Smart Creating with ADHD Part 1

[1:04] Hello, Ian Anderson Gray here.

[1:06] this is a special bonus episode of the smart ADHD podcast. I was recently on my good friend, Jeff Sieh's show, the social media news live show. And we were talking about ADHD on that. I was talking about my experience and particularly ADHD for creators and entrepreneurs. And that's really part of what this podcast is all about.

[1:29] And I thought the conversation was really interesting. And, I'd done quite a bit of research and thought a lot about it and the conversation was really interesting. So what I've done is I've taken the first 20, 25 minutes or so of that show and I'm going to play it to you today and I will be playing the next half of it in the future as well.

[1:51] So this is, it's a reasonably short 20, 25 minute episode and I think you'll find it really interesting. So it's Jeff Sieh.. And Connor Brown, they are the hosts and guest hosts and I'm, the, guest. So that's what this is. I'll be back next week with, a proper episode, but I hope you enjoyed this bonus episode and, let's get on with it right now.

[2:14] ​

[2:19] Jeff: Hello folks. Welcome to social media news live. I'm Jeff Sieh.

[2:22] Connor: And I'm Conor Brown, and this is the show that keeps you up to date on what's happening in the world of social media and more.

[2:30] Jeff: Have you ever wondered how ADHD might be a powerful tool in entrepreneurship and creativity? Maybe you're intrigued by the ways it can fuel innovation and lead to unique business successes.

[2:43] Or maybe you're on a journey to harness your ADHD. In a way that amplifies your creative and entrepreneurial spirit. If those thoughts have crossed your mind, today's episode is tailor made just for you. We're excited to have Ian Anderson Gray with us, a creator who has navigated the waters of ADHD to uncover strategies that leverage his strengths in the business and creative worlds.

[3:06] Ian's going to be sharing his personal journey, insights, and actionable advice for turning ADHD into an asset. So sit back, clear your schedule, clear your mind to get ready for this week's episode, Of social media news live. Ian, how are you doing today, my friend?

[3:20] Ian: I'm doing well. It's great to be here. I love this show.

[3:23] As I said before, it's great.

[3:25] Connor: Good to have you. Love it. I'm so excited for this time for Ian too, because if you don't know Ian, you should. Ian is the founder of the Confident Live Marketing Academy and is the host of the Confident Live Marketing Podcast, as well as his new podcast. Smart a d h d podcast.

[3:45] He helps entrepreneurs to level up their impact, authority and profits by using live video confidently, as well as being a geek husband and dad to two kids. Ian is also a professional singer and lives near Manchester in the you Okay. Thanks again, Ian, for being here today.

[4:06] Ian: It's great to be here. I love the way you just stopped at the word geek there, really.

[4:14] Connor: On the right words, it's all about that.

[4:18] Ian: Yeah,

[4:18] Jeff: exactly. let's jump right into this, Ian, because I, you and I have been friends.

[4:24] What was it? We, talked about it this morning, because I was like, when did we first meet? What did you say? It was like 2015? Is that when? Yeah,

[4:31] Ian: 2015. So social media marketing world 2015. I think we, we didn't know each other before that, but like meeting in person was at social media marketing world 2015.

[4:39] Jeff: Yeah. And we've done stuff, met in real life and mid parts of masterminds and all sorts of things. So I've known Ian for a while, but He actually went and got diagnosed as an adult and so I'm really excited about this because we're going to be talking about what like understanding ADHD is. So Ian, why do you think? ADHD is prevalent among like entrepreneurs and creatives because I just, I think more people have it than not. So

[5:05] Ian: yeah. And this is maybe one of the, myths or stigmas.

[5:11] Like some people are saying, everyone has ADHD, but we'll maybe get onto that in a bit. I think a lot more people are getting diagnosed because we understand it a lot more. But also I think the modern world that we're living in, it's great. There's so many cool things for us to play with, but that can actually, I think in a sense, make it more difficult for people with ADHD.

