THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Miriam Schulman:
Well, hey there passion maker, this is Miriam Schulman and you’re listening to episode number 146 of The Inspiration Place Podcast. I am so grateful that you’re here. Today’s episode is pretty interesting. It’s an episode about ADD, women or artists. Not necessarily women. It is about ADD by ADD folks. You’re going to love it. In this episode, you’ll discover how ADHD imagination and creativity are linked, why you’re successful because of your ADD rather than in spite of it.
And finally a procrastination buster to get you tackling your biggest goals. Today’s guest is a lawyer, entrepreneur, and certified ADHD coach. She’s the host of the number one podcast and Facebook group ADHD for Smart Ass Woman. When her son, Marcus was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 12, she met with a psychologist learn more about the diagnosis. Instead, she was told to reduce her ambitious son’s expectations that he wouldn’t be disappointed in life.
That’s when she made it her mission to change the conversation around ADHD. She works with women who are quick-witted, high ability, entrepreneurial and see their symptoms as more positive than negative. Please welcome to The Inspiration Place, Tracy Otsuka. Hello, Tracy. Welcome to the show. I love your red lipstick.
Tracy Otsuka:
Well, I love yours too. It’s my ADHD brain, but I went back to kind of look at what our discussion was about like what did you want to talk about? I see that Jen said, “Oh, you might run into Miriam because she has a son at NYU too.” And I’m like, “I never saw that. [crosstalk 00:03:02] junior.”
Miriam Schulman:
Wait. Your daughters are juniors?
Tracy Otsuka:
No. So my daughter just graduated in 2020 and she’s now working in New York City. My son is still there. He’s going to stay for the summer, so he’s going into his sophomore year. He just finished his freshman year, online basically but he was back there. He decided he was going to change majors. So he’s going into economic. So we had to take this math class in order for them to be able to take all the other economics classes. So yeah, he’s there.
Miriam Schulman:
We have very expensive Zoom college happening in our dining room. And even more expensive Zoom apartment college. That was the sprig like we said, “Okay, you can move back into the city.”
Tracy Otsuka:
Totally. I was like, “Really? Why did we agree to this? This is so stupid.
Miriam Schulman:
Where do you live, Tracy?
Tracy Otsuka:
California. So I just was back there with my husband and we moved our kids. They’re in the west village. They’re two blocks from each other in separate apartments, one bedrooms. I’m just like, “I think we need to rethink this.”
Miriam Schulman:
I know. Why didn’t we just send them to SUNY.
Tracy Otsuka:
Same.
Miriam Schulman:
Or what is the California system that’s really good?
Tracy Otsuka:
Well, yeah. [crosstalk 00:04:11]
Miriam Schulman:
It’s very good.
Tracy Otsuka:
My son is ADHD, and so he kind of got around in there, around the back way using his music. But then once he was at Tisch, the program his sister had been, he’s like, “This is too weird for me. I want to go into economics.” You know how expensive it is, right? I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. My husband and I are like, “Oh my god. Please make this work.” Because he went to three high schools in four years. He’s smart as hell, but does his own thing on his own schedule and we just hope that he knows what he’s doing.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. My son is ADD too. I was just like, “Please dear God, just graduate.” But his freshman year, he missed an exam.
Tracy Otsuka:
Freshman year of college?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Tracy Otsuka:
And he just slipped through it?
Miriam Schulman:
No. He thought it was Wednesday.
Tracy Otsuka:
Oh gosh. [inaudible 00:05:00] That is so… I do that. Sorry.
Miriam Schulman:
I know.
Tracy Otsuka:
We’re spending that much money.
Miriam Schulman:
He doesn’t call to say what happened. He calls me to say, “I made a mistake coming to this college and I need to do a different college.” Then I finally get it out of him what happened. It’s like, “No, that’s not what’s happening now. You are going to go to your advisor and sit on his doorstep and begged them to let you take it.” The exam was two days ago.
