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Hi, friend! I'll keep this short and sweet, because ADHD!
Whether you're newly diagnosed or have known for a century, Overachievers Anonymous: ADHD Edition is the podcast for you. Join me and my guests as we explore the latest research, share personal stories, and provide actionable advice to help you live your best life with ADHD.
Welcome to the Outsmart, A DHD podcast. I'm your host, Jamie Catino, board certified occupational therapist. Two-time Ted Speaker, A DHD coach, A DHD, advocate and Reality Show, contestant. Now let's talk about A DH. D.
Hello, beautiful humans. Happy Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or whatever day I decide to drop this episode. I found out on the last episode that. You guys will still tune in even if it's not a Wednesday. So a lot of you must be subscribed. 'cause there was about the same number of people that tuned in the first 24 hours that there normally is.
And I can't tell you how much that means to me today. I am talking about a realistic morning routine because I am sick and motherfucking tired of people talking about morning routines and then it being like, start your day with a marathon and a green smoothie and then journal about. Your childhood for the next hour after that, meditate and then you're good for your day.
Nope, I'm not doing that. You don't need to do that. So let's talk about what's realistic. Before we talk about what's realistic, I wanna first mention that in the show notes of this podcast, there is a link to a free webinar, free on demand webinar prerecorded called Before You Rage Quit your job. Try this.
It is for. A DHD humans that are working a nine to five job hating their time, they're feeling like they're unappreciated by their boss. They always are taking work home. They can't enjoy their life because work consumes so much of it and they don't know what to do and they don't wanna leave their job with their finger in the air because, paying rent in a mortgage you can't do with hugs despite what I wish you could.
So if that is, you go in the link in the show notes and that webinar is for you. Secondly, if you are curious about what it's like to work with me in the link, there's a link in the show notes where you can also schedule a three, a free 30 minute consultation with me, where I am not gonna sell you on my coaching.
We're gonna just get to know each other, what better, because guess what? It's not just a consult for you. It's also a consult for me too to see. Do we both wanna work together? Yeah, my reputation means way too much than to accept a client before I know for certain that I can get them to the goal that they are hiring me for.
I'm way too ethical and to be so transparent with you. My business in my reputation means way more to me than however much you would be paying me monthly to help you. But if you would like to. Talk to me for a little bit, see if I'm the best person to help you. There's a link in the show notes for that.
Okay. Now let's talk about what you've actually tuned in here for, which is a realistic morning routine. Now let's talk a little bit about what you have been told. You've likely been told a few, or all of the following things that you need movement in your day. It has to start with journaling. It has to start with quiet time.
It has to be a certain amount of time. All of these things are absolute bullshit. You may have been told it cannot include a screen. Did I already say that I have a DHD? Have you noticed? Now let's talk about what you actually need for a solid morning routine. There is only two ingredients. Only two. Okay?
Number one is that your morning routine includes me time. Number two is that your morning routine includes staying off of your social media or things that can give you a lot of stimulation or dopamine. Super quickly notice I said staying off of social media and not off of any scream screen in and of itself.
Now, why is this so important? Why are these two things so important? Number one me time. Starting your day with that is a reminder to yourself, I fucking matter. I matter before the world demands everything of me before my kids demand everything of me. Before my boss is asking me if I met the deadline before.
My partner is asking me if there's coffee on the pot or whatever. Before anything happens, your day starts with you. I have noticed a huge shift when my day starts with me versus when my day starts serving other people. When I was in very deep burnout, it was hard to do anything for myself. It was hard to have the capacity to do anything, period, let alone for myself.
I will say that even if you are in burnout, there is something very small that you can do to start your day for you. Your capacity is going to change what you may want to do for your morning routine. I'm gonna get into ideas for what it can be.
So also don't put yourself in a corner thinking, oh I'm gonna figure out a morning routine and I'm gonna stick with it forever. I will tell you one thing. My morning routine includes these two ingredients, me time, and staying off of social media and things that gimme a lot of dopamine stimulation really quickly.
And it has changed and evolved over the years based off of the amount of time that I have had, based off of my capacity, based off of what was interesting to me based off of if I was in more of a creative mode and more of an output mode versus if I'm in more of a taking in input mode. This is something that.
My amazing editor and writing coach and creativity coach Brit taught me so shout out to you. You'll be hearing her on the podcast probably not too long from now. So it's going to change over time and that is okay. That's perfectly great actually. I wanna applaud you if it does, because it means that you are tuning in with yourself and what feels good to you in that moment.
Now. That is why the ME time is so important. Staying off of social media or things that give you a lot of stimulation and dopamine super quickly. What I have found, I'm sure there is evidence to back this up. I have not dove deep into it if I'm being so transparent with you, but what I have found is that starting your day with quick dopamine, like social media, will make you crave that level of stimulation or more for the rest of the day.