[5:34] So our grandparents, they may have had ADHD, but The world was , maybe easier place for to be ADHD. So that's the first thing, but also people with ADHD tend to gravitate towards entrepreneurship because generally speaking, we have more divergent thinking, we think out of the box and also it fosters creativity.

[5:56] And we can carve out our own timetable as well, which works really well. And I've found that I tend to work really well. I will work like really hard for two or three days. I get hyper focused, I focus and then Friday I find I need to take that time off. So I have a kind of a much more flexible schedule, I think.

[6:16] And also we don't have to have a boss who doesn't understand us. I've spoken to some people who've had bosses who have really not understood the way their brain works. And so instead of focusing on their strengths, and there are strengths with ADHD, they've focused on. the challenges that people with ADHD have.

[6:36] So I think that those are all the reasons, creativity, divergent thinking, flexibility, freedom, all those kind of things. There are some negatives too, but those are the positives.

[6:47] Connor: Yeah. I think that's so interesting. I think also knowing how your brain works is so important to understand how you will work best.

[6:55] And that's where that it's a challenge when you do have a boss that, that doesn't understand. you want to know how you work well so that you can put your best foot forward with, all that stuff. But I think for a lot of people, they don't really understand what ADHD is, right? Or they're just familiar with the stereotypes and they say, no, that's not me.

[7:13] I don't have that. but what does it entail? And if you could just narrow it down and give a super, quick summary of what does it entail and, what is it like, living with it.

[7:26] Ian: Yeah, and this was, my problem. This is why I denied that I was ADHD.

[7:31] In fact, I remember, I, I used to teach singing and I had a student who was, who said he had ADHD and I was thinking all these things. Oh, it's just an excuse. It's just, he's just giving this label. He's lazy, and I was thinking all these things. And then I've, seen people who are very hyperactive, people, or they always forgetful and I thought that's, not really me.

[7:55] So ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is not very helpful because . It isn't really attention deficit . I have no problem Focusing hyper focusing on stuff that i'm really interested in. It's just that I struggle with stuff that i'm not interested in So you could call it attention Dysregulation. And then the hyperactivity is a funny one because I was pretty hyperactive as a kid, but I have no problem staying still Now, what I didn't realize is that hyperactivity can also mean like in the brain, and then I started to realize how much was going on in my head, and I was thinking, no, no wonder I need afternoon naps.

[8:35] There was many different types of, ADHD as there are people with ADHD. I think that's really important. So it's really helpful to think of ADHD as a neurological difference that there is a difference in the way the brain works people with ADHD tend to have an unreliable access to what we call the prefrontal cortex.

[8:54] So this is the front of the brain and this is really important because this the area of the brain That helps with things like planning, emotional regulation, executive function. So for example, storing information, remind, remembering short term memory, things like that. And what I didn't realize is that one of the top traits for people that people have with ADHD is emotional dysregulation.

[9:19] We tend to have very big emotions and I've had over the years. I've had some people say to me, Ian, you're like, you're so sensitive, don't be so sensitive. And we tend to have emotions either number one or possibly two or 10. There's not in the middle, big emotions. And that can be a really good thing, but not always.

[9:40] So the sensitivity sometimes to noise and stimulation. So like a big at parties, if there's lots of loud music and somebody wants to talk to me, it's not going to happen. So like things like noise cancelling headphones can really help, executive functioning. So this is organization tasks, maintaining focus, and things like that.

[10:00] we can come onto some of the misconceptions, but that's basically what ADHD is.

[10:05] Jeff: So I wanted to and we had a great comment. It says, this was written for me. Didn't know that's what I had until my daughter's doctor told her that's where she got it. a lot of people are finding out as they get older that, they may suffer for some of the effects of ADHD or, struggle because of that.

[10:24] I know also, and I, when I, was researching for this show, I dove in some articles and there's a difference between being easily distracted. And having ADHD and a lot, and I know a lot happened during the pandemic. in fact, there's people in my family who we can't get our, get the medicine that they need because.

[10:41] It's been over diagnosed, and people are getting on this, and it's hard to find the drug that kind of helps people cope with ADHD, at least here in the States. as we move on to these myths and, misperceptions about ADHD, what's the difference between being easily distracted and having ADHD?

