Creative Communication Skills and ADHD

Welcome to Thriving with ADHD dear ADHD community. In this episode we are talking about creative communication skills and ADHD.

We are delighted to welcome back one of our previous guest speakers, Grant Crowell, whose episode about ADHD and work is very popular among our listeners and I can’t wait to tackle another exciting new topic with him. We’ll be talking about creative communication for the workplace, along with the special challenges and opportunities for neurodivergent employees and entrepreneurs.

Grant is a senior training specialist and instructional designer for Microsoft Advertising's Learning & Development program, with specialties in video production, voiceover, and training in generative AI (artificial intelligence). 

He’s also the author of the book, "Grantasms, Creative Twisted Words for Cool People!

Grant's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantcrowell/

Thank you for listening to Thriving with ADHD. This show is produced by Animo Sano Psychiatry. For more information about our clinic, please visit animosanopsychiatry.com.

Animo Sano Psychiatry has introduced new services for enhancement of our patients' mental health - ASP Concierge and Health & Wellness Program. Please visit our website to learn more.

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Transcript

   📍     Welcome to Thriving With adhd, a podcast we'll share every day practical tips to thrive in life as an adult with adhd.  This podcast is brought to you by Animo Sano Psychiatry, a behavioral health practice with a specialist ADHD clinic based in North Carolina. And this is your host Nada Pupovac.

  Welcome to Thriving with ADHD, dear ADHD community. Today, we are talking about creative communication skills and ADHD. We are delighted to welcome back one of our previous guest speakers, Grant Crowell, whose episode about ADHD and work is very popular among our listeners, and I honestly can't wait to tackle another exciting topic with him.

We'll be talking about Creative communication for the workplace, along with the special challenges and opportunities for neurodivergent employees and entrepreneurs.  Grant is a Senior Training Specialist and Instructional Designer for Microsoft Advertising's Learning and Development Program with specialties in video production, voiceover, and training in generative AI.

He's also the author of the book Grand Tasms Creative Twisted Words for Cool People. 

 Grant, welcome back. Uh, it's really great to have you back on the show. Uh, your previous episode that we did together, um, regarding ADHD and,  workspace,  um, It's one of the top episodes that we have on the podcast. So I'm really delighted to have you back and, uh, we have another interesting topic and, uh, in our conversation, as you said, um, creative communication is something that ADHD community really, uh, responds well to.

So I really can't wait to, uh, dive into this topic. But before that, first, let us know, how have you been? What's new in your world since we last talked so there you go. Over to you. Thank you. Thank you for having me back, Nadia. Boy, I'm, I'm a, I'm a repeat guest now. I feel like I should wear a special t shirt or something in the two timers club.

Well, but what's happened since the last time I've done this, I'm now a senior training specialist and instructional designer for Microsoft's learning and development program. I specialize in video production, voiceover makes it very, very appropriate for the show and also training. In generative ai, artificial intelligence.

So it's fun to take the technical with the personal stuff. Uh, it's, it's a very exciting time. It's a, it's, it's like the wild West, like where the internet was and social media was probably like times 10, , uh, all. Also, I've been asked to speak on the topic of creative communication for different groups.

Mm-Hmm. . And it's, it's nice to. Um, expose myself to other people who say, Hey, I got your book. Here's the words I really liked. And to see, okay, how do you take this from a hobby into something that could really help people out further along? So I figured I made the switch from the marketing space, which is one form of communication, of course, to the learning space as a teacher.

So I joke and say that an instructional designer is like a teacher who gets paid well, but There's a, there's a need for it. So it's, it's been an exciting time, especially with, with AI, with generative AI, and that I get as my job to dabble in these things and think about the topic of being creative and communicate and how we communicate with each other.

I mean, it's. It was on one level when I worked for Dell Technologies where dealing with people in different time zones, different cultures, different languages. Now, let's take that to the next level of bringing artificial intelligence into all of this and all these creations and on top of everything else.

So, I think it's an exciting time. For some, it could be a scary time. But I think, uh, People with ADHD have opportunities to, how to use their skills, what's in their head, that could really work with this and communicate a lot better and have fun doing it. And that's why I'm here. Oh, that sounds very exciting.

So, okay, uh, let's jump into the first question that I have for you. So, can you describe how ADHD can help?  communication skills based on your experience and observations. Certainly. Yeah. Now I will let people know that I don't have any kind of formal pedigree. I'm not like any, I'm not even ADHD coach. I have worked with them.

That's all right. I've actually guided ADHD coaches on using technology. I'm, I call myself not an expert, a not spert. So I'm, I'm always learning and I'm, and I. And I kind of jokingly when people say they're, uh, they call themselves an expert because there's stuff you have to learn all the time. You can never stop.

What, I think it's good to also say, what do we mean by communication? It's like one of those words like community. It can mean so many things. It's so broad. So I figured if I start there and then we can talk about, you know, how does ADHD affect communication skills? That will be a good way of understanding.

