337 - ADHD vs. Productivity Gurus

I got my ADHD diagnosis less than a year ago, and honestly? It explained everything. The 19 days I missed senior year. The graveyard of abandoned planners. The Wednesday night I built a full credit card tracking spreadsheet at 11pm for absolutely no reason. 

In this episode, Heather and I dig into why standard productivity advice doesn't work for spicy brains — and the hacks that actually do.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR 

• Why perimenopause sent Nicole straight to a psychiatrist's office
• The "past self" scheduling method Heather swears by (and why Nicole's brain revolted)
• How to stop making your productivity failures mean something about your character
• The emotional support clipboard system that finally stuck
• Why the dopamine train is both your superpower and your chaos agent
• What 4 Chrome windows with 15 tabs each actually tells you about your brain
• The "Open Loops" page that keeps half-finished projects from disappearing forever
• Why neurodivergent people are overrepresented in entrepreneurship (it makes total sense)
• How to find a system that works with your brain instead of against it
• What to do if you suspect you have ADHD and want an actual diagnosis

Whether you have a diagnosed neuro spicy brain or you just suspect the traditional advice was never written for you, this conversation with Heather will help you stop fighting your own operating system and start working with it.

JOIN THE PARTY:

• Connect with us on Instagram
• Explore valuable pet photography resources here
• Discover effective pricing and sales strategies for all portrait photographers.
• Ready to grow your business?  Elevate helps you do just that.
• Check out our recommended gear and favorite books.  

Transcript

Nicole Begley (00:00)
In today's episode, Heather and I are diving into the difference of two brains, how her brain works, very linear engineering brain, and then how my brain works, the late life diagnosed ADHD brain that when looking back along my life, there were definitely signs. So whether you're neurotypical or neurodivergent, this is a great conversation about productivity, what that might look like, and hopefully it will give you some hacks that you can try to

keep things moving along in a ⁓ judgment-free zone. Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:34)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.

that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.

Nicole Begley (01:33)
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I am your host, Nicole Bagley and Heather Lahtinen She's back, back in the studio today.

Heather (01:44)
I'm very excited

to be here because this is an interesting topic we're talking about because the reason I say that is there are so many things that you and I are completely in sync about. Like we have very similar brains. We operate in a similar fashion. We agree on most things. I think that this might be where we slightly diverge.

Nicole Begley (01:55)
Mm-hmm.

diverge, divergent. are divergent and so is my brain. So yeah, so today we were just talking about some task management and Heather and I, okay, so similarities. We are obsessed with productivity, obsessed with like learning new things, learning to hack our brain. We love the business. Like we love doing projects in the business. Like Monday morning,

Heather (02:11)
Yeah, we are.

Nicole Begley (02:36)
we get to go to work today is like the best day ever. Like I love Mondays. so those are the same, but the way that we go through those weeks, it's very different and things that have worked for you have not worked for me, and vice versa. So, yeah, so let's, let's back this up a little bit though. So it was, how long ago was it? Less than a year that I got the official diagnosis that,

Heather (02:37)
Yes!

Yes.

Nicole Begley (03:02)
I do in fact have ADHD, perimenopause, wheels fell off and it became a little bit more obvious. But then looking back, I'm like, there were signs that were so... No, no, because ADHD in my mind was hyperactive young boys because that's really how it was always diagnosed. Like that's what...

Heather (03:12)
So you always kind of know that, you think? No.

Nicole Begley (03:30)
That's what all the research was on. That's like the only thing that diagnosed like, I was a girl that got good grades. Certainly I didn't have, and I sat still, but I had like the more inattentive. So I just remember sitting in the school and I would literally be staring out the window for 90 % of the day. Like wondering, I wonder what it be like to be that bird. I would like to be that bird, that bird just hopping around, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. Like it was.

Heather (03:40)
Mm.

Nicole Begley (03:56)
Crazy, I could never keep my room clean. My room was a disaster. I could not keep notes organized, things like that. Confession. I think I went through high school and college without ever studying. Pretty much ever. I would in college, I would rewrite my notes.

Heather (04:10)
What?

Okay, which is good. I mean, that's helpful. I just don't think that would fly with an engineering degree. Okay.

Nicole Begley (04:18)
Yeah. Yeah.

Well,

I mean, I had, had, um, I was animal vet science, like I had animal physiology, genetics, physics, like I, or O chem one, O chem two, like I wasn't taking like underwater basket weaving. I was a STEM major.

Heather (04:31)
I don't understand how you did that. Yeah, yeah. Right.