Tracy Otsuka:
Oh, god. But as long as they know that he’s ADHD, I would think that they would accommodate him.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, I mean, we didn’t really… Not that we were hiding it or anything. It was interesting, when I read your bio, the way you describe like when your son was diagnosed and somebody said, “Oh, he has to do stuff that was limited.” That was never, ever my attitude around it. I just like, “Well, of course you are. So am I. So are my whole family.” Of course, what’s the big deal?
Tracy Otsuka:
Different brain.
Miriam Schulman:
I fully am all in which is why I’m so excited for the conversation today. I’m all in on your philosophy how ADHD, imagination, creativity are so tightly linked. There’s very few artists who you will find who are not some form, some flavor of ADD. Either they’re hyperfocused or overfocused. They’re only focused on art, but nothing else. So that’s different flavors that we come in.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
Let’s define ADD and you have ADHD. So I’m curious to know how you distinguish that.
Tracy Otsuka:
Okay. So before I talk about what ADHD is, let’s talk about what it’s not. I know there are all kinds of little rumors running around. There’s no such thing as ADHD. It’s part of modern society. We all have some ADHD. In France, there is no ADHD. That is just all untrue. Every mainstream medical, psychological and educational organization has concluded that ADHD is real and that those who have it benefit from treatment.
I have to write the names down because I was forget. But the National Institute of Health, the American Medical Association, the US Surgeon General, the American Association of Psychiatry, the US Department of Education. All of these organizations say that ADHD is a neurobiological condition. It just is. It’s genetic largely. It’s about as heritable as height. We have twin studies. We can see on brain image scans that the ADHD brain is actually a bit different and it affects anywhere from 5 to 10% of kids and 4% of adults, but I believe, and most people believe that number is actually higher because we used to think that kids outgrew ADHD, but we know today that they don’t.
It’s just what happens is the overt hyperactivity that we typically see with kids, the hyperactivity kind of goes more internal and it becomes more hyperactivity of the brain. ADHD does not mean you’re stupid, it does not mean you’re slower and motivated. In fact, I will say that I think the ADHD people that I know are among the brightest people that I know certainly in their specific area of interest. With ADHD, you may have trouble paying attention. You may have trouble controlling impulsive behavior, and/or you may be overtly active kind of like me. I’m always moving.
Miriam Schulman:
Now, let’s just clarify it because I know not every flavor of ADD is like hyperactivity in terms of physical hyperactivity. It’s interesting what you said about your mind can be hyperactive like, “Oh, that sounds familiar.”
Tracy Otsuka:
And especially with women, and this is the problem because ADHD looks very different in women. Not all the time though. And this is why ADHD is so hard to diagnose because your ADHD may not look like my ADHD. It may not look like my son’s ADHD. It may not look like my parents’ ADHD. Every person’s ADHD symptoms are a bit different. And for women who are two times more likely to be diagnosed as inattentive, their ADHD looks very different than what we typically think of that, I don’t know 11-year-old hyperactive boy who’s climbing the walls and trying to crawl out of the window in school. With the inattentive ADHD, think of kind of that daydreaming girl of the classroom. Yes.
Miriam Schulman:
I’m describing myself.
Tracy Otsuka:
They’re not a problem. So because they’re not a problem, they’re not a problem to the students around them, they’re not a problem to the teacher or the administrators, they’re just by and large ignored. So for the longest time, we didn’t even know, first of all, that girls could have any kind of ADHD, but we also didn’t know about this inattentive form of ADHD. And just because your voice can be inattentive as well. That’s the difference.
Miriam Schulman:
So my daughter is also ADD, but she is overfocused rather than the other types, which is actually that is the type you can’t really medicate because people who are overfocused will get more anxious if you give them ADD medication. I think it’s Dr. Amen, he identified the types of ADD that he’s identified where the inattentive type, overfocused, and then there were some other types, which I didn’t pay attention to because they didn’t apply to my family.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah, totally.
Miriam Schulman:
But like ring of fire and then something else, and something else, and something else. I only paid attention to the ones that were written on the IEP’s or whatever the cause of my kids.
