ADHDifference

S2E42: Designing Work for ADHD Brains in a Distracted World + guest Kit Slocum

• Julie Legg • Season 2 • Episode 42

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Julie Legg is joined by Kit Slocum, neurodiversity lead and learning experience designer at Flown. With a background in psychology and behavioural neuroscience, and lived experience of ADHD, Kit brings both science and compassion to the conversation about focus, productivity, and nervous system regulation.

From going from failing grades to straight A’s after receiving accommodations, to questioning the systems that label distraction as a personal flaw, Kit reframes ADHD through the lens of nervous system science and the neurodiversity paradigm. She explains why modern environments are fundamentally overstimulating, why burnout is often the predictable result, and how small, intentional shifts can radically change how ADHDers experience work and life.

This episode offers insight into body doubling, nervous system check-ins, structured flexibility, and how leaders can design workplaces that actually support neurodivergent brains rather than forcing them to adapt.

Key Points from the Episode:

  • Kit’s journey from academic struggle to thriving with accommodations
  • The shift from the pathology paradigm to the neurodiversity paradigm
  • Why distraction is often a dysregulated nervous system, not laziness
  • How modern over-stimulation keeps ADHD brains in “on” mode
  • Burnout as the end result of chronic nervous system activation
  • Nervous system check-ins and micro-regulation strategies
  • Why many productivity apps fail ADHDers
  • Creating a personalised “toolbox” through experimentation
  • Designing workplaces around curiosity and structured flexibility
  • The Neural Passport: communicating how you work best
  • Body doubling as a powerful focus strategy
  • The importance of language — disability, difference, or superpower?
  • Community as the most powerful ADHD tool of all

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KIT: Just the word curiosity. I think that there's so much power in opening up conversations and dialogue with the people that you work with and with employees if you're a manager and just that's it. Like there's so much power in asking, okay, how do we all communicate best? How do we prefer to work? What are your types of energy levels? Because everyone has different kinds of like energy peaks and dips throughout the day. For neurodivergent folks, ADHD especially, they're much more kind of chaotic, depends on the person. But really just opening up those conversations because really at the end of the day, it's making sure that your employees feel, and the people that you work with feel, safe, seen, and understood. And I think that's so important as an employer or a manager and making sure that the work environment feels safe and supportive for the people that you work with.

JULIE: Welcome to Season 2 of ADHDifference. I'm your host, Julie Legg, ADHD advocate, author of The Missing Piece (a woman's guide to understanding, diagnosing, and living with ADHD), and an unapologetic doer of many things. This season, we're turning up the volume with a global lineup of brilliant guests, bringing their lived experiences, insights, research, strategies, and resources. And of course, along with a healthy dose of humour and humility. Whether you're neurodivergent yourself or just curious, there's something here for every curious brain. Let's dive in. Today I'm joined by Kit Slocum, the neurodiversity lead and learning experience designer at Flown, where she designs focus systems and learning experiences that help people reclaim attention through awareness, compassion, and community. Kit brings a blend of deep academic grounding in psychology and behavioural neuroscience, hands-on experience using evidence-based frameworks, and lived experience as an ADHDer, navigating life on what she often calls 'hard mode'. One pattern shows up again and again in her work. Distraction is rarely a personal failing. It's a nervous system responding to environments that weren't designed for modern human brains. Kit, it's so wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you for joining me today. [Yes. Hi. I'm super excited to be here.] That's awesome. You bring both lived experience as an ADHD and deep training in psychology and behavioural neuroscience. Can you share a little about how your own ADHD journey shaped the way you started questioning traditional ideas about focus and productivity? 

