel. Feel free to check
(25:46):
it out as well. Until we
come across with the next book.
Bye for now. Thank you.
Albert Einstein, you know, he is a
legendary scientist who make all the
thought experiments in his head.
You don't need any lab or anything like
that. He make equations in imagination,
he go through and travel in the speed of
light and all that until he died was
considered to be a part
of a genius. But later on a pathologist
named Thomas Harvey has
(00:20):
been stolen his brain and do
his investigation and he found that there
are a lot of different
things in his brain which is
contributing to the spatial, abstract
thinking, divergent
thinking and all this hyper focus,
all these things was also contributing to
the changes in the
brain. But essentially,
(00:41):
it's not only the brain that is making
the things but brain
inevitably was that weakness or that
weakness was a strength to Albert
Einstein. ADHD is awesome. A
book by Kim and Penn Holderness
it is actually a book talking about not
something on a stigma point
of view or something. Instead,
we are approaching on a practical aspect.
(01:01):
They try to see how we can
utilize this gift and move on in
life. So ADHD is normally considered as
something like lazy, boredom
and all but actually it is not
a character flaw or anything like that.
It is actually a
neurobiological condition and it
does not happen because of any particular
reason. It just happened
like that and because of that,
(01:22):
you are having this problem. And first of
all, this ADHD attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder
that word itself has, it's not properly.
Attention is not deficit actually, there
is too much attention
and we don't know where to attention and
hyperactivity and last
one disorder. We cannot call
it a disorder. It is something like an
(01:43):
extreme form of a normal trait. Whatever
you consider normal,
it is staying on the boundary of that. It
is still not abnormal. So
as I mentioned dual nature of
ADHD, ADHD have its weakness like
focusing on something and will be more
impulsive to something
emotional and all will be restless.
That's all there. But along
(02:03):
with that, ADHD will make you
more creative, more efficient in problem
solving and all these things
and you can be hyper focused
on something that's all there. But
somehow you have to manage this. It's
something like you have a
Ferrari engine with a bicycle brakes,
something like that. And as I mentioned,
ADHD is not a choice.
(02:24):
It doesn't happen because you did not
take a proper choice on
some point in life. No. Also,
it is not because of your parent has not
taken care properly. Instead, it is a
pure neuro biological
condition. That means something is
different in your brain that
is making it happen. That's what
happening all the things and it is mostly
involuntary. You are not
(02:46):
voluntarily doing like your
heart is beating, your blood is flowing.
All these things are
involuntary. You are not putting any
effort on that. Same way is how ADHD that
actions or that responses is
working. And ADHD is a spectrum
disorder. What I means is that you cannot
see it clearly. It varies
between the person to person.
(03:07):
So for example, if you have a fever, that
is very clear. You have this much level
of body temperature.
Similarly, any other things. But here,
this is a spectrum. And most of the
people who have ADHD,
maybe they'll be immensely successful.
And this one will be
hidden somewhere. They don't see
themselves. They have this. That's what
ADHD is giving us. So how
(03:28):
to diagnose ADHD? Naturally,
it has to be done not in a lab
environment because nothing you can do.
Possibilities only to look at
the behavioral symptoms like
hyperactivity, inattention, impulsivity
for at least six months
period. That is somehow a way of looking
at the things in a more
therapeutic way than something
(03:49):
like a pill or a tablet or capsule way of
thinking it. There is no
blood test going to tell you you
have ADHD. Common symptoms. First one is
inattention. That simply means like
you're not able to focus on
something. You're not able to complete
that task. And you lack the
attention to detail. That's
another thing. And you lost something
like maybe this is very
(04:10):
common. Like you forgot your car key
somewhere and you have no idea at all
where is it and multitasking overload.
You are struggling to
multitask even though multitask for a
normal person itself is difficult for
ADHD person. It is a
nightmare. Second one is hyperactivity.
It is something like a
restlessness. Constant need to
move or doing something can be anyway.
