Friction and Flow Talk

 Jonathan Murphy, PMHNP-BC, returns to the Focus Path YouTube channel with the 101st video and processes the launch of the Friction video — the underlying formula for building capacity, the medium-is-the-message principle for video creation, the Gatekeeper commenter archetype, and why accessible teaching serves the audience the academic monolith alienated.

This episode covers:

• The return to weekly uploads and the new Shows format on the Focus Path YouTube channel
• The Road to 100 playlist as a narrative thread through 25 videos on the creative and educational journey
• The Friction video walkthrough: how bureaucratic busy work drains the energy battery so nothing recharges it
• Directing energy toward what you do naturally without thinking as the mechanism for recharging capacity
• Passion versus natural fluency and why passion is a feeling that changes over time while natural fluency is durable
• The problem-solving of friction at work versus the natural work that made you employable in the first place
• The paycheck as an exchange of energy and the question of what the paycheck actually costs
• Documentation and bureaucracy as the friction that had to be delegated for the actual clinical work to expand
• The medium is the massage as the working principle for creating on YouTube
• Video as entertainment medium and why clinical content has to be delivered in the register the medium requires
• The comment section as a public FAQ and the classical rhetoric register for engagement
• The Gatekeeper archetype: viewers who claim to want factual knowledge but complain about presentation style
• Learning versus acquiring knowledge for application and why real learners take information from any container
• The academic educational monolith and its alienating effect on people who could have been reached with accessible teaching
• The clinical mission underneath the register: reaching people intimidated by academic culture who need to know there's an easier way

This is the eleventh episode of Actually ADHD. Previous episodes covered the optimization blueprint, the medication walkthrough, the Goldilocks Zone framework, the seven reasons medication fails, ADHD and identity, the ADHD Matrix, the peer clinician perspective, the origin story of Developmental Reinforcement Theory, and the Focus Path YouTube channel reflection. The book The Process: An Adult's Guide to ADHD Medication is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2Z6PM4T

Find the YouTube channel Focus Path | PMHNP-BC for the Friction video and the full clinical education catalog.

For educational purposes only. Not medical advice. Consult your own provider for clinical decisions.

What is Actually ADHD | Medication Strategies & Clinical Wisdom?

Adult ADHD from the board-certified PMHNP behind the YouTube channel Focus Path and the book The Process. Clinical perspective on medication, frameworks, and the conversations the internet hasn't been having.

My name is Jonathan Murphy.

Welcome back to Actually ADHD, sponsored
by the Focus Path YouTube channel.

You can check that out on YouTube at
Focus Path Systems So today I'm gonna

talk a little bit about the Focus Path
YouTube channel because I restarted it.

I've resumed my upload schedule.

I just uploaded the 101st video,
and I plan to resume weekly uploads.

What YouTube is doing is they're
moving to more of a Netflix format.

So if you do go over to that channel,
on the top of my page, you will see

everything neatly organized into separate
shows, so you can easily find and access

and binge content on various topics.

Everything started on the channel
addressing ADHD because it has

the largest base of both personal
and professional knowledge.

It's central to my story as a creator
and storyteller and clinician.

And another series you can find on there
is The Road to 100, where I took 25 videos

that felt to be important touchstones
on my creative journey and educational

journey There's a narrative thread sort
of weaving in and out of that playlist

So the newest video, there's a series of
videos I have in the vault, and the first

one This was a tricky concept to teach.

Nonetheless, I'm happy
with the final product.

It's essentially returning, explaining the
formula for what I've been able to build.

So This idea of friction, things in
our day that make us frustrated We

can have our life together but deal
with this undercurrent of stress.

in the video I said that the
problem with any job after the day

is done, they're gonna add just
enough busy work to your plate

So you don't have any energy left over.

So this energy battery we all have, we
drain our battery and it won't recharge

because of that little bit of friction.

The way to recharge our battery is by
directing our energy toward the thing

that we do naturally without thinking.

And the equation or the formula is that
flow state, the place that you naturally

gravitate toward, whether it's data
analytics or designing a masterpiece

We're able to execute without friction.

It's different for everybody.

And I made it abundantly clear that
this doesn't mean doing your passion.

What we're passionate about is
different from what we do naturally

without thinking about it.

A passion is a feeling.

There's nothing you will be
passionate about for the rest of

your life, although passion can be
felt at various times throughout

your life in various different ways.

But we want to exclude
all or nothing thinking.

We wanna think about jobs and occupations
that are natural, and when we are at work,

we need to problem solve the friction,
because that friction that is found at

your workplace is not what got you there.

What got you to whatever job you have is
the fact that you can do it naturally,

and you probably have some experience too.

So the thing that you do without
thinking about it or the part of

the job that you're good at, we
can also think of as your value.

The world is gonna say, "Here you go,
you're worth this much," because you're

directing your energy to maximize the
value, and then you get a paycheck.

But how much does the paycheck cost?

How much are you giving over?

And the answer lies in energy.

How much energy are we giving away?

When we lean into friction, it drains
our battery faster and it won't recharge.

Whereas if we remove friction
and encounter flow, we're

gonna get a lot more energy.

We're gonna be inspired.

We're gonna be excited.

Nonetheless, we need to deal with
that friction, so top load that

friction and problem solve it.

What we deal with today might not be what
we wanna deal with 10 years from now.

And the only reason I'm here is because
I had to deal with the documentation

that I eventually ended up delegating.