KIT: Oh yes. Well I think like most neurodivergent folks it's been a very long windy kind of nonlinear path I've been all over. But I think really when it first started to come out, you know, I've always, you know, the whole trope of a gifted student and as a kid. People would call me very air-headed and but you know, very creative and very social, but just kind of has heads in the cloud. So that was kind of the first my first kind of relationship with being a little different. And it wasn't until college, I think, I, you know, learned when you're in an institution and there's kind of a one way to do things, one way to study, one way to take tests, where I really ran into a lot of struggle. So, just really struggled to take tests. I got horrible grades. It was very difficult for me to focus. And I remember even thinking like most folks with ADHD, those tapes and narratives starting to come in like, "Oh my gosh, like I'm there's something wrong with me. Why can't I just do this? I must be stupid." That's the story because I can't do this like everyone else, you know. However I would excel in creative endeavours or again socially or in yeah, interpersonal relationships, but just everything else was so difficult. And then on the more professional side of things, I had lots of different types of jobs and I would constantly be fired for everything from being late constantly to having an emotional outburst or knocking into things and losing the company money because I was ruining the product kind of thing. So there was a lot of challenges. This is all in my early 20s. Then I started working as an academic coach in a university system and working with primarily neurodivergent students and I started to see a lot of reflected patterns. I was like, "Oh yes, that sounds like me. That sounds like me." So I officially got a diagnosis and went back and got accommodations through my university and all of my C's, D's, and Fs. I'm not sure what the letter rating that you have in your area of the world. I went doing very poorly to a straight A's just shining in school. And that wasn't until I had the accommodation. So I know that's not the case for every person with ADHD, but that was my personal experience. And it was just a light bulb moment. It felt getting my diagnosis felt so validating and really opened up the world to understanding that there are accommodations for people like me that can start to excel. And then that's when I really started to get curious about oh my gosh so many of these systems that are that we live in society whether it be from institutional types of organizations like of universities or just simply our familial relationships and the media how it tells... how the media tells us to act in certain interpersonal relationships doesn't work for every type of brain. And that kind of really ignited this passion for oh my goodness as I want to help others like me navigate this world. 

JULIE: I'd love to backtrack slightly and talk about accommodations. What accommodations did you experience or could you tap into once it was identified that you had ADHD? Do you mind sharing some of those? 

KIT: Yes, absolutely. So, every university system is quite different. I was at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in the US, and they have a great program for accommodations and it's called the Disabilities Resources Center. So the thing that I think helped the most was just getting time and a half for taking tests. So I used to be a, I used to the narrative I used to have as a terrible test taker. I would freeze up. I'd get sweaty. I would just totally freeze just total paralysis nervous system response which we'll talk about later probably. However these accommodations you can have anywhere between time and a half to double the time to take a test. So all of that time pressure is released and so you can kind of sit, regulate and take your time to read process the information. So that was one of the biggest ones I think. And also again every university is different. But another one that I felt really helpful is just having extended due dates for projects and written essays and things that need to be turned in. So again every professor and every kind of program will be different as far as how they make accommodations for each individual. But there's usually a type of counsellor in there that will work with students individually, figure out their unique needs, and then help create those accommodations so they can excel. So, I kind of think of it as I guess yeah, just kind of giving you a little just an even playing field with the other big neurotypical students. 

JULIE: And wow, what a result going from your C's, D's and F's to straight A's. Yes. With these tweaks, these accommodations, yeah, absolutely. Put it more on more of an even playing field. That's amazing results. Fabulous. I'm so glad. I'm so glad for you. Why do you think so many ADHDers feel like they're operating on 'hard' even when they're intelligent and capable and trying really hard? 

KIT: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it kind of comes back to that idea of the world is not necessarily designed with neurodivergent people in mind. There is this theoretical framework called the neurodiversity paradigm. So we've historically been in something called the pathology paradigm. So looking at ADHD and neurodivergence as a deficit, there's something wrong with the individual. They need to be fixed. Their ADHD needs to be fixed. And that is primarily how everything from our research and kind of the psychological area of the world has looked at ADHD. So it's always kind of focused on you know, what is wrong with me? What's wrong with you as a person you know, and so a lot of approaches to the working world to again school and universities and then again the stories that we're hearing from our media are kind of designed with a neurotypical brain in mind. And so then when folks are neurodivergent and wired a little differently, they have all of these, they receive all these different types of covert and overt types of messages that there's something wrong with them. And then you know, there's a lot of things happen with that shame spirals. We're running uphill all the time just to just to try and keep up, let alone really push our strengths and celebrate. That's something I tell my clients all the time is just like it's not our fault. Like we're not a lot of those tapes that come up it's like I'm the problem but it's more so the system that we are living in is not designed with us in mind. And that's why and like I try to be validating about that. It is exhausting when we're constantly fighting all of these systems to mold and shift and change ourselves to fit into these systems that weren't designed for us is absolutely exhausting. You know this is one of the reasons why folks with neurodivergence burn out so quickly, everything from masking and just forcing ourselves to quote unquote 'do better'. I will say that we as a society, and more I've been seeing this a lot in the UK and the US, and those are primarily the regions in which I work. We're moving into something called the neurodiversity paradigm which is the other side of the pathology paradigm. So instead of looking at the individual as the issue like where something needs to be fixed, it's instead turning that framing a different way in that the system is a thing that needs to be fixed. So what are these systemic barriers to accessibility for folks? So it's a very slow shift because it is you know, a cultural paradigm but we are slowly moving in that direction I think by you know, just the work you're doing, having more conversations about it, releasing some of the stigma connecting with community and realizing that there is not you know, one type of brain. And every... there's no system that we can make that's going to be perfect for every type of brain. 

