364 - Managing ADHD as a Web Designer with Rob Chaplin

But I'm at least in the right galaxy of what you can do , least in the right galaxy of what you can do . But , like a lot of my past careers are all these jobs that are not good for ADHD people , which is kind of just staring at some numbers on a computer and whatnot . So I definitely had a lot of career changes .

Welcome to the Web Design Business Podcast with your host , josh Hall , helping you build a web design business that gives you freedom and a lifestyle you love .

It's important to me personally because I have found , as a coach of hundreds of web designers , a very common topic and theme both in my community web designer pro and privately in the confidential , private messaging that I do for members and coaching that I do is ADHD .

This term is has been mentioned more and more and more and more over the past couple of years , so it's something I wanted to address and take a deep dive into here on the podcast . Now , I didn't really want to dive into this world because I don't know anything about it with like an expert .

I wanted to talk with somebody who I have a relationship with and who can talk at a casual level about this as we dig into this .

So I'm really excited to bring on Web Designer Pro member and a good friend of mine , Rob Chaplin , who was officially diagnosed in the last year with ADHD and he is early in the journey , but he's very passionate about sharing what he's learned and , most importantly , what has helped him with his ADHD . So that's exactly what we're going to get into .

In this one we're going to look at the red flags that caused Rob to look into what was going on with him as he was starting his business Because side note web design is an industry that just promotes ADHD-like behavior with the amount of things we're managing and bouncing back from different platforms and all the stuff .

So he was already kind of prone to having ADHD symptoms on top of building a business and getting into web design . So we're really going to dive into what he did over the past year to start making progress and feeling more focused , feeling more productive and having just a better emotional state as he's building up his business .

We are going to get into how creative fields like web design are actually great for people who do bounce between different things like web designers deal , and how ADHD can actually be a superpower in many ways if you channel it , depending on where you are on the spectrum .

So I really hope that this conversation helps you and , uh , we do have a ton of resources at the show notes for this joshhall . co at joshhallco 364 . Rob has actually put together an incredible detailed PDF that I highly recommend you check out . It is for it's free . You don't have to even send an email in or anything . You can just go to the show joshhall .

co/364 to check that out , which will help you out . Rob , again , is a personal friend of mine . Rob and I actually used to be tennis partners in high school and it was great to get reconnected over the past couple of years and to see what he's done . So can't wait to hear how this helps you out .

Lastly , disclaimer , Rob is sharing his journey , the methods that have helped him , the strategies and even some medications that have worked for him . But this episode is not medical advice . We are not , thank God , medical professionals , so do not take anything you hear as medical advice .

Consult with your physician or your doctor before making any interest in medication . So disclaimer heads up we are not doctors , but we are web designers and we are working through this topic of ADHD in this conversation . Enjoy Well , Robbie , how are the ?

First of all , uh , yeah , on a serious note , dude , it is really cool to see you not only stick with web design when you got into it less than a couple of years ago , but you're up to some awesome stuff , dude . So I have to say publicly I mean , you're one of my good friends , but I have to say it's freaking awesome to see you commit to this thing .

And you're like , yeah , I'll just throw it in my next pod , and I was like that's a really weird response but whatever . And then I was like , oh , he's like teaching web design now . So actually how the world's aligned is kind of the perfect person to reach out to at the time .

So definitely appreciate all your help and and , uh , your pro course has been helping a lot , so it's been awesome and awesome ride for sure .

Yeah , um , and so I completely , like I forget that most people in my personal network probably don't even know what I do , so , yeah , it was pretty funny .

It was something I didn't anticipate as far as how many people on the coaching tier and pro tell me like I'm ADHD or yeah , it's just a term that's thrown around a lot . So one reason I wanted to chat with you is to be kind of a bit of a sponge on this topic , because it's anytime somebody tells me I'm ADHD and I struggle with this and this .

Sometimes I'm like I don't know what to say other than like I look at the symptoms of ADHD and I'm like , join the club , like I struggle with all of these things self-diagnosed , of course , but I know that there are . There's a very big spectrum of this .

I'm saying this as the foundation , because I'm coming into this topic and this idea thinking pretty ignorant to , to what I know of this space .

All I know is I would think that social media and technology is naturally going to rewire us and change our brains to be a little more ADHD , with how fast we consume information and how quick things come in and go out .

So I understand that , but I also get that there are like varying degrees of this and some of the stuff that you talked to me about in our last pro meetup locally , I was like , wow , I didn't even think about that .

I mean , my thoughts were kind of like yours currently , where it's just like , well , yeah , like everybody's got problems with that or whatnot . Or you think of the kid when I thought of ADHD before I knew I had it . You think of the hyperactive kid running around the classroom that like can't pay attention .

That got a lot of thoughts and that's like the main type of ADHD you think of . But after getting diagnosed and you know kind of researching into it and getting strategies , you realize that there's definitely varying degrees of ADHD and there's a lot of symptoms that like I never knew that was associated with ADHD . So super interesting topic to learn about .

And yeah , I just thought I'd at least share some of the information I've learned and hopefully it can help someone else out , because I was definitely in a weird space trying to figure all this out and once I learned I had ADHD , it really like it was like mind blowing for me , uh , cause I'm like oh , that is why I'm doing all these different things .

