In this special episode of the ADHD Skills Lab, Skye Waterson shares a conversation from the ADHD Channel for Women by Understood.org. Host Cate Osborn speaks with Dr. Polaris Koi, an assistant professor of practical philosophy at the University of Turku who researches ADHD, self-control, and decision-making, and has ADHD themselves.

In this conversation, Ky and Skye unpack why a bigger audience doesn't automatically mean more revenue, why selling before building trust can backfire, and how Ky turns engaged followers into paying customers. He shares what he gives away for free, what he charges for, and why he refuses to rely entirely on brand deals or platform income.

Dr. Jessica McCarthy walks Skye through what she handed off, what she kept, and the one test she applies to every task. She also shares the automated billing mistake that told her whole practice she had changed her name before she was ready to say why.

Skye Waterson and Robert Waterson unpack a 2013 meta-analysis of 38 studies on working memory in adults with ADHD. The researchers expected older adults to perform better. Instead, the review found adults with ADHD performed moderately worse on both verbal and visual working memory tasks, with age not changing the overall picture.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will dig into the MTA study, one of the largest and most influential ADHD treatment studies ever conducted, and what researchers found when they followed the same kids over eight years.

In this episode, Skye and Robert unpack why social media has become such a difficult part of running a business, what else neurodivergent entrepreneurs say they struggle with, and the support and habits they find most helpful.

Matt and Skye unpack the “pivot chaser” trap, how to tell when a strategy is genuinely broken versus when you've simply gotten bored of executing it. They also dig into AI mania, the dopamine hit of learning and building new things, and why constantly chasing the next skill can quietly keep you from scaling.

Chris Do explains why fear of judgment (not a lack of confidence) is what keeps people editing, how radical self-acceptance changes what you're willing to say publicly, and the simple exercise he uses to help people work through it.

In this episode, Skye talks with entrepreneur and investor Kassidy Warren about leaving the corporate “safe path,” taking real risks, and the identity shift required to stop playing small. They unpack rejection, procrastination, reinvesting before results, and what it actually means to turn pro — especially with an ADHD brain.

This week, Skye Waterson is joined by Will Curb from Hacking Your ADHD for a Research Recap on the MTA study, the largest and most influential ADHD treatment trial ever conducted. Nearly 580 children were followed for 8 years to understand what happened after the initial treatment period.

In this episode, Skye and Robbie explore a little-known 1997 review paper that challenged the traditional view of ADHD. Instead of seeing ADHD traits as fixed deficits, the authors argued that traits like attention shifting, hyperactivity, and impulsivity can become strengths or struggles depending on the environment.

Skye and Robert explore what that means beyond the lab, why ADHD may be an advantage during the exploratory stage of entrepreneurship, why pivoting is not always a flaw, and why the same trait can become either a strength or a liability depending on the environment.

This week, Skye sits down with Mike Legett, an ADHD coach and executive functioning specialist who was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. Mike studied molecular genetics at Emory before leaving graduate school when its vague, paperwork-heavy demands became unworkable. She went on to build a career as an internationally recognized swing and blues dance instructor and now helps adults with ADHD build systems that work with their brains instead of against them through the Center for Living Well with ADHD.

A 2024 Royal Society paper tested how long people stay in a depleting resource before moving to a new one, using a model from ecology called the marginal value theorem. The prediction was that ADHD traits would cause people to leave too soon.

Skye and Robbie return to the DSM-5 for Part 2 of their criteria breakdown, this time on criterion B: difficulty sustaining attention. They work through real examples, rereading pages, checking out of meetings, losing focus on audiobooks even at double speed, and land on why none of it happens during a good movie or video game.

In this conversation, Ari breaks down what productivity actually means for ADHD brains, why "don't get in trouble" is not a good enough goal, and how business owners can use external structure and the right people to focus on where they add the most value.

This episode covers the specific frameworks Galel uses in his own business and with his clients.

