Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the problem was never you… but the tools you were handed? Dani Donovan is an award-winning ADHD creator, bestselling author, designer, and founder of the Anti-Boring Project. Her book The Anti-Planner: How to Get Shit Done When You Don't Feel Like It has sold over 100,000 copies. Dani was diagnosed with ADHD as a freshman in college after years of being t...
Mar 04, 2026•1 hr 14 min•Season 7Ep. 374
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Your ADHD brain is one of the best storytellers in the room. The problem is it doesn't always know when it's making things up. I'm recording this two days before movers arrive, from a house I no longer own, in a t-shirt, with dilated pupils. Classic. I sold Bullfrog Farms, my six-and-a-half-acre country home, and decided to do the most opposite thing possible: mo...
Feb 25, 2026•31 min•Season 7Ep. 373
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the season that feels the most destabilizing is the moment your brain is asking to be understood differently? Dr. Anupriya Gogne is a board-certified addiction psychiatrist specializing in perinatal and reproductive psychiatry at Brown University Health. She recently authored Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Adult Women. When Dr. Gogne became an attending,...
Feb 18, 2026•1 hr 22 min•Season 7Ep. 372
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Many neurodivergent women are not struggling because they lack ability. They struggle because the systems around them were never designed for how their brains actually work. In this episode, Tracy talks with Stephanie Ray, a neurodivergent lawyer, coach, and founder of Growthset Coaching. Diagnosed with ADHD in her early 30s, Stephanie spent years succeeding on t...
Feb 11, 2026•1 hr 13 min•Season 7Ep. 371
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Many kids aren’t struggling because they lack motivation or discipline. They’re struggling because their nervous systems are overwhelmed. In this episode, Tracy talks with Lyndsay Morris, a former teacher and school counselor diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood, about what actually helps ADHD brains learn and regulate. Lyndsay shares how masking as the “good student...
Feb 04, 2026•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 370
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ If you feel busy, stimulated, but still oddly unsatisfied, this episode will explain why. ADHD isn’t a dopamine deficiency. It’s a regulation problem. Tracy breaks down what dopamine actually does in the ADHD brain and why chasing it through scrolling, shopping, sugar, urgency, or constant stimulation leaves so many women feeling flat or burned out. ADHD brains d...
Jan 28, 2026•20 min•Season 7Ep. 369
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the most ADHD-friendly “plan” is simply following what lights you up? In this episode, we’re talking with Clare Adams, a British-Canadian artist, poet, community builder, and humanity advocate who was diagnosed with ADHD at 50, after both of her kids were identified. Clare’s story is full of movement and reinvention: 24 moves, a career that spans law, hea...
Jan 21, 2026•1 hr 10 min•Season 7Ep. 368
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Wanting to be understood is completely normal. Especially for ADHD women. But there’s a moment where that need quietly shifts, and suddenly we’re not trying to connect anymore. We’re trying to survive. In this episode, let’s talk about why feeling misunderstood doesn’t just feel uncomfortable. It can feel unsafe. When that happens, the nervous system takes over. ...
Jan 14, 2026•24 min•Season 7Ep. 367
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ New Year comes with a loud promise: new goals, new habits, new you. But real change does not come from flipping the calendar. It comes from changing the lens you look through, especially if your brain defaults to “I’m behind,” “I’m failing,” or “I should be better by now.” In this episode, let’s break down the simplest framework that explains why you feel stuck: ...
Jan 07, 2026•49 min•Season 7Ep. 366
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Every year, many of us feel pressure to set resolutions, overhaul our lives, or become a “new version” of ourselves. That approach rarely works for ADHD brains. In this episode, let’s talk about a different way forward. Instead of adding more goals, habits, or systems, this episode explores the power of choosing one word to guide the year and why simplicity works...
Dec 31, 2025•33 min•Season 6Ep. 365
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Join Tracy as she breaks her women only guest rule by welcoming Dr. Edward Hallowell to Episode 106 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women. If you know anything at all about ADHD you recognize Dr. Hallowell’s name as the leading authority in the field of ADHD. Dr. Hallowell is a board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He, along...
Dec 24, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 364
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What if the intensity you’ve chased in relationships wasn’t love, but dopamine? Amanda McCracken is an award winning journalist, endurance athlete, and intimacy researcher who was diagnosed with ADHD at 36, long after she had built a successful career. From the outside, her life looked accomplished and disciplined. Inside, she struggled with distraction, emotiona...
Dec 17, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 363
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Some ADHD stories come from authors, psychologists, and researchers. This one comes from a 23-year-old ER nurse who learned early that the brain she has is exactly the one she needs. Nina Padilla spent ten years trying to get someone to take her ADHD symptoms seriously. From age thirteen through twenty-one, she told her pediatrician every year, “I think I have AD...
Dec 10, 2025•44 min•Season 6Ep. 362
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Gratitude is talked about a lot, but for us with ADHD brains it isn’t just a feel-good idea. It is a physiological strategy that changes how the brain functions. In this episode, Tracy breaks down why gratitude is not optional for ADHD. It starts with dopamine. ADHD brains rely on positive emotion to initiate action, sustain focus, and regulate emotion. Gratitude...
Dec 03, 2025•28 min•Season 6Ep. 361
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Dr. Gilly Kahn spent years studying psychology before realizing how much of her own emotional world had been shaped by ADHD. Dr. Gilly earned a Master’s in Experimental Psychology, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and built a full clinical practice before receiving her ADHD diagnosis in her early thirties. Looking back, the signs had been there all along: migraine...
