Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
24. Unpacking ADHD in Business Women with Dr. Trista Keating
8 Plays7 months ago
“Entrepreneurship is like candy for our brains.” Don’t let ADHD sour the experience!
Join us as we delve into the multifaceted world of neurodiversity with Dr. Trista Keating, an expert in ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, anxiety, and depression. Specifically, we dig into what happens when women entrepreneurs go undiagnosed due to their coping mechanisms.
She underscores the importance of showing yourself grace and recognizing some tasks are legitimately more difficult for those with ADHD. Psst, these lessons apply to *everyone.*
In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
- Recognize ADHD challenges among women entrepreneurs.
- Manage symptoms through self-care, exercise, and nutrition.
- Use technology to help you organize tasks, focus, and manage time.
- Shift your mindset around ADHD and stop putting yourself last.
- Ask for what you need from your team and professionals.
For more inspiration, subscribe to Unbound Turnarounds on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
LINKS:
- Connect with Nicole
- Connect with Mallory
- Connect with Trista: https://www.acornpsychology.ca/about-us
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Women Entrepreneurs' Challenges
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to Unbound Turnarounds, a podcast all about the challenges women business owners think about constantly, but rarely voice. We're Nicole and Mallory, entrepreneurs, friends, and co-founders of Business Unbound, a community helping women alleviate the headaches, heartaches, and backaches so work actually works for life. This is your safe space for the ups, downs, and the turnarounds.
Season Two: Wellbeing Focus
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome back to Unbound Turnarounds. And here in season two, we're talking all about different kinds of wellbeing for the entrepreneur.
ADHD in Women Entrepreneurs
00:00:42
Speaker
And today we're going to be talking about one very specific aspect that women entrepreneurs deal with and a lot of them only later in life realize that they've been dealing with and that is ADHD. So we have an expert here to chat with us about this topic and I want to hear all of it because there's a little inkling in the back of my mind and I'm like, is this me?
00:01:05
Speaker
Oh no. This is me. So Mallory, who do we have today? Yeah, I wondered the same thing. Today we have Dr. Trista Keating. She's a specialist in the assessment of autism spectrum disorder, learning disorders, ADHD, anxiety depression, and a wide variety of other conditions. Dr. Keating received her undergraduate degree in psychology from McGill University and completed her PhD in school psychology at the University of Alberta.
00:01:33
Speaker
Following her education, she held several roles in school psychology before returning to a university setting. In her position at the University of Calgary, she taught courses on topics including behavioral supports, educational psychology, and evidence-based interventions for social-emotional disorders.
00:01:54
Speaker
For more than a decade, Dr. Keating has worked in a private practice by drawing on this academic and hands-on experience to create positive outcomes for her clients. As a mother, daughter, and friend of many children, adults, and families with learning emotional and behavioral challenges, she's come to understand these challenges more intimately. We have discussed before the show that you are open to us calling you Trista, so Trista, thank you for being here.
Understanding ADHD: History and Symptoms
00:02:20
Speaker
Welcome to the show. Thank you very much for having me.
00:02:23
Speaker
Just to get us started, as someone who's probably like a lot of our listeners, I've heard of ADHD a lot, but I honestly couldn't tell you much more about it. Just get us started by telling us what this actually is. Perfect. It's been around for centuries. Back in the 1800s, we discovered
00:02:49
Speaker
you'll talk about what is ADHD, but it's been more formally recognized sort of in the 1930s, and I think has become really popular in the last kind of, I'd say since the 1980s, 90s. And we hear about it a lot in the media, in social media in the last 10 years or so, but essentially it's a neurodevelopmental disorder.
00:03:13
Speaker
meaning that it affects parts of the brain. And I'm not going to get into all the medical side of things. But it impacts the parts of the brain, particularly in the frontal cortex. And it starts off, generally, we start to see characteristics of ADHD early on in our lives. And that's why it's called a developmental. So it's not something that just appears in an adulthood. Now, that being said,
00:03:39
Speaker
we often see why the presentation of ADHD can change throughout the lifespan. And so when we think of ADHD or when people think of ADHD, they often kind of think about those really hyper little boys, right? That can't sit still, that are running around the room, that are touching things when they shouldn't be, that are impulsive and sort of causing
00:04:04
Speaker
behavioral challenges in the classroom or at home. That's what we think about with ADHD. That's the one that we observe and we see, and the one that often gets diagnosed in early childhood, often because it's the most disruptive, I guess, in the classroom setting, or in the home setting. That's what we think about often when we think about ADHD.
