ADHDs Influence on the Art of DJing - Ep#6

Ever felt like your brain is a turntable, spinning tracks at a million miles an hour? That's the daily beat of life with ADHD, a rhythm I know all too well. Join Nino and me as I spin the tale of my journey with ADHD in the bustling world of DJing. We set the record straight on the differences between ADHD and ADD, and groove into how common this condition is among the music maestros. It's not all about mixing meds; I cue up my tracklist of natural alternatives and share how I've learned to remix my ADHD traits into career-defining strengths.

As the music plays on, we don't just scratch the surface; we explore the deeper cuts of living with ADHD. This episode lays down the beats of cognitive therapy and the rhythm of repetition and reward systems that help keep my mind on track. Nino, a firsthand witness to my transformation, chimes in on the silver linings of ADHD—our shared energy and creativity that can light up the dance floor of life. We also spin a discussion on personal organization, proving that whether your space is as clean as a whistle or as chaotic as a festival crowd, what matters is finding your groove.

Finally, let's drop the bass on ADHD and OCD tendencies, focusing on how they can trip you up or push you to the top of your game. We dissect the art of DJing through the lens of ADHD, from mastering digital task management to curating a killer music library. Through stories and strategies, we reveal how hyperfocus can be a double-edged sword, and why a proper diagnosis is key. So plug in, turn up the volume, and let's remix the way we view ADHD behind the decks and beyond.

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Transcript

Ilia: 0:19

How's it going, everyone? Another episode of the Clever DJ Podcast with Ilia and Nino.

Nino: 0:26

Welcome guys. It's episode number six. We're very excited for this one and we have a special, special episode for you guys.

Ilia: 0:35

Yes, it's special because it's something that one of us let's say me have been personally dealing with for many years and it's been getting in my way of everything. So that's something that I recently can say I've overcome.

Nino: 0:54

I'm proud of you, man. You have.

Ilia: 0:56

Thank you, it was a lot of work.

Nino: 0:57

It was I know because I was with you all the way. Yes, you were, you were great.

Ilia: 1:02

Through. I mean, we just met what like not even two years ago, but the part where I had to deal with it and really change something because it was just enough, it was just affecting everything.

Nino: 1:15

Enough is enough.

Ilia: 1:16

It was in the last two years and you've seen that transition.

Nino: 1:19

I have.

Ilia: 1:20

Right. So you know, I'm still working on it, like everyone else. We all have something we're dealing with. But let's say, let's get straight to the chase. Adhd is on the rise Now. You see it everywhere. Everyone says, oh, I have ADHD, I have ADHD, so I believed. So what is ADHD in the first place? What?

Ilia: 1:45

is it Attention deficit, hyperactive disorder. But wait, wait. What is ADD then? So that's attention deficit disorder, and I think the modern way, the newer way they discovered is that it's usually ADHD, because most people are hyperactive, but sometimes the hyperactive feature is not there. I actually don't know much about it. We're not doctors, we're not psychiatrists or anything like that. You know, everything I'm telling you right now is from personal experience, so I know for a fact, that's true.

Ilia: 2:17

So they're both the same thing, pretty much right, it's just I want I won't get into you know specifics like that, Because, again, I don't want to mislead anyone. I'll tell you what my experience was. True, I know I have ADHD. Now how does that relate to DJing? Why are we talking to you about this today? I've been on multiple forums. I always am. I love forums.

Nino: 2:41

You love forums yeah.

Ilia: 2:42

CD, reddit, just well, that's the main one really. But you know, I'm on several discord communities and stuff like that and a lot of people say that they struggle with achieving their DJ or music producer or any kind of dream because of their ADHD tendencies. I will look at my phone a little bit. I did make some notes. I'm going to say that right away. But yeah, so, to all of you who wonder sometimes why we said something and didn't make much sense to them, we are also on video. If you're listening to us on audio, we're on video as well. We try to make sense of it. So if we are doing something, we try to narrate it. So if you're just listening to us and make sense for you, but yeah, you can find us on YouTube. That is the only source for video right now. Now, what I noticed is there are several tendencies that maybe people without ADHD might also have, but ADHD really is those same tendencies, just magnified, just emphasized. It's normal, anyone could experience this, but people with ADHD experience it on another level.

