4 Challenges for ADHD Entrepreneurs—and Tips to Set You Up for Success

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** VOTE FOR CK HERE **

Hey ADHDers: Your brain didn’t come with an ‘off’ switch for distractions (duh). But it DID come with a unique ability to create workarounds. From body doubling to ‘boring task bribes,’ we’re sharing real strategies for when entrepreneurship feels like wrestling a hyperactive squirrel.

• Get even more content from this episode’s blog post, here.
• Subscribe to our newsletter!

—

Who Should Listen

• ADHD business owners who’ve cried over unread emails
• Solopreneurs whose to-do lists multiply overnight
• Anyone who’s ever thought “I’ll remember that hilarious social post idea” (you won’t)

—

What You Get In This Episode

• Distraction Hacks: Why noise-canceling headphones + brown noise = focus magic
• Time Blindness Fixes: Pomodoro timers vs. Forest app (and why Caitlin’s phone lives in another room)
• The Body Double Effect: How Discord groups/TikTok lives trick your brain into productivity
• Brain Dumps That Don’t Backfire: Why "revise paragraph 1" beats "write landing page"
• Outsourcing = Survival: When to pay the "ADHD tax" (and what to do if you can’t afford it)

Sneak Peek: Why ‘just call us later’ is like telling a fish to ride a bike…

—

Bios

Caitlin Kindred: Serial avoider of calling to make appointments, ADHD business owner, and reformed "I’ll just wing it" strategist.

Ariella Monti: Author of Roots & Ink, tiny puzzle addict, and advocate for "outsource anything that makes you want to cry."

—

Sources & Mentions

VOTE FOR CK! Takes 90 seconds—she’ll love you forever. ⏳Time is running out to vote for Caitlin for a Women Podcaster Award—voting closes May 31!

• Part 1 of our ADHD and Entrepreneurship series (link in blog!)
• CK & GK’s Digital Decluttering Series: Declutter Your Computer and Phone (link to blog post w/episodes)

• ADDitude Mag (get all source links in blog)
• ADHD and Entrepreneurship: Unlocking the Potential of Those Who Break the Mold | Syracuse University

Tools

• Forest App (grow trees, not guilt)
• @CoachingWithBrooke on IG
• Bilateral nature sounds playlist (link in blog)

We’re Proud to Shout Out

• Roots In Ink by Ariella Monti: Use code CKANDGK for 20% off your copy at ariellamonti.com/shop
• TULA Life Balanced: Outsource the everyday tasks! Use code GROWNUP2

The best support is a rating and a share.

Love,
CK & GK

Support the show

View our website at ckandgkpodcast.com. Find us on social media @ckandgkpodcast on
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-
We're the masters of turningwait, that's a thing or hey,
that's not fair into a wholebusiness model.
But today we're getting real,because if running a business
with ADHD was all sunshine andspontaneous brilliance, we

(00:25):
wouldn't be crying about billingand unread emails.
So if you missed part one, golisten.
It's like the before montage ina makeover movie, where we're
all shiny and full of hope.
But this episode is the partwhere the music gets dramatic
and the heroine realizes oh crap, I actually have to do the

(00:45):
things.
So we're talking.
Why just set a calendar alertis a complete lie.
The unique pain of your ownmessed up energy rhythm and my
personal favorite, when yourbrain treats urgent deadline and
mildly interesting Wikipediapage with the exact same level
of priority.
So grab your emotional support.

(01:07):
Coffee, water bottle and energybeverage, because they all have
a different purpose.
Yes, even the coffee and energybeverage.
And let's get to it.

Ariella Monti (01:20):
So those are our strengths and it would be very
easy to just like focus on thosethings, but I think it's
important that we validate thechallenges that we have, because
ADHD is considered a disabilityfor a reason, and especially in
the workplace it there's a lotthat can.

(01:42):
There's a lot about our ADHDthat can be disabling and that,
like, doesn't go away when weown our own business.
We can manage them moreappropriately when we have our
own business, but they don'tdisappear.
So we have to acknowledge theweaknesses and make

(02:03):
accommodations for them.
So I'm going to go through themost common challenges that
people with ADHD face, not justas business owners but like in
the workplace, because they'rekind of intertwined and then
provide some suggestions for howto make accommodations for

(02:26):
those challenges.
And some of these came from theAttitude Magazine article that
I put in the that will be in theshow notes, and others are what
I have found.
Others are things that I dothat I have found personally
helpful and, as always, rememberthat when it comes to

(02:47):
recommendations, your mileagewill vary Take what works, leave
what doesn't.

Caitlin Kindred (02:53):
And we are not doctors or ADHD coaches.

Ariella Monti (02:57):
No.

Caitlin Kindred (02:58):
No, no, no.
In fact, I need an ADHD coach.
If you're willing, hit me upRight, yes, okay.
Hit me up Right, yes, okay, I'mexcited for these.
Let's hear it.

Ariella Monti (03:09):
So first one, distractibility I mean Hi.

Caitlin Kindred (03:13):
Obviously, hallmark of ADHD.
Obviously.

Ariella Monti (03:18):
Right, great, yes , so noise canceling headphones
are really great for that, evenif you're working like alone at
home, if you pair them with some.
You know ambient music I likeusing bilateral nature sounds.
So that's when the sound kindof goes from like one ear to the

(03:42):
other and there is quite a bitof clinical evidence that it's a
benefit to the brain, though Iam not qualified to talk about
that at all yeah, if you go tothe attitude magazine they'll
tell you like you can look upbest sounds for adhd, like work

(04:06):
time, and they'll recommend.