Tracy Otsuka:
So has she ever tried medication?
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, yeah. It did not go well.
Tracy Otsuka:
[crosstalk 00:10:47] It made her more anxious?
Miriam Schulman:
No. It made it more anxious because if you’re overfocused, then it’s going to make you more anxious rather than help. The only time you can do other types of remedies for that, but not the traditional Ritalin or Adderall or those types of medications.
Tracy Otsuka:
And I wonder if it’s the anxiety, because I can’t take ADHD medication. It just makes me super anxious. And my son was the same way and he tried all the regular stimulants, but then actually I don’t think he cares that I’m talking about this. [crosstalk 00:11:19]
Miriam Schulman:
I didn’t ask my son’s permission, but I talked about him on the podcast there today and asking permission about that either like you’re mentioned on the podcast, honey.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah. It’s just kind of what they get when their mom has a podcast, right?
Miriam Schulman:
I try not to share things that are going embarrass them, embarrass my kids. That’s personal details. There’s really something I feel that I ask permission.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah. Well my son was on my podcast. Actually, the only boy other than Dr. Ned Hallowell that I’ve allowed on the podcast and that was probably my favorite episode was the one with him.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh, that’s so sweet.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah.
Miriam Schulman:
So let’s talk about why you could be more successful because of ADD, rather than in spite of it. Because I feel it’s my superpower.
Tracy Otsuka:
Absolutely. It is totally my superpower. First of all, not always, but I can tell you and I share the energy. I have friends who are now talking about retiring, and I’m looking at them thinking, “How can you retire? There is so much life left to live and so many things to do and to experience.” And I know it’s because of this boundless energy that I have. I don’t need a lot of sleep like most people do. In fact, I think that evenings are kind of a waste of time, certainly the sleeping time because I just… There’s always something new that I want to be learning.
I think we are really spontaneous when we can get into hyperfocus. We learn quickly, quicker than a neurotypical brain does. A lot of that is because time doesn’t usually mean anything to us. Not for everybody. My son is very time sensitive. I don’t have a clue what time it is, at any point.
Miriam Schulman:
I have three modes of time. Now, not now.
Tracy Otsuka:
Not now.
Miriam Schulman:
And oops, too late.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah, exactly.
Miriam Schulman:
Those are my three time channels.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah. And when we are really involved in something that… So the real key is interest, right? We have these interest driven brains. So when we are interested in something, there is no stopping us. I really believe and I think I shared this with you, and it’s a little bit controversial that I say this, but I think that while ADHD is on a spectrum, so it’s like height or intelligence, it’s not you’re either ADHD or you’re not ADHD in terms of the level of symptoms.
Miriam Schulman:
I always find that I get along better with women who are ADD as well because we have… First of fall, no one else is going to put up with us because like… But I really enjoyed that high-paced interaction like moving from one thought to the next and one creative idea to the next. Like you said, that energy is something that I enjoy and I enjoy interacting on that level. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Tracy Otsuka:
I absolutely know what you’re talking about, and I bet you we share in common the experience that I had with young children where I’m sure my friends just looked at me, I’m sure, because they told me and they just thought I was nuts. It was like would you just calm down and could we focus on this one thing, because I would just be bouncing off the walls from one thing to another, and the energy wasn’t high paced enough for me.
It’s like retiring. It’s like I was always doing something. It couldn’t just be about the kids. There always had to be something else that I was working on. That is just what made me happy and it’s also what made me, I think a better parent, right? Versus if I was not able to do these things that I really wanted to do, I think I would be resentful.
Miriam Schulman:
Interesting. Okay. So yay ADD woman. Okay. But what about entrepreneurship? Because it seems like it would be something that would hurt us as entrepreneurs because of our propensity to either procrastinate. Or where I see it hurting myself actually is sometimes too many good ideas can be a negative because focusing on that one thing fully and taking that to the highest level is a better success driver than switching to something else and something else. Does that make sense, Tracy?