Even nowadays it can be
(04:30):
considered as constant need
to be filled with your mobile phone or
anything like that. So
that level of hyperactivity is
required for the brain and they seem to
be inattentive in the conversations as
well. Like they're not
there because of that restlessness. They
have to move. They're not
in one. Their whole energy is
not focused on any one thing. It is
distributed and it is always trying to
(04:51):
change the next task
Then third one is impulse control.
They're not able to manage their
impulses. Which means
emotional reactivity. Some simple things
which feel small to a
person. The huge response will
happen involuntarily in an ADHD person.
They are poor themselves in
doing the self-organization.
That's a thing. And poor time management.
(05:13):
That's another part. So
all these things that impulse
control. How much that impulse and
stimulus is happening. That control is
not there. So coming
back to Albert Einstein again. Why I
mention Albert Einstein is
because all that is happening
in ADHD is because of the frontal lobe.
Human brain have different
portions. Like behind we have
(05:34):
cerebellum, stem and all doing
involuntary actions and all.
But if you open your forehead
you will see a squishy cauliflower
things. On the top that is the frontal
lobe and that is doing
all the executive function. Which means
that is the CEO of your
brain. All other things are
doing a lot of bodily involuntary things.
But executive functions
(05:55):
means like prioritizing,
decision making. All those things which
make you more into what you
are as a somebody like in a
work or a school. All these things. How
to manage or how to respond
to a person. How to listen to
a person. Understand it. Empathizing it.
All those cognitive
functions is happening in the
(06:16):
executive level. And that frontal lobe of
an ADHD person is smaller.
Because of that smaller thing
it has part and parcel have lot of
impacts. That's all contributing to the
ADHD. So as I mentioned
brain differences prefrontal cortex is
smaller and there is low
activity in the prefrontal cortex.
No slow wave activity. And the result of
(06:37):
is that you have
struggling focusing, concentration,
impulse control, attention or activity
level. All these things is
affected and you will feel more
drowsy and lazy because of this reason.
And dopamine. Dopamine
is the neurochemical or a
pleasure chemical you call it whatever it
is. That is less in the
(06:58):
ADHD brain. Put it simply.
ADHD is what make you interested on
something. So your level of
dopamine means you have less
interest in doing. Or in another way you
are struggling to gain
interest to do something.
So you are getting bored. That's the
point. One way to tackle it is to just
split your work into
multiple short terms. Using timers and
(07:19):
all these things. That's one way of
doing. So making it and
also rewarding or appreciating yourself
for small things. So that reward and
appreciation will be
used as a body to create some dopamine.
So you have to trick your
body because naturally it is
creating less dopamine. And you are less
interested on many things. And hyper
focus. Also because of
(07:40):
this low dopamine level you are trying to
cope up with that and trying to be
focused on one thing
in a too much high bandwidth to gain some
interest. But it also depend on the
interest you have as
well. Suppose you have a text book and
you have a story book or a novel or
something. Maybe you
will be focused on reading the novel. You
(08:02):
lost your time and the
feeling of time everything and you
forget about how the time is flowing. So
you were that much immersed
on that. That hyper focus. As I
mentioned previously Albert Einstein have
a similar situation
where he get immersed on
thought experiments and playing violins
and all these things. So
such things you will try to be
focused too much so that way you can try
(08:24):
to cope up with that low
dopamine levels. Strategies for
managing ADHD even though we talk about
it. So first one as we
mentioned like put some timers so
that you can control your focus. That's
one way to manage it. So
you will not be burned out or
something out of it. And you can try to
just switch between the things.
Prioritize your things based
on your importance as well. That's one
(08:45):
way of doing it. Another one
is through distraction free
environment. Because as I mentioned the
problem is not a deficit of
attention. It is something
like it have attention to lot of things.
So if you reduce the things it has
attention to that way you
can concentrate on something. And last I
think other one I already
mentioned about is rewarding
yourself as well. And using some sticky
(09:07):
notes and reminders you can do digital
and non-digital way.
That's another way. And also try to just
do some level of
therapeutic or some some support from
the coach or something that also will
helps. So emotional impact
as I mentioned for ADHD person
emotional impact will be out bursting
like that. It will be just
flooding and that reasoning will
(09:28):
be replaced by emotions. They are not
having a time to just
reason. The brain will just spread
that emotion with very high intensity and
you will think what's
really happening. It's not anger.