Here's where grant is coming from. So how I define communication is  there is a communication coach. on YouTube called Alexander Lyon, who I think makes a very good succinct case for  communication is how we create and share information in a way that is understandable. If we had to break it down to like, there are multiple types.

There's just transmitting, like if I just simply put something out in writing or said something, It could be rhetorical. That's one way, but it's, it's not interpersonal. That's as we call sharing, like what you and I are doing here. And we're doing in a language we both understand that has been created through centuries or millennia has been adapted from old English to middle English to modern English and all the nuances and how many other languages get brought into that.

We're sharing based on what we both have an understanding of and what we both agree are the meaning. Of these words. It's kind of weird. It's kind of meta because you think about it while you're talking about all these words. We do that. And the next level, which I find fascinating. These were all I say, methodologies and the latest methodology that came out into understand communication.

I think it was like just about some decades ago. 1990s was. Create to be creative, and by that it means giving birth to something while using your imagination. It's the idea of it's beyond, okay, we already know this and we're using someone else's invented words, but it's the idea of,  What if we did this or asking the question, why some people, I call it problem solving.

Some people is just using your imagination to explore. And I like doing that with language. Why? How does ADHD affect communication skills? Well, first, if we want to say what is effective communication, a lot of communication coaches will go by a standard definition of, well, it's about clarity. It's about being clear, understanding like right now.

I'm using professional equipment because I want to be clear when I've been on work calls in the earlier years when people had to be remote, and this was before COVID. Some people could be doing it on their microphone laptop in a loud kitchen with a dog barking  and they didn't understand the technical side.

But sometimes they would use words or acronyms that. They never explain to other people. So that would be one level. Well, for the ADHD person and ADHD person, there are opportunities. And part of that is to be creative. I would say on average, people with ADHD are more naturally creative because you always hear the term thinking outside the box.

You're not just, this is the way it is. Uh, and that's, that's great. That's what we mean by creative. You allow your imagination. I think the ADHD brain allows you to be more that way. Uh, even for people who don't consider themselves creative, we all are. It's just a question of,  are you willing to feel vulnerable?

Are you willing to be open? And that part of that is trust. What gets in the way of the ADHD brain? Distraction, obviously. And part of that is, I'm not following the conversation that's going on. And I, I lose,  It can even be an interesting conversation, but something else is off to the side going, Ooh, look shiny, or maybe I have multiple tabs open. 

And when working remotely, it's very easy to have all these distractions we create for themselves, not interruptions. Interruption is something you can't control. A distraction is something you can. We do this because we want to get that dopamine effect, and we, we think this will keep us occupied. I mean, like, There are ways of, I hand them my notepad to stay in the conversation.

That's a good way of not being that, of not getting so distracted to pay attention. But also there are other things like anxiety. If you're feeling particularly anxious for an ADHD person, it's the intensity of that feeling that will get more in the way of a neurotypical. And by intensity, I mean the frequency of it happening and the amplification more than neurotypical.

Boredom, uh, that again, we, we lose interest. And so we just stop paying attention. So what if it's like, Hey, Grant, what do you think about this? And I'd go, Oh, what was,  what was the question? What was the question again? I mean, part of that could be on the other end of some people just are boring speakers and they really are like, I used to joke and say at Dell technologies on some meetings, there were some people who were technical folks worked in, in it. 

I used to call it when it'd be like a two hour meeting. I called it like. It was like being on a Big Bang episode without all the comedy. It would just be painful. Painful. And the other thing is also how you feel yourself. Like, maybe you didn't get a good night's sleep. You're tired. Uh, you could be exhausted.

Part of it is you don't, you don't exercise. You eat poorly. You don't plan your day well to be ready to give more attention. And I think for the ADHD person, that leads to a lot more inattentiveness. And on the worse side, It creates, it makes other people think that you don't care when you're not even aware of these behaviors, too.

So ADHD is a good opportunity for creativity, but we need to work on all these things that require good soft skills like listening, like showing empathy. I mean, we hear about boss, um, more jobs that say, Oh, more emphasis on communication. I mean, along with the technical skill, the hard skill too. But to A lot of these things can be taught, but to be taught, you have to have good communication skills like giving feedback, uh, a person with ADHD could be very good in a workshop and very workshop environment that is kind of loose, but it, but it varies.

I mean, like for me, I have a wonderful home office here, which I like to call my dork dungeon, but I made it, but I made it ADHD friendly where I use these things for somebody else. Maybe if they have kids that are running around screaming. All these interruptions, that gets to be a problem that really exacerbates their ADHD.

Makes sense. Makes lots of sense. And thanks for sharing that. My next question for you would be then, uh, what specific creative communication skills have you seen to be effective? For people with ADHD. Sure. Well, I also define now what is creative communication. I like to call it intelligence, having fun.

Uh, and, and I'll repeat when we use our imagination, give birth to something new for the ADHD brain, it's like the aha. Okay. Now I'm focused. And also when we are social and being interpersonal and we're sharing this and we're getting feedback, it's also making other parts of our brain. Activate. We are social creatures.

