ADHD Open Space Podcast

The Axioms of ADHD

Originally published as an article on Medium.com . For the last few months I’ve been writing down things that help me function with ADHD. These were short phrases, kind of like mantras: hurrying is kryptonite. Nothing is on the way to anything else. Choice is friction. I started calling this my “Rules of ADHD”, and planned to write them up — but when I got to number sixteen, I realized that would make for a pretty complicated article. Also, who’s going to remember sixteen different rules, especi...

Grace & Discipline with ADHD (Part Two)

originally written for Medium • Photo by Jackson Simmer on Unsplash If you know, you know. And that changes pretty much everything. “ Suddenly, so much of my life made so much more sense.” That’s the most common refrain I hear from people like me who were late-diagnosed with ADHD. In my case, it was an ongoing, bitter, semi-serious joke, because while I excelled at tests, writing, and learning of all kinds, I somehow wasn’t ever able to parlay that into a secure career the way my peers seemed to...

Grace and Discipline with ADHD (Part one)

originally written for Medium.com • Photo by Keagan Henman on Unsplash The Deeper Long-Term Effects of Late-Diagnosis ADHD I was interviewed recently by the hosts of a decluttering podcast (link to come later, it’s not online yet!). I’ve been writing about organization systems and techniques for decades. I have always enjoyed trying out new systems, finding out the advantages and limitations and constantly re-optimizing them in various ways whether physical (whiteboards and labeled boxes!), pape...

Your Productivity Tools and Hacks Are Useless Without This One Thing.

originally published on Medium.com I learned the hard way, so maybe you won't have to. I write a lot about productivity tools and methods. I’ve written about time management and project planning and habit formation and self reflection. I’ve reviewed the things that make these possible, apps and notebooks and timers and even wrote a book about my favorite form of meditation. I left something very important out. Something that happened in December made me realize that I’d done my readers a disserv...

How TIIMO Can Help You Manage Your Time and Relieve ADHD Anxiety

Raise your hand if any of these phrases sound familiar: “ Oh, %$#@, it started five minutes ago! ” “ Wait — that was today? ” “ This is taking forever. How can it not be over yet? ” “ Guess I’m just gonna be late…again. ” “ What was it I’m supposed to be doing now? ” If your hand is still down, this article is not for you; go back to reading “ How to enjoy your perfectly manageable schedule ” or “ How to let people without an unfailingly accurate internal clock know how much you pity them ” or w...

The 3-Step Foolproof Way to Find Lost Things When You Have ADHD

drawing by the author using Adobe Fresco #byHumansForHumans #noAI Raise your hand if you’ve ever found yourself rummaging through drawers, wandering through room after room in your house, checking backpacks and briefcases and pockets repeatedly, all while muttering “ I know I saw that somewhere… ” “ That ”, of course, is a thing that you did not need when you saw it last. It registered as a blip on your conscious mind — the feeling of “ Oh, I see that. Good to know I still have it” without the b...

Five Things You're Guaranteed to Get at the ADHD Open Space

Transcript: Welcome to the ADHD Open Space Podcast. My name is Gray Miller, and I will be your host and facilitator as we explore ideas, workarounds, accommodations, and other aspects of being a professional adult with ADHD. Most of this will come from my perspective as a cis white male in his mid-fifties living in the Midwest who found out a year ago that I've been living with ADHD my entire life. I am not an expert on ADHD, except maybe in not knowing I have had it for half a century and someh...

ADHD in Relationships: Interview with my partner, Natasha

This was a hard one to post, because my partner is loving and honest and so there are parts of this interview that my brain tells me will make you hate me. But authenticity is important, as is trust, and I trust both her and you, my listeners. So here it is in unedited glory.

How My ADHD Brain Created a Nightmare of Social Anxiety

After my diagnosis, even my dreams make more sense. Sort of. Note: all people mentioned in this article are fictitious constructs of my subconscious brain. Even the one who is real. Since my relatively recent diagnosis, I’ve been immersing myself in research, anecdotes, podcasts, videos, and social media related to adult ADHD. It’s been quite the revelatory experience, as my perspective of the last fifty or so years of my life changes with this new lens turned on myself. Last night all that know...