I was like , wow , dude , this is like a little masterclass you wrote out . But one thing that surprised me is how many benefits of ADHD that there are , particularly in our world of web design and entrepreneurship . It almost gives people with varying degrees of ADHD . I feel like a bit of a superpower , because we can hyper focus on something if we like it .

But once you know you have it or have strategies , even if you don't even just like strategies , even if you don't have it , can be helpful . So yeah , once you have the strategies in place , it can become like very beneficial to have and especially in a creative industry , like it's a very creative , a lot of creative people have it .

Did somebody dude you should get tested ? Or what made you even want to take a professional route towards this ?

So there's a couple different types you can have and you can have pieces of each of them . So the main one you're going to think of is that hyperactive type , which is going to be like the kid in class that's running around .

They get diagnosed young , but a lot of women get diagnosed later in life because they don't have that hyperactive part , and also people like myself who don't really have a lot of the hyperactive part can get diagnosed late . And that's because the main one we have is going to be the inattentive type , which is kind of like the daydreamer .

So you think of the kid in class that just is , you know , doing the proper stuff , they get their homework done , but they are definitely like kind of in outer space during some topics that maybe bore them or don't get them as excited .

And then the third one that you can have is going to be the impulsivity , so you can have bits and pieces of each of these and , like you said , it is a spectrum , so it's like autism there's a spectrum of it so you can have some of these signs are more predominantly one or the other , but when I got diagnosed I was more inattentive but I did have symptoms

of all of them . So the final one's impulsivity . So this is kind of like acting without thinking or not being able to kind of control your own , like you're blurting out answers or whatnot , which I definitely can do from time to time , not which I definitely can do from time to time .

But what really led me to kind of getting professional help or trying to figure it out more was now that I've researched more .

It was like if you're diagnosed as an adult , it's either because your kid , it's like a very genetic trait to have , so your kid has it , and then you realize oh , I actually have all these symptoms as well , like you've just learned to cope with it a different way .

And then the other way that usually you get diagnosed is you kind of hit like a kind of chaotic state that you're in where you're compounding problems of adhd over time and it just reaches a state where it's like not exactly manageable .

So for mine , once I started to research things and I wasn't looking for ADHD at the time , but like definitely I was having some problems with starting a business . That added stress into your life which we all know is business owners can be yeah , like just an extra added stress you weren't ready for and I was definitely having problems kind of plan .

I knew I needed to plan stuff out better , but I could not figure out , like why can I not plan this out ? Or like why is getting this started being so difficult ? And I was kind of getting to a state where I'm like am I going crazy right now ?

Because I know this is a very important thing to do , I'm for some reason having a really hard time starting it or getting it completed . So that was one of the big driving forces was like I feel like my life's a little bit out of control . So it's kind of a chaotic state that you can get into to try to figure it out .

So with the ADHD brain just in general so sorry , I'm kind of going all over the place . You can see my ADHD kicking in right now .

So if you've got some dysfunction in there , like I said , it can kind of compound over time .

And then a lot of people with adhd have a that don't know they have adhd for sure , have like a more negative self-talk in their head because if , if you have adhd as a kid , it said like by the time you're 10 , you have 20 000 more like corrections or not , like negative things .

But people like correcting you like , oh , you actually need to be doing this or you're getting in trouble for different things . So it kind of is in the back of your mind and you don't know it . So , like as a coping strategy , you're a little more worried about making mistakes than the average person .

Um , so I was definitely having like more negative self-talk . So when I started researching things , it was more like on the like , a minor depression . I was like I don't feel like I'm like a depressed person , but something's a little off . So I started researching kind of like minor depression symptoms and then it led me to undiagnosed adult ADHD .

And when I read those symptoms I had , like everything . I was like , oh , this is making a lot of sense , so like if I could go through a little bit of my life . They were like I wrote some of them down here .

But it's like if you have undiagnosed ADHD , so pretty much your brain's lacking some dopamine and norepinephrine , so an ADHD brain is lacking dopamine . It's pretty much the reward system of doing things . So the ADHD brain , without you knowing it , is seeking exciting stuff , so it wants the instant gratification .

That's why people with ADHD get distracted by things , because they're like that also Side note .

So you're at like higher risk for kind of riskier behavior , without you even knowing it , because you get bored a lot easier than people and you get distracted a lot easier than people because that dopamine rush is what your body's kind of craving , just to get to like the average person's dopamine levels .

Um , so with that , I'm like reading through all these , like hey , if you might have adhd as an adult , you don't know it . Like here's some things you could have . One of them was you can end up in some financial problems , which when I was younger , I definitely did . I moved well , because you like new and exciting stuff .

I moved to spain to teach english new and in some financial problems , which when I was younger , I definitely did . I moved Well , because you like new and exciting stuff . I moved to Spain to teach English , new and exciting . Didn't really plan that out though , so eventually went into some credit card debt .

So I was like , all right , check that one off , exciting experience , but not fully planning it out , so you can end up in some like , yeah , financial problems .

And then another one was like you're going to have a lot of career changes , which I can definitely check off as well , and that's because the ADHD mind , once something becomes routine , you're just extra bored with it , you're not excited about it at all .