So the idea to be creative is when. You are introducing something that is part of who you are and you're, you're giving it a little bit of your own identity. The ways that I found worked very well for me and my past jobs and my current job is I don't just go by a norm, like say, for example, we have a meeting and Sometimes, I'll say, let's make sure we turn on this feature that will generate meeting notes for us.

Right now, we're, I'm at Microsoft, so what do we have in Microsoft Teams? Copilot. Copilot is a great AI tool that can summarize your meeting notes for you. So you no longer need to be typing like a mad person or writing like crazy. You can give your full attention and trust the technology. So that is a tool, but it's also a good way of thinking about how does this work?

Like, okay, what are action items? Well, you can even, what questions or prompts you can ask it, such as give me a summary of who's doing what. Or you can even ask it, give me a summary of all our meetings for the past month and, and what needs to be done or what are the key points we need to hit on. So it's like a wonderful virtual assistant.

Another way, it's like an ideator. For example, In the videos that I do, I use generative AI. There are tools. Some people might be familiar with mid journey and other is chat, GPT or Dolly, more and more tools are coming out. Well, since I have to create a lot of videos that are for some very arcane stuff in Microsoft advertising, that no stock imagery is going to be available.

And oftentimes I won't be able to get subject matter experts to give me something that looks pretty. Like it's appropriate for video, or it might just be one slide with 20 bullet points. I have a word for that PowerPoint lists.  No one. I've had videos in the past that will be just someone talking over one slide in a video for five minutes.

No one's going to watch that. So instead I use prompt language and I try to be imaginative with my language of describing what would an ad server look like for it for a toothpaste ad that would go on a publisher website. and make it vibrant and colorful and show the target audience as fitness enthusiasts and make it photorealistic and have, and have them in a way you're like being a screenwriter with having a good ability to understand language and have a good creative vocabulary.

So I'm using creative communication to basically create this image out of nothing and to get the style that I want and to be iterative and saying, that's great. You make this person with darker hair look in a certain angle, because I learned the prompt language in a way. It's kind of like, it's better than when people have to do websites and do HTML, which could be just regular coding or CSS.

This is natural human language, but understanding what The large language model, the AI needs to give you the results that you want and kind of like treating it almost like it's your assistant with some skills, but you're like the teacher or the editor to get what you want. So that's a form of creative communication.

Another way is when I am doing videos using, this is my voiceover microphone. I'll, I'll try to have a signature aligned. Something as simple at the end as. Thanks for watching. So it, it doesn't sound cold and personal. Mm-Hmm. or impersonal, I should say. It's something that's, oh, yeah. Okay. I'm, I'm, even though I'm doing something that is just the transmission that is rhetorical a video because it's not like a live stream interactive.

Mm-Hmm. . I wanna make people feel like they're talking to a hu or they're, they're. In a conversation like a pseudo conversation, other ways of creating creative communication are how you maybe want to ideate with others. It's like rather than just simply a long, long email, I'll say, let's do mind mapping.

And I love mind mapping because you can visualize for some folks. And sometimes creativity is not just the way your brain thinks, but how other brains think. I had one person that really preferred spreadsheets. So I work with a dynamic mind mapping tool that could change it. All the visual stuff into a spreadsheet, a table form, and back again.

So, creative is, is not artistic, which is about personal expression. It's about problem solving. Innovative is a word for the design of something. So when you actually have to create a model that's realistic. Used and used over again. Now you are birthing from your imagination, a product that could improve your workflow.

You, other people get energy working from you. So those are some things about what are effective for people with ADHD is use your imagination and that will give you focus and write out the, who is this helping? Because it's not just for you. It has to be for other people. When you're in a workspace, if it's just for you, then the goal is, who is What is my goal today?

How does this creative thing help me solve the problem I might struggle with otherwise? Mm hmm. And how, how can individuals with ADHD leverage their unique traits to enhance their communication abilities? Well, I think first it's good to learn tools that are, that Encourage your creativity. Like for me, I am a graphic designer.

So I learned the tools for Adobe creative suites and which are now also including generative AI, like, okay, fill it with this. So it's a combination of, I am an art background. It's not required that you already have an art background, but it helps because you can start be thinking in a visual way. I mean, that's just one way of doing things.

Now there is in terms of writing to use, To get an education like LinkedIn learning or other places, but ideally for an ADHD person, it's about. Who can you do it with like an accountability partner like we go to a gym We're more encouraged to go to a gym when we're doing it with someone else Clearly because I find that intrinsic motivation isn't enough meaning that oh you do it for the joy and the love Yeah, that's great.

But there would be days you don't want to do it I mean, you'll get distracted by the thing that's new and shiny and you have to remember the why Why are you doing this? And sometimes that why has to be a Extrinsic, like I'm doing this because I need to get this degree or I need to just finish this job.

So I get a good referral and that's what some people need or that, or that you owe it to other people who have been supportive for you. And it's, so I say for the ADHD brain, posting something like in a wall, why you're doing what you're doing to remind yourself of that. It just have that, that trigger and to make sure that it's,  you're able to do it.