JULIE: That's wonderful that that shift is happening. We're getting there. We're getting there. And I wanted to ask you about some productivity tools because there's so many out there. The there's apps and there's systems yet so many neurodivergent people feel like failures when they can't stick to them. So why do you think so many of these tools miss the mark for our ADHD brains? 

KIT: Yes, great question because I'm sure many of us have had this experience with all of the productivity tools that promise us that it's going to be a fix. The one of the primary reasons I see is that quite simply a lot of these apps that are promising a fix are not designed by neurodiversity people. So, you know, when you're thinking of a product design, the person that's designing it, like you want them to have an understanding or think like you and it's very challenging. I actually am seeing more neurodivergent creators and developers come out recently, especially with the AI as a whole interesting route we can go down. But bringing in those kinds of apps and for folks with neurodivergence, but that's probably the main one. So folks are using apps that aren't necessarily again designed with them in mind and there's just an overwhelming amount of them. And we have a tendency to have kind of the shiny syndrome. We're like, "Oh, this app is going to do it. Oh, I'm kind of bored of this one. I'm going to get this other one." And by the end of the month, we have five different app subscriptions all promising something. We feel very overwhelmed, very discombobulated. So as a coach, something I typically advise my clients is to do kind of think of ourselves as a scientist, and we're the experiment. So there's this kind of tapping into this innate creativity and curiosity that we have as as ADHDers. So take one tool and usually just after every two weeks, take one and do a little bit of self-reflective exercise like is this actually making my life better? Am I actually enjoying it? Is there a friction here? And if it's not working, throw it out. If it is working, keep it in our toolbox. And if it's kind of sort of working, can we tweak it so it does work for us and keep it in our toolbox. And so over time, we're kind of creating this this tool box of different types of apps and tools and strategies that are made specifically for our brains. Every person with ADHD is going to have a different manifestation of how their traits show as well. So what apps work for you might not work for me. So it's really a lot of this trial and error and experimentation and I always try to encourage this element of fun to it. So again, you know, just like this should be fun especially because I think ADHD especially when we have lived a long life of it being very challenging, allowing some space for joy can be quite empowering. 

JULIE: And I love that with the personalized toolbox, not only making sure that it works for us, but to reassess it every now and then to make sure that those tools are still relevant. Because we humans, we grow and we change. Our environment changes too at times and some of those tools would be redundant or no longer serve the purpose that they used to. So yeah, reassessing it all the time. I think brilliant, good, a good idea. I want to talk about distraction because you know a lot about distraction and you say it isn't a personal failure, but it's a nervous system responding to an environment that isn't designed for our brains. Can you unpack that, please? 

