Empowering Women In Conversations

Extended Cut: ADHD, Autism, and Why Different Brains Win — The After Show

• Anita Sandoval • Season 3 • Episode 27

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What was your biggest Takeaway from this Episode! I would Love to hear from you!

What if the very things you’ve been told are weaknesses… were actually the reasons different brains win in business and life?

This 13-minute After Show episode goes deeper into the gifts of neurodivergent brains. Christine Molina, LCSW, and I explore how ADHDers and Autistic individuals bring innovation, structure, creativity, and resilience to business and everyday life.

What we cover:

  • ADHD as a visionary, risk-taking, people-focused brain
  • Autism as a precision, system-building, detail-driven brain
  • The unique blend of AUDHD and how it balances both gifts and struggles
  • Why companies, communities, and families need different brains to thrive
  • 🌟 The “double gift” of AUDHD — big-picture vision + detail mastery
  • 🧠 How to embrace your own strengths instead of fighting your wiring

This After Show is just for you — because the more we talk about these differences, the more we normalize them as strengths.

✨ Takeaway: You’re not broken. Your brain may be wired differently — but that wiring holds the very gifts that create progress, efficiency, and change.

🎧 Main Episode: Fixing What Isn’t Broken with Christine Molina

🌐 Connect with Christine Molina:

🌐 Connect with Anita Sandoval:

Website: www.anitasandoval.com

YouTube: Empowering Women In Conversations

Instagram: @anita_sandoval

LinkedIn: Anita Sandoval

🌟 Free Masterclass: 5 Days to Start Saying No: The First Step from People-Pleaser to Empowered




Extended Cut After Show: ADHD, Autism, and Why Different Brains Win

[00:00:00] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: In the business world and we would be at a very terrible place if we didn't have neurodiverse brains. So I created a slide with the gifts of these brains and you can't just take a weakness. And then, you know, say the flip side of that is a strength because there are strengths that are real nuggets.

[00:00:18] Yeah. So with the ADHD brain, there are visionaries. And they're highly sought after in the business world. They can see the big picture. They're good at developing programs. That's why as you go up the corporate ladder, you're gonna have more and more ADHDers. And the gifts of, autism is they track, they have this exceptional attention to detail.

[00:00:40] 'cause they take in 30 to 50% more information and they notice the details and the flow of those details. Yes. And they're just gifted at tracking the patterns of those details. 

[00:00:52] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yes. Yeah. And so 

[00:00:53] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: that's how they come up with things that no one else sees. You know, there's a phrase called the devils in the [00:01:00] details.

[00:01:00] Yes. Right? Yes. And so they're gonna come into organizations and see things others don't see and come up with the solutions that everyone else was baffled by. Wow. ADHD brains, they're highly imaginative and resourceful. They're always coming up with new ideas, right? Yeah. So you can imagine in a company that has lots of challenges and problem solving, you want someone who can come up with ways to address it, or in a creative industry or any, any place in the business world that, how that would be so important, right?

[00:01:31] Yes. . They're also very socially intelligent because they have this intuitive understanding of the social world. 

[00:01:38] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Mm-hmm. 

[00:01:39] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: For the autistic brain, they tend to really, thrive with hyper systematizing. Like they analyze and construct systems, they develop novel solutions. And I find, and I haven't seen this published, but I found it to be true very, very often.

[00:01:54] They have this. Intuitive understanding for how things work, like [00:02:00] systems, how to do it more efficiently. And you can imagine in the business world you need this. Yeah. Inefficient processes cause waste and costs a lot of money. Yeah. I had a client who worked as an engineering company and they just at a time when his company was downsizing and created a position just for him.

[00:02:17] Wow. Because he was really good at cutting through what needed to be done. 

[00:02:23] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yeah, 

[00:02:24] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: that's one of the gifts of autism. ADHD'ers tend to be highly flexible and adaptable. They're good at, in crisis, they can see, many sides of a situation and maybe not maybe even all sides. So you can imagine if you do project management or run a department or, many different things, any kind of project, how valuable that is.

[00:02:45] What a resource that is for wherever you're working. And then autistic clients, they have a higher capacity than the general population for routine and structure. They tend to be very precise, [00:03:00] accurate. Reliable, punctual. They have a strong internal motivation. They tend to be very independent thinkers. So this is what you need in companies.