The Dangerously Addictive Law of Mobility

Made for Open Space. But tempting for the world... Here's the thing about Open Space: aside from providing people with the oppor- tunity to share the things they're passionate about, it also provides them with an op- portunity to be responsible. That one law I mentioned? It's known as "The Law of Mobility", and it is pretty simply expressed: If you are not benefiting from or contributing to whatever's going on in front of you, move somewhere you can. Note that it's not called "the opportunity of...

The Four Principles of Open Space

Whoever. Whatever. Whenever. It’s Over. That’s what makes it all work. My elevator pitch on Open Space goes something like this: “You know how regular conventions give you a program that tells you who’s going to talk, what they’re going to talk about, and exactly how long they’re going to let you think about it before they’ll stop talking? Open space is the opposite of that. People show up, and we ask them “What do you want to talk about right now? How long do you need?” And then we give them th...

Why Open Space Events are Tailor-Made for People with ADHD

Including some thoughts on overcoming impostor syndrome as a professional. I actually wrote an entire article about this on October 25th, 2023, and posted it both to my Medium account and to the ADHD OpenSpace newsletter. What was funny to me is that a few days later on October 29th the threads account of simple. mindful.adhd (who I have enjoyed following). (And by the way, I am, I'm quoting them not through any endorsement on their part of my event. I just found what they said interesting becau...

The Least Helpful Advice I’ve Ever Been Given About ADHD

Please stop telling me my brain has a “Special Superpower." “I’m a fish in a forest.” I’m pretty sure at some point I’m going to make t-shirts with this statement. It’s my reaction to the oft-repeated “superpower” trope about ADHD. Here’s a bit of a rant…but I suspect it will resonate. TRANSCRIPT OF MAIN BODY There are two kinds of people when it comes to ADHD. On the one side, there are people like Dr. Russell Barkley, whose research has led him to call ADHD “ the diabetes of the psychology ”: ...

From Now to Not-Now: ADHD and Temporal Discounting

The many ways professionals with ADHD find to externalize their executive function and get %$#@ done. TRANSCRIPT OF PODCAST “Hang on a minute,” my coworker said through the zoom. “I need to take care of this now, or it won’t get done.” I nodded and sat back in my office chair. “I get it. Let me know when you’re done.” The task was small, tedious, and crucial to the success of our upcoming fundraising campaign for the rape crisis center where we work. I’d mentioned it in passing as we were coveri...

ADHD Open Space - Professionals with ADHD Interview with Erotic Artist Nadia Vanilla

The GrayDHD Drinking Game

Welcome to my somewhat unconventional journey through adulthood, peppered with the kind of ADHD moments that make you go, "Aha!" So, grab your favorite beverage (I would recommend coffee, the adulting juice, but you’d never sleep, so maybe try water?), and let's dive into the delightful chaos that has been my life. Every ADHD moment you spot is a reminder to take a drink — and that life is never dull! Chatterbox Kid Turned Chatty Adult It all started in a kindergarten class in New Jersey. I was ...

Embracing the Journey: Reflections of a Neurodivergent Adult on Late-Diagnosed ADHD

Hello, I’m Gray Miller, and today, I want to share a personal reflection on being a professional adult who was late-diagnosed with ADHD. I’m a cis white male in my mid-fifties from the Midwest, and it was only a year ago (February of 2023) that I had it confirmed that I have been living with ADHD all my life. Rather than have an exact transcript of the podcast episode, this is a summary for the TL;DL crowd ; this is based on an article originally published on Medium.com. I’ve written on many sub...

The Reality of Neurodivergence: Knees Don’t Lie

You know how ADHD can cause you to do impulsive things? Many years ago, but for several years in a row, I decided to try the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge. You try to write a 50,000 word piece (novel, whatever) in a month. I did it. It felt great. But in succeeding years it got easier, and eventually (surprise!) I got bored with it. But some friends of mine from Creative Work Hour mentioned they were doing NaPodPoMo in November. That’s “National Podcast Post Month” — challen...