Nino: 3:55

Okay, so give me an example. What do you deal with? Exactly Like. Give me an example.

Ilia: 4:00

So, like I said, now it's not in my way anymore, because I learned how to recognize it and how to tackle it properly. And, by the way, newsflash, you don't always need medication. I never, ever, touched ADHD medication, never did anything that has to do with medication whatsoever. The only thing I did was I took some ashwagandha. There's some vitamins, stuff like that. That's natural and you know. You go online, you check how much you can take and that helps you.

Nino: 4:31

Well, I'm sure too that we're not. We're not disconcerting. Like medication as well, it probably could work for everybody. Yeah, it could.

Ilia: 4:40

But I'm just speaking about my personal story.

Nino: 4:42

Him personally.

Ilia: 4:44

This is not a medical disclaimer of anything at all. I'm just saying this is my story and I believe a lot of people can do the same thing that I did, and it wasn't easy at all, but it's very, very doable.

Ilia: 4:59

You just really need to want it, you need to manifest it, you need to really understand that you can see yourself as a person that you imagine and you know that this is who you are and you don't require certain things that you don't believe in or you don't want to put your body through a certain medication, whatever that may be. And the way I saw myself was that I envisioned a healthy person who doesn't have to deal with these tendencies anymore, and I found certain ways to deal with it by literally exercising my mind. So here's what would get in the way. Number one before that is my workflow. So let's cut straight to the chase.

Ilia: 5:51

I have a list of five items, things that usually happen to people who have ADHD, and I may have thought about two or three other ones that right now are not on the list, but at this point these are the five that I wrote. They're very, very common and they definitely get in the way of actually practicing and making it in this industry. Now I'll start with the biggest one, I think, or there are actually pretty big. The environment has to be perfect, everything has to be clean and organized. It's as simple as you set up your DJ controller and then suddenly you realize that, oh, my desk over there has a bunch of clutter on it, or, you know, I didn't do my laundry yet. Or oh, I said I told myself I'll do that, I'll run the dishwasher, but I didn't run the dishwasher yet. So I'm like you know what logical you know it's fine, it's gonna make me feel better, it won't take too long. I'll go and tackle those things.

Ilia: 6:57

Most likely, while tackling those things, you find more things. I'll find more things within those things. Like, maybe I found out that, oh, I have receipts on the table. Oh, I didn't do my taxes yet. Geez, oh I, I should probably put this in the in my folder with my receipts. Oh, I forgot to like categorize my folder. Now you have 15 new projects and now you're stressed, and now you're even more tired. Your dopamine is dropping, your energy is dropping, and now you're not even able to practice the same even if you wanted to, you want to take a nap now, you literally thinking you know what Netflix.

Ilia: 7:34

Netflix. I'm gonna warm up some food.

Nino: 7:36

Netflix, let's do this tomorrow, okay, so how did you get over that?

Ilia: 7:41

I realized it was insane it was right. I realized that this is a reality that actually is not okay. This is not something that control. This is not something that should control me. Yeah, all these things around me don't make a difference to me practicing yeah right, this is so simple, but it's not at the same time, because a person who has that, that condition, does not think that it's simple, does not think that it's not a big deal.

Nino: 8:10

They will argue with you and and and get into a loud shouting match because you feel like you have to get these stuff done first, because it makes you feel better.

Ilia: 8:21

But it doesn't really, because it's. It's. It's like a ticking time bomb. It's a distraction, it distracts you, makes you feel better that you achieved those goals, but your main goal is still not achieved. Right, and, and that's, and that's something that people don't understand. Who deal with it? They think well, it's logical to run my dishwasher, to do my laundry. Oh, yeah, you know what? There's a time for that. Yeah, there is right now. It's not a time for right now.

Ilia: 8:44

It's a time to practice, because this is what you felt like doing, and you, and and this is something you should be doing right now, because you haven't done it for the last three, four or five days for the same reason yeah exactly right.

Ilia: 8:55

So again we're we're just zooming by these points just because it was an interesting topic. We want we want to see how you guys react to it, how many people like this topic, because it seems like it's a very popular and I could open up and and tell you my personal story and also help others as well as create a couple more episodes later when I see that people, if we see that people are actually interested in this and get into more detail. But right now we're just gonna give you like an introduction to this?