So you do need like a challenge , which is also why , like entrepreneurship and web design is actually a super good field to be in . So I luckily figured that out before I figured everything else out . But I'm at least in the right galaxy of what you can do .

But , like a lot of my past careers are all these jobs that are not good for ADHD people , which is kind of just staring at some numbers on a computer and whatnot . So I definitely had a lot of career changes . And then you know you get into your 30s and you're like , okay , this doesn't make sense why I'm still having all these career changes and stuff .

So it's kind of in the background . But yeah , there's just a bunch of things that started to make sense as I'm reading down like undiagnosed adults , and so that led me to like seek some help and see if I officially had it or not , and then get help from there . So it was an interesting . That's a great overview .

But I was definitely , if I self-diagnosed myself , I was definitely in the daydreamer category to where , like , I didn't have those hyper things , but I definitely a lot of things you mentioned so far . I'm like , oh my gosh , I absolutely relate to that . I mean I I've talked to a few members of our community pro about this who have had some conversations with .

I'm like man , thank God we have this as an option . I freaking struggled with school . I was like a solid low C student barely got through it just because I had a real hard time on the concentration front too , especially when it came to things I wasn't interested in . The few subjects I really enjoyed I killed at and I loved it .

But you know that that sounds pretty , pretty common . So all that to say what a wonderful world we live in , that we have this option and like , like you mentioned , robbie , like we all get bored . Um , once something works , it's like okay , on to the next thing .

As web designers , very often the cool thing is is like in a few years you don't need to get a whole new career path , you could just launch a new wing of your business or a passion project or a new service or something .

That's what I've learned as an entrepreneur is like I don't need to necessarily blow up a business , I can just do something different in it .

So even without you knowing it , like just the risk of starting a business can keep your mind firing . So there is actually seven times more likely if you have ADHD that you will be an entrepreneur compared to the average person . And then it's a very creative thing .

Like you pretty much can't shut off the creative side of your mind compared to people that I think in my research that was like the craziest thing I learned was that this , like they were saying , like neurotypical people can say , ok , I've got a boring task , but tomorrow I'm going to do that boring task and I'll focus on it and kind of shut off and just

like actually focus . And I didn't know at the time but like ADHD , people literally can't shut off the creative side of their brain . So as you're trying to do your boring task , your other side is just talking to you about cool and exciting stuff , which causes it , you know , way harder to focus .

So that was like actually the most mind blowing thing I learned was I was like wait , people don't just have random thoughts constantly like going through their head like that don't even make sense with what you're doing , which is why you get kind of distracted . So that was like very interesting .

They've done like cat scans on people and said like adhd brains are just firing different , like there's just a lot going on in there which make us extra creative , which is nice , but sometimes when you're trying to get to some task you don't want to do , it makes it extra yeah , yeah , get stuff done or like , yeah , just that , like there are as a business

owner , there's just stuff you got to do that you don't want to do , um , and yeah , it's very easy to push that off or get distracted from it again .

Now I've got my mind's going over here Again , a lot of different degrees of this and variations , but , man , I imagine that a lot of people are like , yep , tell me more .

So one thing that you shared with me as far as a bit of a red flag or something that was kind of brought to light about this was you had mentioned that you shared with me as far as a bit of a red flag or like , uh , um , something that was kind of brought to light about this was you had mentioned that you had kind of struggled with vision , right ,

like not literal vision , but like seeing the future or seeing the next road ahead . That was something that I . That was really interesting because that's personally , that's something that I , uh , don't experience . Like , like I am , I've gotten better and better at like .

Maybe this is just the muscle of being a business owner and entrepreneur for 15 years now , but I have gotten better at like , seeing , like , envisioning the next little way forward . But you had mentioned that was something that is pretty common and that you had experienced . Can you expand on that ?

With that idea of like , it seemed like it's almost about being in the now and being in the present but , having a hard time looking past that .

If you tell somebody with ADHD , hey , this is due next week , guess when they're going to do it At 11pm the night before because they're not excited about it , but then because their brain gets a little chaos going , the dopamine rises . They can knock that out .

But if you expand upon that with setting goals , I think the problem I was having at the time was like I've got the big picture , boom , that looks awesome to get to , not setting out any steps of how to reach that big picture , or like I have the big picture idea but I wasn't doing a good enough job of setting those smaller , realistic goals to hit along

the way , which obviously causes problems within , like a business or something like that . So that was like very interesting to learn about . So it's called like time blindness , where another thing that is time blindness that most people will be like oh , I know a friend that does that is like someone that can never show up on time .

I don't have that one , but I know people that do where they literally can't like in their own mind , they really can't tell how long something's going to take .

So when you say like hey , I'll be there at one , they're actually and I was like , okay , this is interesting to me because I'm always an on time person but they're actually like really trying to get there at one and they get distracted doing something else . They think it's going to take five minutes , it takes 20 .

They're 20 minutes late to your meeting or whatnot . So that's like just a different style of time blindness , but which I do think I struggle with as far as tasks like . As far as like how long I think a task will take . Like some days , especially before I knew I had all this , I'd be like I'm going to complete seven things today , no problem .

Then you run into like a couple problems you didn't see coming .