How would you do that? I just don't, that is like incomprehensible to me. I just study so much.

Nicole Begley (04:45)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. Which then, you know, and, and yeah, there was, well, and even I was an early adopter of, an entrepreneurial lifestyle in that high school. I kind of picked and chose what I wanted to go. And often I didn't want to go. I'd show up for tests. had good grades. I had good grades. And they were like, you've missed so many days. You're not going to graduate my senior year. think I missed 19 days. And I used to.

Heather (05:01)
Mmm.

Nicole Begley (05:12)
Shh, I used to forge my mom's signature.

Heather (05:14)
What is happening?

I did not know these things about you.

Nicole Begley (05:18)
And...

things to do. I'm going to go to the barn. Like I wasn't skipping school to go do anything nefarious. I would go hang out at the barn. And like, I was like, it's pointless for me to be here today. There's no tests. I don't need to be here. This is stupid. Why am I wasting my time? Like, and then I was like, like, you're not going to graduate. missed too much school. I'm like, what's the problem? have a three seven. Like, what, what, what's, what's the problem? so anyway,

Heather (05:24)
Well, right.

my gosh.

Nicole Begley (05:45)
I have never fit well into a box and I really have not ever enjoyed anyone telling me that I had to do something. But, ⁓ yeah, those were, those were just a few, a few of the things. And then I also realized kind of like this run on monologue I've done. is my brain all the time that I did not understand that people don't have a constant multi-ver, multi-voice conversation in their head all day, every day. It's never quiet.

Heather (05:50)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that.

⁓ Constant.

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (06:15)
continent.

Um, and yeah, and like the, literally am looking at my desk now. have hold on. Oh, one, one, two, three, four Chrome tabs open. And each of those have at least 10 to 15 tabs open in them. Because four windows open with 10 plus tabs in each.

Heather (06:37)
So no, four windows with.

my gosh, I have one window. One, two, three, four, five, six, six tabs open. One window.

Nicole Begley (06:48)
Ha

close it, then I'm not going to remember there's something important here that I need to come back to. But I've also opened the same one at least three or four times. So anyway, these are some of the differences. Like I said, there were signs.

Heather (06:52)
Right, right, right.

my gosh.

There were signs. And then,

I had read, and I think you did as well, that when you enter into paramenopause, a lot of women are getting diagnosed with ADHD at, quote, our age, because there is, it could have been you already had it, and then it was magnified, or it could even be new to a lot of people. I did not, listen, I have experienced just about every awful symptom there is with paramenopause, but I didn't,

Nicole Begley (07:26)
Mmm. Mm-hmm.

Heather (07:34)
I don't think I have this one. I have a lot of chatter in my brain and I do a lot of things, but I don't, I feel very focused. I feel like I can focus. So it doesn't seem to be an issue for me, I don't think.

Nicole Begley (07:48)
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, based on my unofficial Chrome window tab test, you are fine.

Heather (07:55)
Yeah, that says it all. Yeah.

But you you said something a moment ago that is kind of what kicked off this conversation is I had talked to you about past Heather, future Heather, current Heather, all of these Heathers. And I had said something to the effect of, you know, I plan ahead of time, and then I put it in my calendar. So my only job every day is to show up and just execute what past Heather has already prepared for me. And what you said,

which lines up with what you just said, you don't like being told what to do, even if it's from you.

Nicole Begley (08:30)
yeah, I'd be like, dude, that past Nicole is... What? Why would she say? No, uh-uh, no. You guys, 19 days of school my senior year.

Heather (08:41)
Yeah, like you would because to me it's like if I have to think or react in the moment, to some degree, I'm kind of screwed because I'll just do what I want. I'll do the I'll be productive, but I'll do the things that I want to do versus past Heather using her prefrontal cortex says, hey, you actually need to execute on this at this particular time. So then I sit down in front of my computer and if

Nicole Begley (08:55)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (09:09)
My only job is to obey my schedule that my past self created for me. I knock it out of the park. And I do allow myself, like I have days scheduled with freedom and flexibility to do what I want in the moment, right? I think that's important. But I get so much done because of that. And when I was explaining this to you, actually in the car recently, and then you were explaining to me, I think we were both surprised.

Nicole Begley (09:17)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

huh.

Heather (09:36)
Wait,

that doesn't work for you? Wait, that does? What are you talking about?

Nicole Begley (09:39)
Yeah, there is no chance. I did try that. I forgot it was like a year ago and we shared it in Elevate and like it was working really well for you and I tried it. It did not work well for me. And it's, it's not like, well, here's another piece is I would then go down and make it mean something with me that I, I am not in integrity to myself or I can't be trusted, which is a really crappy thought. Like that's, that's not a good thought.