Caitlin Kindred (04:07):
Like brown noise is a common one I've heard
, of which you know we've heardof white noise, but there's
brown noise.
Green noise is another one thatI often will use um but the
they're the bilateral naturesounds thing.
You've recommended that to meand I find that to be incredibly
calming.
So when I am like uber stressed, I will put on that playlist

(04:31):
that you recommended, which Ican also find and link here.
It's the one that you sent me,and I've also found this kind of
works with music, too.
There are some songs that Ithink ADHD people fixate on
incredibly intensely, and Ithink it's something to do with
the way it hits one ear and thenthe other.
It's a weird sort of thing, butI find that the songs I love

(04:55):
the most are ones that do thatto my brain.
So interesting.
Yeah, I think there's somethingto that.

Ariella Monti (05:03):
And the thing is with those bilateral sounds is
that you're not going to getthem if you just have them
playing over a speaker.

Caitlin Kindred (05:10):
Right, you have to put on headphones.

Ariella Monti (05:12):
Yeah, you have to put on headphones.
And I will make all theaudiologists out there happy
when I say please watch yourvolume, Protect your ears.
Yes, this way you're not doingwhat I have been doing lately
and I'm like what?

Caitlin Kindred (05:30):
And then answering the question later.
Anyway.

Ariella Monti (05:32):
Right, right right.

Caitlin Kindred (05:33):
Exactly.

Ariella Monti (05:35):
If you do have employees, you know you can't
and you have the flex and youhave a flexible schedule you
could start your workday beforethey come in or end it after you
leave.
So you have like a block oftime where you know there aren't
people there, kind of adding tothat distraction.

(05:55):
I am annoyingly social in aworkplace.
I'm constantly seeking outtalking to people.
I know now that's probablybecause of my ADHD, but that
also means that if I hademployees it would probably best
for me to maybe start my day alittle bit early.

(06:18):
So at least I've got a block oftime where I know I'm going to
get stuff done, in case I dohave a very distracted day.
Yeah.

Caitlin Kindred (06:29):
Yeah, have you seen those signs that like
people?
They're like these images ofpeople.
Put those signs on the doorthat says, like please don't
talk to me because I will talkto you for an hour and I have so
much stuff to do that, like,yeah, you need to, you need to
not knock on my door.

Ariella Monti (06:47):
Now that's how I totally, totally get out of your
office and go someplace likethe library.
Now, if you go to someplacelike a coffee shop or something
like that, like make sure youbring your noise canceling
headphones, um, because that canbe incredibly distracting.
They're like they're we'll talkabout it later with, like the

(07:07):
boredom piece of it.
But being in a place like a,like a coffee shop, can be good
for it can be good for to keepthe motivation for working, but
can also be really distracting,cause if you have, like what
happened to me the past coupleof times I've worked out of the
house is there will be peoplekind of talking really close to

(07:29):
us and their voices carry justenough that I can hear their
conversation and then my braincan't turn it off.
Now I'm hearing all about howyour fiance's house got struck,
parents' house got struck bylightning.
So you're working.

Caitlin Kindred (07:50):
Oh man, I'm such a nosy chismosa too that
I'm going to like listen and I'mgoing to be live texting this
conversation to probably you,but telling everyone this is
what I'm doing right now and Iwill not be yeah, right, right

(08:10):
yeah, I have a job to where Ispend a big part of my day
writing, as you do too, and ifsomeone else is talking, I
cannot write and listen to.
Like.
I can't listen to podcasts whenI'm working.
No, I can't even listen tosongs that have lyrics in them.

(08:30):
Same, because it's toodistracting and I'll either
listen to the song or I'll dothe work and miss stuff.
So yeah, I mean I have a friendwho was like, well, you know,
you just listen to, like theaudio behind the song that you
like, and I was like, no,because then it's a karaoke
session and I'm going to startsinging that too.
So no, it has to be likenothing that has anything

(08:53):
related to someone else's words.

Ariella Monti (08:56):
Right, absolutely .
And that's, I think, where thelibrary is really helpful,
because they usually have aquiet study area so you can
always go in there.
So you do know that people aresupposed to be quiet in there
and I think just generally thelibrary tends to be a quiet
place there might be.

(09:16):
I think the loudest the libraryI go to gets is when it's kids
story time and then it's likeadorable children singing skin
and marinky dinky do oh and yeah, and it's not like and it's
only for like an hour, but again, that's where the like, the
headphones could come in, butthe library could be that nice
balance between having kind ofpeople around so you're feeling

(09:40):
a little bit more motivated towork, while limiting not just
the distractions of like otherpeople but like the distractions
that are just around you if youwork from home.
Yeah, you know your dishes inthe sink, the laundry, the dog
who wants to go outside and thencome back in, and then go
outside and come back in, thecat who sits in front of your

(10:03):
keyboard.
You know.
Yeah stuff like that, andputting your phone away or
putting it on do not disturb.
Yes, that is, yeah, it's likethis.
This it's the most simple oneand somehow, like sometimes, the
hardest to do but, I have umone focus setting for the do not

(10:28):
disturb it's it's author andthat is what I use.
Yeah, that is what I use whenI'm doing like work as an author
, because it allows me to go onany of the social media apps
that I need if I'm doingmarketing stuff, but I don't get
the notifications for likeanything yeah so there's less

(10:52):
distraction in that I'm if I'mgetting a text, I'm not getting
the notification for it and I'mnot picking up the phone, and
now that I have the phone in myhand, it like now I'm gonna get
lost 30 minutes.
Yeah, exactly yeah.