[00:03:10] You know, you want someone, especially in , fields where the details really matter. Like a doctor, I want someone. You can be accurate and precise, right? Definitely. Or engineering or computer science. There's some with that routine and structure engineering, the, you know, to, to be reliable to get it right is just so crucial.

[00:03:33] Yeah, and they tend to, with their stronger internal motivation, they tend to be very good at following through on things. Wow. They tend to be the whistleblower. Sometimes, you know, when you're in a group project, if everyone decides just to agree and not to say the thing that needs to be said, well guess what?

[00:03:49] You might spend a year on your project and because no one was addressing the real problem, you waste a year of time and money. You need someone when they seize it and says, well, even if it makes people mad, I'm gonna [00:04:00] say the thing 'cause it's important. Yes, yes. Right. So that's, you know, companies want that.

[00:04:04] It's gonna save them time and money and get better products. You know, with ADHD, they tend to be very spontaneous, willing to take risks. I think you even mentioned that with the immigration experience, they tend to be highly empathetic, good at putting themselves in someone else's shoes, although, you know, everyone's brain's different.

[00:04:23] Yeah. They tend to be very good at leadership and teamwork and team building. , so you could see. How these are very valuable qualities for the business world. For the autistic side, they tend to have very good like rote memory. Recalling information so you can see if you're a doctor, how helpful that would be if you're a lawyer to be able to retain and, you know, , and collect knowledge like an encyclopedia that you can access, that tends to be very valuable.

[00:04:53] , capital, professionally, they tend to be experts in the. 

[00:04:56] field 

[00:04:57] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: They have very rational, logical decision making [00:05:00] abilities, , which is important for so many things. As you're making decisions, you wanna go through it, not just make an impulsive decision. You wanna spend time and analyze all the details. , they have a strength in individual activities, sports and games.

[00:05:14] Sometimes it tends to be a preference, and both of these brains tend to be innovative out of the box thinker. Yeah. Creative problem solving, , intuitive. They track the patterns and trends. So you can see why we have so many, I wanna say we even have a higher percentage of neurodivergent folks Yeah. In the business world, who, are highly successful and sought after, they tend to share interests and passion.

[00:05:39] Hyperfocus and hyper fixation. You know, there's a guy who is hyper focusing on the plane from the US to Japan, and, and on that plane, hyper focusing, he wrote a, a bestselling book. Wow. They tend to be very honest, loyal, and genuine. They tend to be very hardworking. They're good at, very, you know, persevering [00:06:00] to work through things.

[00:06:01] So these are the reasons they succeed at, at work. Wow. And do well. And these are the things that when you work on yourself, whether it's in therapy or maybe doing some self discovery with books, you can uncover the nuggets of your talent. And then play to your strengths. 

[00:06:22] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Wow. I love how you shared that.

[00:06:24] Thank you so much. You're so welcome. I remember when I was a little girl and I was GT and so, and I remember thinking, man, why is it so easy for me to get this concept and I can apply it in anything else?

[00:06:38] And I was in elementary and thinking. Don't they see it? Like it's just so easy. They don't see it. They don't, I don't get it. Yeah. You know, and even with my program with people pleasing, I got the, the stages of change model and I was using the concept and I moved it to the people pleasing model for stages of change and stages of grief and how to move forward and how to move back.

[00:06:58] And it's [00:07:00] beautiful. And that's something that I've always known when I was a little girl. And I wondered why, why can't they get it? You know the Divergent thinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought, oh, it's 'cause I'm GT right. And, and the other thing is this. I remember like, let's say I go to the gym, or in high school even, there's little clicks and everything and they're like, oh, we were waiting.

[00:07:22] For you 'cause we didn't want you to feel left out or even at the gym, oh, you know, I'll go with you. And I'm thinking, you don't need to go with me. Like, I'm so fine going alone. Like, it just doesn't phase me going alone. I'm good at being alone at things and it just dawns on me why other people need to have somebody to go with them places.

[00:07:39] And I, I love my alone time. I love me too. So I didn't know that was a neurodivergent thing, you know? And so I, I love how you shared the autism because I'm like, oh my gosh, I have those traits and just attributed again, GT or, but these are the strengths. [00:08:00] So nobody says, but there's a higher 

[00:08:01] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: percentage of neurodivergence with the gift of kids.

[00:08:04] You ask any school teacher. Oh wow. Yeah. And then there's one more thing for you. Yeah, Anita. Totally. On understanding your brain. So, I know you know about Autism https://www.christinemolinacounseling.com/about and ADHD so sometimes I'll go through the different features of them. This one is the one I wanna show you, which I think you'd appreciate.

