The ADHD Skills Lab

Rejection sensitive dysphoria gets talked about constantly in ADHD spaces, but there isn't much research behind it yet.
In this Research Recap, Skye and Will unpack a small study that tried to measure what happens when people with ADHD symptoms experience social exclusion. Using a deliberately unfair ball-tossing game, researchers compared how rejected participants said they felt with changes in their heart rate and blood pressure.
The results didn't line up the way researchers expected. This isn't proof that RSD is or isn't real. It's a look at what one study found, where the results got messy, and why measuring rejection sensitivity is more complicated than it sounds.
Want more of Will's work? Visit HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe on YouTube.
What We Cover:
How the Cyberball task was used to create social exclusion in a lab setting
Why participants reported feeling excluded while the physiological data didn't show the expected response
The unexpected drop in blood pressure and what researchers thought might explain it
Why self-reported rejection sensitivity didn't line up neatly with ADHD measures
How the study's small, self-selected sample limits what we can conclude
Why this paper raises useful questions without settling whether RSD is real
P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 
My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.
Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 
I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

You hired help. You still find yourself taking things back on.
Kara Kushnir built A Work of Heart Counseling and Wellness from a part-time practice into a fifteen-provider team. But growing the team meant learning that she couldn't keep doing everything herself.
In this episode, Kara talks about the temptation to say yes to everything, the burnout that follows, and how she learned to delegate, ask for help, and build a team she trusts enough to tell her no.
What We Cover
Why trying to do everything yourself is a direct route to burnout
Why Kara still catches herself taking on work she should delegate
How saying yes to too much led to overwhelm and depletion
Why asking for help and knowing who to ask are skills you can build
How transparency about her weaknesses changed the relationship with her team
Why knowing what you're not good at is part of building a healthier business
Connect with Kara:
A Work of Heart Counseling
Instagram: A Work of Art Counseling
Instagram: Taking Cara
P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 
My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.
Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 
I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

ADHD treatment works. But does it keep working the same way eight years later?
In this Research Recap, Skye and Will dig into the MTA study, one of the largest and most influential ADHD treatment studies ever conducted, and what researchers found when they followed the same kids over eight years.
They unpack why the strong early treatment gains had disappeared by year eight, why medication use dropped dramatically over time, and the surprising finding that even the group still taking medication didn't maintain the same early advantage.
They also look at what happens as kids move into middle school, when organizational demands increase and strategies that worked before may no longer be enough.
Importantly, they separate what the research actually tells us from what it still can't explain.
Want more of Will's work? Visit HackingYourADHD.com or subscribe on YouTube.
What We Cover:
Why the MTA study's early treatment gains had disappeared by year eight
Why only about a third of participants were still using medication
What the research does and doesn't tell us about stopping medication
Why changing life demands can require changing ADHD strategies
What the middle school research suggests about symptoms at home versus school
Why "pills don't teach skills" matters when thinking about long-term ADHD management
P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 
My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.
Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 
I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

You know what you want in the future. You still can't make yourself do the boring task today.
Skye and Robbie break down the goal setting system Skye actually uses, adapted from Dan Martell's framework. It works backward from a 25-year vision to one specific goal this year, then down to one daily non-negotiable that makes that goal inevitable.
They also get into what happens when you miss a day, why trying to focus on five goals at once backfires, and how immediate rewards can make the thing you keep avoiding easier to actually do.
What We Cover:
The full process from a 25-year vision to a daily non-negotiable
Why your yearly goal needs to be specific and measurable
How to choose the one priority that matters most right now
Why five new non-negotiables at once can become zero
How immediate rewards and recovering from missed days keep goals alive
P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 
My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.
Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 
I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.

You know what needs doing. You have the ideas. So why is actually finishing the thing so hard?
Jason Chatfield has written and drawn the syndicated comic strip Ginger Meggs for sixteen years, writes for The New Yorker, and built a career across cartooning, comedy, and writing. But he learned he cannot rely on his brain to generate ideas and execute them at the same time.
Instead, Jason built physical systems that separate thinking from doing: external deadlines, index cards, a wall calendar, batching, and pairing difficult tasks with things he actually enjoys.
In this episode, Jason breaks down the practical systems he uses to turn ideas into finished work without relying on willpower.
What We Cover:
Why Jason stopped planning and executing in the same block
The index card system that makes finished work visible
How external deadlines give his ADHD brain structure
Why his wall calendar beats another productivity app
How he pairs difficult tasks with things he enjoys
The first-thing, last-thing routine that separates planning from doing
Why it took three ADHD diagnoses before he believed it
Connect With Jason Chatfield
https://www.jasonchatfield.com/
https://www.instagram.com/newyorkcartoons/
P.S. If you’re a founder who’s tired of the mad scramble of disorganized systems and stressful HR, and you want a business that feels as easy as plugging your headphones into an iPod shuffle, I’ve got something for you.

Want to grow your business? 
My Focused Balanced Growth Program has everything you need to build consistent ADHD-friendly routines and processes to grow. Click here to learn more.
Looking for a coach who's also an operator who'll turn your business into a finely-tuned profit and peace machine designed for your brain? 
I work with one company a month as a fractional consultant and COO, learning about your business and implementing systems that allow both trust & transparency with your team. Click here to book a call and discuss.