I think people with ADHD, they sometimes are too inclined to want to do everything and they end up doing nothing or they end up, they make themselves too busy rather than keeping it small. But the idea of an accountability partner works well to be part of a community where you are talking with other people about it.

I myself, I'm a verbal processor. So when I find if I'm talking with someone about an idea  in the middle of while I'm talking, I might say, Oh, now that I'm thinking about it. Maybe that won't work or let's do this and I sometimes being creative is about what you don't do like I think Steve Jobs was very good about you know Focusing on what you're really really good at because there's so many things you can do and I think that's the challenge of the ADHD Brain, it's like being a sculptor and I think Famous sculptors of the  Renaissance era, I forget which one probably wasn't Michelangelo, but let's just say someone and I remember it well as saying the sculpture is not about what you see, but what I what I've taken out and that's a good way to be creative and flipping it around.

So I look at it's like play with. Purpose when you can do the play, but you have a meaning  it gives you the energy the motivation the purpose And that's why I think we find shared meaning in stuff and I find for the HD brain. It's like hey, I'm being focused I'm having fun while getting things done. Mm hmm Mm hmm.

And uh, I'm very excited about this next question. So can you share your personal story and examples where ADHD either created that communication challenge or led to creative communication success? And I'm sure you're a perfect person to answer this question. Yeah. Thank, thank you. I'm both. I have so much that one can share that is just like in an interview about you filter it down, you think like an editor because two, two people with unmanaged ADHD, it's like, oh, six hours on a hundred tangents for me, I always struggled as a child.

Very much without understanding what I had and about my parents understanding without doing what we call cognitive behavior therapy I had some things like sports and eventually I would be a cartoonist. I found this was very good I get good grades but then when I no longer had the ability to exercise and had to take a job that was  Very very depressing like and I didn't have an outlet Then it got me in a problem with my emotional intelligence got to be worse and I was missing social cues caused me a lot of problems also even with with applying for jobs and not realizing how I was talking, how I was communicating and we we are society where communication it sounds so broad, but it's true.

It does affect so many things that we take for granted. Why I think part of it is because we assume that if someone can just talk, then they don't have a problem, but it's. It's listening, it's giving feedback, it's, it's paying attention. It's empathy. It's. And by that, I mean that you're acknowledging what someone else is rather than waiting for the opportunity to get the conversation back to you because you got something in your head you want to get out. 

I mean, I, I look at when you're creative, you're comfortable. You don't feel the need to have to get that thought out of your head. I mean, it'll, it'll come back. It's okay.  I call it playful mindfulness. Like for me,  I think it was when I was a cartoonist in college and I found a book. I would flip words around.

It wouldn't just be one way. And part of that would be changing my name and the signature of all of my cartoons. Then I found that, okay, people would ask me for made up words, or I would feel a need to bring something up as a mnemonic device. And this is not just something in English. I could take other words and other languages.

I know some Spanish or, and also some Hawaiian, cause I'm from Hawaii. And that to me was fascinating. In fact, even in Hawaii, they have their own. Language. It's called an amalgamation or pigeon. Like  the U. S. Has many things like Creole or other places where certain vernacular. Hawaii had that to a lot of made up words.

Why? Because there are a lot of Pacific Islander cultures in the early 20th century.  They had to find a way that everybody kind of understood each other well enough to work in the plantation. So they call that pigeon English or pigeon Hawaiian. Well, I was always fascinated by it. I love that. I never realized that it was something that it would carry over later on.

So for me, yeah. I would use these made up words. There's a term for it called neology or neologisms, which is new words or sometimes new meaning from existing words that can benefit communication when the existing language fails us. Like sometimes, let's look at a basic example. Okay. We hear the word hangry, which is you're, you're in an emotional state from, from hunger, but it can also be for when words take on new meaning.

Like hangry.  Well,  that's just it sound. Why do we say that it's more fun than the word regardless. So it caught on or when people say the word literally when they're actually using the opposite way of figuratively, but people don't like saying fairly because some words just flow better. Yeah, and it's just more fun to say.

So now the language is fluid. It just flows better. Changes, especially when you might be talking with Gen Z's or Millennials So in a way, I think I have a part Gen Z brain Because I flip words around a lot and I don't just say that's not a real word Because all of our language is based on creation on creativity Where people had to find a way to take something like from Latin like the word  creative Is a Latin word.

I forget the name of Latin word It means to share,  and, and part of communication is about being creative. We have to give birth to new words for a language for shared understanding. So in my brain, I would always come up with new words for things. Often I find things that frustrate me, including for my ADHD, like one could just be, I'd have a whiteout.

Not a blackout, but a whiteout because I seem conscious, but I look like I'm totally disoriented and I didn't realize why am I am up the stairs doing this or that? This is before I had medication and training, but it was also a way to laugh at my mistakes. So eventually I came out with my book, Crantasms.

I found how helpful it was for people to do something that was just different. The whole idea of. Having your own creative vocabulary. For those people who are familiar with a person named Brene Brown, who is someone who does TED Talks and who talks about having an emotional vocabulary and it's wonderful because I think the bigger your vocabulary, the better you're able to express yourself.