Tracy Otsuka:
It totally makes sense. But I think what the key is, we have these interest driven brains. And I think that when we are bouncing off the walls, and oh bright sparkly, and especially if you’re talking an online entrepreneur, right? We could progress to learn until the cows come home. But the deal is if you know what you are really interested in, what you value, what’s important to you, what your strengths are and what your passion is, so that little center point where all of those diverge end meet. And if that’s what you’re practicing and working on, you’re going to have less of the struggle with all the bright sparkly.
I think with the ADHD brain, when we have the most problems with the bright sparkly is when were not in that little area where everything meets for us as far as our values, our strengths, our passion and frankly our purpose.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. So you said online business is especially difficult for creative brains. Could you elaborate on that?
Tracy Otsuka:
I’ve got to tell you that I’ve had a number of businesses. I’m thinking of, I had a high-end women’s wear company. 60% of our business with Saks, Neiman’s and Nordstrom. All I had to do was design four collections a year. We had to take photographs with models in the garments and we would get the photographs. We would have our graphics people put them on a postcard and then we would go show up at the shows. That was really all I had to do. And it sounds like a lot versus when I went and started my online business. I have never felt so incompetent.
I think the reason I felt so incompetent was there was so much to learn. I’m not naturally tech savvy. I’m good at tech now, but I had to learn it all and there were all these new things that were coming up in tech that involved online businesses, that I would learn and then it would constantly be ratcheted up because it was constantly changing. To stay on top of all that, I just felt like a failure. Honestly, it was until I figured out, no, who you really want to concentrate on are ADHD women. And I started really talking about it. You’ve got be visible, right?
In order to be visible, you’re talking about what it is that’s of real importance to you. And once I made that connection and realize that the work that I was doing could really help these women and it could change their lives, then that became the focus of everything that I did and it really started with the podcast. So once I was able to get the podcast to be the central focus, everything else has fallen into place. But the truth of the matter is we need help. We cannot do everything.
I do think that I’m a perfectionist, a recovering perfectionist and that’s a very common ADHD thing. So nothing was ever good enough. So it was always up to me to make sure that it was better. So what ended up happening is I ended up doing a lot of stuff. You can’t run a business where you’re doing everything.
Miriam Schulman:
You really can’t. I think that is something that slowed my growth down a lo is actually I am tech savvy and there were things I could do that maybe I shouldn’t have been doing. I’m starting to see much more accelerated growth now because I’ve been letting go of the reins in many areas. Even graphics, I thought, “Oh, well, I’m an artist. Of course, I’m going to make my own graphics. No, you’re not, because you don’t have a degree in graphic design and you don’t do it all day long.”
So somebody who does something all day long is always going to be better than somebody who does something once in a while. And with Facebook ads, I was doing my own and I was good, but it changes every day. I mean it’s ridiculous.
Tracy Otsuka:
And the thing is, you may be good at it, but how long does it take you to do because you don’t do it every day. I gave it all up.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah. Your business is much better because of it, right?
Tracy Otsuka:
100%. I need to get more because I find the more I give up, the better it becomes because then I’m spending my time in the areas that I really have an interest in, and because I have an interest in, I’m naturally gifted at it, versus trying to be better because I know design or I know fashion somehow than I know graphic… That kind of stuff.
Miriam Schulman:
Right. Only I can do the Canva. [crosstalk 00:19:58] It’s so ridiculous.
Tracy Otsuka:
The more you hire people, the more you realize that, “Oh crap, I guess they are much better than I am.”
Miriam Schulman:
Right? Like why was I doing that myself all this time. I’m not detail oriented.
Tracy Otsuka:
Oh, I am.
Miriam Schulman:
[crosstalk 00:20:16] I’m not good at it, but I will notice a typo. If there’s a typo on your website and you want someone to find it, call me up because I will. [crosstalk 00:20:28] I will find it.
Tracy Otsuka:
I’m sure I just drive people nuts.
Miriam Schulman:
No. I’m silently correcting everyone’s grammar and finding their wrong use of homophones everywhere.