Caitlin Kindred (11:09):
I um, I have several settings for do not
disturb.
I have like a general do notdisturb where nothing goes off,
but I also have one forrecording, where, if you know
something goes wrong, certainpeople can text me through, like
you, and Jenny can send memessages through that, and I'll
receive them, because we recordtogether.

(11:29):
I have ones where they're justfor work and the only
notifications I can get are fromschool, like from my son's
school, so only his stuff comesin, so I know nothing else.
If it comes through, it's anemergency.
So there are lots of great waysto do this.
My favorite thing to do, though, is just put my phone in the

(11:54):
other room, and because I don't?
I have a computer for work andI have one for personal, and I
don't allow any notificationsfrom personal stuff to come
through on my work computer,because otherwise it becomes a
text fest or whatever.
So there are lots of ways tomanage that, but if you know
your phone is a distraction, putit away, put it somewhere else,
right?

Ariella Monti (12:15):
Different room yeah.

Caitlin Kindred (12:16):
Whatever?

Ariella Monti (12:17):
Absolutely.
That is a good segue intransition into time management
which is another challenge thatus ADHD people have.
And the reason why I don't putmy phone someplace else is
because one of the timemanagement tools I found really
helpful is the Forest app andtechnically I think there's like

(12:38):
a Chrome extension for it orsomething, but it sucks.
So I use the app and the Forestapp, combined with Do Not
Disturb, does quite a bit tokeep me focused.
So the Forest app it's either acountdown or like a stopwatch,

(12:59):
so if you want to work for acertain amount of time, like you
, can set it for that or you canjust track how long you are
working and it grows a littletree or a little bush or some
flowers, and you pick, like,okay, I'm writing and so I'm
gonna grow a little oak tree and, depending on how long you work

(13:19):
, you get the oak tree in like acertain phase, or or you get
multiple of them and it addstrees to this little forest that
you know, you track, and youget coins and stuff when you you
know, or points or whateverthat you get when you you know,
when you use it, and then whatI've been doing is each month I

(13:43):
will use those points to buy anew plant for my little forest.

Caitlin Kindred (13:49):
Oh my gosh, you're such a gardener nature
nerd that you get dopamine hitsfrom fake trees on an app.

Ariella Monti (13:57):
I love it so much .
It makes me angry that a lot ofthese plants are not native to
my area you're annoyed by theapp not having native.
I know, I know I'm so man dorkyou yeah I mean, you're talking
about an app that has like thetrees are like cat tree and

(14:20):
there's like a cat face in it,and yet I'm sitting here,
irritated that oh, bless you Iknow, I know I have a problem I
like that, I also.

Caitlin Kindred (14:32):
There's a few other apps like that that you
can find there.
Yes, there are chromeextensions and all those, and
attitude magazine has some greatsuggestions for what ones you
can use.
I personally am am just I?
If I look, see a tree littlething growing, I'm gonna be like
, oh my gosh, so cute.
It's like a little Tamagotchiand I need to like pay attention
to it.
So I use be focused, and Iactually bought be focused pro

(14:57):
so that I wouldn't have to dealwith the ads anymore.
But yes, it's a Pomodoro timer.
If you haven't heard of that,it's exactly what Ariel is
talking about.
It's a you work for a certainamount of time.
It counts down for you.
It gives me a little alarm.
When 25 minutes have gone off,I get a five minute break and I
use that five minutes to either,you know, put laundry in the

(15:18):
washing machine or go make sometea or both, or look at my phone
for five minutes, and then thetimer goes off again.
My five minutes are up and I'msupposed to get back to work.
So something like that isreally helpful, and I also find
that I can use that timer tomake myself sit down and stand
up during the day so that,because I work from home at a
desk, I get the variation of I,you know, sit for an hour, an

(15:41):
hour and a half, and then I haveto stand up for the next 25, 30
minutes or more.
To you know it helps for an houran hour and a half and then I
have to stand up for the next 25, 30 minutes or more.
To you know it helps.
So good, good things toconsider there.
There's all kinds of palm appsyou can take a look at.
So tomato timer they're allsuper easy to find.

Ariella Monti (15:56):
Yes, definitely, even with.
So with the timers is I willset a timer for like 30, 40
minutes or something.
I will work for that and then Iwill take a break to do some of
my physical therapy exercisesand that gets me like up out of

(16:16):
the out of my chair, adds alittle bit of energy and then my
physical therapist doesn't yellat me for not doing my
exercises.
So another thing you can do fortime management on like a
longer term scale is havesomeone give you a deadline, and

(16:41):
it doesn't necessarily have tobe a meaningful deadline, it
could be realistic, but alsolike it doesn't matter, kind of
at the end.
But your brain is like our ADHDbrain is like, oh, I've got a
deadline, I've got it.
Like, now I've got to dosomething about it.
I did this with my bookrevisions Because I'm a self

(17:04):
published author.
Like I don't have an agentbreathing down my neck.
I don't have an editorbreathing down my neck, like
it's just me.
So I asked one of my critiquepartners who does project
management for a living.
I was like, give me a deadline,like just give me a deadline.
And because she was going tobeta read the manuscript when it

(17:27):
was done.
And she was like I want to readthis book.
So, yeah, you, you have to getthis deadline.
It doesn't have to necessarilybe you know somebody that you
work with.
It could just be like a friendwho is invested in whatever
projects that you're that you'reworking on.

Caitlin Kindred (18:03):
Yeah, like a body double or an accountability
or whatever.

