The Drug Free ADHD Toolkit (part 2)
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The Drug Free ADHD Toolkit (part 2)
Productivity, tools, reframing ADHD, and last chance to apply for coaching
Last week, I introduced part 1 of The Drug Free ADHD Toolkit.
This is part 2.
If you're serious about managing your ADHD without medication, consider applying for my coaching program to guide you through using this toolkit. Click here to apply today (application closing after today).
In part 1, you learned the essential foundations for managing ADHD without medication, including:
Cold exposure
Breathwork
Meditation
Without at least 2 of those 3 disciplines, managing ADHD without medication is very difficult.
Cold exposure boosts dopamine. Breathwork boosts focus. Meditation makes you less impulsive, calmer, and can (with consistency) completely change your relationship with ADHD.
Learning and sticking to them gives you control over your own body. You realise you can boost dopamine without meds, caffeine, or drugs.
You know you can use a breathing technique to calm you down during anxiety attacks, boost your focus when tired, and even change your mood from sad to happy within 10 to 15 minutes.
Once 2 or 3 of these disciplines are in place, you can move onto making practical changes in your life — boosting productivity, learning new tools, achieving what you want to achieve.
That’s what this edition is about.
Productivity
Procrastination affects us all.
Lurking in the shadows at the beginning of every work day, ready to sabotage any and all plans for our future and crush ideas before we get started.
Most productivity advice for ADHD sucks.
It’s made for the most disciplined neurotypical person imaginable.
Here’s what I do instead:
Work in short bursts
Work from 6am to 1pm (never in the afternoon)
Avoid meetings at all costs
Use an anti-procrastination technique, which is all about breaking tasks into manageable parts and tackling them one at a time.
Say no to most things
Crucially, I created a way to be productive that works for me.
You can do the same.
It’s not about following my exact steps — although a lot of people got a lot of benefit from the anti-procrastination technique.
It’s about self-experimenting and finding your system.
All of my clients have different ways of working. My job, during our sessions, is simply to encourage them, support them, and hold them accountable while I help them create their own way.
But there are a couple of tools I recommend every ADHDer use:
Tools
These tools are Brain.fm and Focusmate. These tools are particularly effective for people with ADHD because they use sound and social accountability to promote focus.
1) brain.fm
2) Focusmate
I can't work without them.
Brain.fm blasts binaural beats into my noise cancelling headphones (Bose Q35s).
After 5 minutes, the noise in my head quietens down. The outside world glides into the background and I get to work.
Usually, Brain.fm is enough.
But on bad days, I use Focusmate.
Focusmate pairs you with a remote worker somewhere else in the world.
You meet on video call and each share your task.
Then a timer is set for 25-minutes and you both work together (on mute).
This blasts my procrastination out the water.
Why?
Because I don't want to let the other person down. It's accountability.
Work less
Most of us with ADHD are addicted to doing.
We think it’s a good thing until we realise where that addiction is coming from — meditation helps you find out.
As you progress through these steps, firstly with the foundations, and then onto creating better ADHD-friendly routines, you’ll find yourself calmer and less desperate to fill every second of your life with more stuff.
More hours ≠ greater output.
I can get more done in 4 hours than I can in 8 hours.
To the neurotypical economists who analyse our modern world, that doesn't make sense — it doesn't fit their rigid model.
And we don't fit their rigid workplaces.
So we have to change the way we work.
And we have to change the way our leaders measure our inputs AND outputs.
I've run multiple small teams.
I started out trying to act like a neurotypical person. Clocking in at 9am. Forcing myself to work until 5pm.
But then I realised I was unproductive and miserable.
Now I work when my brain is best.
And I meditate in the middle of the day if I feel I need it. I encourage all the people I work with to do the same.
Are you a hunter or a farmer?
Have you heard the Hunter vs. Farmer theory of ADHD?
ADHDer = hunter
Neurotypical = farmer
It’s ridiculously accurate.
Hunters:
- focus manically for short bursts.
- notice things others don't.
- are comfortable in a changing environment – because they go with the flow.
Farmers:
- excel at fiddly repetitive tasks.
- aren’t distracted by boring work.
- are patient and diligent
Farming is like industrialism.
Industrialism requires compliant and obedient workers who’ll do what they're told without complaint.
If you're a hunter in a farming world the farmers are going to be frustrated with you. They're going to say you're not productive. They're going to say you need treatment or to be medicated to fit into their box.
That's an unhelpful narrative.
A more helpful way to look at it, and what I believe to be the right one, is that we're differently skilled to neurotypical people (farmers).
Thankfully, we're living in the age of the internet. The internet is not for farmers, it's for hunters.
There’s a famous book written about this. It’s called A Hunter in a Farmer’s World.
This book taught me that I can create a working life that suits my natural abilities and the world will reward me for it.
I think we could all benefit from this ADHD viewpoint.
Mostly because once we be who we truly are, without trying to fit into a predefined box that wasn’t made for us, our reliance on medication is greatly reduced.
Final call for coaching applications
If you want me to coach you on The Drug Free ADHD Toolkit.
To support you in finding your own unique way of dealing with ADHD. To help you turn it from a curse to a blessing.
To reduce, or help you remove, your reliance on medication.
This is your last chance to apply for coaching for now.
Due to demand and my limited availability, I am closing the application for a while.
If you're ready to learn the Toolkit, apply today: