ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka
- Folgen
- 419
- Erscheint
- wöchentlich
- Letzte Folge
- 11. Nov. 2026
Über den Podcast
Want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and make it work for you?
Learn more about my patented program, Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy:
programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup
I have NEVER met an ADHD woman who wasn’t truly brilliant at something!
This podcast, with nearly 7 million downloads, is for smart, high-ability ADD/ADHD (diagnosed or suspecting) women who see their symptoms as more positive than negative.
If you want to fall in love with your ADHD brain and discover where your brilliance lies, this podcast is for you!
ADHD for Smart Ass Women is globally ranked in the top one-tenth of one percent of all podcasts in the world on any subject. It’s streamed in more than 160 countries and is downloaded by more than 150,000 listeners every month.
My book of the same name, published by HarperCollins/William Morrow, was recently honored by Amazon Editors as a Top 20 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024.
I’m Tracy Otsuka, your host.
I’m a lawyer, not a doctor, a lifelong learner, and a certified ADHD coach. I’m on a mission to change the conversation around ADHD because I believe it’s time to focus on the strengths that come with our unique brains.
When I was diagnosed eight months after my son, my entire life finally made sense, yet all I read and heard about ADHD focused on what I should struggle with. What I discovered, though, was that my ADHD was responsible for some of my greatest strengths.
Another thing we constantly hear is all the success stories about ADHD men, but no one talks about the women. This podcast is here to change that.
ADHD women are my people, and I’m here to acknowledge, support, and cheer them on.
My experience as an adult living with ADHD, along with my expertise, is regularly sought out by top-tier media, including Bloomberg, Forbes, CBS Mornings, ABC News Live, Inc., Prevention Magazine, Verywell Mind, ADDitude magazine, and The Goal Digger Podcast, etc.
The content in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and does not constitute medical or professional advice.
Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of anything you have seen or heard from Tracy Otsuka, her guests or this podcast.
Folgen 419
EP. 410: Filmmaker Liz Sargent Broke the Rules and Won at Sundance
Get productive without relying on motivation in 90 minutes. Learn simple, ADHD-friendly strategies to get things done without waiting for motivation to show up. Free training here …
Shownotes
Get productive without relying on motivation in 90 minutes. Learn simple, ADHD-friendly strategies to get things done without waiting for motivation to show up. Free training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/productivity-training-email
_____Liz Sargent didn’t go to film school or take a screenwriting class. She wrote her first feature by making up her own process, and it won a screenwriting award at Sundance.
Liz is a Korean-American adoptee, former choreographer, and two-time New York Emmy winner who grew up the middle child of eleven. Her feature Take Me Home began with a question she couldn’t stop thinking about: Who would care for her disabled siblings as their parents got older? The film stars her sister Anna in the lead role and has traveled from Sundance to Berlin.
Liz thrived in the chaos of her big family but nearly didn’t graduate because she was so bored in school. She learned filmmaking by doing, built a production around what Anna needed, and only recently discovered she has ADHD. I loved talking with Liz about her family, her film, and why she’s never been particularly interested in following the rules.
Resources:
- Website: https://sargentliz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizziesarge
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/take_me_home_film
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/liz-sargent-62281b4
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 409: ADHD Brains Don't Need Fixing: Help That Fits How Kids Actually Learn with Parallel Learning Founder Diana Heldfond
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Before we decide a kid with ADHD needs …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____Before we decide a kid with ADHD needs fixing, has anyone asked the kid how the lesson is going?
Diana Heldfond was diagnosed with dyslexia at seven. She credits the specialists who taught her to read and write with understanding where she was getting stuck.
Her ADHD was easier to miss. She was the type A kid who never missed a deadline, often because she was finishing her homework the morning it was due. That looked like laziness, so it slid by for years until she asked to be tested herself.
That experience stayed with her. After Georgetown and a career in investment banking, Diana founded Parallel Learning to bring the kind of individual support she’d had to kids who might otherwise go without it. Today, Parallel works with more than 250 school districts.
I asked Diana about something I remember from trying to find help for my own son. You find a specialist with all the right credentials, and your kid comes home and tells you it didn’t help. Where do you go from there? If the kid loves aliens, why not give him something about aliens to read?
Resources:
Website: https://www.parallellearning.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinparallel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoinParallel
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-heldfondSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 408: People Over Politics: Danielle Ford on ADHD and Her Run for Nevada Governor
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Politics has a way of putting people into …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____Politics has a way of putting people into boxes. Danielle Ford has spent much of her life questioning why those boxes exist in the first place.
When Danielle first joined me, she had just won a seat on the Clark County School Board. Today, she’s running for governor of Nevada as a nonpartisan candidate with a philosophy she calls systems repair: the belief that education, health care, housing, affordability, and government accountability are all connected, and real solutions need to address them together.
Diagnosed with ADHD at 30, Danielle has spent years questioning rules that don’t make sense, connecting ideas others overlook, and being labeled difficult for challenging the status quo. But after losing her reelection campaign, she began questioning herself. She had so many ideas and interests, but where were they actually leading her?
We talk about the exhaustion of being misunderstood, how Danielle found the common thread connecting her seemingly scattered career, and why she refuses to let political labels define her approach. It's a conversation about finding your purpose, trusting the way your brain works, and realizing that doing things differently doesn't mean you're doing them wrong.
Resources:- Website: https://daniellefornevada.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellefordlv
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trusteeford
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellefordlv
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 407: Misdiagnosed at 11: Molly Smith’s ADHD Story
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____What happens when a girl gets tested for …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____What happens when a girl gets tested for ADHD and walks out with a different answer?
At 11, Molly Smith was evaluated for ADHD and ended up diagnosed with anxiety. Her teachers noticed she couldn’t sit still and talked out of turn, but she was a good student who loved school, so the daydreaming, the chewed pencils, and the tears during timed math tests got chalked up to nerves.
For the next decade, she blamed herself. When a therapist finally pushed her to get tested again at 21, the psychologist reviewed her childhood report and said she didn’t know how anyone could have missed it.
Today Molly is a freelance writer and creative marketer, and the host of the movie podcast Did That Age Well?
In this episode, we talk about what gets missed when a smart girl looks fine on paper, the cost of believing your struggles are a character flaw, and what changed when Molly finally understood her brain.
If you keep thinking you should be able to handle things by now, there’s a lot here you’ll recognize.
Resources:
- Website: https://www.portfoliomollysmith.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-smith
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollybirdsmith
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/didthatagewell
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@didthatagewellpod
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@didthatagewell
- Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/did-that-age-well/id1546089548
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 406: The Hidden Strengths of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria with Dr. Catherine Mutti-Driscoll
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____One critical comment. You can get a hundred …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____One critical comment. You can get a hundred lovely ones, and that’s the one you’re still thinking about hours later. Then you’re frustrated with yourself because why do you care so much?
Dr. Catherine Mutti-Driscoll knows this feeling. She’s the Director of Executive Function Coaching at the Hallowell ADHD & Behavioral Health Center in Seattle and the author of The Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Workbook. I had the honor of writing the foreword, and I’m so happy to have her back.
We talk about why rejection can hit so hard, how the fear of it can influence choices we don’t even realize we’re making, and the part I especially love: the strengths Catherine sees in this sensitivity. Because when you’ve spent years wondering why you take everything so personally, there is a lot more about yourself you deserve to understand.
If one critical comment can take over your week, this conversation will help you understand why it stays with you long after everyone else has moved on.
Resources:
Website: https://catherinemuttidriscoll.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catherinemuttidriscoll
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-mutti-driscoll-ph-d-b9847919
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@catherinemuttidriscollSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 405: Anita Robertson on ADHD and Motherhood: Being a Mom with ADHD
Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive____Anita Robertson prepared for everything when she became a mom. Then the …
Shownotes
Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
____Anita Robertson prepared for everything when she became a mom. Then the parts nobody warned her about showed up anyway.
Anita is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, ADHD mom, and author of ADHD and Us. She's back on the show with her new book, Being a Mom with ADHD, and I was honored to write the foreword.
Knowing her ADHD history, she had a plan for postpartum mental health. That part went fine. What blindsided her was everything else: a birth that left her barely able to move, sensory needs suddenly going unmet, hormones changing how her brain worked, and a son who didn't sleep through the night for three years. When an occupational therapist fixed his bedtime in a few weeks with a simple sensory routine, her first thought was, why is this not common knowledge?
In this episode, Anita and I get into how pregnancy and hormones affect the ADHD brain, why she gave mom guilt a name and a villain's hat, what mom rage is actually telling you, and why she says stop fighting for consistency and redesign your setup instead.
If motherhood has made you feel like you're losing your mind, this conversation will show you how much of it was never your fault.
Resources:- Website: https://www.anitarobertson.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anitarobertsonlcsw
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anitarobertsonlcsw
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strengthinyourmind
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitarobertson
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@strengthinyourmind
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP 404: Thriving for 32 Years as an Attorney, Then Teaching Other Attorneys to Do the Same with Rosemary Hollinger
Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive____Some jobs make you feel brilliant. Others make you wonder what happened to …
Shownotes
Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
____Some jobs make you feel brilliant. Others make you wonder what happened to your brain.
Rosemary Hollinger is a certified ADHD coach who works with female lawyers and other analytical professionals. Before coaching, she spent 32 years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, eventually becoming Head of the Chicago Regional Office and Deputy Director in Enforcement. She was trying cases, shutting down Ponzi schemes, working alongside people she liked, and getting plenty of stimulation from the work itself.
Now she coaches lawyers who are every bit as smart and capable, but sometimes feel like they’re failing at the very careers they worked so hard to build.
And this is where it gets really interesting. Because what happens when the problem isn’t whether you can do the work, but the way the work is set up?
In this episode, Rosemary and I get into the parts of the legal profession that can be especially brutal for an ADHD brain, why the usual advice about priorities doesn’t always help, and something she discovered about her ADHD lawyer clients that genuinely surprised me. We also talk about what her own 32-year legal career taught her about the kind of work, people, and environment that can completely change how a brain performs.
Resources:
- Website: https://www.partnerupcoaching.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100048929782976
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partnerup_coaching
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-hollinger-2379453
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP 403: Why Your ADHD Brain Works Better Around Other People
Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive____I’ve been doing this since college, and until I was diagnosed with ADHD, I …
Shownotes
Need help actually getting started? Join the A-OK Hive and get things done alongside other ADHD women: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
____
I’ve been doing this since college, and until I was diagnosed with ADHD, I just thought I was a little odd. I work better when other people are around. Not helping me, not talking to me, and definitely not asking me how it’s going. I just need them there, doing their own thing.
In college, I couldn’t study in my quiet apartment, so I’d pack up my books and head to the noisiest floor of the library. My friends thought I was nuts. Decades later, when I had four months to write ADHD for Smart Ass Women, I ran into the same problem. I could spend an entire morning avoiding my manuscript at home, then walk into a coffee shop and write for hours.
So why does the same brain struggle in one environment and work brilliantly in another?
In this episode, I’m exploring why working around other people can help us get started, why silence isn’t always the answer for an ADHD brain, and what we might actually be borrowing from the environment around us. I’m also sharing how this led me to create the AOK Hive, a place where we can work alongside each other and get things done.
Maybe we need to stop asking why we can’t make ourselves do something and start paying attention to where our brains actually work best.Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 402: The ADHD Engine: How Overwhelm Built a Seven-Figure Organizing Business with Jenny Dietsch
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Jenny Dietsch was the kid with papers …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____Jenny Dietsch was the kid with papers flying out of her backpack, missing shoes, forgotten assignments, and parents asking, why can’t you just get it together?
Today, she runs a seven-figure professional organizing company. And weirdly enough, that makes perfect sense.
Jenny is a certified professional organizer and the founder of Getting It Done Organizing, a seven-figure home organizing and move management company in Dallas.
She was diagnosed with ADHD in her 40s after two of her three kids were diagnosed first. Suddenly, a lot of her own life made sense too. Her doctor saw the irony right away: Jenny had spent years building the systems she needed to function, then built an entire business around helping other people do the same.
Then the business scaled, and some of the chaos she thought she had left behind came right back with it.
In this episode, Jenny and Tracy talk about why structure can create more freedom for an ADHD brain, what happened when Jenny’s growing business became too chaotic even for her, and how she rebuilt it using repeatable systems, workflows, and routines.
If your life looks like chaos from the inside, this one is about what can change when you stop fighting your brain and start building around the way it actually works.
Resources:
- Website: https://gettingitdoneorganizing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gettingitdoneorganizing
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getting-it-done-organizing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gettingitdoneorganizing
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 401: The Confidence Effect: How Podcasts Are Changing the Way Women With ADHD See Themselves with Dr. Ann Bennett
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Dr. Ann Bennett has spent more than 20 …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
Dr. Ann Bennett has spent more than 20 years studying what helps people learn, adapt, and thrive. So when she decided to look at what ADHD podcasts were actually doing for women, she was not expecting the results to be THIS strong.
Dr. Bennett leads Applied Research & Evaluation at Understood.org and identifies as disabled, autistic, and AuDHD. In a first-of-its-kind study with Torrens University Australia, she and her research partner looked at how podcasts hosted by and for women with ADHD affect self-perception, health literacy, relationships, and hope for the future.
What they found was bigger than “podcasts are helpful.”
Women were moving from “something is wrong with me” to “I am a woman with ADHD, and I can navigate this.” About 85 to 86 percent reported a stronger sense of hope for their future, and the benefits showed up across every dimension of thriving the researchers measured.
In this episode, Tracy and Ann talk about why lived experience matters as much as credentials, why being talked with feels different from being talked at, what clinicians could learn from podcasts, and why hearing another woman say “me too” can genuinely change the way you see yourself.
Resources:
Website: https://www.understood.org/en/people/ann-m-bennett
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-annbennett
TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=noZM8CRmrBo
Podcast Study: https://www.understood.org/en/research-and-surveys/the-power-of-podcasts-how-podcasts-are-supporting-women-with-adhdSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 400: ADHD & Entrepreneurship: How Holly Fowler Built Wable from the Ground Up
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Holly Fowler was the kid who got told she …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____Holly Fowler was the kid who got told she was too loud, too distracted, too much. She was also a C-grade student barely passing maths and science until an academic scholarship gave her a reason to care.
Then she got straight As.
That same intensity now fuels Wable, the global social network Holly founded for neurodivergent people to connect across friendship, dating, work, and support. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, she has since scaled the company across four continents.
Diagnosed with ADHD in her early 20s, Holly can now see the clues all over her childhood, including years of school reports calling her easily distracted and distracting to others.
In this episode, Holly and Tracy talk about ADHD as an entrepreneurial advantage, what rejection taught her about RSD, how she manages overthinking and constant decision-making, and what building a company has revealed about how her brain works under pressure.
If you have ever been told your brain is too much for the room, this conversation explores what can happen when you build around it instead.