[11:00] Like, when people say, cause I can, I know I'm easily distracted, but I don't, I've never been clinically diagnosed to have ADHD.

[11:10] Ian: Yeah. And I suppose I need to get the, the warning out the way the medical warning, like none of us are experts here in this. And so if you're concerned about any of these things, then do see a medical professional.

[11:22] but if you're identifying with any of these things, it's good to look into it. And yeah, one of the, one of the things that I heard a lot, so when I got diagnosed, it was a massive relief for me, a lot of guilt went, but then when people, I started talking to people said, look, what, is ADHD?

[11:41] and I said, procrastination, these kinds of things. And, and then people said to me, but. I struggle with it. Everyone struggles with that. And that's the thing. It's a spectrum. In some senses, everyone struggles with these things. Everyone everyone struggles with procrastination or, getting distracted.

[12:01] I love this, a guy called Rick Green, who's a comedian, and he has ADHD, and he put together this big, very popular documentary called ADD and Loving It, and he makes this analogy. Yeah, everyone has ADHD. everyone has height. some people are taller than others.

[12:18] And I think that's a really important thing. I, realized, or my parents realized when I was about 12 or 13, that I'm short sighted, that I needed glasses. So yeah, that's a label. But it was a really helpful label, because then I could do something about it. And I think that's the same with ADHD. the problem is it's in the mental health kind of category.

[12:40] And yeah, that's a tricky one. But when you know that you have something that is different, or something that impairs you in some way, such as short sightedness, you can go and get some glasses. And so I think that, That's really important, and it doesn't necessarily mean you need to go down the medication route.

[13:01] Medication can really help a lot of people. For me at the moment, I've not gone down that route yet. I'm looking at a more holistic, approach to it. Who knows? I might, I might look at medication at some point. So that's, I think the label issue is one thing. then it's the whole thing. People with ADHD are always late or disorganized.

[13:21] You know what? When I want to be. I can be more organized than most people. I was, lives, I was producing an event for this wildlife tracking, organization. And there's so many moving parts with that. There were speakers from all around the world. I was thinking about so all the kind of functionality, all the things that could go wrong.

[13:41] I was so hyper organized when it comes to my, taxes and my finances. This is where I need some help, because I find that boring. And then things like being late, if it's important, like for example, if I need to get to the airport, I get there ultra early because I know that if I don't, I'm going to be late.

[14:03] So I, Overcompensate. And then there's the other thing about impulsivity. Yes. People with a DHD tend to be, can be quite impulsive. And I have been over the years, if I've seen like the latest smartphone, I might, I, I used to like, would, I would just go and buy it. But sometimes, like people who have a DHD often have other things.

[14:24] So it could be anxiety. It could be other things. And so for me, anxiety tends to counteract my impulsivity. I won't always go out and buy something new because I'm worried about the money or worried about the fact that this might not be the right thing for me. And I tend to overthink it. So there's a lot of things that go into it.

[14:44] There's, it's not, there's not one size fits all. but those are maybe some of the misconceptions.

[14:49] Jeff: Awesome. Yeah. That's, really helpful what, I think what you said earlier, if you, if these things are resonating with you, Go get tested or go talk to your health professional about it.

[15:00] And, when I was reading these articles about this, when we preparing for the show, it, what you said about, the glasses thing, and if you would have short sighted kids, you'd have them get glasses. When they get that diagnosis, they said it's like you got glasses for the first time.

[15:13] You felt that relief. You were able to see and understand your brain a little bit better. So I think that's really important. Thanks for transparency about this. I know it seems like almost a taboo subject sometimes. But it's not. It shouldn't be.

[15:24] And I'm glad for you coming on and talking about

[15:27] Ian: this. And it is, I have felt quite nervous about, because in a sense, I'm outing myself, aren't I? coming onto the show and talking about ADHD It's not the done thing, I need to keep quiet and get on with my life.

[15:39] Thank you very much. And you're also british.

[15:41] Jeff: So that has a lot to do with it, too.

