The ADHD Skills Lab
Navigate each day in an ADHD-friendly way – with research-backed strategies, real-life experiences and expert advice. Each week, UO founder Skye Waterson chats with expert guests, reviews the latest ADHD research, takes your questions and offers practical support to help you move past whatever may be holding you back. Skye Waterson is a former academic turned coach, podcast host, and founder of an international ADHD support service, Unconventional Organisation. After getting a surprise ADHD diagnosis in the first year of her PhD, Skye turned her struggles into research-based strategies. She researched and wrote over 50 articles with a combined readership of 250,000+ and then began her next phase of disseminating these strategies around the world. After being invited to share her strategies with the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) in 2022, Skye has supported late-diagnosed healthcare professionals, professors, lawyers, reporters, fortune 500 directors, and entrepreneurs. She crafted her vision for Unconventional Organisation after realizing how few personalized ADHD strategies were available for adults following her diagnosis.
Episodes
Ads are overwhelming for a lot of ADHD business owners, not because they are bad at marketing, but because the information is scattered, noisy, and contradictory.
In this episode, Skye talks with ads expert Jeremy Pogue, founder of Summit Acquisition, about how ads actually work at a high level, what they are and are not responsible for, and how to think about them without spiraling into complexity.
This is a grounding conversation d...
Video is everywhere, but very little of it is designed with ADHD in mind.
In this Research Recap, Skye and William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD unpack a qualitative study exploring how people with ADHD actually experience video content. From captions to pacing to visual overload, they look at what helps, what hurts, and why one size never fits all.
They also talk about why many ADHD viewers adapt by speeding up videos, multitasking, o...
Skye sits down with Carly Braker, founder of Avialan Blue, to talk about building a high tech areospace engineering consultancy while navigating ADHD. Carly shares how she masked symptoms growing up, why the “real world” hit harder, and the adjustments she had to make when deep focus, sensory overwhelm, and impostor feelings collided with entrepreneurship.
What we cover:
- Why gifted kids often miss their own ADHD signs
- The crash th...
People love to say ADHD comes with superpowers. The research is more nuanced.
In this Research Recap with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD, Skye and Will examine two papers that look at ADHD strengths in careers. They discuss the themes that appear across 79 studies, the stories from qualitative interviews, and the complicated truth about strengths that can help and hurt depending on context.
What we cover:
- Why creativity and i...
Most people with ADHD have one moment that stops them in their tracks. For Laura, it was finding her childhood journals filled with the word “focus” scribbled in every possible way.
In this conversation, Skye talks with Laura Key, host of the ADHD Aha! podcast, and VP of content at Understood.org. After interviewing more than 120 people about their ADHD stories, Laura shares her own. From finding her childhood journals to understand...
Can TikTok actually teach you about ADHD - or is it just feeding you misinformation?
In this Research Recap with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD, Skye dives into a 2022 study analyzing the quality of ADHD content on TikTok. They explore how much of it is accurate, how much is personal storytelling, and why the most relatable content often isn’t the most reliable.
What we cover:
- Why #ADHD is one of TikTok’s biggest health hasht...
This one’s real, hilarious, and way too relatable.
Skye sits down with Russ Jones, ADHD coach, creator of the Ready, Set, Go framework, and host of the *ADHD Big Brother* podcast, to talk about what it really takes to build momentum when you’re working with an ADHD brain.
They share stories, laugh a lot, and unpack the small mindset shifts that make consistency feel possible, even on the days when motivation disappears. Russ also sha...
Are ADHD brains more creative, or is that just a myth?
In this Research Recap with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD, Skye breaks down a foundational study on ADHD and creativity, exploring how ADHD brains innovate, imagine, and sometimes overreach.
What we cover:
- How ADHD brains approach creative problem-solving differently
- What “conceptual expansion” means for ADHD thinking
- Why originality and practicality don’t always go hand i...
ADHD medication can be a controversial topic online. Is it safe? Does it change who you are? What does the science actually say?
In this episode, Skye talks with Dr. Ryan Sultan, psychiatrist, researcher, and founder of Integrative Psychiatry in NYC, about what medication does in the brain and what decades of studies reveal about its effects. This is not medical advice - it’s a clear, evidence-based conversation to help you understa...