00:04:30
Speaker
there is another kind of side of ADHD that's less observable, that's more internal. And so these are struggles that are characterized by more difficulties with focus and difficulties with organization or planning or staying sort of on task with things, avoiding distractions, organization, time management, those kinds of characteristics while they're present in childhood,
00:04:59
Speaker
can often get missed because often we either have parents that are you know very organized or we ourselves work really hard to make sure that we're staying focused and doing what we're supposed to be doing and so what's becoming even more common in the last sort of 10 years or so is a diagnosis in the later aspect of life and so where adults are now coming in and saying I think I've had ADHD and
00:05:28
Speaker
sort of describe, you know, a range of different characteristics. And so it's a disorder that presents, as I said, early on, but often doesn't get diagnosed until later on, depending upon, again, the presentation of those kind of symptoms. Okay. There's two main areas of ADHD. Now we used to know it or used to refer to it as like ADHD and AAD. Right. So now the manual that psychologists use for the DSM
00:05:54
Speaker
has now categorized it in the last sort of update as ADHD and that there's two main presentations. The two main presentations are the inattentive presentation. So this is characterized by, as I said before, that more internal struggles, where it's things that are going on in our line. So difficulties concentrating, paying attention, starting tasks and completing them, time management or organization.
00:06:23
Speaker
Remembering, so remembering different things I need to do throughout the day. So all that kind of internal aspect of ADHD. Then there's another type that hyperactive impulsive type where talked about beforehand, those are your, your kids that have difficulties sitting still or even adults sitting still want to be on the go, fidgety, maybe impulsive, have a harder time sort of refraining from acting or saying something.
00:06:51
Speaker
And so there's all these range of different kinds of characteristics. In order to meet criteria for ADHD, you have to present with a certain number. So six out of nine kind of characteristics that I just sort of described. And again, that goes throughout the lifespan. And so you can have, because we all have certain characteristics, right? We all can say, yeah, I am forgetful at times, or I start things, I don't finish them. So you have to present with enough of them.
00:07:18
Speaker
And you also have to present with, it has to also have an impairing kind of factor, right? Because you may have sort of these difficulties, but are actually functioning quite well in life. It's not interfering with your daily living skills or your job or those kinds of things. So then it's not a disorder. It's when it starts to impair someone that it becomes more of a characterized as a disorder.
00:07:42
Speaker
Okay, that makes sense. And that makes sense why a lot of adults are maybe seeing that later in life. Yeah,
ADHD's Gender Differences
00:07:48
Speaker
yeah. So specifically then, if we're talking about women entrepreneurs in this podcast, this is who our audience is. So of those two types, do you tend to see there's certain symptoms for adult women? I do. So in general, men or women,
00:08:10
Speaker
even the hyperactive kind of kiddos end up becoming like less hyperactive as they get older, right? So that's just, we don't see kids like our adults generally running around. They can, they just grow up and they're able to sort of do that to a certain extent. But generally women often and girls can often get sort of misdiagnosed during childhood for a variety of reasons. And there's some different regulations. You know, one is, again, not
00:08:37
Speaker
because generally speaking, not as behavioral. So not sort of showing those kinds of outward behaviors that are causing issues. It's more internal and less observable to other people. So if somebody is sitting there in school and having a hard time focusing, no one would really necessarily notice that. Unless the teacher's really attuned and comes over and says, oh, look, you haven't gotten your work done. But then girls generally, they're not
00:09:06
Speaker
again, societal kind of pressures want to fit in, want to make sure that they're not standing out and they're sort of doing what they're supposed to be doing, they're pleasers, again, stereotypically. And so they end up sort of working really hard at any of those areas of difficulty that they may be having. So staying focused and being organized and often sort of can get missed or they're working so incredibly hard to do these things.
00:09:32
Speaker
being incredibly organized, over organized, having lists upon lists and planning our, you know, floating the night before and all these kinds of things. And so we often see that those kind of people can make it diagnosed. And what happens is that in adulthood, what can be a tricky time is one, yes, during university, if there's a lot of kind of, you know, but then also just beyond that, right, and is when
00:09:59
Speaker
all of a sudden the expectations increase and it's hard to sort of keep up. And so for entrepreneurs, it's interesting because we know that when you're an entrepreneur, you generally are going into something that you feel passionate about and you kind of invested interest in that. And so, which actually, what we also know about people within ADHD is it's not that they can't pay attention. That's often a misconception. It's that they really struggle to pay attention
00:10:28
Speaker
for the tasks that they don't find interesting. Now that's the case for everyone, but it's really pronounced in people with ADHD. And then on the flip side, when they do find something that they're interested in, then they can actually hyper focus, right? That sort of narrow kind of in tuned focus. You sort of, I could think about, you know, people with kids and say, well, my son doesn't have ADHD. He can like play, you know, video games for hours and like,
00:10:56
Speaker
I can be screaming his name and he won't respond, right? And so it's when it's of interest, then it's, it can be a hyper focus. And so if you think about women entrepreneurs, again, they more likely again, to go into something that they feel passionate about interested in. And so this is where ADHD would actually serve them well, because it's like, wow, I'm super into this and I really, and I'm going to hyper focus even to a level that's like quite impressive, right?