We cover her three-level regulation framework, why she skips meditation and breathing exercises entirely, how dysregulated beliefs quietly block delegation and visibility in your business, and what physical signs most ADHD business owners have normalized as just a Tuesday.

In this standalone episode, they break down the hidden problem underneath Casey’s system — why ADHD business owners keep ending up trapped in urgent work, why prioritization systems collapse under pressure, and why the issue is usually structural, not motivational.

This episode looks at what the research suggests is actually driving that pattern. Not trust issues. Not a bad hire. A specific kind of perfectionism that shows up differently in people with ADHD.

This episode builds on Wednesday’s breakdown of ADHD novelty bias and shows you how to actually manage it without shutting it down.

In this conversation, Brandon breaks down how environment affects confidence, self-trust, business growth, and leadership. He also shares lessons from building a construction company, learning to delegate, and realizing that many ADHD business owners stay stuck trying to perfect systems long before they actually need them.

This episode builds on Wednesday’s research around ideation bias in ADHD. The research suggests people with ADHD prefer the idea phase and are more likely to move on before execution is complete.

In this next episode of the Research Recap Series Skye and Will (Hacking Your ADHD) discuss research on environmental exposure and ADHD-related behaviors.

We break down what burnout actually looked like behind the scenes. From selling 150+ homes a year to walking away overnight. Krista explains her “stop, snap, switch” framework, how she manages constant mental noise, and why ADHD makes fast decision-making a real advantage.

You’re funding everything yourself, and it’s quietly slowing your business down. Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because you’re relying on the most limited resource you have: your own cash and capacity.

This episode looks at research on prospective memory and verbal planning. The findings suggest ADHD impacts how plans are built, not just remembered.

We break down what research shows about ADHD and time perception, and why this isn’t just poor planning. Future time doesn’t create pressure until it’s right in front of you, so you end up relying on last minute urgency just to get started.

In this episode, Skye and Robbie break down what these experiments reveal about ADHD and why complex projects require building a sequence before starting. That requirement can create real cognitive friction for many ADHD brains.

In this episode of ADHD Skills Lab, Skye and Robbie break down research on memory and ADHD. They explore how information gets encoded into long-term memory and why this stage of learning often breaks down for ADHD brains.

In this conversation, Andy J. Pizza (author, illustrator, and host of Creative Pep Talk) breaks down the moment his work completely dried up — and why that crisis forced him to stop winging it and start creating strategically.

You can be successful on paper and still feel stuck.

In this episode, Skye talks with entrepreneur and investor Kassidy Warren about leaving the corporate “safe path,” taking real risks, and the identity shift required to stop playing small. They unpack rejection, procrastination, reinvesting before results, and what it actually means to turn pro — especially with an ADHD brain.

If sales feels heavy, awkward, or mentally exhausting, it’s probably not because you’re bad at it.

It’s more likely because you’ve been trying to sell using advice that relies on pressure, performance, or rigid systems - the exact things that make ADHD brains freeze, overthink, or avoid the conversation altogether.

In this episode, Skye sits down with Wes Schaeffer (The Sales Whisperer) to talk about how to sell in a way that actually feels calm, grounded, and sustainable — without hype, manipulation, or forcing yourself into a persona that doesn’t fit.

Kids with ADHD are not just more likely to struggle academically. They are more visible, more misunderstood, and often less liked by peers and teachers.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a study on ADHD, social status, and bullying, and talk honestly about what it felt like to stand out in school for reasons you did not choose.

Skye and Robbie Waterson unpack a 2012 study from the Journal of Attention Disorders on ADHD, decision making, and regret. The research found that higher ADHD symptom scores were linked to more maximizing, the drive to find the best possible option, and more regret afterward. They explore why trying to avoid the wrong decision can leave you feeling worse even when you make a good one, and how that same pattern can quietly stall progress in your business.