Ariella Monti (18:07):
Right, right, and that's actually the second
thing I was going to talk aboutis body doubling or working in
groups, and it's amazing howjust having somebody working
beside you can be motivating.
And a lot of us who freelance,we work by work by ourselves,
like we are sole proprietorsthat don't have any co workers,

(18:28):
and just kind of having somebodyaround, even if it's a stranger
, like at the coffee shop, issuper helpful, and it doesn't
have to be in person either, so.
So with Discord, I'm in a fewwriting Discords and we use a
writing sprint bot.

(18:49):
Somebody runs the sprint andthey put like 30 minutes into it
and then we have 30 minutes towrite and there's like two,
three, four of us kind of allworking at the same time doing
these writing sprints, and thesecould be people that are all
over the country, so we're allwriting together but we're not

(19:11):
even in the same room, and thatcan be really, really helpful
for getting these tasks done.

Caitlin Kindred (19:21):
There are.
I'm trying to think of the nameof it, but I can't right now.
There is a actual program whereyou can sign up to body double
with someone, and I can'tremember the name of it, but
that does exist outside of thesesmaller networks.
So if you're a sole provider,you're, you know, you work on

(19:42):
you no co-workers and you don'thave any groups like this that
you belong to with someone whocould do that, there are ways to
to do that and I think you justhave to search like adhd body
double, and I think this will,this thing will come right up
and you can.
You can join with that, and I'veheard people talk about how
incredibly effective it is forthem because all you're doing
the way that I understand it isall you're doing is you're

(20:04):
signing on.
Someone else is on the screen,they don't talk to you or they
might say like, hi, and then youboth get to work and it's just
helpful to have someone doingthat.

Ariella Monti (20:14):
Yeah, and I know there's people too on.
They do like TikTok lives andInstagram lives, where, or and
even on like YouTube, where thewhole point is just body
doubling for a project and solike they'll go live and just
like do whatever project they'reworking on and you can just

(20:34):
sign up and like sign up.
You could just like join thelive.

Caitlin Kindred (20:39):
Are you just join the live?
Yeah, yeah.
If that's all content creators,that's brilliant.
If you're an adhc creator, like, why wouldn't you just?

Ariella Monti (20:53):
oh, that's so brilliant, oh my goodness I've
thought about this like beinglike oh, I'm gonna work, I'm
gonna write at x time, like youknow, if you want to write, to
join this live.
And then I'm like oh god, butthen people are gonna see my
face while I'm writing and whydo you think that I have mascara
on right now?

Caitlin Kindred (21:12):
because I don't know what I'm going to do if I
even publish this video.
But that's the reason.

Ariella Monti (21:20):
I get it.
I've come a long way withself-esteem, but I have not
reached the point where I canhave people watch me looking at
the screen like this.

Caitlin Kindred (21:35):
You know so Sometimes I have a face for
podcasting, so I completelyunderstand what you're talking
about Totally.

Ariella Monti (21:44):
Yeah.
So body doubling, I love it.

Caitlin Kindred (21:46):
Working groups yeah, totally so good Okay.

Ariella Monti (21:50):
So my last tip is kind of a two-parter.
So either block off certainparts of the day to do specific
tasks related to your business,based on kind of where you have
the most energy and motivation.
Some people like to do thecreative stuff in the morning

(22:12):
and do the boring stuff in theafternoon.
Some people switch that.
My schedule, my day-to-dayschedule, is too unpredictable
to do that.
I have tried that and itdoesn't work for me.
So I block off entire days forcertain tasks.
So I'll do admin and marketingon Monday, thursday and Friday

(22:36):
and then I write the other daysand this kind of keeps me from
neglecting a project for toolong, because my brain will kind
of latch onto it.
Like I don't know, there's somekind of like book marketing
trend happening on threads andnow I'm like, oh my god, that's

(23:00):
amazing, I have to jump on that,but it's.
But it's Tuesday, it's like no,this, this will be around for
two more days.
Like I can wait to do this,because otherwise I'm going to
take that entire day on Tuesdayto work on this stupid image or
whatever the trend is, and I'mnot writing.

(23:22):
You know.
So you can kind of decide whatworks for you in that.
But if you have, you know, it'sbasically creating a routine
and a structure where you knowwhat you're going to do each
part of either the day or theweek, and it kind of helps you
manage your workflow a littlebit better.

Caitlin Kindred (23:42):
Yeah, I do this with certain clients, like I
have a rule that I will onlywork on this one client that
tends to take a lot of myattention after I finish
everything else for anotherclient for the day or, if it's a
bigger project, for otherclients.
I'll say okay, not until afternoon will I work on that other

(24:04):
client.
They get my attention thesecond half of the day, but
other clients get my attentionthe first half of the day and
then on Fridays when we have alighter workday, that client the
big attention client gets allof my attention that day and I
use it just for their socialcontent that whole time.
So Friday the only thing I dois that client's social content

(24:25):
and I know that once I'm donewith that I can either be done
for the day or I can move on tosomething else.
But that has to be what happensfirst with that.
And I find that to be veryhelpful, especially as someone
coming from the teaching worldwhere I did have a specific time
of day where certain things hadto get done.
I had to teach first, second,you know, fourth, fifth and then

(24:48):
seventh, so I knew those timeswere taken.
But that meant that thirdperiod I was working on writing
content for our advisory classes, and then, like sixth and
eighth period, I was working onplanning for the next day and
then anything if I, once I gotthose things done, then I could
start grading the papers, andthat was having that structure

(25:10):
in place was very helpful for me.
So something like that, if youneed to build like a class
schedule for yourself, dosomething like that.
That might be really effectivefor you.
You might find it to besomething that sounds silly, but
there is something very helpfulabout something so regimented
like that for people with ADHD.