Ever feel restless in a meeting or line and want to bolt? That’s not impatience, it’s delay aversion.
In this Research Recap with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD, Skye explores new research showing how delay aversion connects boredom, frustration, and inattention in ADHD. Together they dig into how the brain’s reward system makes waiting harder and what you can do to make it easier.
What we cover:
- What delay aversion actually ...
World-champion habits aren't just for athletes - they're the secret weapon for ADHD executives juggling chaos and big ambitions.
In this episode, Skye chats with James Laughlin, 7-time world champion musician, bestselling author of Habits of High Performers, and host of the top-ranked Lead on Purpose podcast. James shares how he suspected ADHD tendencies and worked with Skye to build systems for focus, while unpacking the ...
Can exercise really compete with medication or therapy for managing ADHD symptoms?
In this Research Recap with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD, Skye and Will break down new findings on how exercise supports emotional regulation and anxiety reduction in ADHD, with results that may surprise you.
What we cover:
- Why exercise affects both anxiety and attention
- What happens in the ADHD brain during movement
- How consistency rewires you...
AI is redefining work, but for ADHD founders, the question isn’t whether to use it, it’s how.
In this episode, Skye sits down with Ryan Brazzell, entrepreneur, founder of Assistant Launch, and system/AI strategist who helps founders “bend time” using systems and executive support. Ryan has built and scaled multiple 7- and 8-figure companies by applying AI, systems thinking, and radical delegation.
Together they dig into how AI can su...
Why does time blindness show up so early in life?
Welcome to another episode in our Research Recap series, co-hosted with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD.
In this episode, Skye and Will unpack a study of preschoolers in Hong Kong, showing how time perception, working memory, and delay aversion already affect early academic skills.
What we cover:
- Why ADHD symptoms in preschoolers are hard to spot but still matter
- Why time percept...
Dr. Jacquelyne Read, a chemistry professor and ADHD trailblazer, joins Skye to reveal how she transformed her postdoc struggles into a tenure-track triumph and a top publication award. Discover the actionable systems like breaking down overwhelming tasks and mastering prioritization that helped her thrive in academia's high-pressure world. Perfect for ADHD executives and founders looking to turn their big ideas into real resul...
Why are women still diagnosed with ADHD years later than men?
Welcome to the next episode in our Research Recaps series, co-hosted with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD.
In this episode, Skye and Will unpack one of the largest ADHD studies ever conducted, looking at more than 85,000 people in Sweden. The results show women are still being diagnosed almost four years later than men, with serious consequences for mental health and a...
Why can you plan your day perfectly, then forget everything the second something stressful happens?
Welcome to the next episode in our Research Recaps series, co-hosted with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD.
In this episode, Skye and Will explore the science behind hot and cold executive functions, and what they mean for how ADHD brains make decisions, remember tasks, and stay calm under pressure.
We also break down a fascinating (...
In this episode, Skye is joined by Matt Verlaque, SaaS founder, entrepreneur, and author, to unpack how to scale a business when your brain is wired for big ideas and fast starts, but struggles with structure.
From leading startups to building founder-focused systems, Matt shares the powerful rhythms, habits, and metrics that have helped hundreds of founders go from feeling overwhelmed to fully in control of their businesses.
What we...
Ever zone out in a meeting and wonder where your brain went? That might be your default mode network. And for people with ADHD, it doesn't always switch off when it should.
Welcome to the first episode in our new Research Recaps series, co-hosted with William Curb from Hacking Your ADHD.
In this series, we’re teaming up to break down recent ADHD studies and translate what the research actually means for your life, your work, and...
Think you're just bad at delegating? You’re not. ADHD makes it harder to translate thoughts into steps, hand things off, and feel safe letting go.
If you’ve got a team (or want one), this is your ADHD-friendly shortcut to working less and scaling more.
Skye takes you inside a real coaching breakdown of her 5-step delegation system—the same one she teaches founders who are too busy, too burned out, or too overwhelmed to explain w...
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