KIT: Yes. So I will try to make this concise. I'm going to be a little long-winded about this. Ah, good. Good. Okay. Okay. So, few different things going on. One thing I just want to preface this whole piece with, we are living in a very overwhelming and overstimulating time in human history. Neurotypical, neurodivergent or not, we are constantly connected to a little computer in our phone that's on 24/7 that can connect us to, you know, our immediate community, the global community. It's giving us constant streams of news, pings and dings with our messages and apps. The world that we live in is very quick, especially after 2020, it just seems like everything's going very quickly, especially those of us who work all day on a computer. We probably have a lot of different app applications open, the way that we are living as human beings in the world is very overstimulating. So that just right there is going to give us a little bit of a sympathetic nervous system response. We're always on and ready to do and go. We're thinking about what's happening the next hour, what's happening the next day, the next week. And if you think about that from kind of an evolutionary biology perspective, like our bodies and brains weren't necessarily designed to live in this world, you know, like our neuro-anatomy is, you know, it hasn't changed much in the last 500,000 years. Our ways of living and working have changed quite dramatically. And so, you know, sitting all day for eight hours, being exposed to our blue light for eight plus hours, that's messing with our melatonin production and our natural circadian rhythms, our hormonal rhythms. So, that is one thing to consider. On top of that, as a neurodivergent person, ADHD especially, again, our wiring is a little different than neurotypical folks. So we have different types of wiring in our prefrontal cortex. The connectivity is just a little bit different. So we typically don't filter out stimuli as well. So that's why we have a tendency to get very overwhelmed by sound and fluorescent lighting and maybe that tag that's sticking on your shirt might be just really bothering you. Is also applies to processing emotional stimuli. So if we perceive something as rejection or we said something we're weren't sure about it and we're just thinking about it all day, our brain is will be less efficient at filtering that out. So it's almost this constant bombardment of stimuli into our internal world and so we feel it all. So we have this external environment that we mentioned earlier and then this internal environment as someone with neurodivergence at play here. All of this together is very dysregulating. So our nervous system is usually just again it's in the sympathetic state, it's on. We're just again constantly doing trying to filter and especially when we are dealing with all of this stimuli that we're trying to filter out that's activating our nervous system. Especially you can see this sometimes folks with neurodivergence will have different types of like they'll shut down, some be quick to frustration, quick to anger, quick to tears. That's me. I'll just get really weepy if I to feel too overwhelmed. So, our nervous system is in this constant state of just being on and being activated. And I do want to make a note here that an activated nervous system isn't a bad thing. It's obviously evolved for a reason. You know, if a tiger is coming at us at 100 miles an hour, we want our sympathetic state to turn on so we can run away. However, you know, when we're having our sympathetic state, nervous state, nervous system state, excuse me, activated all the time, 24/7. When we're just sitting, that can really lead to a lot of sometimes health problems, increased cortisol, but also this element of burnout, which folks with ADHD, I'm sure, are so all my clients have had it to some degree, are familiar with. So burnout is the end result of having a dysregulated nervous system. So that's kind of the framing of what's going on with our nervous system and why it's so difficult for us to get into focus because we're dysregulated. So if our sympathetic nervous system is activated, we're ready to run. We're on guard. We're ready to just be quick to just react to something and that's not conducive to focus and often, you know, not conducive to our rest. So that's kind of what's going on there. Hope that was too long. 

JULIE: No, no, no, no. That that explains it for sure. And yes, it's not just on on safety mode, it's full on, isn't it? And yeah, no wonder we burn out. So what does actually a nervous system-based approach to focus, what does that look like on a day-to-day basis? 

KIT: Yeah, of course. So when you think about your nervous system being dysregulated, we the body and brain actually always want to go back to equilibrium. Our body is so amazing and that has evolved to want to go back to balance. And so, we as folks with ADHD, often will start to naturally kind of look for ways to reregulate ourselves, whether that be scrolling on social media or Tik Tok because we're trying to get more dopamine to like regulate our dopamine system or, even if we're looking at we're emotionally overwhelmed and we shut down, that's a way that our bodies are trying to protect ourselves and get back to equilibrium. So, we can support our nervous system in a lot of different ways. And the main thing that I encourage clients to do is to kind of develop this self-reflective exercise where we're checking in with ourselves just throughout the day. So, as soon as you wake up, kind of doing a little check-in with the self and like, okay, how is my body feeling? Am I feeling really activated? Am I feeling anxious? Am I thinking about all the things I have to do today? Am I thinking about what I said yesterday? And if there's a lot of activation there, we can introduce some strategies to kind of reregulate ourselves and bring us back into parasympathetic. And that can look like anything like a simple breath work, stretching, drinking maybe like a warm tea, going to have a conversation with someone that you consider safe like a partner or a friend. There's a lot of kind of micro strategies that we can do to kind of reregulate in the moment. But I think the really powerful strategy here is checking in throughout the day and think asking the body, okay, what do I feel safe? Do I feel activated? What do I need right now in this moment to bring myself to a state of equilibrium or balance? So the that's basis of my coaching practice is that frequent check-ins with the self to kind of take a little temperature check of how =the body is doing. So and that's the case for your personal life and then also work as well. So, if there... if you're feeling really, really anxious before a work meeting or there's a presentation, maybe going to take a quick five minute break outside and get some fresh air. Sniff your pet's ears if that's very regulating for one. So just introducing some of those micro strategies throughout the day can be really helpful. 

JULIE: Now, you work with a range of clients. You've got founders and leaders and organizations as well. So what does it look like to intentionally design work environments that support neurodivergent people rather than asking them to constantly keep adapting themselves to fit? 