It takes like eight hours to do the first task and then you kind of feel bad you didn't complete the six other tasks you thought you could , but it's more because your mind actually is just bad at kind of registering time estimations , which is a fun thing to do , yeah and on that note , it's like welcome to welcome to web design , where you're uh , that's like

one of the biggest challenges and and honestly , this kind of goes back to the creativity aspect of this too .

A design of a homepage could deviate drastically from an hour to like a hundred hours potentially it really and with creativity and creative work you could literally go until like you could never stop . I was actually . This is very timely because I was just watching a little video from one of the guitarists from slipknot .

They were talking about songs and how you have to have deadlines on for for bands and creating albums , because otherwise you would never stop working on songs . Right , there's quotes in the music world that a song is never done , it's just , it's just shipped at a certain point , and I feel like in the creative work , that has to hold true as well .

It's like deadlines and time blocks are everything right . So I'd imagine in the creative work that has to hold true as well . It's like deadlines and time blocks are everything . So I'd imagine in the case of any variants of ADHD that's even more important . It's just like you have a certain amount of time in this window .

There's probably some deliverables , but you just have to get it done . I would imagine that would help in the case of time expansion .

I think over the summer , before I was getting all this , I was kind of running into that where I'm like , oh , shoot , like wait . I , before I was getting all this , I was kind of running into that where I'm like , oh , shoot , like wait , I need to get this done . Like you're , you're just not managing your time well . So , yeah , that's a positive .

Like the positive of being an entrepreneur is that you're setting your own hours and for like a person with ADHD , that's really good because they don't really run on the same type of system that , like society is kind of built around neural neurotypical people of system that , like society is kind of built around neural neurotypical people .

So the adhd mind which a lot of creative people have , like they might want to work at night compared to in the morning or do this and that , especially with a creative job like you kind of have those spurts of like when you're feeling really creative to do stuff . Um , so the positive is you can work your own hours and everything .

But then the negative is you're also the one setting , like , the standard of like , okay , this needs done by now , and then you're the one punishing yourself . So it's like , uh , especially if you're a little confused if you have it or not , you're like , oh man , I'm not hitting some of these milestones I've been trying to hit , so yeah .

Even school you have deadlines for stuff and then suddenly , when no one else is in control of those deadlines , you have to be the one to make them . So it's a separate job description Sorry , by the way , everyone , it's a job description . You know you're also the micromanager .

I say that is I feel like it's probably , I would imagine , good to have some sort of common task or something that's routine . And for me that was my networking group now what happened . Every week I was at my networking group but you're in the same networking group now or the same brand , and that helped me .

And actually Jen , my VA , who has opened up about her adhd struggle . She actually said the va work that she does for me for this podcast is kind of a grounder for her because it gives her a weekly deadline . She knows when she plans around it and then other tasks kind of fit around that .

Yeah , so has that kind of thing helped you as well as you've navigated ?

I can definitely go for some strategies later that I've been found super helpful . But yeah , it's kind of funny , the ADHD mind absolutely hates kind of like the standard things like what am I trying to think of the word ? Like like a schedule , more or less . Like the ADHD mind finds that very boring . But to actually improve ADHD you need a schedule .

More or less like the adhd mind finds that very boring . But to actually improve adhd you need a schedule . So that's makes sense .

So so you can either like go to your doctor in person and try to figure it out that way , but he , how he explained it to me , which , again , do your own research was that can be like a more timely kind of process .

And so I actually went through an online Let me see what it's called real quick , but I went through like an online assessment and then it's a psychiatrist who then will call you , kind of talk through things to analyze you and then give you like an official like if you have ADHD or whatnot .

But the one I use , which I'll send you this info , is called Mantiva Health , which I'll send you this info is called Mantiva Health .

So pretty much you do like a big online assessment , then somebody like a psychiatrist reviews that assessment and then they'll also like live chat with you to kind of more assess , because the one thing with ADHD , there is some comorbidities with it , which would be anxiety and depression . So those are really highly linked .

So they also want to make sure like they're diagnosing the right thing and you don't just have anxiety or depression , because anxiety kinds of stems from again being corrected a bunch .

As a kid , you in your mind are now thinking of all the outcomes possible and you want to choose , like , like think of someone with anxieties , worried about a lot of stuff , and with ADHD . It's because , like , oh , I've been yelled at before for doing this wrong , like I got to make sure I do this right .

That side is more just like kind of negative self-talk , Because again , when you're a little kid , like not on purpose or anything , but you're just getting corrected more than most people , so you're trying to like make sure you're doing everything right , so um , they do say that ADHD is the most underdiagnosed and overdiagnosed type of like diagnosis you can have ,

because college kids want the medicine to study for exams . You know the classic person getting Adderall for exams but most people don't know they have it because it's more or less a newer like I don't think anyone knew about it very much until the nineties . So it's like a very new kind of diagnosis to receive .

But they said about like 5% of the population probably has ADHD . But it's kind of a hard . It's hard to like regulate , exactly like all the meds and everything , because a lot of college kids are like trying to fake it to get the medicine . So kind of interesting stat .