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Let’s move back to some the strategies. So I know one of the biggest blocks for, especially my artist is, we brought this up before, is the procrastination and that’s because of that sense of time, either something is now or not now, and that feeling that it’s not now leads to procrastination. But I think you probably have other reasons why ADD people tend to procrastinate more.
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah. And the thing is what they tell us is its fear. I’m overthinking, I’m not scared. This is stupid. It’s something that I’ve been procrastinating for a week on and it could be done in 30 minutes. I’m not scared of that thing. For us, especially as hyperactive, it tends not to be fear. The problem is time and emotional regulation are connected. They’re linked in our brains and that’s why time blocking doesn’t work for us, because we don’t know if we’re going to feel like doing it when it’s on that calendar.
So planning with an ADHD brain, I don’t know about you, but I tried one planner after another for years, for decades. Planners just didn’t work. And it was because of this idea that I just don’t know if I’m going to feel like doing it, when I say that I’m in going to put it in my calendar. The real key though for us, it’s positive emotion. For the ADHD brain, I would say the creative brain, it’s all about positive emotion. So whatever we can do to build positive emotion into anything that we’re trying to get done, the better able we are going to be able to get it done.
The reason why that’s true is because positive emotion, when we feel good, that is what increases our dopamine, and that’s what were lacking in our brains. We’re just not making enough dopamine. When we increase the dopamine through positive emotion, guess what happens? It also controls our motivation. So they’re all intricately linked. The other thing that really works it’s all about action.
Doctors Ned Hallowell and Dr. John Brady, they wrote the bible of ADHD called Driven to Distraction. And in, I think, it was February or January of this year, they came out with their new book after 15 years, called ADHD 2.0. I always had this sense. I called it post final depression where I would be done with finals. I coined this term in college. I would be done with finals and all of my friends and I, we would talk about, okay, what are going to do once we’re done with finals? We had all these plans. They would be done with finals and they were so excited and I would be like. “Is this all there is? Next.” But I didn’t know why I was like that.
Miriam Schulman:
There’s so many questions to unpack with everything you’re saying.
Tracy Otsuka:
Can you relate to that?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, I have two modes, working and sleeping. I’m having real trouble learning to relax. We have now this weekend home. My husband goes up there. My son would argue he has trouble… My husband has trouble relaxing too. But my husband will go outside and he will play with his farm toys, which is really working, because he’s basically coming up with projects for himself to do. Cutting branches. He says it’s relaxing. I guess it’s relaxing because he says it’s relaxing, but I would argue that’s probably work also.
But I wanted to unpack a couple things you said back there that were super important. The first thing was about managing your mind with the fear. What I find that happens with my artists is they procrastinate because they have some unprocessed fear, but they are not experiencing it as fear. What they’re experiencing is they have discomfort and so their brain is coming up with all kinds of reasons whatever it is they want to do, may not work.
Tracy Otsuka:
I was starting to go there and then bring. It is all about action. When I would have this post final depression, I mean it just… And it wasn’t real depression, but it was just the sense of, “God, there’s got to be more.” There are new studies out now, they’re not that new, but they’re reasonably new about these two networks in the brain. The default mode network and the task positive network. The task positive network lights up when were in action. The default mode network, however, is we’re in action and we stop what it is that were doing and we rest or we complete what were doing, post final depression or we’re working really hard and in the ADHD brain, the network is glitchy.
So all of a sudden, we drop into what they call the default mode network or the demon network. Now, the default mode network is the seed of the imagination. But it’s also were rumination lives. This is what happens to the ADHD brain. It will be working away and then all of a sudden will drop into the default mode network, will start ruminating about all the reasons we can’t do this, we can get it done. Were not good enough. Blah, blah, blah.