KIT: Yes. Yes. So main thing I always I always lead with this is just the word curiosity. I think that there's so much power in opening up conversations and dialogue with the people that you work with and with employees if you're a manager, and just that that's it. Like there's so much power in asking, okay, how do we all communicate best? How do we prefer to work? What are your types of energy levels? Because everyone has different kinds of like energy peaks and dips throughout the day. For neurodivergent folks, ADHD especially, they're much more kind of chaotic, depends on the person. But really just opening up those conversations because really at the end of the day it's making sure that your employees feel and the people that you work with feel safe, seen and understood. And I think that's so important as an employer or a manager and making sure that the work environment feels safe and supportive for the people that you work with. So that is probably the main one. There's also a lot of simple again micro strategies to bring in like adjusting the light in the space. So, for example, fluorescent lighting for neurodivergent folks can be quite disruptive. So, there's this thing that we talk about in the ADHD community a lot is 'the big light'. I don't know if you've heard of that term, 'the big light'. And it's just a large overhead light that feels very jarring and uncomfortable. So, usually like lower-level light, dim lights, lights in different kind of areas. There's everything from having different kinds of fidget toys and types of environmental tools to help as well with focus and kind of regulating. And then again, I think we're coming back to that conversation about accommodations. You know, it's like how can we open up conversations with our employees to make sure that they are feeling like they can be their best selves in their workplace and whether that means having something called structured flexibility. So maybe there's a deadline for something and you define the outcome and the what, but then the how can be really flexible. So how do they work best on how to actually complete that project until they get there. So structure flexibility is a big one. Opening up dialogue and communicating and asking what they need. I always really encourage when I work with organizations to just have a fun workshop with your employees and they all kind of talk about how you all work differently. There's this great tool called the Neural Passport which was popularized in the UK, I believe, and started out in the autism community. It's since kind of gone out to the wider neurodivergent community. But it's a simple passport. It's a little kind of activity where you can write out how do you work best, how do you communicate best. Some folks really like doing more voice notes. Some people really like text if they have maybe auditory processing differences. And then really that when you can kind of take a snapshot of how everyone communicates better, everyone has this understanding of how wow we are really all different and that can create this sense of community-wide compassion and patience for each other as well. I was like, "Oh, this person just doesn't process information the same way I do." So, maybe I'll just send them a voice note on Slack instead of writing them five paragraphs. So, that can be really powerful as well, bringing in that that awareness team-wide. 

JULIE: I think that's a great idea and that was one of the things I struggled with my undiagnosed self when I was working in a corporate environment. Someone would say, "Ah, just pick up the phone and phone them. Just ask them." And for me, it's like, "Ah, no!" I didn't want to pick up the phone. I prefer to really choose my words carefully and write an email and it would take a slightly longer, but I would know that I wouldn't be distracted and I'd get my point across kindly but yet purposefully. And so yeah, just pick up the phone was certainly wouldn't be in my Neural Passport. So that's... it's great to know each other, your colleagues and yeah that really does help. Brilliant. So for leaders listening who want to do better but don't want to over complicate things, what's one shift that they could make that would have a big impact on their teams? 

KIT: Oh so I think it almost actually comes back to the idea of just curiosity and opening up conversation and dialogue. I mean that that's the first step because the awareness is so powerful and you don't really know what to do unless you have the conversations right? Because we can assume and think that we know what's best but we really don't know what actions and steps to take unless we actually hear from our particular team of what will help them best. 

JULIE: That actually is the very first step isn't it? because from that will come up this the neural passport idea, accommodations in the workplace as you said with a big light, little accommodations. So first of all being curious and having that conversation it seems like certainly that's the starting point. So I do. I do agree. I agree with you. 

KIT: Yes, that definitely the first step. And I will say another strategy I want to introduce just in case anyone's listening because it's kind of my bread and butter at Flown, the company I work at, is a concept called body doubling and it is exceptionally powerful for folks with ADHD. And it is simply just working together silently on a task. And there's a lot of cool stuff happening neuro-chemically. You know, mirror neurons are firing off the when we're watching someone else do something. This is our neurons fire. It can help us really lock into focus. There's a little bit of we call it positive peer pressure, but the social accountability of having someone else with you that kind of helps anchor focus in. But it's one kind of more I call a seismic shift strategy. It's a little like larger strategy that you can introduce into the teams where you're just together, especially if you're on a remote team. But it's a really great strategy for folks with ADHD and neurotypical folks as well. 