Heather (10:04)
⁓

Nicole Begley (10:07)
Instead, my thought is just now like, my brain is different. Like I, I have been trying like, okay, here's another sign. Is there just a pile of started planners, but not completed planners and planners that you use for a week or two. And then you're like, nah, it doesn't work. Also, if you have that, you might have ADHD. yeah, yeah, no, like.

Heather (10:11)
Hmm.

Yeah, you might. Right. I don't have that.

Nicole Begley (10:35)
It's

ridiculous. so anyway, I just went offline with what I was going to say, but that, that is kind of the, the, the it's, yeah, it's just my brain cannot, cannot handle that. I know. Remember? Sorry. yeah, I used to blame it on a personality flaw or a motivation flaw, or there was something wrong with me or like,

Heather (10:53)
Hmm. Hmm.

Nicole Begley (11:00)
Again, like I can't be trusted. Like I know, like I know I'm going to disappoint myself by not sticking with this, this pattern, which I realized I have held for many, many years, pretty much. Yes. Very much a shame judgment, which I'm not one, like when you asked me, like, do you struggle with shame? Like I would be like, no. But then when we start to uncover it, you're like, no, it's down there.

Heather (11:14)
⁓ so there was a judgment.

Yeah.

Well, right.

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (11:29)
Um,

until you start to realize some like, Oh, no, this is okay. And like, once I got diagnosed, I, you know, they offered medication. like, no, I, I, I don't. I mean, you can, if you want, of course there's no judgment, but I was like, no, I'm not going to do that yet. But it was just knowing that that was what all this was. And then.

Heather (11:48)
Right, right.

Mmm.

Nicole Begley (11:58)
It opened up the permission for me to say, I can do what works for me. And there's a reason. I mean, it sounds like I needed something else to blame, but it just is truth that there's a reason that those other things just were really hard for me. So it wasn't anything about me per se. was just like my brain didn't like it.

Heather (12:13)
Mm-hmm.

That's so interesting because we immediately always go into this shame, this judgment of ourselves, like something must be wrong with me if this works for others and it doesn't work for me, then I am inherently the problem rather than saying, I just haven't found the system that works for me yet. I've tried several different ones that work for a lot of different people. And here's where here's sort of where we go off the rails.

Nicole Begley (12:24)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (12:45)
is we blame it on ourselves and we take it personally. That didn't work for me because I'm flawed. That's taking it personally versus all these different ways that work for a lot of people. That doesn't work for me because I'm so special. Okay. I'm unique and I have, just, I always tell myself I'm built different. I'm built different and I've got to find the way that works for me. I don't know. Was this the case for you? So I don't know if this is a trait or not of that, but

Nicole Begley (12:58)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (13:11)
where you would procrastinate or wait till the last minute, say, to put together a paper, study for a test, is that?

Nicole Begley (13:18)
I mean, I didn't study, but yes, I wouldn't pull all nighters. I couldn't do an all nighter. Like I needed sleep. but, and I knew that I needed sleep. So I was pretty good about that. but I still would procrastinate. would procrastinate until the conditions were just right, that there was enough pressure, but not too much pressure. It has to be just right. it's too much pressure, then you shut down. Cause it's just overwhelming. feels hopeless.

Heather (13:20)
Well, right.

No, no, no.

HAHAHA

Yes,

yes.

Nicole Begley (13:43)
⁓

but if it's too much space, then like, I'm not going to do anything. ⁓ yeah.

Heather (13:49)
Yeah, I was coaching someone recently in

elevate on this and she was really beating herself up about the procrastination waiting to the last minute. And I said, why does that have to be a problem though? Like what if that's okay? You've always figured it out. You've always finished or delivered whatever it is. So why is it a problem that you wait to the last minute? And she said, I just hate it. I don't like the way I feel. It feels miserable. I said, right, because you're, you're placing a meaning on it and a judgment.

Nicole Begley (14:00)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (14:18)
What if that wasn't there and it was just like, this is how I do things, but there wasn't a problem. like we don't realize this, but we're choosing to feel badly about it because of the meaning we're assigning it. It does not have to mean anything and it does not have to be a problem. Some of my best ideas, like when we used to do a bunch of webinars would come five minutes prior and I'd be like, Heather, really? Why can we not come up with this idea a week ago? But I mean,

Nicole Begley (14:28)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (14:46)
Or I could just be happy that my brain gives me ideas. But you don't have to judge it. It's not a problem. It is not a problem until you say it's a problem. This took, you know, we had to sort of dance around this her and I for probably 30 minutes before whatever she heard or I said finally got her to the point where she was like, so it's not a problem. It's like, great. It's not a problem.