The antidote to this is to jump back up into the task positive network, because when you’re in the task positive network, you’re working away. And so that means you enough time to be in your brain to be thinking. How do you get into the task positive network? You get into action. Those students of yours that are struggling with starting and they’re all in their head, they’ve got to learn how to control their own dopamine. And the way they do that, is they get into action, even when they don’t feel like it because that first time that they realize that I have control over my brain and getting into action, that is then what will propel them to start using it every single time either they don’t feel good. They’re kind of anxious. They’re a little depressed. They don’t feel like starting, because they will learn how to control that. Does not make sense?
Miriam Schulman:
It does, which is why actually I do use time blocking and there may be a nuance between the way I do it and the way you do it. So the way I do it is I will write down the time that I plan on doing something, and what I put in that block is the result that I want to achieve during that time. So, for example, that block of time doesn’t say, work on the business. It doesn’t say work on the website. It would say something very specific like write the about page. That is the result. So I am driven by the goal of having that results done and that’s what’s driving me, and that’s what makes the time blocking work for me because everything that’s on my calendar is results driven.
Tracy Otsuka:
You’ve connected the action to your intention. One thing I do want to say, Miriam is the struggle with ADHD brain is again, what works for you may not work for me. So I can be talking about all kinds of things that work for me, it may not work for you and vice versa.
Miriam Schulman:
And there’s different kinds of ADD so that is part of it as well. Like we said, there was the two types I could remember and there were the five other types I couldn’t even remember what the types were, whether you’re an overfocus type, an inattentive type, a ring of fire type, or all the other names I don’t know because I didn’t pay attention.
Tracy Otsuka:
I know very little about Dr. Amen. I know who he is. I’ve read his stuff, but I couldn’t even comment about that. However, this is the deal, and this is why regular coaching doesn’t work for an ADHD brain. You have to figure out what works for you. All our lives, we’ve been told, “Well, this is the way you need to study. Well, this is the way you need to deal with whatever work thing needs to get done. This is how you need to plan.” And the reality of it is, you don’t know if it’s going to work for you. Doing it their way hasn’t worked, so now you need to sit down and figure out, “Well, what does work for you?”
So you back it up and you start with, “Okay, there was that one day where I really didn’t want to do X, but I got it done. What happened? What was different that all the times I couldn’t do it. Did I exercise beforehand? Did I go walk out in nature beforehand? Was I there with a friend and they were working on something while I was working on something?” You have to kind of put the puzzle together for yourself. I mean, clearly ADHD brains are happiest when were in action and when we’re creating.
If you sit back and you think about when was the last time I was really happy? Chances are, you were creating something. I don’t care if it’s art or business or anything. Then when you think about, “Okay, if I feel like crap right now, well, when’s the last time I actually created something?” I bet you the chances are that you’re going to say, “I really haven’t in a while.” And that’s part of what’s going on. I mean, I think of art and creativity as therapy because we know there’s art therapy, right? It calms the nervous system down.
So that is probably the most important thing that we can do for the ADHD brain is again, to look for where is the positive emotion because what you want to link is positive emotion increases your dopamine. And when you have more dopamine, you feel better and you’re more motivated. So a lot of people think that, “Oh, well motivation just kind of shows up. I’m going to wake up tomorrow. I’m going to feel like I’m motivated. No, not today. Okay, what about the next day? No, not that day either.”
And that’s not how it works. Motivation comes from action. So you can motivate yourself by getting into action, any kind of action. Back end it, right? Because once you get into action, whatever that action is, you’ve increased your positive emotion, which means you’ve increased your dopamine. Now, what is the next thing you can do to increase your positive emotion a little bit more and just keep going up that ladder?
Miriam Schulman:
I love that.
Tracy Otsuka:
We can control it. That is the biggest key. It’s not something that you just wake up one day and you should be motivated or you’re not going to be motivated.
Miriam Schulman:
100%, I agree with that. Okay. So you have some apps that you find are helpful for distracted brains. What are they?
Tracy Otsuka:
Okay. So the number one thing that I love is my Datexx Cube. Have you seen this?
Miriam Schulman:
No.
