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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, gorgeous humans. How the heck are you doing today? And welcome back to the show. It's been a hot minute since I've been here. I'm so excited to talk to you today let's discuss this New year, new me. Idea that comes around about every January where people like you and me set incredibly unrealistic goals with the best intentions.
They oftentimes look just like the year prior and seemed to cycle from one January to the next. Now. Being the person that you are. I know that is so incredibly frustrating for you, and you're probably wondering why the fuck does this happen every single year? And that's where we are gonna start today.
The reason that you have the same goals every single year is because they're rooted in perfectionism for one and two. What is the most important thing I wanna talk about today, which is. You are not thinking about the supports that you are going to need to make that goal happen. You are not considering the supports that you need to make that goal happen.
Okay? Being an A DHD person means that you have a disability. If you are in the A DHD means that you're a superhero camp. You might wanna listen to some more podcast episodes of this show, and I think it's gonna change your mind. It's not that I don't think that you're amazing. It means that A DHD is a disability.
It affects every part of your life, including how you accomplish goals. You'll notice that I didn't say because you have a DHD, you can't do jack shit with your life. That is just simply not true. I've done really cool things. I know that you've done really cool things. You wouldn't be listening to this podcast if you hadn't.
There's a really good chance of you're listening because you have accomplished really cool things and you're feeling burnt out because of it. Okay, so what do by. Taking into consideration the support that you need to make things happen. Let's break it down. Let's take any arbitrary goal.
Let's say the goal is to eat out less this year and to save money. Okay? So one needs to happen if you're gonna be eating out less. That means that you're probably gonna have to have more food at home. It means that you're gonna have to cook the meals. It means that you're gonna have to figure out recipes that are easy enough or that you can make enough food at once so that you have leftovers because oftentimes you don't have the energy to cook every single day.
Now, the difference between. That mindset and just I wanna eat out less is you're not planning for what needs to happen in order for that goal to happen. I.
I think setting goals is an important thing. I was just talking about it with my coach today about how important it's to set goals even if you don't achieve them, because it's through the analysis of what needs to change, that you can figure out what you need to change for it to make it happen. So I am not anti setting goals.
I just wanna set that straight. I am anti setting goals without an action plan to make them happen. I am anti setting goals, not taking your disability into account. So therefore, you have all this internalized ableism telling you that you're a piece of shit, when in reality you just did not have the supports that you needed to make it happen.
So let's talk about what some goals could be for this year that would actually do a lot for your health and your happiness and your energy. You could have a goal that is not to take work home with you when you're done with work.
That would be an incredible goal, a fantastic goal for your nervous system, for your life outside of work, because what is the point of just working all the time and having money and not being able to spend it and enjoy it? So you have this goal to not take work home with you after work. Amazing goal.
The next step would be. What needs to happen to make this attainable now unless you actually are a superhero and you know immediately how to accommodate your nervous system, work within your fluctuating capacity, how to support your executive functioning, that might look like hiring somebody to help you figure out how to get your work done at work.
That may mean different systems. That may mean having boundaries with your boss so that you are getting your calls done or meetings done, and then have the appropriate time that you need to get the things done that you need to get done. It might mean shifting your work around so you're doing the tasks that require the most focus when your brain is most optimal.
It is gonna take changes. I hope this is making sense that. Having goals is an amazing thing. Accomplishing them an amazing thing. The place that people like you and I get tripped up is that middle ground in. How am I going to make it happen? And being so incredibly honest with yourself when you need a accommodations, when you need a support person, when you need a coach or a therapist or somebody to help you make it happen.
So I want you to really think about what are your goals for this year? Have you thought of any? Are you in that place where you're not even sure where to start with a goal and what direction to head in? Are you feeling like you don't wanna set another goal because it's going to just leave you with disappointment?
If you're feeling like that, it's a really great cue that you have not had the support that you need to make your goals happen. I have done a lot of really cool things in my life. I've completed my master's degree, did a couple TED Talks. I live in a nice house and I have three cute dogs, and I have a good relationship with my husband.
And having a business too, all of those things happened because I had the supports that I needed to be able to make them happen. Getting through graduate school. Happened, unfortunately with a lot of brute force and a lot of burnout, but having a career sustaining a career, building a business after is because I had a support person helping me to do that.
The relationship that I have with my partner now is really great because we hired a couple's therapist when we really needed one. Having the accommodations that, or knowing how to accommodate myself and my nerve system. Happened from a coach, but also from what I learned as an occupational therapist.
This house that we are able to afford and live in is only possible because I have figured out how to create a sustainable career that isn't going to end in perpetual burnout. In just a matter of time. I had supports through every single big. Thing that I have accomplished, and if you have a DHD, it's very possible that you also need a support person to help you.
With Unfucking your life and figuring out how to work within your nervous system. Here's the thing. If you know how to work within your nervous system and your within your fluctuating capacity, how to support your executive functioning, those are all the. Building blocks of being able to accomplish any goal.
That is where you start. And those are the important things that many people skip over when they create goals now. Creating goals is gonna feel very similar to buying all the supplies that you need for a new hobby. It creates a lot of dopamine. It feels really good. Writing down all the ways that you're gonna be a different person this year, and then telling yourself you're just gonna cosplay as that person until it actually feels like you.
That feels really good. And there's a lot of self-help books that are around that idea. What those self-help books miss is the middle ground when you are a disabled person and you need more support. So before you go into your perfectionistic goals for this year, I wanna ask you, do you know how to work within your capacity?
Do you know how to. Support your executive functioning so that you're able to accomplish things. Do you know how to support your nervous system so that burnout is not perpetual? And that you actually have energy. At the end of the day, after you've accomplished everything that you've sought to accomplish, until you have support on those three things, it is going to feel damn near impossible.
And like you're walking through quicksand on the way to your goal, which is why you oftentimes get caught in the quicksand and it leads to burnout.
So I'm gonna keep this episode short.
And I would invite you to think about what your goals are for this year and how you plan on accommodating yourself to make them happen. All right, my friends, this is the short episode, but I am looking forward to getting back to being more consistent with you. In 2026,
if you are curious about working together, there is a link in the show notes to schedule a free consultation with me, to work with me one-on-one. As your A DHD coach. I am an occupational therapist, turned a DHD coach, and I love working with the perfectionistic. Brilliant, but burnt out A DHD humans that are struggling in their daily life that have big goals and don't know how to get there.
I would love to be your support person to help you to get there. All right, my friends. That is it for now. I'll see you next week. Bye.
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.