Like I mean , I've definitely found myself in seasons and points needing to like reduce scrolling and reading , needing to reduce , like , the amount of information I'm taking in or just jumping back and forth between stuff , and that does seem to help when I like put my focus on long , like longer strings of focus .

Like what's your thoughts on technology and how this ?

Um , so I think social media overall for anybody's mental health is probably not the best , but especially if you're easily distracted , because that is like an immediate dopamine release , which is what ADHD brains are striving for . It's just getting back up to a normal level of dopamine . So I think that can definitely be a bad factor into distractibility .

For sure , I'm not a huge social media guy , so I feel like I luckily don't have too crazy of an urge . But there's definitely like moments where you're like well , I've been scrolling on Instagram for like 30 minutes for no reason really . So it's just like kind of having self-awareness to kind of lock .

I've been like just leaving my phone in the other room so I can get stuff accomplished , you know . But I would say that's definitely not helping anybody . That's definitely like exacerbating the problems of ADHD .

Pretty much all adderall is doing for adhd people is raising your dopamine and dopamine levels back to a normal level . Um , so they said it's not addictive , like for people with adhd . If you don't have ad , they said like the only people found to be addicted to adderall is neurotypical people because they don't need that extra dopamine rush .

They're like kind of doing like when they take it it's actually like doing a drug because they're getting more more dopamine than they need .

Um , so right now , as far as I could , they didn't have like any long-term effects , because that's always worrisome when you're taking a medication and it's not addictive and it does really help like you focus , compared like I can definitely tell like when I took it the first time , which they do say like the first time you take it and you have ADHD and are

just experiencing like one thought wave , it's like mind blowing , which it was like I remember I was just driving home from like a meetup and I was like , well , I just literally only listen to a podcast . Like that was my only thought . That was the craziest thing , that I was like mind blown that like I could literally have one trace thought .

Craziest thing that like I was like mind blown that like I could literally have one trace thought . But with that you do need the strategies , because still starting things and things like that still a mission , but like you can actually stay on task .

So if you do get diagnosed with ADHD , like medication is a good route , but then on top of that you're going to need strategies , because it's not like the cure all which for about a week you will think it is . You're like , oh sweet , I can do anything .

And then you're like kind of start to run into some problems and you're like , oh , I actually need strategies for this . So let me go over some strategies . One thing you can do , which I haven't done , but you can do cognitive behavioral therapies .

That's either through the psychiatrist or you can actually get like an ADHD coach so to kind of coach you through , um , different strategies and things like that . So I haven't personally done that , but , um , I have seen a lot of positives with that .

Floor is yours , robbie the floor is yours man , dr rob's here . Uh , no biggie . Dr chaplin definitely put a warning . Do your own research on this disclaimer disclaimer , oh god dr chaplin's . Doctor chaplin's out of control , but all right .

So there's seven main executive functions that you might struggle with , and again , it's a spectrum , so it might not be everything , it might be some of them . So , to start , the first one is going to be inhibition , which is just impulse control .

So , definitely like , things I have problems with is like finishing other people's sentences , like within like two words .

You're like I know what they're going to say and you're just kind of jump in and you're like oh , and then like , also with that somebody could be telling a story and in my head I'm like , ooh , I need to tell him , like I've experienced this too , or whatever .

And you just jump in and you're like , oh , I'm just trying to like connect with this dude , and now he's like what the hell is this guy doing ?

So one uppers , one uppers , One uppers , but you know , no , but just like kind of interrupting or just like a little bit of impulse control there , which I definitely have been working on , but they do say it's like a thing with ADHD . You can tell where this sentence is going . You almost want to just be like here .

It is Like this is what you're trying to say . Yeah , so I'll tell you one thing starting a podcast is one of the best ways to help that out . I haven't noticed you interrupt me at all .

So that has not been something I've noticed out of control , but that's good to know , and then self-awareness , so just kind of self-directed attention .

I have like some horrifying stories of being little and spilling stuff and just being like mortified and uh . So that's , that's a fun one , but definitely continues into my age now . But I'm trying to get a little better at spatial awareness . Um , but I had a recent one in Denver which was rough . I was visiting a friend and he had little dogs .

I had like a glass of beer on the floor that it wasn't like a coffee table . I was like , oh , let me just move this so I can avoid spilling this beer from this dog . And I said it like on the edge , you know I'm not looking exactly and it just spilled a full beer on his couch and I was like I'm the worst , I'm sorry about that . So you do have .

You do run into some interesting scenarios .

I remember I'm like looking for something , but why did I walk into this room , type thing . So just kind of your short-term working memory can be affected . And then you got nonverbal working memory , which is so this one is kind of back to like living in the like now or not now . So that's kind of like procrastination more or less .

So you're only thinking of like what's happening right now . What's the exciting thing there's a squirrel , awesome but you're not thinking of like the future things . And then they also have emotional regulation .

So I think I'm pretty lucky in this one , because a lot I guess some people with adhd can have like they're frustrated with themselves and they can kind of take it out on other people because they're just like kind of frustrated with what they've been up to . But also it's just like your brain's not firing exactly right .

So you could be like hungry and kind of hangry but you don't piece it together that , oh , I need to eat something and then I'll be fine .