And the thing about social media is despite how amazing your algorithm is, despite how funny it can be, I know TikTok is like my social media my fun social media because I don't do any marketing on there. It's still going to rev up your brain to where you are still seeking quick dopamine throughout the rest of the day.
It can make it a lot harder to focus on your tasks that you need to get done. It can also make you focus on problems that are out of your control. When is the last time you opened up social media and saw absolutely nothing about the dumped dumpster fire of a world that we're living in right now? This morning, time is time to be grounded in joy.
It's time to be grounded in what makes you feel good. I can promise you there's lots of time in the rest of the day to try to solve all of life's problems, but the first 10 minutes of your day are not for that. Okay. Okay. Now let's talk about some myths about your morning routine. Myth number one, that it can't in involve any screens or electronics.
I don't believe this. I don't believe this for a damn second. Anyone that tells you that your morning routine has to include you sitting there with. Your green drink and journaling and that's the only way to do a morning routine is absolutely full of shit. Now if you enjoy that for your morning routine, that's fantastic, keep doing it.
But if you don't, they're full of shit. Want me to tell you what my morning routine was today? I made myself this mushroom coffee with lines mane in it. I'm seeing how well it'll help me with my A DHD, especially since I can't be on a stimulant for the moment. But I made myself some coffee. I washed a cup out so that I could have my electrolyte drink in the morning, and I turned on a YouTube channel called Good Mythical Morning that my friend turned me onto while I was visiting her.
It is a channel that does not talk anything about politics, what's going on in the world. And they do different things like trying a bunch of different types of noodles to see what's the best type of noodle. Today the video was which sodas or pops taste most like their diet or zero version, like zero calorie version.
That's how I started my day today. I was watching a YouTube video, drinking my coffee
so it can invo involve screens or electronics. As long as those things are not quick dopamine fixes that make you focus on everything outside of yourself. Myth number two, that it needs to be a certain amount of time. The idea that your morning routine has to be at least 30 minutes or an hour or else it's not a routine is absolutely, it's full of shit.
What is important, what I have found by doing this myself, by having clients who have practiced this also is that what is important is that you are doing something for yourself. You are having me time. What is. Not nearly as important as the amount of time. There have been stages of my life where my morning routine was an hour plus, and there have been other parts of my life where it has been just a few minutes.
What is most important is that you are doing it and that you are sending that time out for yourself, not how long you are doing it for. So if a morning routine feels very unattainable because you do not have much time. Perfect. This is why this podcast is here for you. It is meant for the very busy humans, so stop putting that pressure on yourself to make your morning routine a certain amount of time.
Myth number three, that it needs to require journaling or output of some sort. Your morning routine does not need to require journaling. Now, if you enjoy journaling and if you are in a stage of. Self-discovery, it can be fantastic. When I was working on the first draft of my book writing for however long I felt like writing it was a lot of times, like a couple hours of writing I would start my day off with, but that's because my schedule allowed it and I was in a period of deep self discovery.
But you do not have to journal for your morning routine. You do not have to produce anything for your morning routine.
Personally, I have not been writing for my morning routine. Sometimes I have been sending a voice note to a coach on things that they have told me to reflect on. I only write in the morning if it feels good.
Myth number four, that it needs to require movement. Okay? So we know that movement can be helpful for A DHD humans because of the dopamine that it produces. Okay? True factual, and. Do not gaslight yourself into saying that you have to be moving the first five minutes of your day or else it is not a morning routine.
The point of a morning routine is that it is something that you enjoy. It is something that you start the day with that you enjoy. Having a morning routine that you enjoy is also going to make it a lot easier to get out of bed in the morning when you are sleepy or you're already feeling executive dysfunction and thinking about 17 things that you have to do for the day, and it's hard to get outta bed because of it.
The point of this is joy. Something that you enjoy. It centers you have I mentioned that enough? Okay, so if exercise and the idea of exercise is not bringing you joy, don't put it in your routine, does it mean that you're not going to exercise the entirety of the day? Maybe not. Depending on your energy levels.
Maybe you're going to exercise later or maybe you're not at all. There is no moral failing with whether you do or don't
for me. I went through, it was a couple weeks ago where I was feeling energized in the morning and I wanted to start my day on vacation or the trip, more so a trip to go see a friend, and I was out of my routine. I'm a little tired. I'm getting back to feeling like myself, what feels good to me is taking a walk around the block that's also helping with my sleep.
I'm so honest. Most of the reason that I do that is so that my eyes get some sunshine in it and it resets my circadian rhythm. Circadian. Circadian. I think it's with an N circadian rhythm, and I can sleep that night. But if you do not enjoy that, don't do it. But if you do enjoy some movement, also know that you do not have to either do a full 30 minute.
High intensity workout or nothing at all. You can go on a leisurely walk.