JULIE: So body doubling, can you explain what exactly that is and how it does help people stay on track or maybe are more productive during this body doubling time? 

KIT: Yes. So just going to preface with saying as all tools, not 100% of folks will find this tool helpful, but I'll say a large majority do. So body doubling is simply working on a task. Doesn't have to be the same task with other people present. This can be virtually. It can be in person and you, typically that the format looks like, you start with your intentions. So you say exactly what you're going to be working on and set the goal and specific and measurable is best if possible. There's a little science there showing that if you can be more specific and maybe even quantify your goal, we're more likely to achieve it. And then you get into your focus work with the body double. So you both kind of sit there silently working on your projects. And then at the end of your deep work or your focus sprint, you check in again and discuss how you did. And that's kind of the book end of the other book end to the intention setting. So how the project went, how you're feeling, were there any roadblocks? And that's just kind of the container of a body doubling session. And why this works so well for ADHD folks is again there's that social accountability piece. So the positive peer pressure, just simply being around other human beings can be quite powerful in help anchoring us into focus. So if you, you know, get off track and you're feeling distracted and maybe you want to scroll on your phone, you're like, "Oh, nope. My body double is working. Maybe I don't want to disappoint them. They're holding me accountable. I got to stay on my task." The other thing that's going on again neuro-chemically is that mirror neurons are firing. So if you've ever seen someone yawn those and then you catch the yawn, so your mirror non neurons working. Those are also happening when your body doubling as well. So that's kind of the fun kind of neuro-chemical effects there. So someone else is working and your brain is saying, "Oh, that person's working. I should be working too." So there's that piece going on. And then simply just the container can be really powerful too, especially if we're struggling to get started on something like we have our intentions. There's the deep work and then there's the book end and how we did there's almost this kind of ritual to it which ADHD brains, I don't actually have any science scientific basis for this, but we have a tendency to kind of like ritualizing things. Not the same thing as a routine and a habit but something it almost makes it more special and holds more weight for us of like "Oh this is like something I'm doing with somebody and it feels more special and it will kind of increase our intrinsic motivation a bit." 

JULIE: You talk about your work with Flown and where you design focus systems, workshops and community based experiences. What's exciting you most about your work right now? What are you up to? 

KIT: Oh, this is a good question. Always working on tons of things as someone with ADHD. The side note, I will say it's really, really, I'm so happy to see that body doubling is trending. I don't know if you've seen that, but if you just look every anywhere on social media on Tik Tok and Reddit, people are talking about body doubling. I'm like, yes, it's such a such a great tool. So something excited to see. But the project I think I'm most excited about is my think my fourth instalment of something called the ADHD Mastery Program and this is something I've run three times before. I'm making some edits to it this next time. It's going to start in March. And it's this six week program. It's designed around the idea of gamifying your life. So earlier we talked about life being on hard mode and you know we think about when we've grown up without a diagnosis or again in a world that's not designed for us. It's like oh my gosh we don't have the player manual to get through life. It hasn't been laid out for us like neurotypical folks have experienced. So this is designed to kind of give us a player manual or kind of the cheat codes of how to navigate life as someone with ADHD. And each module is dedicated to a particular type of ADHD challenge, whether it be time management or emotional regulation. And they're all each level has a boss, which is our manifestation of I ADHD. And it's all designed with a base framework of something called IFS, which is internal family systems. It's a therapy modality. There's a little bit of cognitive behavioural therapy kind of strung throughout as well, but basically looking at our ADHD traits not as something entirely negative. So, you know, there's always we're often living in this place of duality with ADHD. So, yes, we have these real challenges that absolutely should be validated, but also if we learn to kind of manage and navigate our ADHD. We have these real amazing, and this is kind of a hot word for some people, but superpowers, like exceptional creativity, exceptional empathy and ideation, problem solving in completely novel ways. So this whole program is designed to kind of look at our ADHD and make peace with sitting in this duality that both things can be true. This can be really challenging. This also be really great. And again kind of create this player manual with strategies and understanding to navigate this human existence with our ADHD brains. So I absolutely love it. It's been a culmination of all the work I've done for the past decade with my own experiences and also times in behavioural neuroscience labs and working with clients from all over the world, different cultures, age ranges. So, it's my passion project that I've been working on and it's been so great. The feedback has been incredible. It is absolutely like every at the end of it there's always tears, you know, because everyone is having like it's really beautiful. It really feels like a very meaningful piece of my life. So, that's what I'm most excited about. 