Ariella Monti (25:28):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
The next big challenge isdisorganization and memory.
We are actually talked aboutthis before.
Where decluttering your digitallife.

Caitlin Kindred (25:56):
I'll find that episode and put it in the blog
post here and link it, but it's.
There was a whole section onwhy folders for your folders for
your folders doesn't work.
You can't do that.
I have found that like having a.
If I had a folder just forgraphics for a client, then I
would have to have foldersinside of that for each campaign

(26:17):
.
So instead of doing it that waynow I've shifted towards
everything for the campaign inone folder and then inside that
campaign folder.
Then there's a space forgraphics because it just.
Otherwise it's.
I can't find anything anymore.
Yep, it's too.

Ariella Monti (26:32):
Yeah, I over complicated, it was ridiculous,
was ridiculous, absolutely yeah.
So trying to find systems thatare like that, where they kind
of simplify, simplify everythingand that might require the help
of somebody else who can likelook at it a little bit more
objectively, because I might belike, no, I gotta put a to put a

(26:53):
folder and a folder and afolder and somebody else is like
, well, why don't you just dothis?
And like when somebody elsesays it, it's like, oh well,
yeah, of course that makes sense.
Other things to do, especiallyfrom memory, is to just keep a
notebook nearby and writeeverything down or use voice
notes.
Just accept the fact that youwill not remember later.

(27:19):
Just, you're gonna forget.

Caitlin Kindred (27:22):
Yeah.

Ariella Monti (27:23):
Let's just.
Let's just accept it.
I now have a stack of post-itsin my car so that when I get
into my car, if I have toremember to say, like go to the
pharmacy to pick something up, Iwill write down you know, pick
up RX and I will slap it on myinfotainment screen yeah.
Yeah, or I might be drivingaround and come up with like a

(27:49):
great idea for a scene, idea fora scene and I will either voice
note it to myself or I willwrite it down on that sticky
note.
Just write it down.
Just accept that you're goingto forget.

Caitlin Kindred (28:04):
I think this is hard for me, because I will
write it down but then I won'tremember where I put it, or I
will write it down and then Iwill close that notebook up.
So I would say, not only writeit down but put it in a place
where you won't be tempted tomove it.
It always sits right there.
It's a running list.

(28:26):
You don't put a paperclip oversomething and keep pages
together, because otherwise youwon't see them.
Something like that, otherwiseyou won't see them.
Something like that, otherwiseyou won't.
You you won't see if it againout of sight, out of mind make
it be a place.
That's obvious.
And if it, if you do happen toput it on something like a
sticky note and it needs to bethen added to another to your

(28:50):
running list of things, takeyour sticky note with you over
to the place where you writeeverything down and then write
the thing down in the in theother place, then get rid of the
sticky note yeah, don't yeah,and don't just stick the sticky
note on top of the things,because if there's something
underneath the sticky note, youwon't see it.
So just things like that whereyou have to think about your own

(29:16):
habits and how you survivestuff like that?
Yeah, absolutely.

Ariella Monti (29:24):
Follow up with clients via email to ensure that
you're on the same page, thatyou have all the dates and
assignments correct, correct.
This is kind of something thatI sort of started doing when I
freelance, to just make sure Iunderstand the assignment that I
was given, because a lot oftimes I might read something and

(29:49):
I think I understand it, andthen when I turn in the
assignment, it's like this isnot what I wanted.
So it takes nothing to justemail back and say just so we're
on the same page, and if youare the, I lost my train of

(30:10):
thought.

Caitlin Kindred (30:10):
I will say you've done this with me before,
where you yes, you freelancedfor the company that I work for
and you have sent, and I'veassigned you a task and you've
sent me back a message that says, just so we're clear, this is
what you're asking for and Ihave.
It's forced me, as someone whodoesn't always, who sometimes
assumes people understand whatI'm talking about and I skipped

(30:31):
steps because it's in my headbut I didn't tell someone.
It's forced me to be very clearabout what I'm asking for here.
It also prevents me from doingthe thing where it's like I know
what I, I kind of know what Iwant, but I definitely know what
I don't want.
Um so you know, there there isthat, and I also think there's

(30:51):
something to not just doing thisbut asking what the priority is
.
So if you have multiple tasksfor a client, saying which one
would you prefer, I prioritize,so that I don't, because I'm
someone who sees 15 things onthe list and I think everything
has to be done at the same time.
So something that I've done formyself is say to a client and

(31:12):
it's taken me a long time to dothis I'm now three years into
this job and I'm only justsaying what would you prefer I
work on first, but asking thatquestion which ones, which one
would you prefer I prioritize sothat I can offer, I can give
you the deliverable that you'reasking for right away.

Ariella Monti (31:30):
Yep, yep, and then asking for a deadline if
you haven't been given one or ifyou've been given like a vague
deadline, Like if.
It's like, oh, by the end ofthe month.
It's like no, no, no, Give me aday Right.

Caitlin Kindred (31:42):
If it's by the end of the month, say May 31st,
Otherwise say, you know, May20th, whatever it is, give me an
actual day, not by the end ofthe month, because that to me
means it doesn't matter to youwhen you get it Right.

Ariella Monti (31:58):
Exactly, exactly.
And in doing that, what iswrong with me?
My brain, I have ADHD.
That's what's wrong with me.