Skye Waterson and Robbie Waterson explain why delegating tasks doesn't always mean delegating the mental load, especially when you have ADHD. Research shows that working memory challenges can make tracking tasks, priorities, and deadlines harder. And when everything lives in your head or gets buried in Slack, your team ends up guessing what matters most.

This episode is about why getting tasks out of your head becomes even more important once you're leading a team, and why your personal productivity system eventually needs to become a shared one.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a small study that tried to measure what happens when people with ADHD symptoms experience social exclusion. Using a deliberately unfair ball-tossing game, researchers compared how rejected participants said they felt with changes in their heart rate and blood pressure.

Skye and Robbie break down the goal setting system Skye actually uses, adapted from Dan Martell's framework. It works backward from a 25-year vision to one specific goal this year, then down to one daily non-negotiable that makes that goal inevitable.

In this conversation, Carlos and Skye unpack the role ADHD played at the highest levels of his career, from the projects he could not stop thinking about to the support that helped him perform at his best. They also talk honestly about the cost of that drive, particularly the work that followed him home and the family time he lost along the way.

Tom Reber built successful businesses while privately believing he wasn't smart enough to fight for his own ideas. That belief followed him from childhood special ed into business ownership, where he went bankrupt once and later sold another business for far less than he believed it was worth.

Tom, founder of The Contractor Fight and a former Marine, explains where that belief came from, how it affected the decisions he made, and what changed when he finally stopped confusing not knowing something with being stupid.

Skye joins Will to unpack a systematic review of 22 studies on virtual reality interventions for ADHD. They look at surprisingly high adherence rates, what the research suggests about attention and working memory, and whether improvements inside VR actually carry over into everyday life.

In this episode, Skye and Robbie break down each founder type, why it happens, how it affects your team, and the practical operational changes that can reduce the friction.

In this episode, Skye and Robbie unpack the dopamine transfer deficit theory and explore why ADHD brains may not receive the same anticipatory motivation signal that helps neurotypical brains get started. They explain why so much conventional productivity advice misses the mark, why dopamine detox can backfire, and how Skye developed The Dopamine Dial to work with ADHD motivation instead of against it.

In this conversation, Skye and Caroline explore why ADHD brains often rush into friendships, why traditional friendship advice falls flat, and how to build relationships that actually last without burning yourself out.

In this conversation, Sharon shares how that breaking point became Shelpful, why she still relies on it every day, and what she's learned about building a company around a problem she still hasn't completely solved.

In this Research Recap, Skye Waterson and Will Curb review a decade of research (2012–2022) on time perception in adults with ADHD. Rather than treating time as one skill, the research separates it into three: estimating how long something will take, reproducing a duration, and managing time day to day.

James explains the difference between a real "this isn't working" and a feeling that just shows up the moment things get hard. He also breaks down why he became a bottleneck in his own business, what changed when he got specific about role clarity, and why he keeps his identity and worth separate from his revenue numbers.

In this conversation, Chris shares what that looked like in practice: what she automated, what stayed human, how she structured fundraising as an ADHD founder, and why she stopped trying to build the company differently than she was learning to manage herself.

Skye and Will break down a Norwegian randomized controlled trial on goal management training, what it found, and why that gap between feeling less anxious and actually getting more done matters for how you run your work.

Wednesday's episode explored why ADHD founders often struggle with operational consistency. This episode covers the structural solution.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a systematic literature review examining why over half of all patients discontinue or significantly reduce ADHD medication within 2 to 3 years of starting.

In this conversation, Dani explains how a single ADHD comic from 2018 nearly never got posted, how a business coach’s field guide exercise became the product she actually needed, and what happened when she had to tell 28,000 pre-order customers their books were running late.

Skye and Jessica get into what the detective process actually looks like. Why parents are often dismissed first and believed later. How the school system's default response to a kid who cannot conform is to remove them rather than support them. What guilt sounds like when you feel like you should have seen it coming sooner. And why the window between noticing something and getting real support is longer, more expensive, and more isolating than it should be.