Resources:
Website: https://www.hellowable.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itshollyfowler
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-fowler-3b36b9163
Mindbridge Coaching: https://www.mindbridgecoaching.com
Wable: https://www.hellowable.comSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
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🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
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📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 399: How Two Years of Cognitive Training Changed Her Brain
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Tessa MacKay can spend hundreds of hours on …
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Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____Tessa MacKay can spend hundreds of hours on a single painting. Her photorealistic work can look almost indistinguishable from a photograph, but for Tessa, that precision became more than technique. It became a way to work with her ADHD, dyslexia, and the way her brain processes the world.
An Australian oil painter diagnosed with inattentive ADHD at 18, Tessa built a career around the kind of detail and focus that once helped her make sense of the world. But success also brought her face-to-face with the art world's complicated relationship with photorealism, forcing her to question how she thought, learned, and defended her own work.
In this episode, Tracy and Tessa talk about what happened when she decided to retrain her brain, why painting could feel easier than everyday life, and how her latest project, Social Realism, turns forgotten Facebook photos into art.
If you have ever wondered how someone can do something extraordinarily difficult while struggling with things that seem simple, this conversation goes there.
Resources:- Website: https://www.tessamackay.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessamackayart
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-mackay-8a7121289
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tessamackayart
- Arrowsmith Program:
https://arrowsmith.ca
https://thetrailblazersbook.com - Trailblazers by Howard Eaton - https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazers-Spearheading-Educational-Australian-Difficulties/dp/1779414250
- The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young - https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Changed-Brain-Transformation/dp/1451607946
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Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
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📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 398: Voted Off the Island: The Marriage Rule Every ADHD Couple Needs with Jackie Kelley
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Have you ever tried to fix your spouse? …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
Have you ever tried to fix your spouse? Push a little harder, remind a little more, explain it one more time, and eventually they will just get it?
Jackie Kelley did that for years. Then she realized the thing she kept trying to change was often just a brain that worked differently from hers.
Jackie is a neurodivergent content creator, illustrator, children’s book author, wife, mother, and founder of JK Illustrates. Diagnosed with ADHD at 30, after motherhood knocked down what she calls the “perfect house of cards” she had built around herself, she began sharing what she was learning about ADHD, marriage, and family life. Her viral “Marriage Rules” videos took off in 2024, and her book, So You Married a Human, comes out October 6.
She and her husband married two weeks after she graduated, having never spent more than 72 consecutive hours together. Two very different neurodivergent brains, each convinced the other person’s way was the problem, eventually built a set of rules to communicate better in the middle of conflict.
In this episode, Jackie and Tracy get into “Voted Off the Island,” “No Wrong Answer,” “Do It Yourself,” and “Love This Idea for Five Minutes.” They also talk about sensory overload, defensiveness, the “little man” screaming in everyone’s head, why the goal of a fight cannot be winning, and why laughter matters so much in an ADHD marriage.
If you have ever quietly resented your partner for not doing something the way your brain needs it done, this one is for you.
Resources:
Website: https://www.stayathomejackie.com
Website: https://www.jkillustrates.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Stayathomejackie
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stayathomejackieSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
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🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 397: Building a Business with ADHD: Clare Edwin on Finding What Finally Worked
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____“Why can’t I just?” was the question Clare …
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Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with my this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
“Why can’t I just?” was the question Clare Edwin kept coming back to.
Why can’t I just answer that email? Why can’t I just leave the house on time? Why can’t I just do the ordinary things everyone else seems to manage?
Clare grew up in Nigeria, studied aeronautical engineering, earned a master’s in mathematical modelling, worked as a quality engineer, and became a secondary school maths teacher. She was rated a good teacher, but behind the scenes, she was struggling. The same pile of books came home to be marked night after night and went back untouched. Eventually, the demands of teaching contributed to repeated episodes of depression, and she left the profession.
While off work, Clare started making beaded bracelets on her coffee table, mostly to get herself off the sofa. That small beginning became Lollamac, the jewellery business she still runs fifteen years later.
Her ADHD diagnosis did not come until 2021, after a woman in her business group described her own experience and Clare found herself mentally ticking off the same traits.
If you have ever worked hard, looked capable from the outside, and still felt like you were falling short, you will recognise yourself in this one.
Resources
Website: https://www.lollamac.co.uk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lollamac_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lollamacSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 396: Ozempic, Mounjaro & ADHD: Why Women Are Noticing More Than Weight Loss
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____About one in nine adults is on a GLP-1 right …
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Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start with this training: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
About one in nine adults is on a GLP-1 right now. And women with ADHD kept telling me the exact same thing after starting GLP-1 medications: they expected to lose weight, but they did not expect their brains to feel different.
The brain fog lifted. The food noise got quieter. Energy felt steadier. Emotional reactions became easier to interrupt. For some, inflammation, pain, bloating, cravings, and compulsive behaviors changed too.
So I brought back Dr. Kalin Johnson to tell us whether there is real science behind that or whether we are getting ahead of the evidence. Kalin is a licensed clinical pharmacist, functional medicine wellness coach, and patient advocate who runs a concierge whole-person care practice for high-achieving, high-masking neurodivergent adults. She is also queer, ADHD, autistic, and living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and this is her fourth time on the show.