It's not something else. It's something
like an outburst of emotions. Also
another important is
to change the narrative of this ADHD to
(09:49):
yourself and to the people around.
Because many successful
people as I told you is because of they
can use this as a
strength to excel in their life.
So there are a lot of things which like
creativity innovation
and all these things.
These people can focus on something. They
can do problem solving
and abstract thinking,
(10:09):
divergent thinking, all these things in a
good way. So all these
things you will see. So ADHD
is not defining one potential or
something. Also it is not a disorder. It
is just a neuro-biological
condition. Like for example like someone
hand is less someone hand
is big whatever it is look.
(10:29):
You are tall somebody short like that
your brain has some level of
neuro-biological condition
and that is giving you some level of
weakness and some level of
strength and opportunities.
So creativity and innovation as I
mentioned those people can look at the
things and generate ideas
and from fresh angles. So some way you
(10:51):
have attention to a lot
of dimensions. So you are
spread and your patterns are different
and in another way you
can hyper focus as well.
So that two things combined together can
create a lot of creative
and innovative solutions. So
creativity and innovation will be a gift
coming out of ADHD. Effective task
management. Even though
(11:12):
the people with ADHD have struggles in
managing multitasking and
all. They can do effective task
management if the tasks are very clearly
defined and it match with their
strengths. So you can watch
or you can put laundries together better
way. You can hang the
pictures or watch TV. A lot of such
things which cope with your interest then
(11:35):
you can do task
management more effectively than a
non-ADHD. So compassion and empathy.
People with ADHD they have a strong
understanding of the people's
struggles and frustrations. By
understanding that they will be more
empathetic to the other person's
problem and all. So that way they can
help or they can work like a
(11:57):
good support system and they can
become more friends and all this thing.
So that way there will be
more empathetic with their brain.
So historical perspective of ADHD
treatment. So treatment previously as I
mentioned even though
we don't know whether Albert Einstein
have an ADHD because that was not that
much pronounced those
times. Even in 18th century the solutions
(12:19):
or medication for ADHD
was something like using
herbs or riding horses and all these
things. But nowadays we have
been have a new way of looking
at it more therapeutic way and all these
things has evolved already
there. But over the centuries
there was not really attended properly.
Even nowadays we have
this one but even nowadays
(12:40):
there is a big majority of people of
having ADHD. Very few of them have been
diagnosed and treated
as well. So behavioral interventions
that's also helpful like
therapy is one way of doing it.
But in another way if there is a talk or
accommodation or
behavioral accommodation or
behavioral training that will be more
(13:01):
helpful than the training partners. Also
such treatments will
take time. So implementing one change at
a time rather than doing it
all together is the best way
and try to see try to focus on that the
root cause of it or
somehow prevent the challenges
and motivation. Motivation is actually
(13:22):
one of the best medicine for
ADHD. As we mentioned because
of this small prefrontal cortex and low
level of dopamine if you
have a reward and motivation
you make it somewhere like immediate
chosen and tailored for you.
So that way for every small
things you give yourself some reward in a
manageable way that
(13:42):
will allow you to motivate
yourself. Six elements for maintaining
control. First one
exercise. As we know the ADHD have a
low level of dopamine and exercise or
doing exercise will actually
increase the dopamine level
and neurochemicals. So that way you can
increase your body and
somehow you can rejuvenate your
(14:03):
brain as well. One way of doing it.
Another way is sleep. Sleep is actually
make your brain more
compassionate or it will allow itself to
recover and it will be more
relaxed. Like if you have a
sleep deprived night and you go in the
morning you already have that sleep
(14:24):
deprivation effect of in
the brain and then you are having this
ADHD challenges it will
be more difficult. Instead
if you have a very good sleep that makes
very different. And
another thing is about nutrition.
Providing good food that is best for your
brain. If you select in that way that
will be also helpful
(14:44):
for the ADHD brain. And connections.
Connect with the people who
have similar problems like ADHD
or another thing that surrounding
yourself with people around you. You are
an average of the five
people around you or something like that.