I think it improves your emotional intelligence, it improves your relationships with other people. And I have several of her books, and there's this whole, there's this whole diagram or this whole circle on all the words that could be used to describe your emotions, which is encouraging. I like to go beyond that and say, why not come up with your own words?

Yeah. And then from those words, those became the anchor for my stories. So each grantasm has its own story. And there, there are some good, there's some good science that shows when you trigger creativity in ADHD person parts and an EKG scan parts of the brain light up. So you're now active. So it creates a link between the made up word and the brain.

Good brain function. So that's why I continue doing it because now in LinkedIn, people see my videos on there. I've done some for clients, too. I did one on acro net acro numb because so many areas where people are smart and they have to condense language, but they don't think about, Hey, what Probably a lot of other people don't know what you're talking about there.

Yeah. You got to explain yourself.  So I try to use empathy to say, why is this a thing? There has to, there's always a reason for why stuff like this happened. But then I go, when is this a problem? So I would use the generative AI to help me with what could be a good way for an ADHD brain to understand this in a video.

And then it acts as your assistance. And you, you still test these things out, but in a way. It it's your guide. It's it's a it complements. It does not replace you or anyone else. When you learn to communicate better and have fun doing it. So that to me is how neology and how my grant asms have taken what has been a hobby into I think something that is a new learning methodology.

Grant, I read through your, uh, Grant Haslam's book and let me tell you, it's a page turner, it's very smart, it's funny, and as you like to say in the book, the purpose of this book is to create human connection through funny and shared experience and to make the I think this is something that's relevant to our community that are listening.

And I have here a list of some of the favorites of mine, uh, from the book. , so these are like  new, uh, connected words. And I like meditating.  Multi, uh, multi. Crashing, overexposured, scrumptious, frowny, uh, I, I think this is my favorite, significant better. Yeah. And some of the ADHD maybe favorites, funcrustination  and messy tasking. 

So. Ah, thank you. Yeah. So these are some really cool, cool words. And maybe we can touch on more. ADHD fun grantasms that can help our community to  maybe define the state where they're in or emotions or mixed or combined and how they can help them to describe the situations they're in. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

And so I always love hearing people's favorites because you know what they usually do? They have a story of their own about it. And thus I call it story sharing, which activates parts of the brain of remembering. And how do you get the ADHD brain to remember? Two things. Have a story. We're wired for stories, but what is that mnemonic device?

And I find if you can get down to a word or a short phrase, people remember and they remember really well. And it's usually why I put so many in the book, is this was my first time doing a book The right way. I'd been an editor for other people's books. I've written for parts of other people's books. I haven't been a ghost writer for a book.

And when you're doing it for yourself, it is so much work from, Oh, you think, Oh, the first draft I'm done. Nope. You got so much more stuff to do from there. Once you do it, your brain is really in the mindset of this is who I do, why I do it. And it really gives you a good focus for me.  When coming up with some of these words, I would say there's got to be a story behind it, because that gives it more meaning, like the term messy tasking.

And usually I would hear it when somebody would be like, Oh, sorry, I wasn't hearing. I was multitasking.  Like we can multitask, but more in the terms of, okay, maybe. Like I'm walking and talking not I'm on three phone calls at the same time or three zoom calls while I'm watching YouTube kind of deals. So you're, you're really juggling in that sense, but we say these words because it sounds important when really it gets you really messy.

Sometimes you're not able to pull it off as well, but that's human behavior. And I find if we acknowledge that. So I did a video on messy tasking. I have sure there's my own YouTube channel, but I put these in LinkedIn and why I do it. There is LinkedIn for me as a place for feedback. When people say, Hey, I struggle with this at work and they shared me the stories.

It gives me enough validation to say, okay, that's something bigger. I can do and say, why is this a problem? If, if people say, yeah, I struggle with that. Like funcrastination, the ADHD brain will want to do, will procrastinate on something else because something else seems shinier. Even if the thing you're doing you enjoy, the ADHD brain is wired for novelty.

So it gives you that, you know, you're chasing that dopamine. The other part is one of your favorite words, ADHD Jesus freak. Which is just like I say, a Jesus freak for somebody who now they're born again. So every sentence has the word Jesus in it.  I see for the person can talk too much about their ADHD, the person who is doing an interview with you for a job.

You don't need to bring up ADHD in there. I mean, it's different for like, okay, they bring it up and it's who you are. I mean, things are much more acceptable now than when I was 1st in the job market where it was looked at. Okay. That's could be a problem. And people did discriminate against you and it's actually illegal, but people did it, but you don't want to.

Make that overwhelmingly part of your identity, and that's why I would use the term. Don't be a Jesus freak,  and it works. It's like it's a it's a humor is a great way to have an icebreaker with folks, especially with folks who maybe you haven't yet established a rapport or an understanding like, but when you do it with someone. 

It can be so helpful once you have that report, because then they'll share words. Like just yesterday, I came up with two ones for, for a friend of mine who was on maternity leave now has two young kids, one that's a toddler and saying, boy, just trying to find time to meditate. And she said, you know, for me, even just simply being able to stare at a wall for one minute would be great.

