Managing your nervous system through the stages of burnout
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
Release Date: 02/22/2025
Why Vision and Values Matter for The Busy Professional with ADHD
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
When you’re driven, capable, and juggling a demanding career or business with Adult ADHD, it’s easy to stay in constant motion, but still feel off, overwhelmed, or stuck in ADHD survival mode. And it may just be because you're not operating with your values and vision in mind. In this episode, Dave explores how clarifying your personal values and creating a values-driven vision of success can help you feel more fulfilled, productive, and in control, without relying on rigid systems and flirting with burnout. This episode is especially for ADHD brains that crave meaning, flexibility, and...
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Managing Your Nervous System and Energy for the ADHD Professional
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
In this episode, Dave sits down with Theresa Lear Levine, an EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Master Practitioner and hypnotherapist, to explore the deep connection between the nervous system and ADHD. For high-achieving entrepreneurs and professionals, ADHD is often managed through "mechanics" Which are mission critical. However, Theresa explains why the nervous system is in a state of high-functioning anxiety or chronic stress for many busy professionals with ADHD. And how we can mitigate that stress. Key Discussion Points: Reframing ADHD: Moving away from the "disorder" mindset to view...
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Building Awareness & Clarity as a Busy Adult with ADHD
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
Navigating life with Adult ADHD often feels like operating in constant "survival mode." In this episode, Dave talks about why awareness is the non-negotiable starting point for meaningful change, acting as a powerful doorway to separating your ADHD wiring from perceived personal flaws. Instead of focusing solely on deficits, we explore how to leverage your unique strengths—like high energy, creativity, and resilience, while creating personalized strategies to manage common challenges like time blindness and task initiation. Most importantly, learn why self-compassion is a crucial performance...
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Navigating Life's Complexities with Adult ADHD
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
Juggling a demanding career and the unique challenges of adult ADHD can be tough enough. But what happens when you add significant life commitments, like caregiving, into the mix? In this episode of Overcoming Distractions, Dave welcomes Lisa Candera, a mom, attorney, ADHD-er, and autism mom coach. They dive deep into the real-world strategies for managing a full, complex life while respecting and even leveraging your ADHD wiring. Lisa shares her personal journey of late-in-life ADHD diagnosis and the radical compassion it unlocked. This episode is packed with essential insights on managing...
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When ADHD Stops Being the Excuse- From Complaining to Commanding
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
In high-pressure careers, stress is constant, and for adults with ADHD, that pressure can quickly turn into frustration, overwhelm, and chronic complaining. In this short episode, Dave digs into one of the most important personal upgrades you can make: shifting from reacting to your problems to actively solving them. This isn’t about ignoring stress or pretending things are easy…It’s about learning how to reclaim control, build momentum, and become someone who figures things out instead of staying stuck in the same mental loop. Remember, those of us with Adult ADHD are great problem...
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The Power of the Not-To-Do List for the Busy Adult with ADHD
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
What if productivity wasn’t just about doing more, but about intentionally doing less of the wrong things? In this short episode, Dave breaks down one of the most overlooked tools for high-performing professionals with ADHD: the Not-To-Do List. If your days feel packed, your energy feels scattered, and your focus feels constantly under attack, this episode will help you reclaim control by eliminating what no longer serves you. You’ll learn how subtracting the right things can create more clarity, momentum, and ease, without adding more pressure to your already full plate. In this episode...
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ADHD time management is nothing without energy management
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
Did you know your ADHD brain has its own rhythm? The key isn’t to fight it, but to work with it. In this episode, Dave dives into one of the most overlooked parts of productivity: your energy rhythms. Because, you can’t manage your time if you don’t have the energy to show up for it. Just because something lands on your to-do list doesn’t mean it’s going to get done. That’s not laziness. It’s your brain chemistry at work. Dave talks about how to identify your natural “focus zones” and how to protect them fiercely. You’ll learn why the myth of “9 to 5” productivity...
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Understanding ADHD in Adults and the Late Diagnosis Journey
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
Dave welcomes Dr. Jennifer Dall, a grief-informed neurodivergence specialist and founder of ADHD Holistically, to discuss the increasingly common experience of being diagnosed with ADHD later in life, often in your 30s, 40s, or 50s. Many adults, particularly those who were successful in their early careers or excelled in structured environments like school, find themselves suddenly struggling when life's demands and structures change. Dr. Dall shares her own candid journey of a later-in-life diagnosis, from initial misdiagnosis to the ultimate "Aha!" moment, and provides actionable insights on...
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Adult ADHD and Burnout-When we can’t just walk away
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
Burnout when you have adult ADHD is complex. It’s not as simple as social media makes it look. Sure, sometimes people walk away from a stressful job or career. But let’s be honest….that’s not always possible. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “People don’t leave jobs, they leave people.” Well, that’s not always true. People do leave jobs. But what happens when you can’t leave? What if you’re running a business you own? Or working a job you depend on financially? Or caring for a loved one, a responsibility that’s not optional or short-term? These are situations you...
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One of the most overlooked personal accommodations busy adults with ADHD can apply
Overcoming Distractions-Thriving with ADHD, ADD
This week, Dave welcomes back his good friend Jeff Copper of DIG Coaching for a vital discussion tailored for the busy professional navigating life with ADHD. Many with ADHD excel at problem-solving for others, but often struggle to implement those same solutions for themselves. This episode dives into the concept of executive function impairment and introduces a new approach. Jeff shares how this model provides a simple, actionable, and universal accommodation to help mitigate the challenges of ADHD and burnout. Tune in to understand why direct communication is the most basic, yet often...
info_outlineOn this episode of Overcoming Distractions, we are talking about burnout and what it can do to our body.
When people are truly burned out, in most cases that causes trauma within the body. And that trauma can come in all types of forms. And when burnout is not addressed, it can take a person years in some cases to recover.
Burnout is also becoming far more complex. For example, not all burnout is rooted in the workplace. You may have caregiving responsibilities which are adding to your chronic stress.
So let's get into what burnout does to you as a human.
The guest on this episode is Clinical Psychologist Dr. Claire Plumbly …author of….THE TRAUMA OF BURNOUT: How to Manage Your Nervous System Before It Manages You.
First, Dr. Plumbly talks with Dave to clarify the differences between stress and burnout. The term burnout seems to be thrown around a little too loosely lately. Burnout is chronic stress unaddressed.
Chronic stress leads to burnout. Dr. Plumbly talks about what chronic stress is doing to our bodies and our nervous system.
Dr. Plumbly also discusses with Dave the various modes of burnout including the red mode and the green mode. Why most of us shut down when we are burned out and how to soothe the nervous system into green mode as she explains.
She also explains the polyvagal theory of the nervous system. Understanding this can help us recover from burnout more effectively.
Learn more about Dr. Clair Plumbly here as well as finding her book: https://www.drclaireplumbly.com/