So surround yourself with
such people will also help you.
And then meditation and mindfulness
that's another way to look
at it. There will be more
(15:06):
enhancing your awareness with your body
and other things as well.
That also will be helpful. And
finally something about self-compassion.
You can be compassionate
and empathetic about other
person but same way if you be more
compassionate with yourself your
limitations and your strength
that kindness towards your body. Like if
(15:27):
you're stressing yourself
just be kind and compassionate
with your body and let it relax. That's
the point. So mastering your daily
routine with ADHD. So first
of all one way is to understand where
ADHD is disrupting your
daily routine and try to attend
one goal at a time. Try to see one
(15:48):
particular part of your routine
disaffected and focus on solving
that one or managing it or a behavioral
adjusting it. That is one way of
approaching it. And understand
your daily rhythms. Like you will be able
to understand which part
of the day you are most
productive. Based on that you adjust your
worth and life around that
(16:10):
level of your brain activity.
Then you can be more productive and more
adaptive and more ADHD
friendly and you can achieve more
out of it. Write it down. So writing
written reminders like for
example if you have a difficulty
in focusing a lot of things put a
notebook around you and write the things
(16:30):
which you have to do.
Then focus on one at a time each of them
and crossing it. That
way you'll be more friendly
with your brain and also try to make
nowadays we have smartphones
and a lot of things but try to
do it as much analog as possible. So you
can be digitally free or
digitally distraction free.
Try to use sticky notes or such things if
(16:52):
possible. Otherwise
you can use your digital
reminders and calendar reminders and all.
And follow a schedule that's
important. Like try to plan
your schedule in such a way that you have
a productive period
you have a break period.
That way you plan meticulously that will
help you. Prioritizing the unfun task.
(17:13):
Like suppose you have
a lot of tasks to do in a day. Prioritize
the less interesting one
first so that your brain will be
more effort then whatever is interested
it put it for the last. So
that way your brain will somehow
adapt to the change in the interest and
out. And boredom busters
(17:33):
like when you're really bored
try to just engage your brain with
something which it gets interested on. It
can be puzzles. It can be
anything. Just do some level of brain
friendly boredom busting
topics. So that way all these
things you can somehow master your daily
routine and thrive with ADHD.
(17:55):
Optimize the item placement.
Like okay if you're an ADHD person you
will be most frequently
have having issues with
lost items or you don't know where you
put the items and all. One
strategy is to just make one
place defined for one item. Like for
example you have
certificates that will be in that
(18:16):
that closet or somewhere. And we have
another things or like keys
or a lot of things it will
be in one drawer or somewhere. So that
way you can somehow reach to
one place to take all these
things. To have that discipline that will
allow you to manage your
daily routine and problems
in losing items and misplacements and
(18:37):
all. Also lastly you can
somehow use some practical gadgets.
It can be really things like you can add
tags like you have now air
tags or Samsung tags. A lot
of things I think tags are there. So that
way you can tag with those
items so you can track it.
That's one way of doing and a lot of
other way like using a good
(18:57):
big keychain which you can be
seen everywhere. Such things are a
practical way to just keep track of such
item. Don't keep your
key as key itself. Keep something along
with it or group it somewhere or put a
key holder something
like a leather pocket or something like
that which can hold this thing so that
every keys will be in
one place. A lot of such strategies can
(19:19):
be controlling your
environment. So because of the
ADHD person you should have some level of
distraction free
environment. You have to secure your
perimeter. So whenever you're working or
whatever you're doing focus
thing try to make yourself in
a secure environment that will help you.
Then edit your space wherever you're
(19:39):
working try to remove
the distractions like smartphone or
television or a lot of such
distractions. It can be a lot of
things. Try to avoid the distractions
from your space. First way
you control your space from the
noise and distractions. Another way
whatever is inside that space try to
manage it and try to
(20:01):
make it ADHD friendly and get
comfortable. Wherever you're working that
space should allow you to be
comfortable and relax. That's important.
Should not that make you
stressful. That will allow or make
your brain in a different way. Somehow if
that space is allowing to
get relaxed that is helpful.