00:11:25
Speaker
Now, it still may be impairing other aspects of your life. And of course, if you end up sort of overly focusing on your work life and not balancing the other aspects of your life, then there's a downside to that. But yeah, right. And so, but then there's other aspects, of course, in owning a business or starting a business that are less interesting as well, right, from all the paperwork or the mundane kind of
00:11:49
Speaker
forms or grants that you have to apply for or filling out, you know, where that can all of a sudden, again, real lack of interest in it. And so finding difficulty being organized on top of it, finding the motivation to do so, right? So we know that people with ADHD often we call procrastinators. And again, it's more the difficulty in getting that energy to motivate oneself to do the tasks that are
00:12:19
Speaker
repetitive, boring, less interesting, right? Those kinds of things. And so in sticking from an entrepreneurial side of things, yeah, there might be aspects that are where ADHD is going to lead itself really well. And it's going to be other aspects that where it's going to have a harder impact or sort of more significant impact.
00:12:38
Speaker
This is interesting because I think a lot of entrepreneurs relate to this specifically of splitting up what we think is interesting versus not, and then our productivity looks completely different.
00:12:52
Speaker
So you can have this identity of being super focused, high achiever, and then the task comes in that you hate and you're just like, who even am I? I cannot do it. I cannot open this email. It's been in my inbox for weeks. Exactly. This is definitely something that happens. Completely.
00:13:16
Speaker
And at the other side of that coin is that there are these projects that you love and you're super interested in and you're like, suddenly I don't have a problem.
00:13:31
Speaker
Love what you're hearing? Business Unbound online courses help you implement the ideas from this show and change how your company runs, in big and small ways, for the better. Our courses are meticulously crafted, packed with tactical tools and solutions,
Support and Resources for Women Entrepreneurs
00:13:46
Speaker
and designed to help women genuinely enjoy the day-to-day business journey.
00:13:51
Speaker
We've poured insights from our collective 13 years of entrepreneurship and work with more than 100 clients into every course. And the good news is that we're just getting started. We're on a mission to unite women entrepreneurs who understand challenges, loneliness, and vulnerabilities of running a business. And we want you to be part of it. Visit UnboundBoss.com to browse our course library. We cannot wait to join you on your journey.
00:14:20
Speaker
So how would you tell, if you're seeing some of these signs in yourself, how do you know if it's just like, I hate bookkeeping versus that impaired level factor that could say, hey, this is something that maybe you could use some help with? Right. Again, I think you have to sort of say, if it's starting to impact things like, OK, I've missed payments for certain things, or I'm leaving it to the last minute and now I'm having to do it all,
00:14:50
Speaker
Super like last minute and it's causing incredible stress or I'm making mistakes that really shouldn't be happening right because I wasn't paying careful of attention to XY and Z like I you know either rushed through it and didn't take the spend adequate amount of time or that I'm finding or you're finding it that You're spending an un-amount, you know, or in an amount of time doing things that shouldn't take that long, right? And so it's like, okay, is there something else that could be potentially going on?
00:15:21
Speaker
or if you're finding it's really hard to do certain tasks and you're getting into these patterns and it's starting to have a real impact, where you're having to miss out on certain events because you're right, having to, I got to do this now, it's now or never, or, and then the quality of the work might suffer because of those issues, right? And so, or the, just the stress level, right? That, that can sort of come with that. And so when it's starting to impact your,
00:15:47
Speaker
your health, when it's starting to impact the productivity, when it's starting to impact the quality, those kinds of things. It's like, okay, is there something else that could be going on? And then a good sort of assessment of like, okay, what could be going on? Because of course you can have other things that would be going on that can also impact your attention and focus and so forth. If you're stressed, if you're anxious, if you're depressed, if you're right.
00:16:11
Speaker
That's why having a real kind of proper assessment done to make sure that we're not looking at the wrong thing and that we're really getting a good picture of what's happening. Gotcha.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yeah. So let's say whether they have the diagnosis or not, but let's go with like, okay, we've got the assessment. We have a diagnosis. Uh, what kind of self-care tactics or how important I guess is self-care and managing ADHD symptoms?