Nino: 9:28

yeah, exactly. And one thing man can it be just as easy as prioritizing, like we're a list, or it's not even as easy as that? So, like the first thing on your list, practice DJing, and then next thing, doing the laundry after, after you're done practicing. It's not even like that, it's funny how you like you.

Ilia: 9:47

I'm trying how it doesn't make sense to you. But it doesn't matter how many lists you have and how you prioritize and and how smart you are about the whole thing, it will take over. Really, it's like oh, but I can't practice like this, and then you'll find all the reasons why you can't do what you should be doing. I understand, yeah, and, and I don't even have advanced ADHD. You know, I've seen some people. I'm like, oh, my god, how does this person live their life? Well, it's, I would say it's somewhere in the middle. I don't really know how to, how to gauge it. I went to a therapist wants to say like, hey, it's hard for me to deal with this. Can you, can you give me some, some tips? Honestly, the Dean helped me much.

Ilia: 10:28

I'm not trying to bash anyone therapist or medicine. I found that if you want to do something in life, if you truly want it, you will figure out a way. Some things are tougher than others. There's some terminal diseases. You know I'm not putting everything in the same category. When it comes to something that, that is, control, that has to with your mind. Yeah, your brain is powerful. I heard something like apparently, if something happens to one side of your brain.

Nino: 10:54

The other side takes over yeah, I mean, your brain can do incredible things.

Ilia: 10:57

So come on ADHD. That's not gonna bother me. I'm gonna make sure I beat it without medication and just by cognitive therapy, just like doing the right things, repetition and and showing myself that there's another way. And through that, through that repetition, through that reward system that I felt I proved to myself there's another way and my brain just rewired itself. It's. It took some time. I'm still working on it, but now it's not controlling me anymore. Now it's like a superpower, like now, for example, I noticed that I have a lot more energy than my peers, people who don't have ADHD. I just go, I'm like an energizer battery.

Ilia: 11:38

I just like I'll go to the bunny 2 or 4 am and I woke up and let's say 6 am and I'm, and I'm just going strong. I'm not saying you always need to do that.

Ilia: 11:46

it's not healthy, it's not healthy no, it's not, but the thing is, if I ever have to, I don't have a problem with it. Right, creativity read everywhere you want, everywhere you go. People with ADHD have just insane creativity the way we think about our transitions and the business ideas we come up with, and all of that, just all everything that has to do with creativity whether it's your transition or a business idea or a feature and something it's it helps me think in a different way that a person without the ADHD doesn't normally think that way. And just many more points, many more things that could really work to your advantage. But you have to know how to rewire your brain, how to work on it and make yourself control that, instead of that controlling you yeah, yeah, right, that's no.

Ilia: 12:47

I spoke to you about the physical world, how everything has to be cleaned. The floor has to be wiped, my keyboard has to be set up correctly. Everything just has to be yes, well actually I don't have that issue.

Nino: 13:02

The painting needs to be straight as well.

Ilia: 13:05

Actually I recognize that I don't care much for if this is like that, but you know.

Nino: 13:11

Actually it was funny, because I just saw you just fix it straight. Yeah, you did just a second ago.

Ilia: 13:16

But like, if you leave it like this for the rest of the episode, I'll be fine.

Nino: 13:19

No, you won't, I'll be fine, let's leave it like that for the rest of the episode. Look, they're just killing them right now.

Ilia: 13:25

No, no, it's not.

Nino: 13:26

So we're moving the road caster? No, it's not.

Ilia: 13:29

This guy's itching. No, it's not, no, so and that's the thing. And honestly, it doesn't bother me. And half a year ago, a year ago, I would say it doesn't bother me, but I would forget what I was talking about because it did bother me. At this point, you know it's just, things change and again you gotta work on it. It doesn't happen overnight.

Nino: 13:49

It takes months, it takes years, it depends on the person You've been, if you were doing this all your life right. And then you're trying to rewire your brain there you go see. No, I'm just joking.

Ilia: 13:58

I'm just joking, I'm just I hope people at home or in the car everyone's laughing. Well, actually, if you're in the car, probably shouldn't be watching a video, but yeah, to those listening to us we are moving the road caster our mixer.

Nino: 14:13

It's sitting on the table Right now. I made it really crooked so it's kind of facing him, so he's like he wants to move it.