Caitlin Kindred (32:07):
Did you take your meds today?

Ariella Monti (32:09):
I did not take my medication this morning, me too
.
I did.
I had a good thought related tothat, but now it's gone.

Caitlin Kindred (32:21):
You talked about okay, so we said follow up
with clients via email.
Oh, I like this one.
I see this one on your list,brain dumps.

Ariella Monti (32:29):
Yes so brain dumps are.
Yeah, so brain dumps arebasically like just what they
sound like.
It's like all the stuff that'sin our head, like whether it has
to do with work or not, or justthe most random thing Like I
don't know, like what color robedoes the Pope wear on Tuesdays?

(32:54):
I don't know.
Like those could be like theweird questions that, like, we
hyper fixate on.
Just take all of those thoughtsand just write them down, like
just write them on a piece ofpaper, like my brain dumps will
be a mix of work stuff, a mix ofpersonal stuff, a mix of like
yeah, those like weird thingsthat I just like can't stop

(33:16):
thinking about.
And it's like, once they're onthe sheet of paper, it does feel
like okay, now I don't have totry to keep all of these things
in my head anymore, because theyare here, like they live here
now.
They don't need to live in myhead.
And from that brain dump youcan start to prioritize the

(33:43):
things that you know that areimportant and then the things
that are not, like the color ofthe Pope's robe on Tuesdays.

Caitlin Kindred (33:53):
So so the other thing I want to add to this is
sometimes people turn braindumps into to-do lists and
there's a couple of problemswith that.
That.
I that I see one if.
If an ADHD person writes downliterally everything inside
their head, it takes up anentire page.
Or you write nothing downbecause you're like I don't know
what's in my head, because westruggle with metacognition, I
think um a lot.

(34:15):
So when I've done these and Iwrite down tasks that need to
get done, I get overwhelmed byit.
I mentioned this creator lastweek in the episode Coaching
with Brooke and I mentioned thatshe had a fantastic tip for how
to tackle that list ofoverwhelm.
And next to the brain dump, Iwill write down, I'll draw an

(34:38):
arrow and I'll write down thesingle next step that needs to
happen in order for me to tacklethat test so for example okay
if it's, I have to write alanding page or a writing copy
for a client for a specific webpage that I might already have a

(35:00):
draft, and so I have that on.
You know, my draft is is there,and then the next step is revise
paragraph one.

Ariella Monti (35:10):
Right, yeah, yeah .

Caitlin Kindred (35:11):
It's not make edits, it's optimize title.
It's just one single tiny step,because sometimes even just
looking at that the next day andbeing like, okay, the only
thing I have to do right here isoptimize the title and then it
might get you on a roll totackle whatever's next on the
list.
But just make sure your braindump doesn't put you in a state

(35:34):
of overwhelm.
So if you see tasks and youstart to get panicky, just maybe
consider that hack and thankyou to Coaching with Brooke for
that one, because that was sobrilliant.
Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea.

Ariella Monti (35:47):
That's a really, really good idea.
And the last one, for timedisorganization, is starting
your day by organizingeverything or ending your day by
organizing your space, or both,so at least you're getting off
on the right foot and you're notlike walking into your

(36:09):
workspace and it is like anabsolute.
You know disaster zone.
Like an absolute, you knowdisaster zone, Just if you have
the ability to do it.
I used to do this when I workedin an office and I didn't really
realize it was probably relatedto my ADHD, but I would take
like the last like 45 minutes ofthe day and because I was

(36:31):
already burnt out, what doing,whatever I was doing.
So if I wasn't on like a harddeadline or something, I would
take like the last 45 minutesand I would just organize my
space.
I would do little bits ofresearch and so when I walked in
the next day I was notoverwhelmed by everything that I

(36:55):
had to start doing.
So kind of like set yourself upfor success, whatever really
that means for you.
Like it might mean that youease into the day by cleaning up
the disaster zone.
You know that might be superhelpful, but whatever it is to
set yourself up for success, doit.

Caitlin Kindred (37:13):
Yeah, I tend to do this at the end of the day
because I don't?
Because in the morning it'lldistract me.
If I try to tidy in the morning, I will spend all of my time
doing that and I'll be like oh,but now I need to reorganize the
entire office instead of justclearing my space.
So I tend to do this at the endof the day, when I'm a little

(37:34):
bit more tired and don't have itin me to become hyper fixated
on everything around me in thatspace.
So it helps me there and youknow it kind of it feels good at
the end of the day to cross afew things off your list and and
then walk into the next dayknowing these are the things
that need to get done right awayand I planned for myself and I

(38:00):
took care of later Caitlin orwhatever.
It is right, yeah, so Totally.

Ariella Monti (38:05):
And the last challenge that we deal with is
boredom Things that are boring,getting bored.
Even when we enjoy things,sometimes we get bored, and that
is, you know, that is a trickyone.
This is where body doubling isreally helpful Just kind of
working with others.
It makes that boring task morefun.

(38:27):
I have had to do boring adminstuff and I'll hop into my
writers group and I'll be likedoes anybody want to do a
writing sprint?
This way I can do a I don'tknow data entry or something
like.
Having somebody near you to dothat boring thing is really
helpful.
Follow your natural energyrhythm over the course of the

(38:54):
day.
Energy rhythm over the courseof the day.
People with ADHD have aninternal clock that would be
considered wonky by neurotypicalpeople.
We might be more energized andmotivated later in the day as
opposed to earlier in the day.
We might work better in theevening.
We might work better overnight.