Managing ADHD with Self-Care
00:16:38
Speaker
And then like, what are some of those practical strategies to help manage this diagnosis in a busy schedule running a company? It's so it completely because often
00:16:52
Speaker
if you're getting so engrossed in something and you're getting hyper focused on something, like there's only so many hours in a day, right? And there's only so much that one can do. And so you end up, other areas just end up kind of, you know, falling by the wayside, whether that's self care or that's relationships with others or, or whatever. And so people with ADHD are often prone to taking on too much, right? And sort of overextending themselves at times. And so it's,
00:17:21
Speaker
really important from, we know like that the treatment of ADHD is one of the most important things is exercise, right? And so we know that actually kids and adults who have enough exercise in their daily lives can actually, we can mitigate and minimize a lot of those ADHD kind of symptoms. So that's huge. And so what I see, like,
00:17:48
Speaker
You know, at schools, for example, they're saying like, oh, well, you know, they were misbehaving. And so we took away their recess. I'm like, are you kidding? That is like the most backwards approach ever, right? Like it has to exercise is huge. Diet is also really important. You know, having food that can sustain us. And so proteins, not a lot of sugars, because again, those can give us lots of spikes. And so we want things that can sustain us, you know, long term sleep. So we know that people with ADHD,
00:18:18
Speaker
generally are not great at sleeping. They often can have difficulties falling asleep, so turning that mind off and then can also just have a harder time getting good quality sleep. So really prioritizing that as well, right? That's huge. And then also just looking at your life and where can I be more organized or what kind of strategies can I use to sort of help with the areas that are causing you the most stress, right? Like if I'm forgetting
00:18:47
Speaker
to do a certain task, well, then how do I, what can I do to help remind myself? Like what kind of strategies or accommodations or supports? And it's interesting because we don't often learn that as we're growing up. We don't really learn how to do schedules and how to stay on top of things. And we're just expected to know how to do this. And people with ADHD can really struggle with that. Time management is a huge one, right?
00:19:14
Speaker
ensuring that you don't spend too much time on tasks that are perhaps not as important or as relevant, right? And so overly being focused on something and then time escapes you, right? So how do I monitor how much time I'm spending on tasks so that I'm not leaving things to the last minute or that I'm not spending too much cognitive and thinking power on tasks that perhaps are less value or are of less importance, right? Like, I don't know if you're trying to,
00:19:44
Speaker
order something or trying to plan something and you're like, I just spent like six hours doing this and I've got nothing to show for it. Right. And then you're like, Oh, great. That was a big waste of my time. So people with ADHD are really prone to sort of losing track of time. So looking at where the areas that you're having the most difficulty and then saying, how do I go about helping with that particular area of keeping me on track or staying organized?
00:20:10
Speaker
Well, you said something before about how women especially often, not self-diagnosed, but they troubleshoot the symptoms that they may be having over a lifetime, right? And so maybe they get to adulthood and they've
00:20:26
Speaker
come up with all of these coping mechanisms or ways that they address the symptoms of this in their lives and they are perfectly high functioning. What kinds of tactics do you find that people either create for themselves
00:20:44
Speaker
or that you can be taught as an adult if you realize now, hey, this is actually a thing for me. Like you said, we're supposed to just magically know how to do everything, which isn't really realistic. But women are also really creative, and so they may have come up with some ways on their own. But what have you seen as far as adult women who are dealing with this on a day-to-day basis?
00:21:12
Speaker
It really depends on the individual, right? And so, and you have to find something that works for you, obviously, right? So some people prefer sort of like, like myself, I prefer the old school method of using agendas and like writing things down and having physical calendars and putting things in place of when things need to get done, having to do lists, purposely setting a time in my schedule to really think ahead.
00:21:42
Speaker
Right. And so they like, okay, Sunday night when everybody's, you know, what, what does my week look like? What do I need to get done? Right. And so being really proactive and so using from schedules to note-taking to sticky notes, whatever works, right. Now there's lots of also assistive technology that's out there as well, like tons of different things from
00:22:06
Speaker
apps for to-do lists and how to organize your notes and how to set reminders and so using technology or a combination of the two right like my husband for example who has ADHD I think he's reminded every week of when to take the garbage out right and so it's like this it is all these kinds of things so using all these different tools
00:22:29
Speaker
using your phone being like, okay, remind me when I get home, I need to do this or reminds me when I get to work, I need to add this. And so using again, sort of a supports out there. And then also talking to like your team as well, if you have, you know, sort of other people that you're working with, with regards to, okay, like what are the areas that you may have a harder time with that you may need some supports and being open and say like, look, I struggle with sort of,
00:22:58
Speaker
forgetting to do certain things, following up on emails or whatever else. So is, is there something that you can do to help me with that? So whether it's going through your emails every couple of days to make sure you have the proper folders and all those kinds of things that are having the people that are, I mean, I have a psychologist that I work with who's incredibly detail oriented.