[15:43] Ian: That is very true.

[15:44] Connor: But no, that's very helpful for me to understand it as well And I know ian you talked about how adhd and being entrepreneurial or being a creative It's very prevalent in, that community.

[15:56] But from your experience, how has ADHD not only, interfered, but also influenced the creative process, amongst particularly business owners and entrepreneurs and yourself included, of course.

[16:09] Ian: first of all, I want to say I think it's too trivial to say that ADHD is a superpower, because I think.

[16:16] That's goes over the fact that there are many, challenges. And so I don't want to sugarcoat things. However, there are positives, definite positives. And I think that's what I've realized when I look back at my career. It's when I've leaned into these elements that I've done my best work getting to speak at social media marketing world and some of the, blog posts that I've created and I've gone down these rabbit holes.

[16:42] It's all partly influenced by the way my brain works. So I think some of these things are. Quick decisions. I've heard people say that an A DHD brain is it's like a super computer in our heads, but unfortunately there's no cooling system. Or another way is like having a Ferrari engine. but with, I'm not very good with cars, like a really bad cars brakes to, can you help me with a pento?

[17:11] Do Pento do a pinto? Yeah. Pento, pinto's brake, and so the quick decisions are great. There are some ramifications of that. They're also the out of the box thinking. So I love to do things a little bit more, a bit differently and creatively to what other people are doing. That just floats my boat.

[17:31] and being different as sometimes that, sometimes we, that, that can be a problem, but I think often we want to do differently. And also following my curiosity, I've realized that whenever I try and do what people say I should be doing, which is I need to have a proper, strategy. And I need to do things the way people say I should be doing it.

[17:55] That's when I've made my biggest mistakes. And it's also when I've got really bored and frankly depressed when I've gone down the rabbit hole and followed my curiosity. I'm not saying that's always served me well. There have been some, disasters along the way, but I've had fun and I've created it.

[18:14] Amazing things like the first course that I did when Facebook live came out back in 2016, and I was dabbling with OBS studio. Oh my goodness. OBS studio. Those are the days. Thank goodness for e com lives. That's all I can say. But back in those days, I've went down the rabbit hole and I created this really fun thing and this, and I was able to produce this course.

[18:33] but when I followed sometimes what people said I should be doing, I've just not been able to make it work. So I, Yeah, I think hopefully that answers your question. It's like creativity and that innovation.

[18:47] Connor: Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like it gives you permission to explore that as well. I guess when, once you understand what you have, it's, it becomes less of why am I going down this rabbit trail of, no, This is my creativity.

[19:00] This is who I am and allow me to explore that and learn from that.

[19:05] Jeff: So I want to go on to this next section where we're talking about kind of some strategies, maybe for entrepreneurs and creators who may struggle with this, may have been diagnosed, may have not. What are some of these Significant challenges. You mentioned some of them kind of being late. So you've made some hacks that you show up early to the airport, but like when running your business with ADHD, what are some other ways that you have, you have acknowledged those facts, especially since you've been diagnosed, like now, you know why, and now you can make a plan, what are some of those that you have overcome and how you've overcome them now with this new knowledge that you have?

[19:38] Ian: Yeah. I'm not knowledge is just so important. I remember like just when we first. I knew each other, Jeff, but, nearly, 10 years ago, I, was beating myself up inside about how, I was not good at certain things or how I thought I wasn't good. And, so one of the big challenges, a lot of people with ADHD, not all, many have pretty low self esteem and they have this negative inner dialogue.

[20:05] Now, I know a lot of people do, but this is really heightened with people with ADHD. So I think. First of all, be aware of that and be aware of that inner dialogue and that it can be a challenge that's taking me a long time to, and I'm not there yet with this, but just, oh, My inner voice is saying that I'm no good at speaking.

[20:30] So that's the first thing, be aware, it's telling you something. And actually, in some ways, you can almost give this person a name, this, was something that our ADHD coach Tamara Rosier was talking about actually personifying your That inner voice, you can call it, so mine's like a, this, he's trying to be a helpful librarian.