Nicole Begley (14:49)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Well,

and I've hacked my brain too, where I know that like I need a deadline, but I know if it's just a self-imposed deadline and there's not anybody else or anything else that is impacted by it, I won't do it. Just point blank. I won't do it. So, like when I have my team counting on me or my students counting on me or somebody else involved, like it will get done.

Heather (15:20)
⁓

Really?

Nicole Begley (15:35)
It will get done. but if it's just me, unless, unless it's just me, but I'm following the dopamine train all the way down a hyper fixation rabbit hole, which what does that look like, Nicole? Well, that looks like on a Wednesday night when you're kind of going over your credit card hacking and you're like, huh, they've changed a couple of these.

Heather (15:46)
Right.

Nicole Begley (15:55)
of these different benefits. I need to make sure that I use all these benefits. I'm just going to sit down here and in two and a half hours create a massive Monday table that has every single one of my credit cards, my business credit cards, my husband's credit cards, my husband's credit cards, what the earning rate is, what insurances are included, what the special perks are, how much it is, how often it is, if it's quarterly, it's biannually, if it's annually.

and have a status of when I need to use it or I definitely want to use it or it is used or when the due date is and automatic emails to let me know that this is coming up and I should use it in two and a half hours on a Wednesday evening. You might have ADHD if this sounds familiar.

Heather (16:32)
No, I just went to bed. You might, right?

I just grabbed a book and went to bed while you did all of that.

Nicole Begley (16:40)
Yes, yes and I woke up in the morning and I'm like, guess what I did last night?

Heather (16:45)
So when you're in...

Nicole Begley (16:46)
So when the

dopamine's there, like it is, I am on fire and I cannot be stopped. Like right now when we are like rebuilding the back end of my business, I am so freaking excited about it. I literally want to not eat, not sleep, like lock myself in the office and just work on this until like burnout. So you gotta like try to step back every now and again.

Heather (17:07)
So you know, do you recognize in the moment when that's happening?

Nicole Begley (17:16)
Generally, yes. But it's really hard to stop. Like if it's happening and I know I should be doing something else or like I have an upcoming deadline that is actually a deadline, but I'm not excited about it, but there's still time to push that deadline off. It's getting pushed off and I'm going to focus on them. The more dopamine heavy, like very excited squirrel.

Heather (17:21)
Right.

Right.

Right.

Yeah, I don't- I'm like, that doesn't have to be a problem either, right? It's just like, it w-

Nicole Begley (17:42)
No, I'm not

saying it's a problem. Just, just that's, that's how it is. Um, yeah, just, just how it is.

Heather (17:46)
Yeah, that's how it is, period. Right,

right. But if you I'm thinking if you recognize it when it's happening, then I would get really excited and capitalize on it. I would be like, where can I just push everything else off because I'm going to ride this dopamine train because I know it's going to get me things done faster.

Nicole Begley (17:57)
Mm-hmm.

Well,

yeah, the problem is when you're riding the dopamine train down a path that really is not helping the ball that you wanted to push forward, but this is really exciting and interesting. ⁓ You just, I mean, you just accept it. Like you don't judge it. Like for instance, for instance,

Heather (18:13)
⁓

well then what do you do then?

Right, right.

Nicole Begley (18:27)
You might have ADHD if you never drink coffee in your life until December of 2025. And then you bought a Breville coffee machine. And now you have like a fancy latte, actually a cortada because a latte has too much milk every morning.

Heather (18:41)
No, I just participated in this and your coffee is amazing. And this is hilarious because when I used to visit you, I had to actually make my own in this janky cure egg, you know, that I bought, you know, was like I had.

Nicole Begley (18:45)
Thank you.

You came the first

time you came, we just knew it and you're like, listen, I need coffee. Here's your housewarming present. It's a coffee maker. It's a friend and I knew there were one of us drink coffee then.

Heather (19:01)
I went and bought it.

So I bought this like generic version because it was only for me and you know, I had to figure it out. And now I go there and I get like these exceptional drinks, these concoctions that are like ridiculous. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (19:08)
Yeah, and we had that for quite a few years.

fresh sourdough, fresh coffee.