00:23:19
Speaker
And so she stays on top of that. That's her skill. She's, you know, and having people like that in your, in your life, who is that the really good at that and using them because it's okay to say that this is an area that I struggle with as long as you either ask for help or try to do some of the stuff on your own. And then of course, to also to recognize that these things are legitimately more difficult. And so to give yourself some grace when you are either
00:23:48
Speaker
late at doing something or where something might get not done to the level that you're hoping for and saying, okay, like, yeah, there was my, that was maybe probably because of my ADHD or because of these sort of characteristics, not using it as an excuse, because that's, I'm always trying to teach people that it's not, but that you do have to work at it harder. Others can just remember, right? But when you have ADHD, it does in one ear and of the others often, right? And they have to work at it
00:24:16
Speaker
extra hard to make it either go into that long-term memory or extra hard to sort of complete that task.
00:24:22
Speaker
This is reminding me so much of Mallory's business and all the things that she does and the reasons that we need them and also like some of the things we talked about in our courses as far as like model calendars and inbox pause and boomeranging and emails and all of those kind of tools. So Mallory, did that come up for you too? Well, yeah, I guess is this partly why my company exists? I don't know.
00:24:48
Speaker
I think so. No, but honestly, so in the last several years, we've been around for six years, but it seems more prevalent that we have been working with a lot of ADHD clients who are women who have been diagnosed in the last couple years. So I know you said potentially it's because of the being internal, but why do you think it is that they are getting diagnosed in their 30s or early 40s? Why is that coming up now so often?
00:25:17
Speaker
Well, I think it's a couple of things.
ADHD Awareness and Diagnosis
00:25:20
Speaker
One, I think social media is a huge, right? So there's a lot more just knowledge out there about what's happening, right? People are describing their own experiences and saying this is, you know, I'm going to be like, hey, that sounds like me, right? The stigma, I think also perhaps, right, is changing as well that we used to think ADHD is being a bad kind of thing. And yes, it can make our lives
00:25:44
Speaker
in some areas much more difficult, but it also on the flip side, there's lots of positivity, right? There's tend to be more creative, tend to be passionate, huge feelers, sensitive, all these kinds of characteristics often go with ADHD. And so I think becoming more aware of that as well. And then sort of people realizing, okay, like I'm, this is hard for me and why is this hard for me, right? Or why am I making this? And this sounds,
00:26:14
Speaker
Oh, okay. And then maybe often, at least in my own practice, where parents will bring in their children and I'll give sort of talk about what I think is going on and so forth and what I found out. And so many times parents are like, you're describing me. Right. And it's like, they're like, Oh, that, that was just me. And lots of times, you know, parents will say, well, I was just like that. And I turned out fine. Right. And that's for sure, that's a possibility, but also at what cost or
00:26:44
Speaker
the sense of how much did you have to put in there, right? And then I think maybe also women are also just becoming more aware of their mental health and that sort of stigma of mental health in general, right?
Digital Age and ADHD
00:26:55
Speaker
And saying, hey, this is hard for me or this is where I'd like to change things and this is, you know, what could be going on, right? And so they're actually seeking out more knowledge, right? And also to have that kind of understanding because we put blame on ourselves for when we don't measure up.
00:27:12
Speaker
And when we make mistakes and that's sort of that guilt that women often, unfortunately, we feel like I should be able to do it all. I should be able to have my own business and have my family and not make these kinds of mistakes. And so we expect that when I start to make mistakes that there's something wrong with us. As opposed to like, actually, this is a neurodevelopmental medical condition that
00:27:40
Speaker
is for why this is more difficult and why you're having these. It's not because you're being lazy or not because you're purposely trying to make careless mistakes or not getting lost with your time or forgetting to do that tasks. It's because this is legitimately
00:27:59
Speaker
an area that is more difficult. When you mentioned social media, there can be the benefit to there being more awareness and all of that. The flip side to me is thinking about this like, well, if these
00:28:16
Speaker
children grew up to be adults and they're now adults in this time period. I mean, the amount of information flowing at them, the amount of pulls on their time, the amount of devices that they're looking at, like this just also seems like, well, maybe part of that is the amount of data in flowing and overwhelming people. And then them realizing like, I can't just make this work anymore.