In this episode, Kalin and I get into how GLP-1 receptors communicate across the gut, brain, pancreas, immune system, and vagus nerve, and why that matters for ADHD women. They also talk about food noise, brain fog, inflammation, metabolic health, emotional regulation, microdosing, side effects, muscle loss, access, and what the research still cannot tell us.
Resources- Website: https://www.kalinjohnson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kalinpharmd
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalin-johnsonpharmd
- Ania Jastreboff, MD - Director of the Yale Obesity Research Center, principal investigator on many of the landmark trials for tirzepatide and retatrutide. If you watch only one thing, watch her Lincoln Center talk. https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/ania-jastreboff
- Dr. Spencer Nadolsky - https://www.instagram.com/drnadolsky
- Rocio Salas-Whalen MD - https://www.instagram.com/drsalaswhalen
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
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🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
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📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
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EP. 395: Why ADHD Brains Reach for Alcohol with Faye Lawrence
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start here: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Faye Lawrence got blackout drunk at 13. What she remembers …
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Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start here: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
Faye Lawrence got blackout drunk at 13. What she remembers is not the drinking. It is the relief.
She started drinking heavily as a teenager and kept going for decades. From the outside she looked successful and high functioning, right up until late 2017, when the wheels came off the cart and she found herself in inpatient detox.
She got sober. Then she waited five more years to find out why she had been drinking in the first place. Faye was diagnosed with ADHD at 48, and suddenly the chaos, the burnout, the emotional intensity, the boredom, and the constant need to switch her brain off all made sense. Alcohol had not come out of nowhere. It had been doing a job.
Faye is now a certified grey area drinking coach and ADDCA certified ADHD coach with degrees in psychology and counselling, and she has spoken at TEDx and SXSW. She founded Untoxicated, which grew into Australia's largest alcohol-free social community back when being sober was decidedly uncool.
In this episode, Tracy and Faye get into grey area drinking and why the all-or-nothing label keeps people stuck, what alcohol is actually doing in an ADHD brain, the mummy wine culture that was sold to women on purpose, and why the carrot works where the stick never will.
If you have ever needed a drink to get your brain to be quiet, this conversation is not here to shame you. It is here to give you clarity.
Resources
Website: https://fayelawrence.com.au
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_fayelawrence_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FayeLawrenceCoaching
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faye-lawrence-aus
Free Wine O'Clock reset guide: https://fayelawrence.com.au/tracyo
ADHD-alcohol small group coaching program also opens in mid-August: https://fayelawrence.com.au/loopSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 394: The Chainsaw Sculptor Who Turned Her ADHD "Too Much" Into a Superpower
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start here: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Some brains cannot sit still long enough to be careful. Ella …
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Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start here: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
Some brains cannot sit still long enough to be careful. Ella Fielding found a machine that runs on exactly that.
Ella has a BA in Fine Art Sculpture, a Masters in Fine Art, and a chainsaw operator's license, and she uses all three to turn whole trees into monumental sculpture. But she left school at 14 because it was too traumatic to stay. She was quick with her hands and slow to get anything out of her head onto paper, and for most of her life nobody named why. She was 38, running her own art business and drowning in the admin, when a work coach kept mentioning ADHD and she kept insisting she was just dyslexic. Turns out it was both.
Now she carves outside in full gear, running a machine most people won't touch and making it behave like a scalpel. Not despite the ADHD. Because of it. A chainsaw does not let you drift or second-guess or wait for the perfect plan. It demands you be right here, right now, which is the one place her brain has always worked best.
In this episode, Tracy and Ella get into the school years that nearly broke her, the "poof" moment where a thought vanishes the second she reaches for a pen, why immediate and physical beats slow and planned for a brain like hers, and how she reads her own overwhelm as a signal instead of a character flaw.
If you have ever been told you were too much, this one might reframe the whole thing.
Resources:
Website: https://ellafielding.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ella.fielding.sculptor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellafieldingsculptor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-fielding-sculptorSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
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🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
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📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 393: AuDHD, Decision Fatigue, and Rebuilding a Life That Actually Works with Dr. Shannan Palma
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start here: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____She was good at the job. She just kept bombing the …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Start here: Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
She was good at the job. She just kept bombing the people.
Dr. Shannan Palma has a PhD from Emory, founded a master's program, and taught as a college professor. Then, in midlife, she found out she was autistic. ADHD turned up right behind it.
For decades she had followed the rules exactly as they were written and could not work out why that kept failing her. She was direct when directness was not wanted. She said no when everyone else said yes and did nothing. She ran full speed until she collapsed, then ramped back up and did it again. The diagnosis did not just explain the pattern. It ended it.
Today she identifies as AuDHD, co-founded the autistic-led nonprofit Independence Through Interdependence, and serves as CEO of ITI Lab, where her team built Decide, an app for decision fatigue.
In this episode, Tracy and Shannan get into why decision fatigue is not a willpower problem, what happens when the autism wants routine and the ADHD wants novelty, the assessment that went badly wrong, and what it takes to rebuild after burnout on your own terms instead of someone else's.
If your brain has ever turned a small decision into a full-body shutdown, this one will help you understand why. And more importantly, what actually helps.