A- And I delegate it to a person, and
that person that I speak to, because

I'm able to speak off the top of my
head and reflect upon someone's actual

treatment, I'm doing a better job because
the actual document itself and all the

difficulties I have accessing it, clicking
on boring things, resetting passwords,

da, da, da, billing codes, this is all
bureaucratic So what is my job really?

And what is the best use of my energy?

So we have to navigate this.

This is navigating ourselves
from within the role.

And we need to know what
our value is to do it.

That's our negotiating leverage.

And when we know our worth, we're
not looking for someone to hire us,

although we may just need money.

But needing money is a lot
different than the long game.

Needing money, getting paid,
that's a survival thing.

But eventually we wanna carve out
space in our mind where we can go,

"Okay, this is what I'm currently
doing, and how do I direct my energy?

How do I think about energy?

How do I think about friction?"

And that, in a nutshell, is what I had
to teach, I can't teach it like I am

teaching now because I am on an audio-only
podcast, so the medium is the massage.

So I can't massage the viewer
or the listener or the reader in

the same way, in the same medium.

It needs to be relative to the medium.

YouTube is an entertainment platform.

And I also wanna have fun creating.

This is number one.

It's gotta be for you.

So how do I deliver the value most
effectively while also making it

a- an enjoyable experience for me?

And

Naturally, I leaned into some of the
more, shall we say, bolder choices in

terms of editing, adding B-roll, adding
sound effects, but it's about friction.

So it's normal to feel
annoyed while watching it.

I was aware of that.

I knew I was toeing that line,
but nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

I'm happy with it.

And it is what it is.

It's just one video among a hundred
that had to do with the concept,

and I'm excited for the next one.

But nonetheless, I got a comment
that I haven't got before or

recently, and when someone has
an opinion, they have an opinion.

I wanna make sure that the comment
section is a place for people

to engage with one another in a
respectful way that's based on

if I may be so bold

the decorum of classical
rhetoric ' cause we're adults here.

We can, we can, uh, behave like adults.

So the internet culture

of the comment section.

And I've had a really
fortunate experience.

I feel like the comment section is
a FAQ, so I've been able to respond

to people individually, which has
been helpful because then people

see this sort of message board and
then it goes quiet for a while.

And

There was this new comment about
the video being obnoxious, and I

thought about it and I realized,
yes, that was a risk I was taking.

But then I realized, you know,
this is someone's opinion.

What am I gonna say?

There's nothing to say.

So I thanked him for his time.

I appreciate you taking the time to
watch the video, ' cause it's engagement,

as they say, but it wasn't enough.

Came back…

Let me read it

I'm open-minded and try new things.

The info may be good.

It's the presentation
style that is obnoxious.

It's like you're afraid if you're not
over the top and constantly visually

stimulating that people will tune out.

Maybe, but a lot of people will tune
out because it's obnoxious, too.

People interested in factual knowledge,
presumably your target audience are more

likely to find the presentation style
grating versus people with virtually no

attention span sticking around no matter
what you do That makes no sense at the

end, sticking around no matter what.

The, the very nature of someone
with no attention span, if they're

sticking around, that's a good thing.

And

What does attention span have to do with
being interested in factual knowledge?

So what I realized is this is someone
that is understanding there's something

to be learned, but he's mad at me.

The video was obnoxious.

Did you create it for
kindergartners or something?

Would not recommend."

So when I watched it again,
I heard the music I put on.

It is like almost a xylophone in the back.

So that must be where the kindergarten
came from, and I realized, okay,

I gotta be careful about that.

You don't wanna trigger people.

So it's just an, a point of context.

But it's like, oh, okay, he felt
like I was insulting his intelligence

because I'm being entertaining.

The medium is the message.

I have to entertain.

So I've realized this is a gatekeeper.

These are people that come to YouTube
and they want something different.

They're coming to YouTube and they're
going, "I wanna learn this way."

But is it learning?

Because if someone's interested in
actually learning, wouldn't you be

happier to sit back and be entertained?

I mean, I know I was always like that in
class, you know, something engages you.

To have a dry, boring lecture, a
dry, boring topic, go to all the

other millions of people out there.

But this gatekeeping, it's like

You have to teach in this way.

I wanna teach in a way that anyone
can learn it because it's not that

complicated and it can be fun.

Learning can be fun.

So these stuffy academics or these
people that wanna learn or claim they

wanna learn but cannot learn because
it's too obnoxious, there's too many

visual cuts, I wonder if what they
think is learning is actually acquiring

knowledge that they can then apply to
their lives because they could have

already learned even if it was obnoxious.

They could have been like, "Okay,
it's obnoxious, but let me go

put this information into action
But that's not what's going on.

What's going on is they're mad that
I didn't deliver the information

in a way that was appealing to
them, which is fine, that's valid.

However, I'm glad to know that elitist
gatekeeping academics that are more

interested in puffing up their ego and
feeling like they're a smarty pants.

I don't wanna draw those types of people.

There's plenty of places and
spaces for that demographic.

I'm looking for people that need
to know there's an easier way And

having been someone intimidated by
the academic educational monolith

of culture and society and feeling
less than, feeling bad about myself

I want anyone out there to know that
anyone can learn anything and that

there's enough tools and resources in
our world for you to navigate life.

Whether that means ADHD medication,
therapy, behavioral skills,

whatever it is, you can go from

Failure

to finally figuring out why you
felt all those feelings in the

first place And that's what I'm
excited to do here on Actually ADHD.

Well, thank you for
listening to that little rant

Until next time.

My name is Jonathan Murphy,
psychiatric nurse practitioner.

I'll talk to you later.