00:28:47
Speaker
Totally. Completely. Yeah. There's just such an, or that there's something, believe that there's something inherently wrong with them. And it's like, no, this is, this is normal. If you've got so much, this is hard. You've got too much on your plate, you know, or there's life is tricky and that's, you're adapting to it in a normal way. Right. And so just cause life is hard or you have difficulties doesn't also mean that there's something
00:29:16
Speaker
diagnosable either. Right. And sometimes I find that people want, I don't want to say want, but they look for like an, I don't see an excuse, but like a reason for why. An explanation. Exactly. And sometimes it's like, it's not like, again, a neurodevelopmental disorder. It's just, it's just, this is hard. This is life. Right. And yeah. And how do you, how do you put time away from social media? How do you focus on
00:29:46
Speaker
the important things, right? We know that people, that we are bombarded with this information from electronics and so forth. And I wonder about what the next generation or future generations is going to look like. I don't know. I mean, I grew up where, yeah, you, when you went to a restaurant, you had to just sit there and color, right? Right. Exactly. Yeah. Right. Or when you were sitting in the shopping cart, yeah, just,
00:30:12
Speaker
had to sit there and look around. You didn't get a phone to entertain you, right? Whereas now, kids, it's like, right? So I don't know. I don't know. I am, you know, worried a little bit. So I think that our ability to sort of delay that gratification isn't being developed. It isn't being focused. But I think that there's a cost to that as well. Yeah, right. Where we can't just the ability to sit and be mindful and be okay with without having that constant stimulation that that can be
00:30:42
Speaker
damaging, I think, and not to make it overwhelmed. Yeah, we always tell our kids that boredom leads to creativity. So you're right. Yeah, if you're taking away the chance to ever be bored, we're in the next generation, are we going to lose out on this creative thinking and innovation because of it because they won't know how to do it completely. And just also that the calmness that boredom can also bring, right, like,
00:31:07
Speaker
if you're constantly stressed out because of information that your, your brain is processing tons of information. And so what kind of, I know that even for my own kids, when they get off of playing a video game, it's noticeable like how their behaviors and emotions are, right? They're dysregulated, right? And so us, you know, if we're always on our phones and electronics and all those kinds of things, what's it doing to our stress levels and our cortisone levels and our, you know, and so,
00:31:37
Speaker
And same again for entrepreneurs where you can get sucked into that, even myself, like responding to emails at, you know, seven, eight, nine, 10 PM and not having that, that down point, that downturn, you know, and, and getting sort of all consumed by it and lead to burnout and it can lead to, you know, increased irritability and anxiety and all these kinds of unhealthy
00:32:04
Speaker
mindsets. And it's that feeling of needing to keep up all the time where what you need, like Mallory said, is like boredom leads to creativity. Well, spaciousness leads to solutions, right? And if we're always just trying to keep up and input more data and more data and more data, and there is no space in your schedule, in just your life,
00:32:30
Speaker
to sit with things, your brain doesn't have time to work on them. Like your brain doesn't want to multitask that while you're responding to emails, while you're doing, you know, other things. And so I've definitely found that too. Yeah. And for people for ADHD, that can be tricky. It's hard. Their brain wants to be stimulated all the time. And it's not necessarily a good thing. You want to be
00:32:59
Speaker
to be present and to focus on the here and now at times. And it takes work. Like I know myself that I'm constantly having to really work at being just focused on the here and the now and what's around me, what's going on and to allow myself again that space.
00:33:16
Speaker
to have those different thoughts and to open myself up to different kinds of way of being. But if you're constantly doing, thinking ahead, then it doesn't allow for that. Yes, exactly. Okay, so you had mentioned earlier, you said something about parents coming in with their children to your office and they're saying, oh, that sounds like me and I turned out fine and
Genetic Factors of ADHD
00:33:35
Speaker
whatnot.
00:33:35
Speaker
Now I want to just clear up if it is real or a misconception that ADHD is somewhat hereditary. Can you speak on that? Yes, it is 100% hereditary. So it's not like you have a parent who has ADHD, you're definitely going to get ADHD. There's a much higher risk, right? But there's also, you can, so again, there's a whole symptom, a whole range of different kinds of symptoms and you can have
00:34:06
Speaker
your parents could have X, Y, and Z difficulties, and your other parent could have X, Y, and Z challenges or characteristics, and then it comes out to be you, and you may have ADHD, or you may not. But then you pass that on, and again, it depends. So you could be like, oh yeah, my dad, he, whatever, had this issue. So yes, there is a strong genetic contribution.
00:34:28
Speaker
It doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to again, it's a hundred percent. Nothing is a hundred percent. We also know that there is an environmental component. We're not really sure what exactly it's too, too difficult to determine. We know what are those kinds of characteristics. We know that unhealthy pregnancies, whether it be, you know, from alcohol, like those kinds of things can lead to higher, you know, but otherwise there's no sort of like, Oh, well, I didn't have enough.
00:34:56
Speaker
vitamin, whatever, and now I can do the HD, there's nothing like that. And so we can't really say for sure what in order to mitigate or to pass on, but yes, there's a very strong sort of, if you have one in the family, then you have probably like somebody else. Now, again, it's not an all or nothing thing as well. It fluctuates and there's a range. You can have someone that it's like they have nine out of nine symptoms at a very kind of severe level that is clearly having an impact.