But I would say , with ADHD I would say you can have high highs and low lows compared to a neurotypical brain as far as that goes , which in the entrepreneur field can be bad , because a rejection can feel way worse for someone with ADHD compared to not . So it is interesting there compared to not . So it is interesting there .

And then I think I'm on number five or six maybe , but you got self motivation , so just the ability to start a task . So again , when I was kind of struggling over the summer , I was really having like problems , just like getting started .

It's like a really weird feeling because you know this is important , I need to do this , but you almost think of , like again , like every possible pathway , what's the right path , and then you just don't do anything . And then it's like been a day and you're like , oh crap , I didn't accomplish what I needed to . So that's an interesting , sorry , interesting one .

And then the final one that you can kind of struggle with is just planning and prioritizing . So this can happen . Again , I would say like , as far as like web design , you're like , ok , I have this important task , but I also need to do this less important task , but I like that one more .

And then you kind of like are wasting too much time doing the task you like , and then you're trying to get back to like , ok , what was that important one ? Again , I need to do that right now . So , yeah , so I think those are like a quick summary of these like seven different things you can struggle with for ADHD brain .

But yeah , it's definitely interesting to learn about , for sure .

But also it's almost like pouring gasoline on the fire , because it's like all of this stuff could get out of control with the freedom to run a business and then suddenly you're the decision maker on all this to run a business , and then suddenly you're the decision maker and all on all this .

So how have you almost like , have you had to kind of separate yourself when you're making some of these executive decisions ? Like , are you able to focus and be the ceo for even just a little bit , just to like do the deadlines , do the executive work and then be able to give yourself career ?

Like , have you so far and I know you're early on in this journey but like , have you be able to give yourself career ? Like , have you so far and I know you're early on in this journey but like , have you been able to kind of help step into different roles a little bit ?

more as , as you know , when you become a business owner you're ceo , creative director , designer , support , hr .

So again is it kind of goes back to the idea of like it's an amazing opportunity what we have , but also it's like naturally as a business owner you're almost kind of by nature adhd , because suddenly you are doing this and you're doing that , then you're doing that , then you're doing that and there's no other way to go about it unless you have other people in

those roles and I'm definitely uh , well , now that I have strategies , it's way easier .

So once you have strategies which I'll go through , some of these ones that have been working for me and other ones that are out there it gets way easier . Like a big one is really just trying to A daily ones that are out there , it gets way easier . Like a big one is really just trying to .

A daily task list sounds easy , right , everyone just makes a daily task list . Well , I was having problems with that because I just absolutely hate making a daily task list . I now know it's because that adhd brain hates like kind of tasks to do .

I guess , like it's it not an exciting thing writing that task list , but forcing myself into that has helped a bunch , just making sure you have the tasks . I've been trying to write them out a week in advance , which I wasn't exactly doing beforehand .

Daily task lists they've got a bunch of task management apps you can use too , which is the technology is also good . In that way , there's a lot of things I can help you . And on the positive technology is like how I figured out all this information so like there is the positives of technology , but definitely can be distracting as well .

And then we've you got like an accountability partner you can use so you can just send somebody like your task list for the day or whatnot , or for the week which I've been doing with Josh here just sending him like a weekly task list reminder Not like he's got to go through and check off everything and check on me , but that just gives your own mind like

accountability , like OK , I want to look like I'm being productive and getting this stuff done , so that's super helpful they also .

That's where it works , which is where , like say , you're at work or you work from home . I work from home . It's literally just like showing up either to like a coffee shop together or just at their house . It kind of keeps you on task because you don't want to be .

I think it's like another social thing where you like don't want to be seen scrolling your phone all day while you're supposed to be working , more or less , even if it's not the same field or anything . They said that one can be super helpful . I haven't tried that one out , but people swear by it .

I often have a really hard time focusing on that in my office , for whatever reason . Um , whether it's , and even though I love it , sometimes it is monotonous and sometimes , quite frankly , boring .

If I'm like I'm not really feeling this right now , but I you know I'm gonna be respectful of a member who's coaching with me to make sure I give them a detailed response , but when I'm in a coffee shop , it changes everything for me . So I all that to say , like double clicking on that idea of almost changing your surrounding .

So kind of switching up that routine a little bit to get some dopamine rush , of being in a new place , getting back to like the norm and then , uh yeah , cranking out some work and they do have which .

So for I would say , like getting started on tasks which I feel like I struggle with for some task is just setting a two minute alarm on your phone and just saying I am doing this for two minutes because usually once you start that task it keeps going because it's easy to do .

Once you start it's literally like feeling like you're going to die just trying to start the task . But if you just set a two minute alarm , it's easy to do . Once you start , it's literally like feeling like you're going to die just trying to start the task . But if you just set a two-minute alarm , it's worked for me .

Just two minutes being like I'm going to focus for two minutes and then I can do whatever I want . But usually that just leads straight into doing more things . So that's been a helpful one that's great .

You've got a lot of time in between that . One of the things to do daily because I think if you have ADHD , because you're working memories a little off is like you kind of forget how many things you accomplish throughout the day . So just simple things like you can just use like paperclips . Just have two bowls , you know , just fill one with paperclips .