So these types of things are also a potential sign where you're like, this is a fun new hobby. Let me do all of the things. So I joked that 2025 was a year of sourdough, because that's when I went down my little sourdough dopamine train. And then this year is a year of coffee and my son who doesn't really like coffee is 15. And he looked at me when I said that he looked at me like all serious and concerned. He was like,

Heather (19:25)
All of it. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (19:44)
You're still going to make the bread, right? I guess. Sourdough is here to stay. It's all, we're good.

Heather (19:46)
Don't give up on the sourdough.

Oh

my gosh. No, that's like super advantageous for you. And I think that you have leaned into how it serves you and like capitalized on it. Don't you?

Nicole Begley (20:04)
Yeah, no, a hundred percent. And I think that's honestly what makes, I mean, there's a large number of neurodivergent people in the entrepreneurial space because like, I mean, here's just, I, you know, I go to the doctor or I go to someplace, you know, where like take Colin, the orthodontist. And I look at that and I'm like, there is no amount of money on the planet that you could give me.

Heather (20:16)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (20:33)
to come to the same place every day and go into rooms and see similar cases every day, all day. Like, no, cannot handle it.

Heather (20:39)
No, no, no. I remember

when I very freshman year, Penn State engineering mechanical, we went to tour a factory that had an assembly line. And we were standing there and they were explaining to us about the assembly line while these people put together this part or whatever they did. And I thought to myself, how in the world do they live? Do that? It's horrible.

Nicole Begley (20:52)
Mm-hmm.

again and again and again.

huh.

huh. Yeah. Yeah, no, I needed that's I think that's the one I did the bird show Disney for a while. And that was, I love training the birds. I love my co workers. I love doing the show. But like the day to day of that job was probably my most challenging job because we ran the same show five times a day. So it was like, okay, set the birds up, run the show, put those words away, set up a new set of birds, run the show, put them away. I was like,

Heather (21:07)
Yeah, don't put me in that situation.

Nicole Begley (21:32)
for the love, can't do this again. Like I just, needed where all my other jobs, it was like there were still a routine. So I think a lot of times people think if you have ADHD, you don't want or have a routine. A routine is good. A routine is actually really helpful to kind of keep guardrails on stuff to allow you to not have to make as many decisions. So you're like, you have the routine, but there still needs to be variety in the routine. So.

Heather (21:57)
Mmm.

Nicole Begley (21:58)
For instance, why I have a really hard time sticking with any sort of workout routine is like, once I'm done, want, like, I don't want to do the same one more than once or twice. ⁓ Same thing even for going for walks. It's like, I am always like, let's make a new pattern here. Let's make a new pattern there. Like I physically cannot, I cannot walk the same route all the time. Can't.

Heather (22:09)
Mm-hmm.

Okay, listen, I've got to tell you something. You would die. If you saw what I do, you would, I think you would actually die. Because I walk a lot in our woods, walking a treadmill, excuse me in the winter. But well, even in the winter, I'll be out in the woods. And I have a set of trails that I have a tiny, tiny bit of variety, but very little. And

Nicole Begley (22:26)
It's like painful to me.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (22:51)
It makes me so happy. I feel so, I don't know, safe, certain, confident. I don't know all of these good feelings because I don't have to think. And so I just, I can like do other things in my mind. Sometimes I'm in silence, but sometimes I'm listening to something. But I walk, I mean, I have worn trails in areas of our woods where there weren't trails, but I created them. And I just do the same thing over.

and over and over. And hey, all I want to say is I did lose 15 pounds last year doing this.

Nicole Begley (23:24)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, see, yeah, no, I think this is also, I mean, it's no secret that I love to travel. I think this is also a big piece of it. Like my brain is like lighting up on fire. I am so freaking engaged when I'm like someplace new and I'm in Croatia and I need to put gas in the car. I can't figure out how to open the tank. I'm just like, what is happening here? And it's just like, it forces me to be present. I think that's the key.

Heather (23:45)
Yeah, yeah.

Nicole Begley (23:53)
Being in another country where you don't speak the language, you don't necessarily know the customs, like everything is new. It forces my brain to be like, boom, we are on it. Let's focus because like we need to. We're here. I mean, it's, it's sometimes bad where literally someone will start to talk to me and it'd be like, I'm sorry, we need to start this again. Or

Heather (24:05)
Hahaha

Nicole Begley (24:20)
Like if it's directions and you get to step three and we're not writing it down, will just straight up stop you and be like, it's already gone. I forget step one already. Like we need to write this down. So anyway, yeah, I think that's...

Heather (24:24)
Yeah.

Yeah, time out. Yeah.