00:35:25
Speaker
You can also have someone who has four or five characteristics out of the criteria, but not on a consistent basis. It's in a much milder kind of presentation.
00:35:38
Speaker
it can really fluctuate on how chronic or how evasive and so forth that it can look. There's a way, I think, to then communicate this with your team.
Transparency and Team Communication
00:35:51
Speaker
A little while ago, you were talking about making sure that the people that you work with are aware of
00:35:57
Speaker
things that you struggle with. And I think what you just said about maybe you're not diagnosed with ADHD, but maybe you still have some of these traits that you've recognized in yourself and why not try to make life a little easier, right? So specifically, if you're working with a team, how can you go about communicating your unique needs around some of these things and getting support
00:36:25
Speaker
with just leaving that guilt behind and being like, oh, I need help with something yuck. Yeah. So again, it has to relate to, I guess, to wonder comfort level, right? So I do think that with the stigma of mental health, slowly shifting away and understanding that we have different needs and so forth, that people are feeling more comfortable with using
00:36:52
Speaker
the labels that they have been given as a way to perhaps communicate to others what that means. But of course, that's individualistic and that depends on everybody. So whether or not they actually want to say, I have ADHD, parents often ask me, should we let other people know? And again, that's a really personal decision. My goal, I think, in life would for be to people to not feel any kind of shame and to say, yeah, this is what I have. And just like, I don't know, I'm diabetes or I have
00:37:22
Speaker
you know, a bad ankle, I have ADHD, like this is one part of you, right? It's not necessarily, it's not all of you, it's a aspect of you. And depending upon, of course, the people that you're, who you're informing and the comfort level and the relationship that you have with them. And so if you don't feel comfortable with using the label, or you think that they may not, they may misunderstand sort of what that entails, like sometimes I think
00:37:50
Speaker
even with my own son, if I say like, Oh, to his, you know, swimming teacher, he has ADHD, I think they're all like, you know, to a swimming instructor, like, Oh, great. Yeah. Great. Thanks. So it gets, you know, miss sort of, people have their own perceptions of what that means. And so that it's not really helpful, as opposed to saying like,
00:38:08
Speaker
These are the specific areas that I have trouble with, right? And I could use assistance with, or these are the things that you may notice about me and I'm working on it, but this is what I'm working towards. Or this is the things that I find helpful from you, right? Like I always tell my clients, for example, if you haven't heard back from me, you know, then please like send me another email. Like I don't, I don't get offended by
00:38:36
Speaker
having too many emails, right? Other people may not like that, but that's, it's just a reminder to me, right? And so letting people know sort of what you need, what you find helpful, and then letting them know specifically what are those areas that you may have troubles with. And so, and to take some, to not feel shame about it and to not feel like that this is something
00:38:59
Speaker
bad, but that this is something that you need help with. Can you send me a reminder to do this? Especially if you have people that are very savvy and knowledgeable about the different kinds of
00:39:14
Speaker
tools that are out there, they could be a huge welcome. You know, just like, sounds like really what your, your company is doing, right? That's saying like, actually, I can make this a lot simpler for you. Right. And it's like, Oh, thank you. Right. It's like, Oh, cause if somebody could just do that part, that is, you know, like, I can order you, be the person who's responsible for all the ordering, or I can be, you know, the person that sends out the bills or the whatever, I know her program that can, you know, and, and make your life that much easier on those, those aspects. So you can focus on,
00:39:43
Speaker
the sort of the more, the part that makes you passionate. I working with a client right now working on a workflow and they've identified themselves to me being ADHD and they've, they've laid out all these ways that presents for them. And I literally have said that I said, I think that this is really going to be a game changer for you. So let's just implement this and you don't have to feel bad anymore about missing this because it'll all be in one spot. So yeah, I think there are a lot of ways out there to utilize systems.
00:40:13
Speaker
in tech to help. Totally. But I want to know if people are identifying with this or maybe they've been thinking about it and this is kind of the last thing to push them over of like, yeah, I'd actually like to figure it out.
Seeking ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment
00:40:26
Speaker
What specifically are they looking for either to get an assessment or to get a diagnosis or to get support? What kinds of things should they specifically look for when they're Googling or searching?