And I called that, okay, you're mommy tating.  That's amazing. Yeah. So it comes natural to me. And. On my LinkedIn page, when people follow me, I try to do at least one a week, but I try to do it now with generative AI, like an image of someone in there. And then I'll say, why is this a thing? And then give a little tip, not too long.

People don't want to, you know, look at an essay. They want to just kind of get to the point, but do a little storytelling. And The one that I last did was called Jerk Life Balance. We were trying to find work life balance when you were dealing with a jerk of a boss who wants to call you up at all hours.

I actually had that experience when I took a part time job to write the book like four or five years ago with someone who just simply thought, even though I was a part time worker, Oh, I'll call you whenever I want.  So I called that Jerk Life Balance. I mean, you don't want to get too much into the name calling because then you forget that Feed on negativity.

Oh, yeah. You try to find the empathy, even with people you can't stand. Because when you do, especially when you have to work with these people, they'll be easier for you to work with. And that's a goal of ADHD, is to find some commonality with others. So I find these grantasms, they're great for venting, but they're even better when you're using to solve a problem and have better relationships with other people.

Yeah. And related to that, I like to continue with another question that's really practical. And if you can recommend tools or techniques that can improve focus and clarity in communication for someone with ADHD.  Absolutely. I love doing this  for folks. And I always say is there's two ways to look at it.

Hmm. Yes. What's your situation? Audit your situation right now. What's a goal that you could set? Like, maybe it is a simple goal. Like if I could just make myself answer 50 percent less emails, something that's easy that, you know, you struggle with. It's always good to talk with someone who could be like your coach or accountability buddy.

I do tell people, if you have a budget, hire a coach, be part of a community. That's what I did back in 2014. I joined an ADHD coaching group. It was so worth the investment because it makes you. so aware, self aware, but aware of what other people with ADHD like. When I first joined the group, I was thinking to myself, oh my gosh, these people are so annoying.

And then I realized, oh crap, I must be that same way too, to other people, because you're, you're immersed in it. And then it makes you more aware of, okay, this is how I'm coming across to other people and, and not aware of it. I mean, there, there are good things about, about, This, it is, it's a neurological condition that you can, it's a, you can use as a tool.

And with these tools that I'll tell you about, about what has worked for me. So I first start with people and I'll get to like, what are some. Physical tools like in your space and what are some digital tools? So start with people is if you can get a coach, join a community, have an accountability, buddy have touch points with people because to interact with people and to be focused on that.

Is the best thing than anyone can do over physical tools, because this is communication is about interacting with other people to build a share rapport and understanding where people get you and you get them. And you have to deal with the uncomfortable stuff. That's why I say, and this especially goes for younger generations.

Don't rely on the, okay, I'll just send a message or a text. No, get.  Uncomfortable. That's what builds your comfort zone. Deal with the awkward  when you, and because, and ask for feedback, not just feedback, but where can I do better? That's a very uncomfortable thing for people to do is saying, where could I improve on?

And, and, and for me, it was like, when somebody said, I think you get too much into the weeds on some stuff. And I said, thank you. Now I can make things shorter and not feel I have to get everything out of my head. Like, Having a time limit is a very good thing. If it was up to me, I'd create a tool that gave everybody a fixed amount of time in a call, and they had to be more thoughtful of how they were using their time.

Otherwise they get kicked out or they get like a buzz or something like that. So it makes you more mindful of how to interact with people. And for me, it's like, I think like a prep cook. I plan my meetings. I say, this is what we're meeting for. Cause sometimes a person can say, okay, I can't be there, but let me give this for the meeting.

And when we record the meetings, we're going to We no longer have to worry about because we have this AI to give a summary, but it's always good to build relationships with people. And saying, here's where I need help with, uh, that. So I say people first for your tools. It is your, it is your soft skills.

That is a great tool that you should always work on and ask yourself, what are the things you struggle with? What could you do and improve on? LinkedIn learning is a great place. Take a course, go to meetups, interact, go out, get out of the house. I mean that, and get used to being awkward. What I do, I'm fortunate that I live in North Carolina where we have the mountain to sea trail.

So I go hiking and going hiking. Sure, I'll listen to an audio book or podcast like this one, but be able to stop and say hello, or maybe somebody is asking for help and directions. It's, it's just a nice way of, okay, I'm not looking at my phone, but I'm, I'm in the moment. I'm around nature. That's what I mean by people first.

So the next thing, physical tools. That's where people like to think of. If I just had this tool,  that'd be wonderful. Why that's not always a good thing is because, well, what if you don't ever have that tool? And to get used to the stress test. If you didn't have all these things and you're operating at a suboptimal level,  how would you do?

And you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You know what a great place to be uncomfortable is? Boot camp in the military. I did that when I was 18, tired, cold, exhausted. It's not about, but here's what I could do. It's about, you're going to be in a situation. If it was wartime, you're not going to have any of these things.