Ilia: 14:21

It's pretty cool. I like how it is. I think we should have it like that every time, whatever? So I spoke to you about the physical world. Right Now, let's talk about your songs, your libraries, your effects, all that stuff right, like the organization within your software, serato Recrobots.

Nino: 14:43

So that's a tough thing because DGs in general have a hard time already, like organizing their library and create list and stuff. So I can imagine with someone with ADD or ADHD having doing that too.

Ilia: 14:56

So, like I said, this is not a list of things that only people with ADHD deal with. But the difference is that somebody with ADHD or sometimes even OCD because sometimes they go hand in hand their reaction to it is gonna be much more heightened, much more emphasized, right? So that's the difference. So, once again, one sec. So when it comes to okay, so we know the difference between. So, when it comes to the physical world, cleaning up, moving certain items, finishing certain tasks around the house, whatever that may be, it's pretty self-explanatory. That same thing happens with your library, with your songs, with your assets, your effects, your what? If you have social media, all of your stuff, all of the things you have on your computer? Damn, it's overwhelming. And now this might happen to a regular person with no ADHD or OCD or whatever. Whatever would control your mind to make you do these things? It does, but not on the same level, right? That's why a lot of people say, oh, I have ADHD, oh I have OCD. They don't even know what they're talking about.

Ilia: 16:23

They don't have it yet. These are regular tendencies that every person might encounter, but when it has several other characteristics around that, they go hand in hand and you know, okay, that is ADHD, that is OCD, that is whatever.

Nino: 16:38

You can't diagnose yourself too. You have to actually go to a doctor, and I diagnose myself.

Ilia: 16:42

Oh, I mean, it was obvious. Okay, I guess it was for you it was so obvious Like.

Nino: 16:49

So you didn't have to go to a doctor to get a diagnosis.

Ilia: 16:51

Well, I still went to double check that I was right about it. But you were right, but I knew I was right. I was like, hey, do I have a ADHD? So I went they did like this test that I had to answer certain questions and I had to like press certain things and show my like attention span and stuff like that. But based on that, based on research and everything, I mean it's very obvious.

Nino: 17:09

Okay, right.

Ilia: 17:11

And this is like textbook ADHD, right, and we had a client with ADHD, do you remember?

Nino: 17:18

Which one.

Ilia: 17:21

We had a client at the bar without naming anyone I'm trying not to name. Name the situation.

Nino: 17:29

What is it? What bar?

Ilia: 17:31

Just let's step away from where it was. Okay, we had a client with ADHD. Okay, okay, okay. So now we gotta start over because this was too much. Yeah, what was? So? We actually had a client who had really advanced ADHD and they didn't need to tell me that.

Nino: 17:47

They did not need to tell me that you knew right, I knew.

Ilia: 17:50

Anyone would know. But they told me hey, by the way, I have ADHD. I, you know, sometimes could jump from topic to topic or be very specific with certain things, and I think they had OCD as well, and but it was so easy to tell I did not need to go to school for four, five, 10 years to be able to diagnose them that they have what they have.

Nino: 18:15

Okay.

Ilia: 18:15

Right, so again, I'm being very careful, I'm sight stepping around, like you know. Diagnosis and medication and treatment. This is not a medical podcast. I'm just talking to you about my own experience, right, but some things are just obvious, right. You walk around, you see someone, you know what you're dealing with, okay, and I think I was at a point where I was talking about the libraries.

Ilia: 18:42

I think we veered off. Yeah, what I experienced, which a lot of you probably experienced without ADHD, is that when I finally have everything perfect around me, everything is surrounding me. You know, in my Zenfone environment, everything is organized. There's no other tasks. Now I'm worried about my library, my songs. Like my libraries, my songs, my effects. Do I have everything set up correctly? Could I find it in an efficient way? Maybe I want to rename everything? Wait, why is this over here? Maybe this should be first, this should be second. And then you know I was thinking about all of that and I just got hyper focused on that Right, and again, that's something that is unnecessary, that's not going to change anything about your practice session or your development, because it doesn't matter where it is or what's written there.

Ilia: 19:43

Get through your practice and then there's always time to organize things and you always know when you're over organizing, when you're doing it too much. Find a system, think about a system. Something that works for you. Something that works right now might not work a year from now, might not work two months from now. Something that makes sense. And how do you know that? Usually you try something, it works for the next few gigs.

