When I first got diagnosed with ADHD in the mid-90s, my doctor handed me a book called Driven To Distraction. It was a brand new book by Dr. Ned Hallowell about ADHD and it was groundbreaking at the time. My doctor was pretty excited to give me a copy to understand my newly diagnosed ADHD brain. I enthusiastically said, “Great!” with full intention of reading it.
And then I proceeded to leave it in the backseat of my car. Forever.
If you would have told me, “Hey man, maybe read that book instead of letting it rot in the abyss of your backseat because 28 years from now, you and your wife are going to have a podcast and you’re going to interview the author,” I would have told you you were crazy (I also would have had a lot of questions about what a podcast is).
Well this week, we got to do just that, we interviewed Dr. Ned Hallowell, the man whose first book went with me everywhere… in the backseat of my car.
Changing The Perception of ADHD
Dr. Ned Hallowell is the OG of ADHD. He was the first person to identify that people with ADHD need more coaching than therapy (unless there are other emotional issues at play.) There can be a lot of shame, like micro-moments, saying the wrong thing, or forgetting something I said I would do. It can bring us all intense disappointment.
According to Dr. Hallowell, shame is a wasted emotion. As the original ADHD life coach (Who has worked with celebrities like Paris Hilton), his philosophy gives me so much hope: The key is to know yourself and accept yourself as you are, instead of pretending to be someone else because you are ashamed. We talk about the perception of ADHD, what we should do for ADHD caretakers, and how “ADHD Coaching” actually works. You can learn more about Dr. Ned and his new book, ADHD 2.0.
Listen to our conversation and tell us what you learned, we hope you enjoy it.