Now, if you're wondering what the heck should I even do for my morning routine? The idea of it is I don't know. It's just such a foreign idea that I would start the day thinking about myself. First of all, I'm proud of you for even considering doing a morning routine. It can feel very daunting to think about to IMP implement, but I'm gonna try to break this down and make it as easy as possible to start.
Here are some ideas. Idea number one, drinking some coffee while you're sitting alone. Yes. This in and of itself is enough of a morning routine sitting there and quiet, especially for those of you who have kids or dogs or loud humans in the house or loud things in the house where. If you're able to get up a little bit before them, which is not possible a lot of times, but let's just say that you're that person that likes to get up before everyone else and have a little bit of alone time.
Sit there and drink your coffee. That's okay. That is enough of a morning routine. That's a perfect morning routine Idea number two, listening to a podcast or an audiobook on your way to work. When I was working a nine to five job as an occupational therapist, this is was a huge part of my morning routine.
I looked forward to the podcast or audiobook that I was going to listen to on my commute to work. This in itself is enough. I would also drink my little protein drink on the way there. So I would feel good by the time that I was at work because I was listening to a positive podcast or I was learning something, but I was always learning something that centered myself.
So a podcast or audiobook in the morning, fantastic way to start off your day. Idea number three, watching a fun YouTube channel. That feels good. Like I mentioned, you don't have to get rid of electronics or your phone altogether, or you could stream it on your TV if you have a TV that lets you access YouTube.
That's what I did this morning. I highly recommend good mythical mourning. That's an amazing, it's an amazing YouTube channel, and it's a clean channel that you can also watch with your kids. So maybe it'll become part of their morning routine too.
Idea number four, listening to a meditation or binaural beats. Binaural beats. I use it more so to calm down at night because you can, the, what it is it. Mimics the different wave, the different brainwaves. So there's alpha brainwaves, delta brainwaves I can't remember which ones are for sleep and which ones are for focus to be so incredibly honest with you.
But you could listen to those if you want some sort of stimulation that helps you to start with a centered calmness for the day. Or you can listen to a meditation. Or if you know of a funny podcast, listen to a podcast or an audio book or listen to anything that brings you joy. All right. Idea number five, though I have shit on it, is journaling.
Some people really enjoy journaling. I, when I do journal and do a little morning page, which is like a question, it's like a prompt and then you respond to it. Typically, I end with pretty cool insights about myself that I didn't realize were circling around in my subconscious. Another thing that Brit has taught me is that morning pages is a really good way for your conscious to connect with your subconscious.
So if you like doing little experiments like that and you like self discovery and you're in that phase of your life, it can be really great. But also it does not need to be for a certain amount of time. It does not need to be about a certain thing. You do not need to be writing a book. You can. Write for a couple minutes or a paragraph and be done.
There you go. There's your morning routine. Now, I hope that this made morning routines feel more approachable to you. I hope that it doesn't feel so out there and out of reach. I hope that you are kind to yourself and you start your day with something that centers you because we know that there's a lot of people asking for a lot of things from you asking you to be.
A lot of things for them, and you, my friend, are worthy of the first few minutes of your day being towards your happiness and your grounding. I can promise you it's going to make a huge difference on the rest of your day Now. Friendly reminder. In the show notes of this podcast, there is a link to a webinar called Before You Rage Quit Your Job.
Try this. It is an on-demand webinar. It is made for those who are burnt out and hating their nine to five jobs, feeling like they wanna quit. They would've quit yesterday if they could, but they can't. That is for you. It is free. It is on demand. You will get an email immediately after signing up for it.
Also there is a link in the show notes to sign up for a free consultation. If you are interested in my coaching, you one-on-one and I have a question for you, my friend. Can you take one moment to go to the Apple Podcasts if you have an iPhone, if you are driving. Don't do it right now. Wait until you get to wherever you're going.
Pull up the podcast and give me a five star rating and review the podcast. I personally thank everybody who takes that moment out of their day to do it. I know it's not easy. I know it's not easy to remember. I know. You're probably hearing this thinking shit. I meant to do it last time. That is okay. It is a very kind thing to do for me because it helps to promote the podcast, but it's a kind thing to do for other people because the more ratings a podcast has and the more reviews, the more that it signals to the algorithm, Hey, this is a helpful resource for other people, and pushes it out to other people so they'll be getting information that they otherwise would not have had.
All right, my friends. That's it for this episode. I will talk to you next time. Bye now.
Are you a high achieving woman with a DHD looking for a coach or maybe an event coordinator looking for a wildly captivating speaker? Perfect. Go to outsmart adhd.co. That's out. Smart adh adhd.co to get in touch. And before I forget, would you mind taking a minute to share this podcast with someone you love?
It would mean the world to me. Thanks, my friend. Until next time.