Ilia: 20:08

You maybe add a couple more methods there, stuff that I did in different gigs that really worked for me. I just adapted right, I adopted, and now that's how I organize my playlist. So sometimes you won't even know. Sometimes you just got to be easygoing and use some sort of method that makes sense to you, something you learned online, maybe on YouTube, from somebody who really knows what they're doing, and just go with it. Don't try to perfect it, because you won't be able to, because you don't know what's perfect is right and you might figure it out, but it's going to be a total waste of time because it will take you days, weeks, and here you are not practicing while somebody else is and getting gigs and getting all these kind of endorsements, and then you are just still figuring out how to organize your playlist right. And that's how overcame that, because it just made no sense to continue thinking about it and I realized that I stopped dealing with it.

Nino: 21:08

Now. So basically just overthinking, over analyzing stuff.

Ilia: 21:12

Yes. So whether it's it's all over analyzing, whether it's your physical environment, your, your virtual environment, it's all really over analyzing. Well, that's more OCD really, but ADHD, you're just, you're jumping from one thing to another. That's why I'm saying that's what they or just I can't even tell you. It just happens. Wow, right, like it just it's, it's to. To me, that was logic. I was like that's how things should be.

Nino: 21:40

Okay.

Ilia: 21:41

Right, and it would. It would, just I would jump from one thing to another, not realizing that I was wasting time until, you know, a few years ago maybe five years ago or seven years ago and in college, when I went to college the second time, you know, after I graduated from something, I went to another program and I started noticing how this is not. This is not something minor, this is really affecting me. Then you get older and into your thirties. Now we started this podcast and you know, I started my business, my DJing business, and I noticed how these tendencies get in the way. Now there are ways to turn it into like a superpower, and I already spoke about it.

Ilia: 22:23

Yeah Right, so you know you need to maintain your brain's health in order to not be weak and let that take over. So you got to sleep well, you got to do things on time. You just have to do certain things a certain way to keep yourself healthy, and that's true for everyone. So to people that have ADHD, it affects them a bit more. They're more sensitive to that.

Nino: 22:49

If you don't sleep well, if you don't eat correctly, so does it help if you have a routine?

Ilia: 22:54

It definitely helps yeah.

Nino: 22:56

So just being healthy overall and having a routine will help you kind of fix what you have.

Ilia: 23:03

And, from what I understand, this is true for people who have ADHD and OCD. That's what I understand. So, anyone who deals with either one of those. I think this will help them. That's my personal story about ADHD. I don't know if it helps anyone. I think it does. From my conversations with people on form boards, I got so much positive feedback.

Nino: 23:23

So much.

Ilia: 23:24

I've seen dozens and dozens of people every time. I post something right Everywhere on YouTube, everywhere I discussed it.

Nino: 23:31

Well, it's not just you dealing with it too right? Just people out there dealing with it, for sure.

Ilia: 23:35

And that's why I was brave enough to come up here and talk about it, because I know that I got a lot of positive feedback and I know that I know what I'm talking about.

Nino: 23:44

Yeah.

Ilia: 23:45

Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here talking about this like. I know what I'm talking about Exactly. So it's personal experience and people's feedback as well. As you know, I did speak to a couple therapists and I know what I'm talking about and I did read a lot of stuff online from reputable sources. Now there are a couple more points and really they could all sum up into the same. They're all within the same point, really.

Ilia: 24:12

So there's the physical environment, there's the virtual environment. You know all the files that you own, all the songs and everything. The next one is what. I see that everywhere and I've experienced that myself. What is my genre Like? What are my genres Like what? What kind of DJ am I? What? Who am I Right? What is my identity? Who am I? You don't. You won't know who you are until you go through everything and realize what you love the most, unless you already are extremely aware of your identity. Like you started, you loved hip hop, okay, yeah, so you think about who you are because you already know. So if you don't know, it means that you probably did not experience enough.

Nino: 24:52

Yeah, yeah.