This is, I think all of this is about awareness, right? Self-awareness, knowing how you operate and then capitalizing on how you operate instead of fighting against it, trying to be someone you're not, trying to conform what most people do or the people that you are following, how they execute. This is about like owning who you are, being proud of it, capitalizing on your strengths, like your ability to produce a Monday board like that in two hours, you know, like.

Those are such strengths of yours to be able to hyper-focus that like you just now, knowing all this, you structure your life and your business, like you said, with some guardrails. then that's how you, this is, it's all just awareness. Like how do I operate best? And then I just don't beat myself up. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Drop it.

Nicole Begley (25:20)
And dropping the judgment. Yeah. Yeah. So I

actually have been using Amanda angle, hashtag Amanda saves the day and has been at elevate for a long time and is amazing. And she shared, it's probably been a year and a half that I've been using this. is a clipboard. Well, I, this is my emotional support clipboard, which I have various things that need to remember on here. Like, like a bill I need to pay, which actually is already paid and take it off. but anyway.

Heather (25:44)
Mm.

Nicole Begley (25:46)
On this clipboard on the left column is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Those are the days of the week, everyone. And then underneath I will write down my appointments. So things that need to happen at a certain time on those days. So every Sunday night or sometime over the weekend, I will sit down Monday morning at the latest, but I really like to do it over the weekend.

Heather (25:55)
In case you didn't know.

Yes.

Nicole Begley (26:13)
and just kind of look ahead at my week and be like, all right, how are we feeling about this? Like where are my open spaces? What days are going to be really busy? And then I have that list. And then on the other half of the paper, it's just paint. It's just, I used to do like in my planner, it was like, here's the three things I'm going to do today. Here's the parking lot, the other ideas. It never got crossed off. I had to then move it to the next day. I then felt terrible about myself that I couldn't get that

Heather (26:17)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (26:42)
call for an appointment done again for week seven. Not kidding. Yeah. And then so this allowed me to have a brain dump spot and also list like the important things. So I might put like I'll star the really important things, but then I can also just kind of power through or I'm like, all right, I'm on a roll. I have a few minutes. I picked up the phone. Let me make the rest of these phone calls.

Heather (26:42)
Hmm.

Yeah, you keep moving it, yeah.

⁓

Nicole Begley (27:08)
Boom, boom,

boom. And I will also kind of track my things that I need to do based on phone, computer, or like errand. And I actually have that on my phone. They're just reminders. And I did a reminder widget. So it's on a page on my phone. So I have errands listed. So I can see that really easily that I'm like, I'm running somewhere. I need to take that to the post office. Or, that needs to get returned to Amazon, go to Kohl's or whatever.

Heather (27:16)
Mm, that's smart. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (27:35)
Otherwise, I'll just forget about all of it. So that is my other little hack.

Heather (27:39)
like that. That's a good one. I might try that

also. might because I like to try new things because you just don't know how you operate best till you try it, right? I like this idea of instead of the top three things that you want to get done today, which is what I do, that you just write down the things you want to get done. Maybe what like this week and it's just on that side of that.

Nicole Begley (28:01)
I have,

yeah, I do my like, what's the most important, I asked myself on Sunday, what's my most important project for the week? Like, like not admin, not stuff that has to happen every week, like project. And if I get that done, great. If I get it done early, I can move on to something else. Dopamine that gives me more dopamine. But like I have like, this is my goal for the week and

Heather (28:13)
Yes.

Nicole Begley (28:25)
Cause I know certain days are gonna get derailed. And also I still have two high school kids here, like I a crazy dog, I have a husband, like we still have a very busy house. So that just gives me the flexibility without the subconscious judgment of me pre-planning it and not doing it and having to move it. Cause even if I say I'm not gonna judge, there's still something in my head that was.

Heather (28:28)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah. No, listen, my friend, that is genius level for you. That is really smart that you did it that way. And I'm going to try it out. I'm going to try it out to see if it works. I like it. I think I might try out the clipboard. Is that just so you can carry it around and write on it or?

Nicole Begley (28:54)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yes, and

it's all together in one spot and it makes me happy. And I feel like, I feel like, don't know, somewhat important.

Heather (29:09)
Okay, I might try this.

You did tell me about that.

Nicole Begley (29:15)
The other one I have,

so that is my top page. My bottom page underneath is just a blank page with a whole bunch of lines. And I title that page Open Loops. Because you see, I realized for an entire lifetime that I would get a lot of projects 90 % done. And I had the hardest time bringing them over the finish line because that point,

Heather (29:18)
Okay?

huh.