You're not going to have an emotional time out  or a safe space or save your commander. I feel triggered. Buy these bullets flying overhead. That doesn't exist. So you have to get used to being uncomfortable in a physical environment to be so that you will build your comfort zone. The tools you have, they augment you, but you're not, they're not a crutch for you.

There are several tools. I'm going to mention. That are great. Get a whiteboard for an ADHD person having a whiteboard where you can write something down by the act of writing. You're remembering like, I have a big whiteboard. I have different colored markers, but you don't overdo it. You don't want to say I need this color marker for this idea because now you've made that a crutch.

It's a nice to have not a need to have. Even something as a journal that's also physical, there is the digital ones too, but the physical idea of just, I'm exercising a different part of my brain. You have a fun pen, it does not even need to be a fancy notebook, just something that makes it easy to write.

Sometimes we make things too complicated for ourselves because we think, I just need the best. No, you need the thing that you're going to do, and do consistently. So like a fun pen that's easy to write, and a notepad that's easy to write in, that can be really cheap. Now, those are some physical things.

Sure, I have a nice, I have a nice chair. Paid a good amount of money for it, a Herman Miller chair. But I also stand, get up, move around. That is, don't rely on the physical tools. You need to be active, like every 30 minutes or an hour if you can't. Then Find something you can do at your desk, like, you know, those little little steppers.

They're just pushing your feet on over and over. That's what I do. I'm fortunate that I have a stand up electronic desk. I'm fortunate that I have a soundproof room, but there are things that you can do. If the room has a lot of echo, like, you can put blankets around the room if you're recording here. So this is where other people can hear you better more clearly.

Like, you even see here. I have some fun stuff around me. I want to make it fun for other people. So people think I'm creative and they're also. Interested in talking to me. It won't be some boring, strange background setup.  Tools I recommend,  uh, Calm, the app for meditating. I listen to like the 10 minute calm and you can choose between the male or female voice and I switch.

Uh, the idea is find who I like. I'll listen to certain soundscapes or certain songs. I don't recommend listening to vocals. That can be very distracting. There's also another tool called Focus at Will. If you entered that and there's an app, I, I was part of the beta testing group. So I got a lifetime version where they also have tracks for ADHD.

Truthfully, I don't listen to those tracks. I find my brain works a little differently and it can set a timer on there too. So those are the things for having for. And an environment of audio and to be creative, there is sometimes you don't want something that distracts you that just keeps you in the flow of whatever you're doing.

I say, music should not be too interesting to make you focus and be creative.  So you heard me talk about Evernote. I think it's a fantastic tool for ADHD folks where you can capture, you can process, you can then distill and express fast in a quick way. You don't need the big tools. Some people like Notion.

If they have an architectural brain, I have a librarian brain. So I prefer Evernote. But even just any tool that you use, if you're on the Mac side, Apple notes, it doesn't matter as long as you're using it regularly and whoever you're using it with, and then it's easy enough. Um, Todoist is a tool I use for task management because it allows me to prioritize and it can ping me also if I'm in a location where I want to be reminded of stuff.

So these things talk to each other.  Text expander is another tool. I know I'm throwing a lot at the audience out there, but don't worry. They can listen again to this. And text expander is, you know, you're like, you're good. Good. Good.  Text expander is an app. It's like 34 for a year. You can get it 3 a month and it will expand a shortened words like shorthand.

With AI so that if I like have an acronym, I don't have to remember what that acronym is about anymore. It will now expand everything and you can expand entire paragraph. Or if you want to repeat some language you use, maybe for emails in there, just by typing a couple of keys that you program in there.

Love it. Use it a lot. And I would say for the HD brain. Learn a generative AI tool, learn chat GPT, take a course on learning about prompt engineering. That's not a scary term. You do not need to be a programmer. It's about language arts, having to create a vocabulary and then seeing, Oh, when I do this prompt, this works.

So I save that prompt for create an image of the following folks in a. Japanese anime style that are looking at the camera or in a medium focus and with cut way and make it bright colors. And then I adjust to say, could you try it with this or that? What's nice about the agenda of AI tools like chat is 1 copilot is on the Microsoft side.

That is based off of the same tool. Chat should be T just it's geared for. If you do. Working the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, like PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams. It will act as your AI assistant within the document and saying, Hey, could you summarize this for me? Even an Excel spreadsheet saying, what are the key takeaways if I need to learn this?

And I, can't necessarily process it. It, it, when you just practice and learn, you get better at communication with actual humans.  Okay. Because of what you're doing in this space. So that's why I say generative AI is important for play. And the last thing I would say  is use a time boxing tool. If you can,  it, even if you're just simply writing on a pad for what you're planning for your day.

That way you're thinking like a prep cook, like, okay, from eight to eight to nine is my focus time. You let other people know that you work with. This is my focus time. And it's like, okay, if it's going to be for checking emails, that's fine. If it's going to be for thinking about what's the part, you have all this stuff in your plate.