Resources
Website: https://weareiti.org
Website: https://itilab.io
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannanpalma
ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
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📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 392: When You Finally Stop Fawning with Laura Pasley
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Laura Pasley is a child and youth worker in Ontario, Canada, who has …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
Laura Pasley is a child and youth worker in Ontario, Canada, who has spent more than a decade in intensive mental health and dual-diagnosis treatment programs for children and adolescents. She is the person who runs toward the crisis when everyone else is running away from it.
After postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, complex trauma, and her sixth concussion, Laura started questioning whether ADHD had been part of her story all along. At 32, she finally received the diagnosis that helped her see herself differently. Not as someone who had fooled everyone. Not as someone who was not smart. As someone whose brain had been working hard to keep her alive.
In this episode, Tracy and Laura talk about ADHD, trauma, fawning, concussions, crisis work, motherhood, shame, and what changes when a woman finally stops explaining every struggle through what happened to her. Laura also shares why she is now returning to school, writing a memoir, and learning to embrace being a daydreamer.
If you have ever wondered whether it is ADHD, trauma, anxiety, or all of the above, this conversation offers a gentler question: what if understanding your brain is not about proving what is wrong with you, but finally seeing what has always been true?
Resources
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arttaropy
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@arttaropySend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
Collect the Evidence
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here …
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Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
_
How many times have you told yourself, “I’ll do it when I feel more confident”?
When I feel ready, I’ll apply for that job. When I feel more confident, I’ll start the business. When I believe in myself more, I’ll have that hard conversation.
We spend so much of our lives waiting to feel ready. More confident. More certain. More qualified.
But what if we have had it backwards all along?
I want to talk about why confidence does not actually come first. It does not magically appear before we take the risk, try the thing, or do something that scares us.
Confidence comes after.
If you have been waiting to feel ready before taking the next step, this episode will help you stop waiting for confidence and start building it.
ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start seeing yourself differently, explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shiftSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
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🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
Episode 391: What Happens When a School Is Built for ADHD Brains
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____Your kid got labeled the “problem.” The defiant one, the behavior kid …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
Your kid got labeled the “problem.” The defiant one, the behavior kid, the one who couldn't sit still or keep up. What if the room was the thing that didn't fit?
Beven Byrnes is a neurodivergent educator, nonprofit leader, and a mom of four. She's the Executive Director of Bridges Middle School in Portland, the only middle school in Oregon built specifically for students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and anxiety.
Beven spent 25 years and raised over $15 million building environments where kids actually fit. But she didn't have her own ADHD diagnosis until this past year, at 50. Cancer treatment forced her into menopause at 45, her estrogen dropped, and the masking she'd done her whole life without knowing it stopped working. The square-peg feeling she'd carried since childhood finally made sense. Now she runs a school on one idea: behavior is communication, and the job isn't to fix the kid, it's to fix the environment around them.
In this episode, Tracy and Beven get into why behavior is almost always communication, what happens to a child's confidence after years of being misread, and what it looks like to build a school around how kids actually learn instead of forcing them to fit.
If your child, or you, ever got treated like the problem to be solved, this one will show you what was actually broken. And it was never the brain.
Resources:
Website: https://www.bridgesms.org/staff-spotlight-beven-byrnes-executive-director
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_byrnes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beven-byrnesSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
Get Into Your Body
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here …
Shownotes
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
_Have you ever noticed that the harder you try to think your way out of feeling overwhelmed, the more overwhelmed you become?
You replay conversations. You worry about the future. You analyze every possible outcome. You keep thinking that if you can just solve the problem, you will finally feel better.
But what if thinking is not the answer?
For a long time, I thought the only way to feel better was to think differently. If I could just figure it out, solve the problem, or make sense of what I was feeling, then I would finally feel better.
But sometimes the fastest way to calm your brain is not to think harder. It is to start with your body.
When I get into my body, my attention has somewhere else to go. Instead of replaying my thoughts, I start paying attention to what I am doing, what I see, what I hear, what I smell, and what I feel.
If you have ever tried to think your way out of overwhelm and only made yourself feel worse, this episode will help you stop asking your brain to do all the work and let your body lead for a few minutes.
Resources:
SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start seeing yourself differently, explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
Listen to ADHD for Smart Ass Women:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adhd-for-smart-ass-women-with-tracy-otsuka/id1443678424
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bG9rgwPgi8zRkQxV6ykk0
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 390: Can Cooking Be Therapy with Charlotte Hastings
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____You have heard of art therapy and talk therapy. Charlotte Hastings does …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
You have heard of art therapy and talk therapy. Charlotte Hastings does therapy in the kitchen, and it opens people up in a way the usual chair never quite does.
Charlotte Hastings is a psychodynamic therapist, founder of Kitchen Therapy, and author of Kitchen Therapy: How to Become a Conscious Cook. Trained first as an anthropologist, she taught drama to neurodivergent teenagers before building an entire therapeutic approach around the kitchen.
Charlotte recognized her own ADHD in her forties, after years of self-medicating and a chaotic childhood with an undiagnosed, alcoholic father. School had convinced her she was not smart. Anthropology, Jung, and eventually a wooden spoon proved otherwise. Now she uses cooking the way other therapists use art or drama: a side-by-side, low-pressure space where the real stuff surfaces.