Okay?

Nicole Begley (29:41)
the creation dopamine has worn off and then it was into the detail like finalized. like, well, but the fun part's over. The creation, I love the creation. Yeah. So I have that list so I don't lose track of things. And sometimes even if I wanna do it, just my brain, there's so much going on and so many new ideas all the time.

Heather (29:50)
Yeah, right, ew. Yes, yes.

Nicole Begley (30:06)
that even if there was something that I was still excited about, but I got a part where I had to turn it over to somebody else, or I had to wait for something else to finish it, then it is quite possible that I completely forget the project ever existed.

Heather (30:21)
It's gone poof.

Nicole Begley (30:22)
Yeah. Yeah. So like that allows me to be like, yeah. Okay. we need to finish this.

Heather (30:28)
this. Okay. So currently I print my week from my Google calendar and it's like horizontal. So it's printed landscape and it shows me every day and all of my calls. And then I put in some stuff I want to do that require like a time slot, like you said, and then I have on the back, I write different things, but I'm thinking maybe I should try printing it vertically in this clipboard magic. I don't know. Why not? Sounds fun.

Nicole Begley (30:52)
Hey, listen, if

it works for you, you keep doing what you're doing. But like, find that this works for me because like the things that are on my schedule are things that have to be on my schedule. Like they cannot be changed. Like this podcast, we have a recording time. Like it needs to be done at that time. And then the other things is really, and I became okay with this probably about a decade ago that I will never complete my to-do list.

Heather (30:55)
Well, yes!

Right. Right.

Right, it's always gonna be open.

Nicole Begley (31:21)
Period. Never, it will never be done.

And just like my inbox, I've given up inbox zero. It will never be done. And it's fine. It's fine with me. so this allows me to just kind of keep tabs on things and I am really good. One of my superpowers is reprioritizing and prioritizing what needs to happen. Like I am really good under pressure. ⁓ yeah. And like,

Heather (31:44)
Mm-hmm, you are. Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (31:47)
That's also another ADHD trait apparently is like in a crisis, do you want ADHD person there? Cause we're just like, let's go. We got this. I was born for this. But yeah, so anyway, it works really well for me. So hopefully, hopefully any of you guys out there that have been struggling for what all the gurus say to do for productivity and you're like, why can't I do this? There's nothing wrong with you. Just try something.

Heather (31:53)
I'm for sure calling you for sure.

There's nothing wrong

with you, you just have to test and experiment with another way.

Nicole Begley (32:15)
my gosh,

sorry. My phone. You guys, anybody, I'm going to leave this in here. Stop. I'm going to leave this in here. And if any of you guys know, I have an Apple, an iPhone and a Mac mini. And if any of you come at me and say, get a PC, I'm not receiving that. But I have turned off notifications and have notifications off on my phone. But every time.

Heather (32:33)
Yeah, I know.

Nicole Begley (32:39)
something rings and often it's like spam. Even if I turn those off, like it ends up coming up on my computer too and it's just really annoying.

Heather (32:47)
So I figured out how to do that, turn that all off because I was having the same thing, except I figured it out last year, so I can't remember.

Nicole Begley (32:53)
I know I need to go to ask my buddy Claude maybe he can help.

Heather (32:57)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's super annoying things like that make you crazy when you can

Nicole Begley (33:02)
I think I have

to turn off the like unknown numbers, but I have a branding client Friday evening that I know that she's calling me back, but she's not in my phone. So I have like any number can ring. So I think that's the problem right now.

Heather (33:14)
Wow, then yeah, once you've yeah, yeah, I actually had that happen yesterday. I told you about this. I had to put someone in my contacts that I needed to hear from. I needed to answer the phone. It was the auditor that I'm working with, and I added him as a contact and I created a certain avatar that is actually hilarious. So when it comes up, it just cracks me up. It's probably not the most becoming.

Nicole Begley (33:16)
Yeah.

Yes.

No, it was,

was, it was, I said it looked too friendly.

Heather (33:44)
It was a it was a friendly looking shark, but yeah.

Nicole Begley (33:47)
Yeah, it looked

like a happy shark. looked like Bruce from from a yeah. my goodness.

Heather (33:51)
Yes, yes, yeah. Okay, no,

this is super helpful because and especially for me as an educator who helps people and I'm so linear and I don't want to say rigid, I mean, I guess I don't take that negative, know, negatively.

Nicole Begley (34:05)
if the

shoe fits, but not in a bad way.