What's going to be the priority. So you gave yourself that prep cook time before you are being the chef, the master chef in there. So I think if you give yourself in your head, the tool of an identity, It can be a superhero character. I like calling myself the Chaos Ninja Master.  Very cool. And I even do, in January of AI, I create characters for Chaos Ninja Master that I share with other people, like little Japanese anime that people like too, so they find it cute.

And I think I also, I also call myself the social wordsmith. Because it's easy enough to say, who is Grant? I like helping people communicate better and have fun doing it. When you do that, it makes you more memorable and you could use this generative AI tool to type and saying, here's my personality.

Here's what I like to be known for. Can you come up with a fun superhero name for me?  And you can say, Hey, I like that. Can you come up with three more?  And you know what? It's, it's unlimited. You don't have to pay it anything. Well, maybe the 20 bucks a month if you want the plus version of it, but that that's, that's way cheaper than having a human being.

And then just finally do these things with someone else, because the idea of communicating how you're using these tools. It will inspire you to think in ways you hadn't done before and you'll be both using your imagination to make these tools even more creative.  And we're close to the end of this podcast.

So if we, if we can summarize and if there is one thing I know we talked about a lot of things and thanks for sharing everything with us so far. But there, if there is one thing that people can, uh, get away from this episode, a quote, a thought, anything that you think is. the most important thing out of everything we talked about, what that would be. 

Sure.  And that is always a great creative challenge for an ADHD person, one thing. And can you stop at one thing? Like if you could say something in 10 words, what would that be? Yeah. I will, I will tell you the one thing and then I will have a couple things that relate from that one thing. So I'm kind of cheating. 

Okay. This is, this is my theme. In the book of grant asms that I carry today, that is all about creative communication for me in a really positive way for four words. Pause, reflect, create, connect. And I'll say it again. Pause, reflect, create, connect. Connect  the idea of allow yourself that that rest period.

You do not have to go right into it. Sure. It's always fun to do impromptu or improv. But when you have the opportunity, you always need to give yourself time to reflect on what you've done to stop to think about. Wait, why are we doing this? What? What's the reason? Why am I doing this? That's when I talked about the calm and meditation.

So we just need to remember those four things is to pause, reflect, create and from that create.  Interact with other people. Make that a point in your day to interact with one other person. Even if you're an introvert, you can do it in a way where you're both comfortable with. Even if it isn't a Facebook group, just interact and be helpful.

Validate what other people are doing. That's so important as Creativity is about acknowledging other people's creativity. It's encouraging other people. It's not look at me. Uh, you want to use the word we, because that will make you better as an individual and make you better for the community. And from that, I really say is life is too important to be taken so seriously.

That's always my, that's my height in my high school yearbook. And when you have fun, you get things done.  Excellent. I really love that. And if people want to connect with you, learn more about you and your work, how they can do that?  I would say the easiest place to do it with me is on LinkedIn.  I  am sure just Grant Crowell, G R A N T, C R O W E L L. 

I jokingly say I came across eight other grant crawls in the world, and I am at the top of the list.  There's another one who is good on YouTube, but  I, and, and I like to do a grand TASM a week. I call them other words. Sometimes I call them not spurts in there. Sometimes I like calling them gherkisms, like a gherk for a geek, nerd, or dork with ADHD who's striving to be an awesome social citizen.

These are, these are just, These are just what I feel like calling them. It's all about just to be social with being with wordsmithing. I have a personal YouTube channel at Grant Kroll as well. And there's also a video about the book Grantasms. And of course there's the book Grantasms creative twisted words for cool people.

And the idea, if you like playful mindfulness, if you like, if you're the person who goes, I wish I had a word for that.  This is a great place of how to also be a good storyteller. So those are my three things. I'd say my goals for next year is to actually have a YouTube channel called the social wordsmith to actually have a course on creative communication.

But in a way, this is a great research time. I'm working at fricking Microsoft. I'm getting to work with great AI tools. I'm creating videos to help people with who are not. All that well versed in the technology of advertising to speak on their level. So I'm putting into action the very things that I want to be able to turn into a course on its own.

So it's a really exciting time. So for anyone out there, if connect with me on LinkedIn, follow me. And if there's something of a made up word, you really like that. I do that you can relate to because I always try to post one a week or if there's something you would like to have help on. I like helping other people.

It's a really great feeling when we're genuinely trying to help each other. Oh, you're really great.  And thank you so much for this conversation. I really enjoyed it. I think it was full of nuggets of wisdom and both as a person who has ADHD  and lots of experience with dealing with loads of stuff connected to it.

I think it just, it was mind blowing. And thank you so much. It was so full of, , important things that people can learn, uh, from it. So thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you for a great interview. You made it noterific,  noterific. There we go.  Grandtastic and noterific. You can come up with a better word on your own. 

All right. Thank you so much. And hope to see you again on the show. 

 

     📍 Thank you for listening to Thriving with adhd. This show is produced by Animo Sano Psychiatry. Please follow, rate or share our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or any other streaming app of your choice. Music is by Daddy's Music music from Pixabay. For more information about Animo Sano Psychiatry, please visit animosanopsychiatry.com