Hey You!

To Become the Front Row Editor of Your Life is to understand one of the most powerful tools you own.

And no, it's not your phone. It's your ability to take a beat when things feel off and do what it takes to get back to your Just Right.

The enoughness of: ADHD

If you've ever felt like everyone got the life manual and you didn't, know this.

You're not broken, and you are good enough.

In fact, you’re amazing.

You're just running a different operating system to most people.

My ADHD guru is Kate Moryoussef, host of the award-winning ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast and author of The ADHD Toolkit.

On my podcast she said something that changed how I see ALL OF IT.

"Stress, overwhelm and burnout doesn't have to be a default position. An ADHD diagnosis is an explanation. When you find the tweaks that work, you unlock your potential."

And it's true.

That reframe, and the mindset shift and ADHD game below, got me from anxiety, depression, addiction, analysis paralysis, overthinking, fear and perfectionism to making a podcast, a website and this newsletter.

And that is a miracle. One that can happen for you.

(Listen to my conversation with Kate here.)

Mindset Shift

The ADHD brain (and the distracted brain) has dysregulated dopamine.

When it's off, everything feels impossible.

Learn to work with it and you get to Become the Front Row Editor of Your Life.

In his brilliant and incredibly moving ADHD book Scattered Minds, Gabor Maté quotes a patient who spent her whole life pretending to be normal.

As soon as she stopped pretending, she freed herself. We can too.

Because the answer isn't trying to fit in.

It's accepting your true nature, and getting excited by what makes you work best.

Fellow ADHDer Alex Partridge, host of ADHD Chatter and author of Now It All Makes Sense, puts it like this:

"We crave stimulation and we're allergic to boredom. Use this to your advantage."

It’s a process, but there IS a way, and its fun.

The best ADHD advice ever

Action Produces Information. API.

I discovered API on a course I took to manage my ADHD better.

It’s a phrase coined by Paul Graham and used by digital entrepreneurs to motivate them to keep trying stuff to find what works, and learn from what doesn’t.

For ADHD its priceless.

Next time you are stuck, call in API.

Don't debate it.

Do anything to get things moving.

Even if it's the wrong thing.

Even if you can't see the road ahead.

Every few steps, the next steps will appear.

Most people don't take them.

TAKE THEM!

Action does produce information.

Every action you take will give you more self-belief, confidence, and compassion for yourself.

And you’ll get shit done.

Take Action

Each of these API points changed my ADHD life for the better.

• Put your calendar widget to the front of your phone, so it becomes the first thing you see. Put new tasks in immediately. You’ll never forget an appointment again.

  For Apple. For Android.

• Use a body double to make you more accountable. I love the body-doubling website, Flown. Use a café. A library. A friend on FaceTime. The presence of another person, even a stranger in a café, creates more action and focus.

• Make it a game. Give yourself a point for each. Make the bed. Pay the bill.  Edit the fridge. Call the friend. Make the boundary. Pick up the gym kit you've walked past all week. Each one a dopamine hit. Hit ten points and give yourself a medal.

The Lighthouse

This months’s screensaver says

I am the editor of my life

Tap on the image to save to your camera roll, and make it your screensaver.

Every time you unlock your phone, use it to remind yourself

Action Produces Information

It works, try it.

The Enoughness of everything, shared every Tuesday.

Until next week,

Melanie x