The David Leifeste Podcast

Blake Daugherty quit his software job, left for Southeast Asia, and found out on a meditation retreat what his ADHD and anxiety had been trying to do for him.

Show Notes

Blake Daugherty is 28, a software engineer, and for most of his life he made the next optimal move: a 4.0 in high school, summa cum laude in college, then straight into a job in Texas. Three years in he was burned out and felt stuck, so he did the least optimal thing he could think of. He quit, put his things in storage and spent three months in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The part he planned least changed him most: a meditation retreat where, on the sixth day, he finally saw what his ADHD and his anxiety had been trying to do for him all along. We talk about how to recognize a juncture in your life, why the optimal move is sometimes the suboptimal one, the difference between your mind and your consciousness, why modern work feels so unnatural to our brains, and why examining yourself too much can do more harm than good. I've known Blake for about nine years, and watching him open up to his own life has been one of my great joys.

Chapters:
0:00 Coming up
0:32 The David Leifeste Show
0:53 Welcome: Blake Daugherty
1:56 From software engineer to Southeast Asia
2:31 Life is full of junctures
3:56 Burnout and the grind
4:53 The lock screen that said go
5:28 Way outside the comfort zone
6:00 Always the next optimal move
7:06 Where the courage came from
8:28 The meditation retreat
10:26 Letting go of the expectation
11:36 You are not your thoughts
12:11 My mind has ADHD, my consciousness does not
12:36 ADHD, anxiety and the forgotten badge
14:23 A hug for the brain
15:16 Why modern work feels unnatural
16:31 Kids, desks and play
17:51 It is not just you
19:52 The study on too many tests
21:41 Rumination is over-testing the mind
22:54 Stop over-examining yourself
24:42 Surfing life
25:34 An OASIS journey, step by step
26:14 Nine years later
27:01 From four friends to the host with the most
28:34 The Possibility of You
30:06 Thank you, Blake
30:16 Until next time

This conversation is not medical advice. Talk with your own doctor about any tests, diagnosis or treatment.

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ABOUT THE GUEST
Blake Daugherty is a software engineer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. After three years at a software firm in Texas, he left to travel Southeast Asia, spent time at a meditation retreat in Thailand, and moved home to Tulsa.

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life: honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book, The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X

#podcast #ADHD #meditation #burnout #personalgrowth

What is The David Leifeste Podcast?

Conversations on success, meaning, and the possibility of you. Psychotherapist and executive coach David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., draws on forty years and more than 100,000 conversations to explore how people actually change, through honest interviews and solo field notes on purpose, resilience, relationships, and the quiet decisions that shape a life.

Get the book, The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Show website: https://davidleifesteshow.com