Caitlin Kindred (39:15):
You think that's deadline related?
Like think about the end of theday and how things are supposed
to get done at the end of theday.

Ariella Monti (39:21):
Like by the end of the day I said I would do
this.

Caitlin Kindred (39:23):
I feel like that's a big part of it for me.
I really do.

Ariella Monti (39:27):
Yeah, I'm sure that's part of it, or it could
be part of it, like depending onyour job.
But I also know that, like if Ihave the ability to kind of
work whenever I wantedthroughout the day, I wouldn't
get started working until 11 inthe morning and I would take a

(39:48):
break in the mid-afternoon, butthen I would work like well into
the night.
I would work like until 1.
Completely.

Caitlin Kindred (39:59):
Wow, I find that I will say to myself I'm
only going to work until youknow 4.15, and then I'm going to
stop, and then it'll be 4.45and I'm still working, and it's
because I've I had this likethis internal pressure to get
something else crossed off mylist, or whatever it is.
So I wonder if that's part ofit.

(40:20):
For me anyway, but I feel likeI'm sure I'm not the only one
who day to kind of adjust whenyou work or when you do certain

(40:42):
tasks, do it, you know.

Ariella Monti (40:44):
Don't do the boring things necessarily when
you're feeling the most lowenergy, because if you don't
have the dopamine to basicallydo things, even things that you
enjoy, you're not going to havethe dopamine to do the things
that you don't.

Caitlin Kindred (41:03):
So that is where you kind of play with your
day.

Ariella Monti (41:09):
It's okay if you don't get started at 8am and
your workday ends at six.
I mean, maybe that's what youhave to do, you know.
So that's why I'm saying, like,if you have the flexibility for
it, you know, if you don't havethe flexibility for it, you got
to do what you got to do.
But if you have the flexibilityto kind of mess with your

(41:30):
schedule a little bit, figuringout when you are the most
energized and when you are themost depleted will really help
with staying away from when youhave to do the boring stuff.

Caitlin Kindred (41:45):
It's true, yeah .

Ariella Monti (41:47):
And the last one is change your environment, if
you can.
If you have an office, but youcan also work someplace else, do
it.
That can be really helpful.
I have, you know, an office inmy guest room and then there are
days where I will go down tothe kitchen table because the
kitchen gets a lot more sunlight.
So there are days where I justneed more sun and I will go

(42:09):
there.
I have a picnic table outside,so I will work outside, go to
the coffee shop, the library.
Sometimes just changing yourenvironment can add that variety
that we need, that we talkedabout earlier, that ADHD.
People love variety and thatvariety keeps us from getting
bored.

Caitlin Kindred (42:29):
Yeah.

Ariella Monti (42:30):
I love it yeah that was a lot.

Caitlin Kindred (42:32):
It was a lot Of stuff, but I feel like it's
super helpful to have all thatin one place.
Is there any other tips thatyou have before we move on for
today?

Ariella Monti (42:45):
I think the last one would just be to ask for
help when you need it.
Outsource something when youcan.
If you can, if you're abusiness owner that can afford
to outsource something to apersonal assistant or a
freelancer, just do it.
You know, especially if it'ssomething that you can't stand

(43:07):
doing, give it to somebody else.
And you know, in some respectsthat's what we call the ADHD tax
.
You know where we end upspending a little bit more money
to get things done.
But if it helps your mentalhealth, if it helps you have the
capacity and the bandwidth todo the things that you really,

(43:27):
really enjoy and the reason whyyou are a business owner, then
that it's worth it.

Caitlin Kindred (43:34):
So I agree and I mean mean we've talked about
this.
I talked about it with deborahdolaner a few weeks ago about
outsourcing tasks for parents.
Um, if it means you as the, theentrepreneur, the solopreneur,
need to focus explicitly on thebusiness that needs to take
every bit of your attention, andyou need to outsource other

(43:57):
tasks like gift wrapping andpicking up groceries and things
like that, there are servicesavailable.
I'm going to give a shout outto Tula Life Balanced again, and
if you're in one of the citiesthat Tula operates in, there's a
promo code GrownUp20.
You can go and sign up and get20 off of outsourcing services

(44:17):
for moms.
So put that out there too.
It's not just outsourcingthings for your business, but
it's also outsourcing thingsthat are taxing at home.

Ariella Monti (44:27):
So yeah, absolutely out there, absolutely
yeah, that's all I got, okay?

Caitlin Kindred (44:32):
well, we've got all of these resources in the
blog post for the episode.
Make sure that you check thatout and we will be right back.
Hey y'all.
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(44:53):
The debut novel by AriellaMonti is the fantasy romance for
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(45:13):
Get your copy for 20% off today.
All right, so, in the spirit ofADHD stuff, we're back and
we're not talking aboutobsessions.
We're talking abouthyperfixations, so do you have

(45:35):
any right now that I need toknow about and also be hyper
fixated on Tiny puzzles.

Ariella Monti (45:39):
Tiny puzzles, I.
Tiny puzzles.
Going back to puzzles, yeah,going back to puzzles.
Yes, to loop it back, to circle, back to puzzles.

Caitlin Kindred (45:53):
Oh no, don't say circle back.
Oh no, no, so corporate.