Anytime you complete a small task , anything , take a paperclip out , put it in the bowl next to it . So at the end of the day , if you feel like I've done nothing , you can at least look like oh , I've got a full bowl of paperclips on my productive side .

So just another little tip for everyone who's using a task list or a roadmap or a goal list is to do something like that . Just look at your completed . It's like holy crap .

And for anyone listening right now , they maybe don't know if they have adhd or not , if you're listening to this list of things that can help you and you absolutely hate everything on this list , you probably have adhd , because before I knew I had any of these mentions , I would have been like vomit .

This sounds awful , which it does sound awful , but you do need the strategies . They do work . You just got to figure out which ones work for you . But definitely when I would listen to anybody on a podcast be like this is what you should do to start your day , or whatever , I'd be like oh , I hate the sound of that , like it's just that , that routine .

But if you have ADHD , starting that task can be so hard that they actually say reverse , do a task you like to do first , Then you'll have some momentum and just go straight into that awful task .

So that was an interesting one for me because I always felt like , growing up like oh my God , the hardest task first , why would I ever do that up , like oh my god , the hardest task first , why would I ever do that ?

And I feel like it would literally like make me delay the start of my day by like a couple hours because I'm just like , oh god , that sounds terrible . Um , and then so , yeah , so those are some good strategies , um , yeah we'll have all these in the show notes , by the way I know we're .

And actually a lot of stand-up comedians have adhd because they're kind of observing the world in a different view and then can kind of put it into words better than most .

So that's an awesome superpower to have . If you have ADHD , sometimes you can't always funnel it , but it is a good superpower to have , but it is a good superpower to have . And then also , you're more into like you want to experience more things . So you're definitely an open person . You're definitely good at traveling .

Um , you're definitely good with new experiences . You want to experience things . I always think , like , reading through the list of like qualities of ADHD person , I'm like they're probably fun because they're they're having a good time .

They're not a square more or less like they're going to take some risk , which is also how you can end up in like entrepreneurship and all this exciting stuff .

So that's exciting Because your mind is more adapted for chaos than most , because it's kind of been craving it without you knowing it or not , for the dopamine rush is you are like , really well suited for like some jobs that people are not .

So one of them's entrepreneurship , obviously , because of the like risk reward of that , or like sales you can be really good at . But also if you're in a medical field type setting , like firefighting , emt there's a bunch and you can get this like online , just like a list of like good career fields as well .

Maybe you're a little confused of what you're attempting to do currently . Um , hopefully you're doing web design , but if you're still kind of thinking about it , they do have like lists of like good career fields to have for for adhd people , because they kind of need like like with with web design .

It's great because you can jump around to different things , so if you are getting a little bored doing one thing , you can jump to something that's a little more exciting for you and I was going to say too , as a web designer I'm sure you've seen this already in a couple years .

Yeah , I don't know any web designer who is bored and it is .

So like this field is really good because you are constantly learning , like there's new technologies , there's new ways to do stuff , like you want a challenge . You're not just going to be like the average person just working in a cubicle all day , like you need something to fire up the dopamine levels .

So I think that's really good because I think it makes you like open to learning stuff and with ADHD you are open to learning stuff .

I can't help but wonder if people in prior decades obviously this applies to now , but especially before the internet when you could make your own thing and and potentially do a lot of this and make money from it and make a career from it I wonder if that spurred a lot of just wild behavior like like having an affair at work or doing like doing some wild

shit just because you are just bored out of your mind and you're just barely able to get through . Or alcoholism maybe you're just like drinking like crazy just because you're just so bored out of your mind doing the same thing every day . You can't help but wonder maybe it ? Uh , yeah , it did say so with .

Like you were saying earlier , you can be addicted to that way easier than somebody without ADHD because those dopamine releases that you're getting somebody without ADHD because those dopamine releases that you're getting so especially probably before people knew what this was at all like . I imagine that'd be a very confusing time .

You might have a couple of drinks afterward to get the dopamine back up and then that leads right into alcoholism or some riskier behavior like that .

I think I think like teen pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy type things are a lot higher for people with ADHD because they're thinking of that dopamine rush of the act and not what could happen later in life more or less .

So there are definitely some riskier behaviors associated with that and an interesting thing because it is a hereditary interesting thing was that like ADHD back in the day was awesome when it was like a tribal community , because who's going to be the person to explore anything that's scary ? The ADHD person ?

No problem , they'll go out there , check it out , see if it's scary . Who's going to try that berry we don't know is poisonous .

The ADHD person I don't mind that risk Like and their brains are thinking differently than everyone else's and their brains are thinking differently than everyone else's , so they're a little more likely to like , spot like an animal in the woods or some danger or something that neurotypical people might not be paying attention to .

But then the negative side is that society nowadays was formed by the neurotypical people , so that's why so what ?

Like everything that fires her up is dreadful to me .

Like you're teaching kids to just sit in line and do their task and clock out at five and they go home , like the reality is .

I think there's probably , there's probably been a variety of roles that suited ADHD people on any on any metric of the spectrum , like like you mentioned , like the different careers firefighting , urgent care , stuff , like that but I just think that those were probably not as prevalent as there are now .

I feel like there's just a lot more opportunity now for the people who are not going to be a good accountant and are not going to be able to just thrive and just doing the same task every day . Yeah for sure , yeah .