Heather (34:08)
Right, right. It's like

this is how this is how it works for me. And you have opened my eyes over the years, but especially recently to like the different ways you just have to always say you have to work within the confines of the system. And the system is your mind, how your mind works. And if you try to work outside of that system, you're only going to upset yourself. It's not going to work.

Nicole Begley (34:23)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it just requires so much more energy and like exhaustion and yeah, and beating yourself up.

Heather (34:39)
Right, right. Yeah. Figure out a way that works

for you and then go for it.

Nicole Begley (34:43)
Yeah. And if any of you guys were out there and you're like, I don't know, do I have ADHD? What, like, how, how do you get a diagnosis? Um, you have to go see a psychiatrist and they can diagnose you. And yeah. And then sometimes it might be nice just to get a diagnosis, just to know, like I said, like I, I, I opted not to do any medication at the moment. Um, because like nothing was wrong. You know what I mean? It's like, I've been this way my whole life. So it's not like all of a sudden, I mean,

That's what the hormone shift all of a sudden things were more obvious. I was like, what is happening? But, I'm just knowing like, oh, okay, there's a diagnosis. This is why you are the way you are. And then I could also adjust looking for productivity hacks that were more geared towards my operating system.

Heather (35:35)
Yes.

Hey, can I ask you something? Did they like, this person sit you down and ask you a bunch of questions or, yeah, interesting.

Nicole Begley (35:43)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah.

It was basically just, yeah, kind of a list of questions and I joked with my one friend. I'm like, yes, I have raging ADHD. They're like, is that what they said? I'm like, no, but it was very clear. It was not, it was not, maybe it was, oh yeah, no, yes. 100%.

Heather (35:56)
RAIDING

Yeah, you're like 20 out of 10. Yeah.

That's great. Well, I'm glad you did that and it made sense and it helps you. was listen, I'm going to be honest. I was a little worried about you giving yourself this label.

Nicole Begley (36:18)
Yeah. Well, I don't have any judgment to the label.

Heather (36:21)
Well, I guess that's why it ended up not being a problem, right? Is because you cleaned all of that up. But sometimes like you're not normal. So for a normal person, I would be worried about them getting that label and then receiving that label. And then.

Nicole Begley (36:35)
Mm hmm. I see.

I don't know. I received the label as I have a superpower brain that is just a little chaotic.

Heather (36:44)
Yeah, that's you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that was a good move. And I think that it was a good move for you specifically, because of how you interpreted that. Some people, you know, might use it against themselves. See, this is why I can't do this. See, that's why nothing is working. But you, you never did that.

Nicole Begley (36:44)
But I liked it that way, because if it's not chaotic, then I'm

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, we have the evidence right here. No matter what your brain type is, you can make things successful. And we also have students from all, I mean, all sorts of different neurodivergent tendencies that have made success happen. yeah, if...

Heather (37:17)
Right.

Nicole Begley (37:30)
Yeah, it's it is I looked at it as confirmed information. Now I know where to focus for things when like to improve things or to make things run more smoothly. Like it's it's not me. Like I didn't like the ambiguity of like, I don't know. I feel like I do. Do I have this like no, I want an answer. And so that's why I want to seek that out.

Heather (37:50)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and it worked out. It worked in your favor because you made it work in your favor.

Nicole Begley (38:02)
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, definitely if whether it's a new diagnosis for you or an old one, but if you're having that thought of this is why this isn't working, definitely talk to somebody about that because it's not, that is not why it just, you need to find systems that work for, for your brain. That's all. But yeah. good talk. Good talk.

Heather (38:21)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Agreed. Yes.

All

good.

Nicole Begley (38:27)
all right. So now I shared all my, my high school things. Actually just shared this with my daughter this morning. I forgot how it came up, but, it said something about me missing 19 days of school. And she was like, mom, cause my kid is so funny. You know, we'd like to travel and Thanksgiving. We're like, okay. We're this like, how much school am I going to miss? Like two days. We're like, okay. But I really want you. Okay. Let's go. Whereas I would have been like,

Heather (38:40)
Bob.

Nicole Begley (38:52)
Great, fine. Two months? Yeah, I can miss two months. Let's go.

Heather (38:54)
Yeah, who cares, right.

Fantastic.

Nicole Begley (38:59)
Very different. All right, everybody. hope you guys, hopefully you guys enjoyed this. If you have any questions, hit me up, let me know. I'm happy to do, if there's more systems or things you want, follow up of things that work for me, I'm happy to share as well. So let me know what you want to know and maybe we can have a part two of this if needed. So you guys have a good week. Talk to you soon.