[00:08:22] AUDHD ADHD is Autism plus ADHD. Mm-hmm. So that's a person who has both and they share. The gifts of both ADHD and Autism. They tend to be guided by their vision and can zoom out, but they tend to default to the details and be very detail oriented. Good at taking all the patterns and coming up with solutions like systematizing.

[00:08:44] So it can be a wonderful combo to see the devil and the details so you can get the real problem, but then also see the big picture and how to move towards that. 

[00:08:54] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yeah. 

[00:08:55] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: Now they also, because they have, you know, both, aspects of both ADHD [00:09:00] and Autism, they tend to share struggles with both of those brains as well.

[00:09:04] Because, our strengths are the flip side of our weaknesses. The weaknesses are the flip side of the strengths. So with Autistic brains, they tend to struggle more with flexibility and planning and metacognition, which is seeing the big picture with ADHD or the defining struggle is response inhibition.

[00:09:22] Hmm. When you have both, you don't have metacognition as one of the struggles anymore 'cause you see the vision and the big picture, but the flexibility and planning, struggles are there. And then response inhibition becomes one of the struggles needing to slow down and not make decisions impulsively.

[00:09:39] Right. 

[00:09:39] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yeah. 

[00:09:40] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: But you know, the flip side is sometimes we just have to jump in and figure it out. Yeah. That can be a strength and so they can face more challenges. Then, you know, just having one or the other, although I don't think it's very common to just only have one or the other. Mostly it's kind of mixed.

[00:09:56] Got it. , because they have the challenges of both brains. With the [00:10:00] strengths of both brains. Right? Wow. And some of the traits can balance and conflict with one another. You might love being punctual, but have trouble being on time. 

[00:10:10] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yes, yes. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I have to make sure I have to set timers and I have to set little places so that I could know this timer is for this, and I have to be here.

[00:10:21] This timer is for this, and I have to be here, and this timer is for this, and I have to be here to keep myself accountable. 

[00:10:27] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: Yeah. Or, you know, because of the more consistency with autism, you might not, it might balance out the response into mission might be a little less 

[00:10:38] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Ah. 

[00:10:39] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: Right. So they can, kind of blend in a way that's helpful or feel like there's a little bit of an internal conflict.

[00:10:45] It is. It's sometimes the special interest, they can change more rapidly due to ADHD maybe in every few months. Okay. But the intensity level might be similar to Autism which tends to be a little more intense than the ADHD, [00:11:00] hyperfocus. And then when you're not focusing on the special interests, ADHD might become more evident.

[00:11:05] So I don't know if that, if that's helpful to you. 

[00:11:08] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yes, yes. You know, when I, I love certain things like the people pleasing, but I also like other things. Mm-hmm. And I know that, like for me. Reading fantasy books. And I do not touch it because if I, I get into that world and then I obsess over it and I go and I go and I go and my husband's my accountability partner and he's like, are you okay?

[00:11:28] You've been on this? And remember we have to do that. And I'm just like, nothing exists until I'm done with this, you know? And it's just like, oh, you know, it's. It's difficult. I remember telling my doctor like the medication, I don't know if I need more or what, but I just had a mini relapse with this book and I was just like, Ugh.

[00:11:48] So yes, it has its downfalls, but for the most part, when I'm aware of it and I manage it, I'm able to function. So well, and, and that's okay. You learn. I was telling my doctor, [00:12:00] now I know that when I'm gonna listen to a show, I have to look how many episodes they're at. So that way I can gauge the time I have to see it and, and plan how I'm going to see it.

[00:12:12] Because if not, if I don't do that, that's it. Nothing else is gonna exist in the world. 

[00:12:17] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: Well, if you learn about your brain. Yeah. What happens is your brain setup becomes more of a gift than a challenge. 

[00:12:25] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: Yeah. 'cause 

[00:12:25] Christina Molina LCSW EMDR Certified/Consultant/Trainer: you can make choices. You learn how to manage, you know, the things that are hard and how to work with them and get support when you need.

[00:12:32] Yeah. But then you have these gifts which are quite remarkable and you can really learn to play for your strengths. I know I got promoted often in the business world, and the reason I did so well was because of ADHD 

[00:12:43] Anita Sandoval LPC-S: oh, wow. And, and thanks for sharing, because now I know the things that I have are gifts,

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