JULIE: Now, in the show notes, I'll make sure that there is a link so people can find you because this will be out before March. So, there you go. It might prompt you to look out to look out for you. Oh, that's awesome. Oh, very, very exciting. I love projects. Don't we all? Especially those that are so meaningful, you know, meaningful to us. That makes sense. 

KIT: Due to the great work that the community is doing. I see this real growth in leaning into strengths and actually not feeling bad about saying, "Hey, you know, I'm actually really good. I'm no, I'm really good at this." You know, yeah, I've got my challenges. And so, I really love that shift. It's so beautiful to hear because yeah. Yeah. If I may on that note because I actually discussed this quite a bit in my program is the power of language because same thing I've noticed that some it's a very, very polarizing word. Personally I feel that my ADHD gives me superpowers. I absolutely have such a good relationship with my ADHD. It's not perfect but I really love the parts of myself that it brings. But language is so important in this space because again everyone's experience with ADHD is different. For some it is so debilitating. You know, jobs are difficult, might be failing out of school, relationships might be difficult, and so calling it a superpower can be very invalidating to their experience. However, for others, they might feel really empowered by this kind of framework like personally. So, it's really just kind of a person-to-person basis. And something I've seen personally in my coaching experience over the last decade is when folks start to finally learn some of these tools and strategies to navigate their ADHD then that's when the flip happens. They're like, "Oh, it is a superpower. It is really, really positive." But sometimes it just takes a little bit of extra. Yeah it's just different. Everyone everyone's a little different and what language they find empowering. And I will say too that you can play around with it also because like I in the past have like for example getting accommodations at my university. It was a disability and so I called it a disability at the time because that helped me get accommodations. But now I just call it a difference because I don't see myself as disabled with my ADHD. But some people might and that's okay. So, it's really just about looking at what language feels empowering for the individual and respect like acknowledging and honouring their experience. 

JULIE: For someone who's listening who feels broken, maybe because they struggle to focus in this such a distracting world, what would you most want them to understand about their brain and what's actually possible when work is designed differently? 

KIT: Oh, there's so many things I want to say from this one. I think the main thing, and this is really what informs my coaching practice as well, is when we can truly understand what's happening in our brains, it can help us have more compassion for ourselves and figure out the next step to take. So, for example, and it's very common as someone with ADHD to if you're having trouble getting started on a task, it's like those narratives come up, right? Like, oh, why can't I just do this? I don't, I'm not motivated. I might be late. I'm lazy. You know, those tapes come up and then we get the emotional flooding and overwhelm. However, when those feelings arise, it can be so powerful to know what's happening in our brain and our body because then when those feelings come up, oh, I'm so I just can't get I'm really struggling to get started on this task. We can stop and pause and think, oh, okay, what's happening inside my body and brain right now? I probably don't have enough dopamine to get over the task initiation hump. Maybe I'm feeling dysregulated. Then we can say okay so I'm just going to give my body what it needs in this moment and then I can move forward. And it's more of looking at it with a sense of again curiosity and then instead of getting kind of like overwhelmed by those kind of... whether it be shame tapes or those frustration tapes. So I think that education and understanding of what's happening in the brain the body is so powerful and how we navigate our ADHD experience. And also again bringing in that sense of compassion. There's nothing wrong with me as a person. I'm just wired a little bit differently and I need a little bit of different extra kinds of accommodations to help my body and brain get through this task or through this day. So that's probably the main thing I'd love to tell people who might be struggling. And another thing is you're not alone. There's so many of us out here that are experiencing this as well. And I really, I always say this, my top tool as an ADHD coach is simply community because this is where we can connect with each other and finally feel seen and feel heard and feel understood. It can be a very wildly isolating experience for a lot of us. But when we fully start kind of connecting with others and sharing our experiences, that's when we can finally feel safe to be ourselves. And I see time and time and again, people just flourish. They just, it is so beautiful. So community is very powerful.

JULIE: And on that note, Kit, thank you so much for joining me on the show today. It's been wonderful. 

KIT: Yeah, thank you. This is fun. Thanks so much.

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Julie Legg

Host
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Jel Legg

Co-host
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Kit Slocum

Guest