In this episode, Tracy and Charlotte talk about why cooking can work like art or drama therapy, why food and love are so entwined, how recipes can both support and shut down ADHD brains, and why the way you hold a wooden spoon might reveal the way you hold life. If cooking has ever felt loaded, boring, chaotic, or impossible, this conversation offers a gentler reframe: the meal is not just the result. The journey is the meal.
Resources- Website: https://therapykitchen.co.uk
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapy.kitchen
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
Success Creates Confidence
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here …
Shownotes
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
_Have you ever had a really productive day and still felt like you didn’t do enough?
You answered the emails. You made the calls. You went to the meeting. You finished the project. Maybe you even did the thing you had been putting off for weeks. And still, by the end of the day, your brain was already moving on to everything you missed, forgot, or still needed to do.
Today, I want to talk about why success does not always feel like success for ADHD women.
Our brains are often scanning for what is unfinished, unresolved, or potentially threatening. So even when we complete ten things, we can still end the day focused on the one thing we did not get done.
But today, I want you to practice noticing what is going right. Noticing your progress. Noticing the effort it took. Noticing the evidence that you are capable, that you do follow through, and that you can do difficult things.
Because success does not create confidence when we ignore it. Success creates confidence when we notice it.
If you have ever struggled to feel proud of yourself, even after doing so much, this episode will help you pause long enough to collect the evidence your brain keeps overlooking.
Timestamps:
[00:00 – 03:58] Why Success Does Not Always Feel Like Success
[03:58 – 06:22] How Negativity Bias Keeps Us Focused on What Is Unfinished
[06:22 – 07:15] Breathwork Practice
[07:15 – 08:28] Gratitude Check-In and Noticing What You Have Done
[08:28 – 10:10] Reassessing Your SUD Score and Collecting the Evidence
[10:10 – 11:00] Closing Reflection and SHIFT InvitationADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start seeing yourself differently, explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
Explore more from me:
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/Listen to ADHD for Smart Ass Women:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adhd-for-smart-ass-women-with-tracy-otsuka/id1443678424
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bG9rgwPgi8zRkQxV6ykk0
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/#ADHD #ADHDWomen #ADHDforSmartAssWomen #AdultADHD #WomenWithADHD #LateDiagnosis #ADHDBurnout #ADHDSelfTrust #ADHDConfidence #adhdsupport
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 389: Planning Isn't About Productivity (And That's Why Most Planners Fail)
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____You bought the planner. You loved the planner. You were absolutely …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
You bought the planner. You loved the planner. You were absolutely, positively sure this planner was going to change your life.
And then, by March, you forgot it existed.
When we moved out of our family home of 25 years, I found boxes. Boxes and boxes of barely used planners I'd been saving for who knows why. For a long time I thought that meant something about me. That I wasn't disciplined enough. That everyone else got some secret instruction manual for adulthood that I'd missed.
But the women I work with aren't lazy or unfocused. They're brilliant, driven, running companies and raising families. And they can't stick with a planner either. That's when it clicked. This was never a planning problem. It's a time problem, a decision problem, and an emotional regulation problem. Planning is just where those show up.
In this episode I talk about why ADHD brains experience time differently, why importance alone won't get you started, why most planners quietly set you up for an impossible day, and why one meaningful goal beats ten random ones.
If you've got a planner graveyard sitting in a drawer somewhere, this one is for you. The question was never what's wrong with you. The question is what kind of system actually works for your brain.
Resources:- Get the planner: https://tracyotsuka.com/planner
Use code PODCASTPLANNER for $10 off - Website: tracyotsuka.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tracyotsuka
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796
- FREE 3-days to Fall in Love With Your ADHD Brain training on Jan 6th: https://tracyotsuka.com/ilovemybrain
- Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
- Get the planner: https://tracyotsuka.com/planner
Break the Spell
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here …
Shownotes
Stuck in an ADHD pattern that keeps repeating? SHIFT is a collection of 120 guided audio experiences designed to help you see yourself and your ADHD brain differently. Explore SHIFT here: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
_Have you ever noticed that some tasks feel impossible to start, even when they are not actually difficult?
Maybe it is an email, a budget, a project, a decision, or one small thing you keep avoiding. From the outside, it looks like procrastination. But what if the task is not the real problem?
In this first Monday Shift episode, I want to introduce you to a new way of looking at avoidance. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?” I want you to ask a better question: “What does my brain think this means?”
Because sometimes your ADHD brain is not resisting the task itself. It is reacting to the meaning attached to it.
If you have ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unable to begin something that should be simple, this episode will help you look underneath the avoidance with curiosity instead of judgment.
Resources:
SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/Explore more from me:
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/Listen to ADHD for Smart Ass Women:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adhd-for-smart-ass-women-with-tracy-otsuka/id1443678424
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bG9rgwPgi8zRkQxV6ykk0
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tracyotsuka4796Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 388: How to Get Your Brain Online
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____You know what to do. So why can't you make yourself do it? If you …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
You know what to do. So why can't you make yourself do it? If you have ever stared at one small task and quietly wondered what is wrong with you, I want to offer a different possibility.
