How To Get Anything Done With an ADHD Brain

In this episode of Planet Em, Emily breaks down how to get anything done using the neuroscience of the ADHD brain. She shares how she wrote an entire book while managing ADHD, working for seven hours straight without medication, and the exact systems she used to make that possible.

Emily explains a concept called effort discounting, which is what happens when the brain perceives the effort of a task as greater than the reward at the end. She walks through three practical ways to overcome it. The first is making the hill smaller by lowering the barrier to entry and starting with just ten minutes. The second is making the task more fun by adding body doubling, aesthetic setups, music, or anything that creates a more enjoyable environment. The third is making the reward at the top bigger and more compelling so the brain has a reason to climb.

She also covers why focus is not just a productivity skill but a nervous system state, why dopamine does not arrive before you start, and how to stack these three strategies together to stop avoiding the thing that keeps getting pushed to tomorrow.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1KV6h0wWN1Jh9t6qUPYIuQ
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-em/id1852168666