ADHD COACHING & NEURODIVERSITY | ADHD: Difference, Not Deficit

MentorMeet Stories is a mentorship podcast for professionals seeking inspirational mentorship on neurodiversity and ADHD. This mindset mentor podcast features executive coaches specializing in ADHD and executive functioning.

Episode: How ADHD presents as uneven abilities, why late diagnosis is common especially for women, and practical strategies for thriving with executive functioning challenges.

Alex Smith, executive coach specializing in ADHD and neurodiversity, shares his diagnosis journey at 37 and how understanding ADHD transformed his coaching approach.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

Key topics:

- Alex's 20-year journey to ADHD diagnosis at 37

- "Brain wired for interest not importance" (William Dodson)

- ADHD myths: can't have it if academically successful

- Rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD): extreme sensitivity to criticism driving perfectionism, workaholism

- Energy scale: vulnerable at both ends—sedentary/under-stimulated and burnt-out/crisis

- Situational variability: brilliant in one context, unable to function in another

- Gender differences: boys 3x more likely diagnosed historically, girls mask more

- Women misdiagnosed with anxiety when ADHD is root cause

- Executive functioning: time management, procrastination, emotional dysregulation

- Maladaptive adaptive strategies developed without understanding why

- INCUP motivators: Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, Passion/Purpose

- 12,000 additional negative criticisms by age 18

- "You can do it when interested" dismissive feedback

- Out of sight, out of mind: self-monitoring challenges

- Uneven skill set: brilliant at rare things, struggle with what everyone else can do

- "Everyone else had a key I didn't have"

- Sacrifice at altar of corporate dysfunction

- ADHD rarely travels alone: co-morbidities

- Boundaries: people cope until they crack

- Chronobiology differences: productive times vary

- Short sprints vs long-term planning

- Specifics first, system second: need for variety

- Externalizing and retrieving learning

- ADHD as intermittently brilliant

For adults with recent/late ADHD diagnosis, professionals struggling with procrastination, women wondering if anxiety is ADHD, managers supporting neurodivergent teams, anyone experiencing burnout from masking, and people with uneven skill sets.

GUEST: Alex Smith

Solution-focused executive coach specializing in ADHD, executive functioning, neurodiversity. Background in publishing, diagnosed ADHD at 37, trained with ADD Coaching Academy.

https://mentormeet.com/profiles/alexander-smith/

HOST: Jill DeMasi

https://mentormeet.com/profiles/jill-demasi/

EPISODE LENGTH: 49 minutes

RECORDED: October (ADHD Awareness Month)

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. ADHD brain works well on its own terms—succeed by giving yourself permission on YOUR terms, not neurotypical standards.

2. Understanding INCUP motivators (Interest, Novelty, Challenge, Urgency, Passion) helps create strategies wired for interest.

3. Advocate for what you need: specific outlets, hybrid work, shorter feedback loops, environments matching your energy.

🎧 Also on YouTube and YouTube Music

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ABOUT THIS MENTORSHIP PODCAST:

MentorMeet Stories features mentors and coaches. Episodes explore ADHD, neurodiversity, executive coaching, and professional growth. Inspirational mentorship and educational mentorship grounded in lived experience—not theory.

New episodes every first Monday of the month.

KEYWORDS: #MentorshipPodcast #MentorshipStories #MindsetMentorPodcast #BusinessMentorship #InspirationalMentorship #EducationalMentorship #ADHDCoaching #ExecutiveCoaching #Neurodiversity #ADHDAtWork #AdultADHD #ExecutiveFunctioning #RSD #ADHDWomen #ADHDDiagnosis #NeurodivergentCoaching #ADHDStrategies #LateDiagnosis