In this episode, we break down ADHD novelty bias and why new ideas don’t just feel exciting. They feel urgent, important, and hard to ignore.

Skye and Robbie explore whether Bluey reflects ADHD patterns or just captures behaviour accurately.

ADHD makes it easy to over-scope, get pulled into the wrong details, and delay real feedback. So instead of finding out what works, you stay stuck refining something in isolation. This episode breaks down why that happens and how minimum viable thinking helps you start smaller, move faster, and avoid getting trapped in the build phase.

This episode gives you three systems. A written decision log. A structured ideation window. And a clear threshold for when changes are allowed.

In this episode, Skye and Robert walk through how to replace your internal clock with systems that actually hold up in real work

In this Research Recap, we break down a large population-based study examining pain-related diagnoses in children before they were diagnosed with ADHD.

In this episode, Eric and Skye break down why that gap between knowing and doing is so common with ADHD, and why trying to “think your way into action” usually makes it worse.

In this episode of ADHD Skills Lab, Skye talks with Jamie Sea, entrepreneur, educator and host of The Jamie Sea Show about the moment she realized the businesses she built no longer fit the life she wanted.

In this conversation, Skye speaks with Kyle Vamvouris, founder of SalesThread and the strategist behind 87 B2B sales teams, about how he actually works.

In this episode of the ADHD Skills Lab, Taki joins Skye Waterson to share the story of discovering his ADHD in his late 40s - and the moment medication made his mind go “library quiet” for the first time in his life.

In this Research Recap, Skye and her husband break down a 2025 meta-analysis on ADHD and entrepreneurship - exploring why hyperactive types tend to start, why inattentive types may struggle more with scaling, and where the “ADHD is a superpower” narrative falls short.

After being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, following his sons’ diagnoses, Adam Tasker began to look at how he was operating. Not just as a father, but as a leader.

A lot of people with ADHD deal with physical symptoms they’ve never talked about - or never thought were connected.

This episode looks at what the research actually shows about ADHD and gut issues, and where the line is between association, speculation, and overreach.

Skye and Tracey talk about why pushing through is so hard to give up and what it costs your attention and energy over time.

In this special episode of the ADHD Skills Lab, Skye Waterson shares a conversation from the ADHD Channel for Women, created by Understood.org. Host Cate Osborn talks with Adam Reid, an Emmy Award-winning writer, director, filmmaker, and producer, in front of a live studio audience.

In this conversation, Amy explains why people with ADHD can stay with the wrong thing for too long, how slowing down brought back her clarity, and why she built her next business around the life she actually wanted to live.

In this episode, Kara talks about the temptation to say yes to everything, the burnout that follows, and how she learned to delegate, ask for help, and build a team she trusts enough to tell her no.

In this episode, Jason breaks down the practical systems he uses to turn ideas into finished work without relying on willpower.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will break down a meta-analysis on hay fever and ADHD, including the finding that people with allergies are significantly more likely to also meet the criteria for ADHD.

In this episode, Skye and Robert break down the six phases they use to move a team onto better systems without losing people halfway through. It starts with getting genuine buy-in before anything gets built, then prototyping the process, slowing down the rollout, and documenting it once it actually works.

In this episode, Skye and Robert walk through how to replace your internal clock with systems that actually hold up in real work

In this episode, Mick Hawes shares why he believes that's because mindset isn't something you change directly. Drawing on more than 35 years coaching business owners in high-complexity industries like custom home building, he explains why your mindset is the result of the systems, environment, habits, language, and other external influences shaping your daily life.

In this conversation with Skye, Diane explains why profit isn't something that's left over—it's something you intentionally build. They explore why ADHD business owners often approach money with an all-or-nothing mindset, how tiny 1% changes outperform complete financial overhauls, and why consistency beats motivation every time.