Nothing is wrong with you. Your brain already made a prediction about how that task was going to feel before you ever started, and a lot of the time you are not avoiding the task at all. You are avoiding that prediction.
The email isn't an email anymore. It's criticism.
The budget isn't a budget. It's shame.
Once the task stops being the task, no amount of yelling at yourself is going to move you.
In this episode I talk about why the same woman who can't answer an email can build a company, why your brain reaches for Instagram over the thing that actually matters, and the practical ways to break the spell: changing your visual field, moving your body, getting curious, and becoming a detective about what your brain thinks the task really means.
If you have ever called yourself lazy for avoiding something you genuinely wanted to do, this one is for you. The problem was never willpower. It was the prediction.
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 387: The Hidden Cost of Being a High-Performing Woman with ADHD (with Kristen Baird-Goldman)
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up_____You look like you have it all handled. So why are you so …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Stop Trying to “Fix” Your ADHD. You’re Not Broken: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
_____
You look like you have it all handled. So why are you so exhausted?
Kristen Baird-Goldman is a licensed therapist, ADHD specialist, and author of The CBT Workbook for Adults with ADHD. She has spent more than 15 years working with high-achieving neurodivergent women, and she is the owner and clinical director of the Neurodiversity Care Center in Los Angeles.
Diagnosed with ADHD in her 40s, and someone medication never worked for, Kristen has built her practice around the quiet cost of high performance, especially for women moving through perimenopause. She treats ADHD as a whole-body issue, looking at the nervous system, hormones, and functional health instead of one more productivity hack.
In this episode, Tracy and Kristen get into why hyperfocus fools you into thinking you are fine, what high performance is actually doing to your brain and body underneath the productivity, and what real recovery looks like. If you have built an identity around doing more and pushing through, this one is your permission slip to stop.
Resources:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristen.bairdgoldman
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theadhdguru
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-baird-goldman-6178817
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KristenBaird-Goldman
Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 386: The Gender Bias Around ADHD in Women
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup_____As women with ADHD, we are not only dealing with executive dysfunction. We …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup
_____
As women with ADHD, we are not only dealing with executive dysfunction. We are also dealing with medical systems, gender roles, and social expectations never built with us in mind.
In this episode, I’m talking about why ADHD in women is so often missed, misunderstood, and shaped by gender bias.
We’ll start with Tiffany McIntosh’s story of growing up “too much” in a world where she was expected to sit down, be quiet, and become the kind of woman society wanted. Her story speaks to so many ADHD women who are ambitious, curious, intense, and brilliant, while also carrying shame because domestic expectations, caregiving roles, and feminine ideals don’t fit the way their brains work.
Let’s break down how medical misogyny, gendered roles, and gendered bias shape ADHD diagnosis, treatment, motherhood, domestic labor, and self-worth.
If you have ever thought, “I should be able to do this,” this episode will help you question who taught you that, who benefits from it, and what changes when you stop measuring your worth by work you were never designed to carry alone.
Resources:
FREE 3-days to Fall in Love With Your ADHD Brain training on Jan 6th: https://tracyotsuka.com/ilovemybrainSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
EP. 385: When Anxiety Runs Your ADHD Brain with Dr. Tamara Rosier
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup_____A lot of ADHD women are not using executive function to get things done. They …
Shownotes
Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup
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A lot of ADHD women are not using executive function to get things done. They are using anxiety. If panic, pressure, or shame is what finally gets you moving, this episode explains why.
Dr. Tamara Rosier is an ADHD coach, founder of the ADHD Center of West Michigan, and author of Your Brain’s Not Broken. Through her work with adults, families, and students, she helps people understand the emotional side of ADHD in a way that feels practical, concrete, and deeply human.
Tamara realized that many ADHD brains are not relying on calm systems to transition, prioritize, or follow through. Instead, they are using emotional intensity to create enough urgency to act. Fear to remember. Shame to stay motivated. Anxiety to get started.
That shift changed how she approached ADHD support. Instead of focusing only on productivity strategies, she began helping people understand the emotional patterns underneath the behavior first. Because when the nervous system is overloaded, no planner or system will stick for long.
In this episode, we talk about the “angry neighbor” versus the “butler” brain, why transitions feel so hard, and how divergent thinking can turn one small problem into twenty imagined outcomes. We also get into emotional overwhelm, perfectionism, humor as regulation, and why so many ADHD women feel emotionally exhausted even when they look high-functioning on the outside.
If you have ever wondered why you can only seem to function under pressure, this episode will help you understand what your brain has been relying on all along.
Resources:
Website: https://www.tamararosier.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.tamararosier
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-rosier-phdSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message
Explore more from me:
🐝 AOK Hive: https://tracyotsuka.com/hive
🧘 SHIFT: https://tracyotsuka.com/shift
📚 Free resources: https://tracyotsuka.com/learn
📖 Get the book, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
🧠 Join Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy: https://tracyotsuka.com/aok
🌐 Visit my website: https://tracyotsuka.com/ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
That’s why most strategies don’t stick. They were not designed for how your brain actually works. If you’re ready to stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits, start here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/sign-up
Connect with me:
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/adhd-book
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