Ilia: 24:54

It's. It cannot be simpler than that. If you know, you know it makes sense because you love it. If you don't know, it means that you've never experienced enough to know who you are. So why are you sitting there wondering for days who you are and thinking you know, developing all these anxieties, thinking that maybe you won't be a DJ because you don't know what your genre is and what you're going to do? And you know you won't understand what to play because some people know this genre better. Start, start listening to music If you like it. You like it. Sometimes you won't even realize that you already have an identity. You just never figured it out.

Nino: 25:30

Mm-hmm, that's happening to you, right.

Ilia: 25:33

It happened to me, I was thinking a lot of my friends like techno and house, and I love techno and house, but sometimes I can't play it nonstop. You know, like six hours in a row. It's too much right. Every day or every weekend, I mean, I could probably do it for a month or two, or maybe like every. Let's say, you know how you have your gig at that bar, you know every Friday, something like that. But my entire life to make it about one genre, I don't think I could do that. Hey, maybe in a year or two from now I'll say something else.

Nino: 26:06

Yeah, you never know.

Ilia: 26:07

People change your outlook changes right, but right now I'm a beginner DJ and I'm experiencing all these genres and all these different emotions about music. I wouldn't experience it all, but I did notice something that there's a specific kind of electronic music that I like. I like plucks, like you know, in trance. Like pluck sounds like reverb. Like I like when there's certain type of features in the track.

Nino: 26:34

Okay.

Ilia: 26:35

And it's very specific actually, which is actually even better than what I was expecting to find out about myself. I like vocal, like euphoric melodies. I like when it's melodic, like when the melody is very, very unique and, like you know, it's not just something simple, but the beat usually is just a very simple beat, right, right. And then I could just hone more on what I like and it was easier and I realized okay, when it comes to like Euro dance music, this is what I like. When it comes to trance, this is what I like, and some days it will be more trance, some days it will be more techno, some days it will be more Euro dance, some days it'll be top 40s, right? So I realized that I just like more genres. There's nothing wrong with that.

Nino: 27:23

No.

Ilia: 27:23

I can just do more than the person who only likes two or three things right Again, moving on. That wasn't even a problem, right.

Nino: 27:31

Yeah, it wasn't.

Ilia: 27:36

That's one. So what is my DJ name and under what name or social media account should I upload my mixes?

Nino: 27:45

He struggled a lot at the beginning.

Ilia: 27:47

I was thinking to myself this guy's telling me upload your mixes, make sure people can hear you and experience your mix, and this way you'll get some feedback and so on and so forth. And I said, well, I don't know what to upload it under, like what name? Maybe I need a website, I need to be professional and again, like getting into all of these details, and it was just not necessary, right, and now I go by my personal name. One day, if I develop a certain identity and I decide to go by another name, I will. But I'm a beginner, like many of you. All, right, if this is not gonna define who you are, you still have to get to a certain scale, to a certain scale level, before your name really matters, in my opinion. I mean, yes, sure, it's all gonna be under a certain name, and then it's gonna be under a different name. So what? Now? You're not gonna practice until you figure out who you are.

Nino: 28:52

I still think I like DJ Nudelis, dj Nudelis.

Ilia: 28:56

Yeah. Yeah, that was a funny one, so don't let that stop you from.

Nino: 29:03

Yeah, just keep plugging in. He had problems with it, but I said, yeah, man, you gotta just keep going. Man, that name will come eventually.

Ilia: 29:12

The name will come. The social media will develop. You first posted on your personal one if you're shy about your mixes, you can post it under some throwaway account name and then later, when you really get better, then find something that really works for you, and it doesn't have to be the one you stick to for the rest of your life, but something that will work for you, right, something right, something that you won't hate. It doesn't have to be something you absolutely love. But again, one more thing that could stop you, which shouldn't stop you.

Ilia: 29:49

What else? Yeah and this is one that happened to me a lot, and this is a big one for people with ADHD I would like fantasize and romanticize all of these like ideas that I had or what I can do one day when I learned this and one day when I do that, and I would just live in like Lullaland and I would call this guy hey, like in two months, we should do this. And how many of those ideas were actually good ideas. Some of them were actually good ideas, but they made no sense for that point in time. They were actually.

Nino: 30:31

Some of them were amazing ideas and we can still do them, but just not then and now. We can do them probably later when we're a little bit more established.