Tracy Otsuka:
Okay. So this is a great procrastination buster. I have days where I hate to long-form. Taking what’s in my brain and outlining it on a piece of paper and then I got to get myself to just sit down and focus on that long enough, is a struggle. So this is the deal that I strike with myself. All I have to do is… This is a form of the Pomodoro method. But the Pomodoro method doesn’t work for me. So the Pomodoro method is you work for 25 minutes and then you have a five-minute break. And then you work for another 20… There’s all these apps on the phone or whatever that you can get. Then you work for another 25 minutes. Once that’s done, you get a five-minute break.
So if I work for 25 minutes and then I take a five-minute break, I’m never going to go back because my problem is starting, but once I start, I never stop. So this is how I start. This does not require me going into my phone. It doesn’t require me looking at the clock. All I do is I literally sit down and you got to get out of your head and you got to get into action. So I sit down at my desk and I’m like 25 minutes. I’m not even allowed to think about it, I just have to do it. So what this little thing does is it counts down.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s beautiful. I’m going to describe it for people who are listening to the podcasts and do not have a visual? So it’s a cube. It has numbers on the different sides. I’m assuming that you can pick a different amount of time, if you wanted to. It’s basically just a timer but it’s not part of an app. So there’s 10, 20, 25 and five. It’s like a fancy kitchen timer, yeah?
Tracy Otsuka:
Yeah, but see the key with this, with the ADHD brain, it’s got tb be easy in, easy out. If I have to go fumble around in my phone and I’m looking for the app and, “Oh, there’s Instagram and then someone is texting me,” I’m never going to get to it, right?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Tracy Otsuka:
Versus this is easy in, easy out. This cube sits on my desk and all I have to do is literally flip it on its end and it starts to count 25 minutes down.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s beautiful.
Tracy Otsuka:
So everything we do with the ADHD brain is about easy in, easy out. Planners, it’s the same thing. Think about a typical planner. If you struggle with planners, every time I need to write something down, I’ve got to go into the right month, then the right week, and then the right day. Who the hell has time for that? No. So what I have on my desk, one page. It’s on card stock and that is what I used for the whole week. Again, easy in, easy out. If I think of something, it’s right there to just grab. It’s not me rifling through a bunch of pages. So with this planner, I have literally not missed a day in almost two years. I was never able to use a planner for more than, I don’t know, a couple weeks.
Miriam Schulman:
I love my planner, but I’m ready to design my own because it didn’t quite work the way I wanted to. Why isn’t there more space here for what I need and less space over here for what I don’t need? I don’t like it. My kids make fun of me because I usually will buy… Not usually, but often I have bought more than one per year, because I’ll start a planner and decide it doesn’t work.
Tracy Otsuka:
Totally, absolutely. Apps, Bear app. Do you use the Bear app?
Miriam Schulman:
Bear as in the animal or bare as in, I’m naked?
Tracy Otsuka:
No, as in the animal. I think it’s $15 a year. Is it my favorite app? It’s one of my very favorite apps. Again, I’m going to tell you why it’s so great. So I save everything on the Bear app. Literally everything from a podcast idea, a guest I want to have on the podcast. The paint colors that I used in my son’s room five years ago when I redid his room. Plants that I planted in the garden. So if I need to replace them, I want to remember what the hell was that plant called?
Everything that I can possibly save is in the Bear app and the beauty of the Bear app is there are no files. Because when I’m trying to remember where I put something, I can’t remember what file I filed it in. With the Bear app, you just throw it on there and then when you’re looking for whatever it is that you’re looking for, you search in the little search bar and there everything comes up that’s like, oh, I don’t know, Marcus’s bedroom colors.
I never lose anything anymore because of the Bear app. You can take photographs and put the photographs in there. I’m trying to remember what I photographed recently and I stuck it in the Bear so I wouldn’t… Oh, it was like a concealer color. I’m always, I don’t know, at the store and try to remember, okay, what did I buy? What color was it? Now everything is in the Bear app.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s great. I think I need that app for when I order food I don’t like at a restaurant. I always wished there was an app for that because it’s like, “Oh, that’s right. They overcooked this. Why don’t I remember that from last time I ordered it? It was like, so disappointed.”