[20:51] He's got all these books and he wants to be really well prepared, but he tends to overthink things. And he says he wants to save me from, something that's scary. And this is, again, something that people with ADHD , struggle with it's not being able to differentiate between something like speaking of an event and certain death, right?

[21:15] So the brain goes ah, warning, alert, alert. So it's, I think the first thing is it's that's being self aware, being aware of that inner dialogue, talk to other people and start to make a list of truths about yourself. And this has been a real struggle for me, but actually speaking with others who have a much better idea of my strengths and making a list of those and being aware of, my strengths is really important.

[21:45] The other thing I've found is sleep being constantly tired, because our brains are working so, hard, things that really help with this, are your diet, exercise, and calming down your nervous system.

[21:59] So things like just knowing things that are actually going to calm you down. So exercise definitely helps me. and you could also put your the different tasks that you do into different zones. So this is the book. This is from the book by Tamara Rosier. your brain's not broken, and she has this kind of four quadrants.

[22:17] Which I suppose is, yeah, a quadrant means four, so I suppose it was going to be four. But anyway, you've got at the top, you've got your, your high stimulation activities. So on one side, you've got the green, which is high stimulation and fun. It could be like, maybe you're into roller coasters, that's high stimulation and fun.

[22:34] But on the other side, you've got high stimulation and not fun. That might be you've got a, you're speaking at a conference tomorrow and the dog has eaten your presentation and you're going to have to start again. That's not good. And then at the bottom, you've got low stimulation tasks. So The blue zone is on the right, that's low stimulation and fun.

[22:54] It could be like watching Netflix. and then the other, low stimulation, not fun. For me, that's bookkeeping. Anything to do with that. Taxes. What we tend to do, and it's a genius trick, we tend to put it off and put it off, those yellow zone tasks, until They're there tomorrow. You need to do it tomorrow, and it becomes a red zone task.

[23:12] So we're stimulating our brains in order to actually do this stuff. So knowing the different zones that these tasks are in is really important because you can then try to throughout the week. put these different tasks in at different times and be aware of where your brain how your brain works at different times of the day.

[23:33] Other thing is like struggling to finishing off tasks. I think following my curiosity really helps but also collaboration and delegation as well. Another thing I struggled with is burnout. And this is when I'm not listening to my body and my mind. And I've just kept on going on and on Maybe I'm comparing myself to others.

[23:51] So some time off. And I know, Jeff, you always tease me about, how many holidays and vacations I have. But it's actually, there's a reason for it. I personally. need that, time now, people, everyone with ADHD is different. So some people will find different types of ways of relaxing, but, but yeah, delegations important, forgetting things.

[24:16] So my way. Of where that is to use technology and we can maybe come on to that in a bit, but that's tools and things to help me with that as well

[24:26] Jeff: So I want to bring up real quick connor before we go on the next question is this is a good point by gary He goes someone I work with is usually late to meetings and I didn't realize it might be related to something that he deals with So this is a, this is, especially in a workplace, this can be a sensitive topics because it has to do a lot.

[24:44] This is a mental health kind of, I guess it would fit into there. So how do you deal with that in the workplace now that person could be like, just easily distracted or they could be dealing with ADHD. So how would you suggest you manage something like that in the workplace? Do you take them aside and say, listen, have you been done it or, what, would you do in Gary situation?

[25:08] Ian: Yeah, no, it's a really, it's a really difficult one. because again, we're all different. So for me, I tend to overcompensate. I've actually found, and this is not necessarily a good tool. So we tend to learn these bad tools. For example, we utilize anger, anxiety, or even things like low self loathing and shame to get us to do things because we've been late before.

[25:32] We don't want to be late. We don't want to let people down. And so we overcompensate, but some people. Don't do that. And it's not that they're not late because they want to be. It's actually one symptom that people with ADHD have is, time blindness. And this is not like with time Lords in the Doctor Who universe or anything, but actually time kind of runs in a slightly different way in our heads.