In this Research Recap, Skye Waterson and William Curb examine two studies on mindfulness and ADHD. The first explores an 8-week mindfulness program for primary school children, while the second compares mindfulness with structured psychoeducation for adults with ADHD.

In this episode, Skye and Robbie unpack why hidden complexity makes seemingly simple tasks feel impossible, why the ADHD brain mistakes importance for urgency, and how giving tasks a trusted "home" can dramatically reduce overwhelm

Cas Aarssen built the Clutterbug Method, hosted HGTV's Hot Mess House, and grew a global brand by stopping the fight against her ADHD and designing her home and business around how she naturally works.

In this conversation, she shares the hard lessons that came from burnout, why traditional organizing advice kept failing her, and how building systems around real habits instead of ideal ones changed everything

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a paper examining ADHD as a circadian rhythm disorder. This isn't a list of sleep hygiene tips. It's a look at what's actually different in the ADHD body's clock, and why typical advice misses it.

The conversation covers why the criteria were written for children and then loosely translated for adults, why "close attention to detail" means something different for someone who triple checks every payment versus someone who doesn't notice errors at all, and why your own family's version of "normal" can hide a pattern you've had your whole life.

Skye and Robbie break down the pre-mortem method, developed by cognitive psychologist Gary Klein and later popularized by Daniel Kahneman, and explain why it fits ADHD-wired brains in particular

This episode breaks down what the research found and what it means for ADHD founders building a team

Nicole explains why standard budgeting fails ADHD brains, why most business owners are solving the wrong financial problem, and how her method works without willpower or expense tracking.

This episode is the practical follow-up to Wednesday. Skye and Robbie walk through the specific hiring and handover process they use with ADHD founders, including what they have lost money figuring out so you do not have to.

We discuss a prospective study examining whether maternal inflammation during the second trimester is associated with ADHD symptoms in children later in life. Researchers measured cytokine levels in 62 pregnant women and followed up on ADHD symptoms in 68 children using teacher and parent reports.

In this episode, Nir Eyal breaks down what happens after that initial relief. When ADHD stops being useful information and starts becoming your identity.

This conversation looks at why most systems fail for ADHD brains. Craig explains how self-awareness, environment control, and honest constraints matter more than motivation.

Katy explains why ADHD pulls you toward new ideas, how pivoting too early kills momentum, and what changed when she stopped rebuilding from scratch. The conversation also covers how she used her podcast as the foundation for everything else.

This episode connects real-world behavior to research. ADHD brains perform well in divergent thinking. But they also prefer it. And they value immediate rewards over delayed ones.

In this episode, Skye and Robert break down why ADHD founders consistently underestimate time, not because they’re overconfident or disorganized, but because their perception of time is genuinely off.

Skye and Robbie break down a system built around checkpoints, prototypes, and early feedback. The goal is not better briefs. The goal is catching problems when they’re still cheap to fix.

We build on Wednesday’s breakdown of time blindness and show why most deadline strategies fail over time, especially the fake ones you don’t really believe.

You know how to do the work. But when a task is actually a project, you have to figure out the steps again every time you come back to it.

Earlier this week on ADHD Skills Lab, Skye and Robbie explored research on why ADHD brains often struggle during the encoding stage of learning. When information isn’t encoded properly, it never makes it into long-term memory.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Robbie break down a meta-analysis examining object recognition memory in ADHD.

Why does focus feel like forcing a rusty machine to start… instead of flipping a switch?

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a randomized placebo-controlled study examining how brain networks behave differently in adults with ADHD.

In this Research Recap, Skye and Will break down a study on subclinical ADHD - ADHD traits that fall below the diagnostic threshold - and how they impact entrepreneurs and employees.

If the word accounting makes your attention disappear, this episode is for you.

Skye sits down with Joe Dunaway - founder of Vici Financial, accountant, business owner, and ADHDer - to talk about why so many ADHD entrepreneurs avoid their numbers, and how to understand them without overcomplicating things or forcing yourself into systems you won’t maintain.