(20:22):
Another thing is about using some
instrumental music or such things on a
background that will
take you to a rhythm or that will make
you feel more comfortable in the space.
And visual stimulation
like try to use colored forms like
highlighters using colored pens or even
(20:43):
mind maps instead of
making tables and nodes. Mind maps if you
learn mind mapping and all
you can use colored thing
that is more brain friendly than normal
tabular forms. Try to
incorporate such things as much as
possible to make it more brain friendly.
So strategies for
completing tasks. So naturally
(21:04):
for ADHD person they will have struggle
focusing struggling
completing the task and all.
So first of all try to find the meaning
of the task. Try to see
why you are doing that. That
meaning or that essence of meaning will
motivate you to do that
things. So that's first part of the
thing. Second way you have to break down
(21:27):
those tasks into manageable
steps. So that way you can
attend it as chunks instead of a long
task. That's another strategy to
completing the tasks. Then
start with what is working. There are lot
of things because of ADHD
it's not working for you.
But start with your strengths in
completing the task and then
work on what is weakness. That's
(21:49):
another way of doing it. And if you're a
child and all or if you're a parent
having an ADHD child.
First of all there is some evidence-based
parenting programs that
is more ADHD friendly.
Try to incorporate or try to be
participate on such things so that you
can just accommodate or
more adapt with that ADHD friendly
environment or parenting
(22:10):
method to your children. And also
communicating with the children teachers
as well. That's important
because if you're managing an
ADHD child majority of his daytime or
working time or a lifetime
is in the school and all.
So it should be both working together.
It's not like you are ADHD friendly
(22:31):
parent and your teacher
is not aware of the situation of your
child then that will not
work. So then another thing about
taking care of yourself. Okay you have an
ADHD neurobiological
condition. It is not a disorder
but somehow you have to take care of
yourself. So one way to do it is to make
some secret contract
and routines. I'll go one by one. Secret
(22:52):
contract is something like
you are defining a rule for
yourself. Okay I will not do this. I will
not do that. You're having
a rule in yourself so that
when there is a question coming whether I
should do or not then that
rule will apply. Something
like that. So just make your contract
with yourself so that you can make
(23:14):
decision making easy because
your executing function has a flow. Try
to help it with some rules.
That's one way. Another way is
about routines. Routine is somewhere like
a more brain-friendly way
like if you brush your shaving
lot of things. If you make it as a
routine then your brain have
less work on it. It is already
(23:36):
having a learning out of it. Try to make
lot of things as much as
possible routine for you. So
that will help your brain. Don't make
everything important. That's
another way of thinking about
it. Like you don't have to take focus on
everything. You don't have
to make things everything
important. Try to don't care of lot of
(23:57):
things and try to find meaning of lot of
things. That way you
can practice some level of self-care and
self-compassion as well. And also you can
forgive yourself and
forgive from the frustrations. And lastly
try to seek help. I mean when
you need help don't hesitate
to ask help from somebody. Seek help.
(24:19):
Mostly somebody will be
out there eagerly thinking to
help you or support your extending a hand
for you. And finally active
listening. Because of ADHD you
will have problem in listening. You
cannot patiently listen to that. So one
way is to practice that
active listening. Active listening is not
(24:40):
same as listening because active
listening means you are
completely immersed on that. And instead
of thinking about what
you will tell next, you will
be completely immersed in what the
speaker is telling and try to ask some
questions to make sure
that you understand the things. And with
your body language you
reflect that. That is what active
(25:02):
listening is. And you can practice it and
you can improve it. And
also you can improve your
communication by just improving or make
pauses between your
sentences and you can think about
what you should tell. Try to improve it.
Everything in your skill in
communication and listening can
be improved. So to make it more ADHD
friendly or use your uniqueness as a
(25:25):
strength, you can train
and hone all this communication and
listening skills. That's somehow the
conclusion of the book.
Overall the 29 points we discussed. Thank
you for watching. If you
found this summary helpful,
please feel free to follow us. And also
please check out we have
couple of other ADHD books as
well in our channel. Feel free to check
(25:46):
it out as well. Until we
come across with the next book.
Bye for now. Thank you.
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