[25:57] And so For example, to get ready for this show, like I've got it in my calendar, but there were things that I needed to do to, in order to get ready for this. So for example, switching off, switching on my computer, making sure I've got notes. So I know what vaguely what I'm talking about. there's quite, and it could be like getting to work.

[26:17] like for some people, you just put getting to work in the calendar, but if you have ADHD, There are so many other things that you might not have thought about, like getting in the car. Have you got enough fuel in your car to get there? where are your keys? making sure that you've got them in the place.

[26:36] So I think what I would say is if somebody is struggling, getting to work on time, I suppose this is understanding maybe why they are struggling with that. And is there anything that you can do to help that? there could be some tips and hacks to help with that. And I've, learned some of those tips and hacks myself, but maybe some people are struggling with to find some of those things.

[27:00] so yeah, you, I think it's important to be flexible to a point, but at the end of the day, if you're working, in a business, in a company, you need, you do need to get there one time, but there might be ways talking to them to help them maybe understand time better.

[27:14] And for me, I've found like working with VAs that is brilliant because at the end of the day, I, I've, come to realize that my prefrontal cortex, I don't really have as much access to that as I would like. And our prefrontal cortex is like our butler, so if you are more of a neurotypical brain, you can say to your prefrontal cortex, you can say, okay, can you tell me what my, what I'm doing today?

[27:38] And can you tell me where my keys are? And it's replies to you in a Jeeves like voice. Oh, certainly as your keys are in the hallway, top, cabinets, and you have a meeting with 9am and you'll need to, you need to leave because there's a lot of traffic on a Wednesday morning. You need to leave a little bit earlier, with the, ADHD brain, it doesn't work quite like that.

[27:56] And it's almost like this kind of angry neighbor saying, you're always losing your keys. Where are they? And so I think it's finding ways to help that person because their brain's wired differently. It's not that they don't care. It's just, finding that out.

[28:11] And of course, this is assuming the person has ADHD. they might not, they might actually just be, they can't be bothered and they just don't, they want to be like, I don't know.

[28:20] Jeff: So I guess what I hear you say is don't come at them as an, accusing them of something come as like, how can I help?

[28:28] and then, maybe they don't even know that this is. bringing the rest of the team down. And it's, you can say Hey, I've noticed this. Maybe, maybe you need to talk to this person, but here's some maybe tech that'll help. Here's something that I found that helps me and not, like you're late again, a thing.

[28:48] Ian: it's, dialogue. It's conversation because at the end of the day, you don't know. and quite often what happens is the people with ADHD who are late, they probably are aware and they have this inner dialogue, I remember I was telling you about That's the angry neighbor.

[29:02] You're saying you're always late. You're always late. You just you're just pathetic You may as well give up you're gonna get sacked Sometimes those like that inner voice can play and that actually exacerbates the situation so actually it's important to understand what's happening and to find ways to help.

[29:21] And there are definite strategies. it can be, you can go down. If it is ADHD, you can go down the medication route and that can really help, but there are holistic approaches as well. And there's tech and there's other ways as well.

[29:34] So there you go. That was part one of this bonus episode. I'll be back next week with a normal episode and I'll play the rest of this interview later on sometime. Not quite sure when, but hopefully soon. I'd love to know from you if you're enjoying these episodes. This has been Brand new. I'm just a few weeks into the smart ADHD YouTube channel.

[29:57] So if you haven't discovered the smart ADHD website, it's at smartadhd. me. There's the smart ADHD YouTube channel. So we've got most of these are on there as videos. So if you want to see In video form, you can do that. And of course, you can follow, subscribe to these podcasts in your favorite app, podcasting app, whether that's Apple podcasts or Spotify or whatever, you should find it there.

[30:21] And do spread the word, this, is always the case with, new podcasts. It's, these things can tend to grow quite slowly and I'd love to get, the word out there so people can, learn and, my, my aim is that this is going to help a lot of people. And also, please do get in touch.

[30:42] you can just email me at ian at smart ADHD dot me. I'd love to hear from you. Let me know how you're getting on with this and if you've got any thoughts, for the future. Anyway, enough from me. I will see you next week on the smart ADHD podcast. Toodaloo.

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