But it's a lot more than that . There's a lot more subtleties to it . And again , like , women definitely get underdiagnosed because they usually don't have that hyperactivity . So usually there's a lot more women later in life that kind of get diagnosed with ADHD because of that . So it's , yeah , definitely , definitely .

And like you were saying , like if , if you're in class and the subject's boring to you and you have ADHD , it's like 10 times harder to keep focused , to pay attention , especially when there's like a song going on in your head , there's a squirrel outside , there's a lot of good stuff going on other than that class , so it's interesting yeah , a man , when

something to your point since we're on the positive end of the spectrum here when you are , when you find something you really enjoy , that , like you said , you could bust it out , whereas some people would take forever , you probably just go .

But I often think about like directors and movies and folks who do a project that may be extended , that are just like that's it . They're just living in that world . I I went through this as a course creator . There were times where , like , if I'm making a course , I'm just it's hard for me to focus on anything else . I just want to do that course .

I could do it for eight hours a day , um , but my God , I've got to do some other stuff at some point too .

Because I do feel like in college and stuff it'd be like this is due next week or in two months and then I'm not starting it until like the night before , but you literally crank out the whole thing and you get like a decent grade , maybe not as good as you could have had , but like you're still passing college .

You're like that's not too bad , but it's an interesting , an interesting mindset . That makes way more sense now that I know I have adhd .

I didn't think this would be it , but after our chat and our last pro meetup , I was like man and , like I mentioned , I was like I've just had so many of these conversations that I feel like I needed to take some time to dig into this , but I really didn't want to just have like an ADHD coach on to get started in this .

I appreciate , you know , hearing from you one of my friends who has a different perspective on this . So , yeah , listen , man , I really appreciate you being transparent , open about all this . I think it's going to help a lot of people .

with a lot of typical academia and I felt weird . I remember my guidance counselor made me feel like I was a total failure for not wanting to go to a four-year degree and I just was like I , just I was like I like drums , I want to focus on drums , I like music , I want to do this , that's all I want to do .

And I felt like an outcast in a lot of ways . I saw all these other people getting good grades and not having my trains of thought that I did .

But I do feel like it's good that it's not only more accepted but understood now maybe more so and it's really really cool that there's just so many opportunities to be able to have a good understanding of this stuff . But then , more importantly , like channel and funnel . You've talked about that a lot .

So I wouldn't say , if you do think you possibly have it , get checked out by a doctor and they can kind of assess where to go from there . But there's definitely a bunch of good strategies and it's not like you have to take medicine or anything like that .

But that's also a helpful tool at to kind of to right the ship if you're kind of in your head a little bit . So it's definitely , I'd say , any . You know mental health stuff . If you're struggling with it , definitely good to get checked out by a professional . But it has definitely helped me out a ton since learning about it about like six months ago .

So I'm way happier where I'm at now than I was before that heck , yeah , dude .

Do you want to send me a separate version that has , like , your website and stuff on there , in case people want ?

So that's been like just knowing you have ADHD and being like , ah , that makes so much sense , and then having the strategies to deal with it are a lot better . So I feel like a way brighter outlook on the future than I was probably a year ago .

So a lot of people that probably had it and didn't know about it might be , could be struggling more internally but have made it through life without needing it . But yeah , I'm just happy I've got it figured out now . So I don't know if my parents have it or probably someone in my family tree do for sure , because it is pretty hereditary .

But yeah , they did say like outdoor stuff is good for ADHD , so you can thrive in that environment as well .

If you find yourself on the spectrum of , I guess , light adhd or heavy adhd I don't know what the correct terminology is but you may be diagnosed officially Now . You may be somebody who was like I yeah , sounds , uh , sounds like somebody called me out .

So , either way , regardless of whether you seek professional help or if you're like me and you feel like you're getting by , but you definitely could use some of these strategies to help remain focused , then I hope everything that we covered here helps . I want to give a big shout out and a thanks to Rob for being very open about this .

I know he's super passionate about this and I have seen a noticeable change in him over the past few months here . So be sure to pick up the resources that he put together for you .

It's going to be found at joshhallco , slash 364 , where the show notes and links and everything mentioned are going to be in that PDF guide that he put together is completely free . You don't even need to sign up for it . It's just go to the show notes , click and download .

We wanted to make sure that was widely available for everyone who wants to get a more deep dive about what Rob has learned on this . So really appreciate him . Be sure to check him out .

You can go to his website at vividpinedesigncom is his web design agency , and we will have everything linked in the show notes along with the PDF mentioned at joshhallco slash 364 . And again , you're seeing somebody who is fully empowered and supported in my community web designer pro .

So if you'd like to meet Rob and get coaching for me and help stay focused and have a supportive network behind you , I highly recommend that you join us in web designer pro .

Head over to web designer procom to join at any tier that works for you the courses tier to learn about everything you need to go through my courses and get your business off the ground . Community tier for support and to be a part of the pro community .

And if you want coaching directly with me , we still have a little bit of space right now in the coaching tier , so I'll see you in our presenter pro and again show notes with the pdf that rob put together josh hallco , slash 364 . Cheers , my friends .