Tracy Otsuka:
You can totally do that. When someone says, “Oh my God, this is such a great book,” that’s where I throw it. Or this is such a great movie. You’ve got to watch this movie. Or don’t watch this movie. Everything is in the Bear app.
Miriam Schulman:
The cube. What was the cube called again?
Tracy Otsuka:
It’s called the Datexx Cube.
Miriam Schulman:
The Datexx Cube. Then we have the Bear app.
Tracy Otsuka:
I have a brand-new app. They call it designer email and I was like, I’m not going to spend money for this. But somehow they hooked me and I tried it, and it’s called Superhuman. It’s an email application. It is the only way that I can achieve inbox zero and I am blown away with how… It somehow calls all the crap email that I get pulls the ones that I really need to deal with and then allows me to organize them, send them away until they need to come back. It is the best email application I had ever used.
I’m on it about six weeks now. Initially when I started, I was like, I’m never going to… There was these shortcuts that you have to remember with the keys on your computer, and I was like I’m never going to remember this. Then it suddenly dawned on me, “Oh, command K and all the shortcuts are there.” And that’s how I learned them. And within, I would say three days, I was like, “I cannot live without this designer email.”
Miriam Schulman:
What’s it called again, that one?
Tracy Otsuka:
It’s called Superhuman.
Miriam Schulman:
Awesome. Okay. I might have to check that out. That’s an extension type of app for Google or works in any email?
Tracy Otsuka:
Well, I’m using it with Gmail, but I do think it’s not an extension. It’s an actual application. And then somehow you link it to whatever email that you’re using. But if you feel just kind of over… Because I did. Completely overwhelmed with emails. I was missing emails that were important. I just always felt buried by email and not on top of it. And I’m inbox zero, every night now.
Miriam Schulman:
Great.
Tracy Otsuka:
So it’s given me a real sense of control.
Miriam Schulman:
Tracy, you dropped so many knowledge bombs today. Why don’t you share with us about your program five days to fall in love with your ADHD brain? I’m sure my listeners would like to hear about it.
Tracy Otsuka:
Well, thank you for asking. So it is a free series and it starts on June 21st. So if you are struggling to understand your brain, if you want more information on ADHD in women and how it impacts women differently because what I didn’t say is that estrogen is completely related to dopamine. And remember, dopamine is what were lacking. There are all different times of the month. And also, puberty, and when were pregnant and postpartum, and then perimenopause and menopause. When our estrogen levels drop down to the floor, well guess what? That affects our cognition, that affects our ADHD and this is pretty new research.
I can’t believe it took them that long to figure it out because we know this, right? So anyway, if you want more information on ADHD in women, if you want more information on how to work through procrastination and how to work so that you can feel more motivated throughout the day, if you want to fall in love with your ADHD brain, you can join us at tracyotsuka.com/ilovemybrain. Again, it’s free and it starts June 21st.
Miriam Schulman:
Beautiful. Okay. So we’ll link to that in the show notes. And if you love all the knowledge bombs, Tracy dropped here today, make sure you check out her podcasts ADHD for smart ass women. I’m sure you’re going to love it. We’ve also included links to all these places in the show notes at schulmanart.com/146. And don’t forget, check out The Inspired Art Pricing Workshop. schulmanart.com/workshop. Imagine for a moment that it’s a year from now and you’re finally profiting from your passion. This dream can come true and you deserve to invest in your creative career. All right, Tracy, do you have any last words for my listeners before we call this podcast complete?
Tracy Otsuka:
For every weakness, there is always a strength. And ADHD is no exception. I have never met an ADHD woman who wasn’t truly brilliant at something. And I’m not just saying that. I mean, these are among the most brilliant people that I meet. So please know that you’re brilliant too.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, thanks so much.
Tracy Otsuka:
All right, my friend. Thanks for being with me here today. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Stay inspired.
Thank you for listening to The Inspiration Place Podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart. On Instagram, @schulmanart. And of course at schulmanart.com.
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