00:40:40
Speaker
You of course you want to go to some reputable places right so you definitely want to go to websites where they have professionals that are well versed in that area and and so even just certain associations from the
00:40:53
Speaker
Canadian Chad, for example, is one that deals with adults with ADHD. Sugar is one in the States as well. So reputable sites that usually have ties with somehow the medical community at some point, because again, it is a medical condition that often is treated with medicine. And so that's why if you're thinking you have ADHD and if you're sort of going through the assessment piece, so you can go online and do sort of these lots of different
00:41:23
Speaker
self-questionnaires and so forth, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that, especially if you're just trying to get some tools as to how to help me, right? Now, if you're like, oh, I actually really do and I need help here and I think I might need to have some more treatment options, then you have to go see a doctor or a psychologist to get that kind of official diagnosis. And in the sense of, especially if you're looking for a medication kind of approach to things, which
00:41:51
Speaker
is often sort of what can be very effective, but you need to go through, and you want to go through, of course, a proper channel of doing that. So it's not just filling out a questionnaire and then going to a doctor and getting a prescription. You can be missing out on tons of things. So you want to have either going to see a psychologist or going to see your family doctor having that discussion, and then if that's the route that you want to go. Again,
00:42:14
Speaker
you can have ADHD and not be medicated. There's many people who were not. And so it's saying, well, have I tried some of these strategies? Have I done other things to sort of help me with these areas from being organized to staying on top of things to time management, et cetera. And then if you're feeling like I'm still doing that and I'm still struggling with X, Y, and Z, then going to your family doctor or saying like,
00:42:41
Speaker
What else is there for me? What kind of help? There's different therapies from cognitive behavioral therapy. There's different kinds of executive functioning strategies that you can learn from monitoring and working memory. There's lots out there. And then, of course, medications, which that would be, as I said, prescribed by a family doctor and monitored as such.
00:43:04
Speaker
individual, of course, as to what people, what they want to do. And I often sort of say when they come to see me, like, what do you hope for? Like, what is it that you're wanting to get out of this? And is it just some confirmation? Is there a specific area? And can you do that without getting a full diagnosis? Sometimes that's possible too, right? Like you don't have to necessarily go down that road. You can still, everybody can benefit from strategies that are even geared towards ADHD.
00:43:34
Speaker
right to help with you is maintaining focus and productivity and so forth. So yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So as kind of a closer for this conversation, I love where you ended of
00:43:49
Speaker
Everyone, whether they've been diagnosed or not, can implement strategies to help with these common things like focus. That's for everybody. What would you tell just a roomful of women who are getting ready to start businesses? What should they be hearing right at the outset that would help them just approach this differently? That's a good question.
00:44:21
Speaker
At least in my experience working with women is that we often have this tendency of doing too much and taking on too much.
Balancing Workload and Self-Care
00:44:33
Speaker
And when that occurs, things are going to suffer, whether it be the quality, whether it be your mental health. And so to really take time to stop and pause and think about
00:44:50
Speaker
Am I being stretched too far? Am I doing the work that I want to be doing? And if I'm not, what can I let go or what can I ask for more help? Because we can't do it all. It's impossible. And being an entrepreneur is incredibly demanding and time consuming and exciting. Like really, it's like candy for our brains. And I love that, right? It's this amazing,
00:45:19
Speaker
dopamine aspect, but I caution sometimes women is to just make sure that you don't forget about your own self and what you need. Whether it's ADHD or not, I think sometimes we can forget to do that. We often put ourselves last and we can be a boss, we can be an administrative, we can be a mom, we can be a sister, we can be a wife, we can be a
00:45:49
Speaker
a friend, we can be a partner, you know, whatever the situation is, but we often sort of forget to take care of ourselves and to watch for that because it's easy to put ourselves last, but then ultimately you're not going to do all that you hope. You can't be a good entrepreneur if you don't take care of yourself, right? You can't be what you hoped, even for your own, whatever you're trying to create and trying to sort of get to the world.
00:46:20
Speaker
That will suffer if you don't take care of oneself and you make sure that you don't put on too much. When you have ADHD, often things can be a little bit more reactive as opposed to proactive. So to really take stock and say, is it going the way I hope it to be going? If it's not, where do I need help? Where do I need to let things go?
00:46:42
Speaker
how do I change things up so that ultimately I can be a healthy and happy and productive and successful entrepreneur.
00:46:52
Speaker
I think that's a perfect reminder for us because that's exactly what the season's all about is we can't have healthy businesses if we aren't healthy. So thank you for that. And we just really appreciate you being here. I know this is just a short conversation on the topic. There's much more depth to it, but just as a good overview and a good reminder on a lot of things for our listeners.
00:47:13
Speaker
Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Well, it was a pleasure. All right. That wraps us up for this week. So we will see you guys again here next time. Thanks for listening. Hop over to UnboundBoss.com to join our community and leave us a voice memo. We absolutely love hearing from you. If you'd like the podcast, please subscribe, leave us an Apple review, and share your favorite episodes with other women entrepreneurs. Talk to you soon.