Nov 26, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Season 6Ep. 360
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ When Susanne Schotanus was fifteen, she spent two years in weekly psychiatric appointments before someone finally said she had ADHD. No one explained what it meant or how to work with it. She simply left with a label that didn’t change much of anything. Years later, as a university student struggling to finish assignments she deeply loved, she realized she was st...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 359
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ When Devene Godau adopted a retired racing greyhound, she thought she was just rescuing a dog. Instead, she found her purpose. What started as an effort to help an anxious greyhound with separation anxiety became a lesson in communication, connection, and compassion. Those lessons didn’t just transform her career; they changed how she saw herself. A certified pro...
Nov 12, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 358
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ A 10-year-old boy sat across from Dr. Kalaki Clarke, MD during her psychiatry rotation, and she saw herself. Smart, charming, good grades but couldn't get it together. That's when she knew she had ADHD too. Dr. Clarke was in her first year of residency at UC Irvine, working 80-hour weeks in a system designed to test you constantly. She'd been the good kid, the hi...
Nov 05, 2025•56 min•Season 6Ep. 357
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ You walk into a room and forget why you're there. You miss deadlines even though you care deeply about the work. You can remember a random conversation from 15 years ago but not what someone just told you five minutes ago. Welcome to life with an ADHD brain and a memory system that works differently. Dr. Daniella Karidi knows this firsthand. Diagnosed with ADHD i...
Oct 29, 2025•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 356
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Kiersten Lyons spent most of her life being told she was too much. Too loud, too dramatic, too many feelings all at once. She was also told she wasn't enough. Not pretty enough, not the right fit, not what Hollywood was looking for. The dichotomy nearly broke her. But it also became the foundation of her story. As a working actress in LA for over a decade, with r...
Oct 22, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 355
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Nicole Bela was brilliant at her job. She could read a room in seconds, remember every donor’s story, and raise millions for causes she believed in. But behind the polished professionalism, she was quietly unraveling. The same systems designed to do good were slowly breaking her down, and she couldn’t understand why. After being diagnosed with ADHD at 37, just af...
Oct 15, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 6Ep. 354
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ What happens when doing everything "right" still leaves you miserable? You start asking better questions. Shell Mendelson was a successful CEO of KidzArt, an international children's art franchise she founded, when everything fell apart. Despite looking accomplished on paper, she was disconnected, dysregulated, and drowning in work that no longer fit. At her lowe...
Oct 08, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 6Ep. 353
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Burnout was Skye Waterson's PhD companion. She'd switch majors—psychology to law to sociology—convinced each time that she just hadn't found her passion yet. The truth was simpler and more complex: she was trying to outwork her undiagnosed ADHD, and no amount of grinding harder was going to fix a brain that needed different systems entirely. By the time she finis...
Oct 01, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 352
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Sometimes the thing that saves you is also the thing that masks your greatest struggle. Swimming was Meg Hennessey Schofield's lifeline through college—three to four miles a day that kept her ADHD brain calm and focused. When she quit her senior year to focus on teaching, everything fell apart. The anxiety and depression that led to her diagnosis at 21 made sense...
Sep 24, 2025•54 min•Season 6Ep. 351
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ Sometimes, the most humbling moments teach us the most about ourselves. Tracy recently found herself in Santa Barbara, recording courses for major companies like LinkedIn Learning and Google. After three flawless, scripted trainings, she was asked to do an impromptu training on ten ADHD tips. Despite having written a book and recorded 350 podcast episodes, Tracy ...
Sep 17, 2025•36 min•Season 6Ep. 350
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _____ From the outside, you look like you've got it all together. But inside? You're drowning in the endless mental load, feeling guilty because you need breaks from your kids, and wondering why other moms seem to breeze through daily routines that leave you completely drained. Amy Marie Hann was diagnosed with ADHD at just five years old in the mid-1980s—making her wh...
Sep 10, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 349
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup Natasha M. Nurse lived 37 years not knowing she was neurodivergent. Then motherhood changed everything. The crying, the overwhelm, the dark thoughts that felt like more than typical new parent struggles—all of it led to a discovery that would reshape her understanding of herself completely. Diagnosed with autism and ADHD at 37, Natasha finally had answers for a lifetim...
Sep 03, 2025•53 min•Season 6Ep. 348
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _ Barbara Baskin spent 30 years convinced she wasn't very smart. School was academic probation and "needs to try harder" report cards. Then came an ADHD diagnosis at 30, followed by three decades of raising four kids (including triplets), caring for her mother with dementia, and running a business while being everyone's executive function. At 60, Barbara made a decisio...
Aug 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 347
*This episode has been updated* Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _ What would it be like if you could see music as colors dancing in front of your eyes? For Justine Glaser, that's just a normal Tuesday. Justine is a creative force who doesn't just hear music, she sees it. Diagnosed with ADHD at age 3 and born with synesthesia, a rare neurological trait where sound shows up as color, Justine has always...
Aug 20, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 346
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup _ You know that feeling when someone tells you you're "too intense" or "ask too many questions"? Lucia Kanter St. Amour has built an entire career on exactly those traits. Lucia is a negotiation expert, law professor, and the kind of ADHD woman who writes Amazon reviews so detailed she got invited to their exclusive Vine program. She's the author of For the Forces of G...
Aug 13, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 6Ep. 345