Ariella Monti (45:56):
Oh no, no, so corporate oh, no, no, no, no, no
, no.
Circling back, let's circleback to tiny puzzles.
Um, yeah, impulse bought this.
I can't remember the name of it, I'll have to to.
You'll have to put it in theshow notes later, but it's like
a.
It was a.
It was at the, the place whereit was, at the mailing place,

(46:18):
where I like have a PO box anddrop off, oh, like, drop off the
books that I'm sending out Postoffice.
No, it's like a private, like aprivate place.
So it's not the post office.
Ok, so yeah, it's like a, like asmall business, but they're
like these little tubes rightlike these little plastic tubes

(46:38):
with this like little puzzlesinside, and the puzzles
themselves end up being likefive by seven or four by six or
whatever, and it was ten dollars, so my impulse bought it and I
like it because it's so littlethat I can put it on this like
little wooden tray and itdoesn't take up a whole bunch of
space, and it's just been likesitting on the kitchen table and

(47:01):
I just keep like playing withit and try.
It's so freaking hard though,like, but it'll be cute when
it's done.
It's like a little bookshelfwith like little black cats in
the bookshelf and I'm gonnaframe it.
When I'm, whenever I'm donewith it, I'm gonna frame it and
put it in my living room nice,okay, yeah, tiny puzzles all

(47:24):
right?

Caitlin Kindred (47:25):
uh, mine is.
I've been doing my own nailsagain, oh and because I was
getting my gel x nails done andreally loved them.
But but they were lifting a lotand it was lifting.
If you're not a nail person, itmeans that, like, whatever the
tips are or the extension onyour nail is coming up in the

(47:47):
back or lifting around the edgesand it would get caught in my
hair and it would make me crazy.
So I got tired of going back tothe nail place and making them
fix it.
So I started doing my own again.
And there's when you're getting,when you have gel on your nails
, you need to kind of file offthe top.
And the fastest, most efficientway to do that is to use a
drill.

(48:07):
And I have a little baby naildrill and I love this freaking
thing.
I'm terrified to use it, butit's so satisfying to watch all
the like nail bits come off.
I don't know what it is, butlike I don't need to do my nails
every week, but I've been likeI want to drill this up, like I
just so dumb, um, but it's, it'sa thing and I it just is.

(48:30):
So it's so satisfying to watchall the like, all the stuff just
come off and you have to gooutside because there's so much
dust that comes out of it uh,where you can get one of those
like dust vacuum things, butit's yeah, I was sitting outside
on my porch last week and I'mlike and like all this stuff is
going everywhere and I was allhappy, amazing so happy, it was

(48:50):
so dumb anyway, that's my,that's.
My fixation at the moment iswatching the.
The satisfying dust come off myfingernail nice dumb, I love it
.
But true, all right.
Did you get anything done thisweek that you didn't need to
body double?

Ariella Monti (49:06):
you just got it done, yes I finally called my
eye doctor to order contacts.

Caitlin Kindred (49:14):
Nice down, well like yeah, you need them too,
so I don't know what you wouldright, I right, I know well what
.

Ariella Monti (49:23):
What made things a little bit take a little bit
longer was that I was trialinglike a new pair, like a new
brand of contacts usually Iwould just order them like
before I leave, like after myappointment, but because I had
to trial a new pair that Iwasn't like there to to purchase

(49:45):
them, and so they're like.
Yeah, you know, like, once youdecide if you like them or not,
like, just call and we'll put inthe order.

Caitlin Kindred (49:51):
And you know, like, just call weeks and weeks,
just call just call weeks andweeks and bye, I'm sure right,
right, and so I'm on like thelike.

Ariella Monti (50:07):
Contacts in my eyes are, I think, the only like
full set I have.
So if something happens to theone contact I don't know if it's
my right or left If somethinghappens to that, I have to wear
my glasses, which is not acrisis, but I have some eye

(50:28):
conditions that make wearingcontacts I see better with them.
So I'm, I'm, I don't want towear my glasses.
If I can help it, understood,but yeah, I can help it.
Understood, but yeah.

Caitlin Kindred (50:39):
I finally ordered contacts.
Good job, that's amazing.
Thank you, yeah,congratulations.
I'm legitimately happy aboutthat.
Mine was.
I did something similar.
I finally made my follow-upmammogram appointment Nice.
Got the order inmber to makethe appointment, all right, yeah

(51:00):
, made it this week so nice, sogood job.
Because just call is not okayand I will do it if it's online,
like I, that right I'm, it'sstill the same thing.
I'm going to delay it, but I'mmore likely to do it if I don't
have to call and they have anonline option.

(51:21):
Except they were like nope, youactually do have to call
because you have a specific typeof order from your doctor that
you have to go get it done.
So nightmare fuel, but it gotfinished.

Ariella Monti (51:35):
Yay.

Caitlin Kindred (51:36):
Good.

Ariella Monti (51:36):
I'm happy for both you and your boobs thanks.

Caitlin Kindred (51:41):
They're gonna be happy too, I'm sure, after
the pancakeification of them iscomplete so that's all that we
have for today.
Thank you.
You did a great job.
So thank you for all of thathelpful information.
I'm gonna once more make arequest that you vote for me.
If you're listening to this, inMay of 2025, I still need votes

(52:03):
.
Voting goes until the end ofthe month, so May 31st is your
last day to vote for me for theWomen Podcasters Awards in the
Education Podcast category.
The link to my page is in theshow notes.
You just scroll down and clickvote, and you're not signing up
for anything.
You're just putting in youremail for verification purposes
and then all you have to do isscroll down to where I'm at and

(52:25):
choose me.
That's it.
It takes a minute and a half,very quick, super simple.
That's my call to you.
I really need your help, Ireally need your votes.
Please help me and validate me.
I need validation, as Jennywould say.
Make good choices and vote forme and I'm going to do the

(52:53):
millennial Bye, bye.