Ilia: 30:40

But I was like, thank you, my neurons, the brains, are shooting all these ideas Like do this, do that festival outdoors, this, that Festival? I just started it, let's go festival, let's go, let's go. And really your brain is seeking dopamine, seeking some wow moment, like some wow feeling, because you're like a dopamine junkie, right, like you need more of it. If you recognize it, what do you do? You divert that feeling towards something you're doing and experience your practice session or wherever you are, whatever you're doing, just on such a much more interesting forgot the word I wanted to use but your experience will be so much more interesting, instead of taking that energy and fantasizing about something that right now does not make sense to think about so you might have an idea. While you're DJing right, Like you're learning how to scratch professionally, right. Then you're thinking, oh, one day I'll go to the DMC, right, and then I said it right, right, dmc.

Nino: 31:51

This time yeah.

Ilia: 31:53

Yeah, but that's it, like it was a passing thought. Right, I'll say, let's say I was in your shoes. I'll think, oh, I'll go to the DMC, I'll meet this guy, I'll meet that guy. If I do this, I'll stand out and then I'll start thinking about something that doesn't make sense and start working on some sort of technique that I really am not ready for, right, and that's it. It will change the whole practice session or my entire journey, wasting time Just because of that fantasy that I had, just because of, like, romanticizing that moment that never even happened or doesn't. It's not the right time to think about. So I took that energy, I took all that bandwidth of information flowing towards that useless spot, and it's not totally useless. It's a nice idea, you think about it, you set it aside, but you don't focus on it for three, four hours or a day or longer sometimes.

Nino: 32:43

Yeah, sometimes longer.

Ilia: 32:45

You take that bandwidth of information and redirect it towards what you're actually doing yes, right and you make yourself more excited about what you're doing, the journey of what's actually happening right now. Yes, exactly, and then the dopamine comes from that. Right Again, that's all cognitive therapy. It's all really taking charge of your mind, of your brain, of what you're going through and deciding. This is what I'm gonna do. It's not gonna control me, I'm gonna control it and that's it. I know it sounds crazy to some but that was so, that was that.

Nino: 33:19

That was that. That's why you had those crazy thoughts.

Ilia: 33:22

Okay, yeah, because I know, I even know myself I started reading online and I started like I saw these posts on Instagram or all of these interesting articles on reputable websites, and I pieced one thing with another and I was like, oh wow, like this is really getting in the way. This is not just me being creative, this is an ADHD moment. And so these are just five points, five out of dozens of points I can talk about.

Nino: 33:55

We can talk about this forever especially him.

Ilia: 33:59

Honestly, some of those sound like OCD. Adhd and OCD kind of goes hand in hand. I know a lot of people who have ADHD and have OCD and those two just write each other Right. But I double checked, triple checked that these points could happen to people who only deal with ADHD. I made sure I checked that before I spoke about it on here. So if there's something you guys wanna say, if there's maybe something I said which sounds incorrect to you or you wanna just add on to this, right you have a comment down below on YouTube or send us an email. We're gonna list everything on all of our platforms, right Everywhere. We have all of our links and we have the website ready as well, so you will have a place to voice your opinion and just communicate with us.

Nino: 34:51

Yeah, just talk about it. And yeah, so you're saying this redirect everything to.

Ilia: 34:57

Control your mind. Control your mind, well, control your mind. Easier said than done. Easier said than done, but one step at a time. Just like learning how to DJ, learning how to be a music producer, learning how to do martial arts. It's gonna take you sometimes. Some people can do it quicker. Some people can do it. It will take them a bit longer.

Nino: 35:15

Yeah, exactly.

Ilia: 35:16

But look at me now. I'm getting clients one after another. I'm over 16 years old as podcast. You know my practice sessions are better. Everything is better. There you go, man. It's not in the way it's actually helping me now, but it's because I put in the work right. Good job man. Thank you Part of you man. Thank you brother.

Nino: 35:36

And I'm gonna fix this right now.

Ilia: 35:38

Is that my reward? Yeah, yeah, there you go. Oh, that does feel better, so we're straightening the roadcast.

Nino: 35:44

We're straightening the roadcast For those of you guys that's listening to this All right.

Ilia: 35:48

Well, thank you very much for joining another episode of the Clever DJ Podcast. Yes, sir, I'm Ilya.

Nino: 35:55

And I'm Nino, take care, we gotta see you in the next one, next one.