Organizing an ADHD Brain

Have you ever looked at a messy room and thought "forget it, I'll just burn it all down"? That's all-or-nothing thinking, and if you have ADHD, it's probably showing up in your laundry, your to-do list, and everywhere in between.
In this episode, Megs breaks down why all-or-nothing thinking isn't a character flaw, it's actually a flight response, your nervous system trying to protect you from overwhelm. She explains how it keeps us stuck through perfectionism, procrastination, hiding messes, and waiting for the "perfect moment" to start, and why that moment never comes.
The good news? You can build new brain muscles. Megs walks through tiny, doable steps; one dish, five minutes, touching the laundry once, that starts to rewire the pattern over time without requiring you to overhaul your entire life first.
She also shares personal examples, why community and support matter, and where to find help if you want to go deeper. If you're looking for an ADHD-informed therapist, check out  Neurodivergent Therapists,  Psychology Today, and  Zencare, all great places to find someone who gets it.
This one is practical, validating, and a great place to start if all-or-nothing thinking has been keeping you stuck.
TIME MARKERS
0:39 — Welcome and the "burn it all down" feeling — what all-or-nothing thinking actually looks like 
1:55 — What all-or-nothing thinking is and how it connects to your ADHD brain 
4:29 — Why this pattern keeps you stuck: overwhelm, perfectionism, and the impossible starting line 
8:11 — How to start noticing where all-or-nothing thinking shows up in your daily life 
11:14 — Starting small and building the brain muscle — why tiny actions actually work 
13:55 — Real five-minute win examples: dishes, laundry, work sessions, and more 
18:54 — Tiny steps in action: Megs shares personal examples from her own life 
22:21 — The "not enough until it's done" trap — and how to break out of it 
28:14 — Why community and being believed in makes a real difference 
31:57 — Therapy and helpful resources: Neurodivergent Therapists, Psychology Today, and Zencare 
33:31 — Do one thing today — your simple starting point 
34:55 — Closing thoughts and what's coming next
Share your thoughts with Megs!
Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start
The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain
You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com

Meghan Brown-Enyia is an ADHD coach, social worker, and the founder of ADHD at Work. Diagnosed with ADHD later in life, she brings 15+ years of experience in HR, nonprofit leadership, and social work — plus her own lived experience — to help individuals and organizations better support neurodiverse employees. She specializes in executive function strategies, workplace accommodations, and helping people stop masking and start thriving. You can find her practical, solutions-focused content all over the internet and in your new favorite corner of the ADHD community.
adhdatwork.co
@adhdatwork on Instagram
LinkedIn
If you've ever felt like your ADHD brain doesn't belong in a professional environment — this episode is for you.

Megs sits down with her friend Meghan Brown-Enyia, ADHD coach and founder of ADHD at Work, to talk about what it really looks like to navigate a career with ADHD. From late diagnosis to masking at work, asking for accommodations, and finding your people in the ADHD community — this conversation goes deep and keeps it real.

Meghan shares her own journey of being diagnosed after years working in special education, and how she turned her MSW background and HR expertise into a coaching practice that supports both employees and the companies they work for. They also get into the "messy middle" — what it means to be a work in progress, embrace imperfection, and build a life that actually works for your brain.

Whether you're looking for an ADHD coach, trying to figure out how to ask for workplace accommodations, or just want to feel less alone in this — pull up a chair.

Topics covered: late ADHD diagnosis, ADHD in the workplace, ADHD coaching, executive function strategies, workplace accommodations, disclosure at work, psychological safety, masking, ADHD community, rest and burnout, organization systems, habit stacking.
1:24 Late ADHD diagnosis
4:30 Asking for accommodations
7:12 Unmasking at work
9:33 Showing up authentically online
13:46 Rest without shame
15:14 Social media and business
17:58 Service vs. income
20:55 Workplace coaching ROI
22:20 The messy middle workbook
23:35 Conference goals mindset
27:20 Owning the messy middle
29:40 Ask for support systems
31:00 Slow down strategically
33:37 Digital, mental, and physical order
38:59 Rules and habit stacking at home
42:30 Stop the 'should' timeline
44:36 Where to find Meghan
Share your thoughts with Megs!
Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start
The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain
You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com

Drawing from The Charisma Myth and her work coaching adults with ADHD, Megs breaks down why lasting change requires both a clear vision and a deep belief that you're capable of it. She explores why people with ADHD often carry limiting beliefs that block growth, how the dopamine pull of novelty (hello, online shopping) fits into that picture, and what it actually feels like to sit in discomfort long enough to forge a new path.
Article referenced in show: Never Enough: Why ADHD Brains Crave Stimulation
Whether you're part of an ADHD community looking for real talk, searching for an ADHD coach, or just trying to figure out why you keep ending up back at square one — this episode will give you language, perspective, and empowering beliefs to carry with you.
You'll hear: the hiking metaphor for building new habits, the "Pandora's box" of self-awareness, why community and coaching accelerate change, and a set of affirmations you can repeat daily — including "My patterns kept me safe. I get to choose different now" and "Good things are allowed to happen to me and stay."
In This Episode:
04:57 — Why your beliefs are blocking change (even when you're trying really hard) 
06:26 — What discomfort actually is — and why it's proof you're capable 
10:20 — How therapy, ADHD coaching, and mindset work together 
13:45 — A guitar lesson on the power of community for ADHDers 
15:45 — No-spend month as a real-life example of belief in action 
19:15 — The Pandora's box of self-awareness: facing data, emotions, and avoided realities 
22:12 — The hiking metaphor: forging a new path through your brain 
27:56 — Be the hero of your own story — and take action 
29:54 — Beliefs to repeat daily if you have ADHD 
Share your thoughts with Megs!
Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start
The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain
You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com

If you've ever struggled to explain a hard mental health moment to your child — or wondered how to hold your ADHD brain together as a parent — this episode is for you.
Megs sits down with Kendall, mental health advocate and children's book author, to talk about something most of us never learned how to do: make our inner emotional world visible to the people who love us most. Kendall shares her journey from lifelong anxiety diagnosis to ADHD discovery, how postpartum depression cracked her open, and the "cloud" metaphor she created so her kids could understand mom's hard days without fear or confusion.
🎧 What We Talk About
Understanding your own brain first — Kendall spent years being told she had anxiety before landing on an ADHD diagnosis that finally made sense. If your mental health story has kept shifting, you'll feel seen here.
The cloud metaphor that changed everything — After PPD, Kendall needed a way to say "mom is struggling today" without clinical language or blame. 
ADHD tools for couples — Kendall and her husband have different ADHD patterns. She shares "pause" check-ins, shared lists, and strategies that actually work when two executive-function-challenged brains are building a life together.
Care kits for hard days — What goes in one? Simpler and more intentional than you'd expect.
The book + pay-it-forward program — Kendall self-published Cloudy Day Chronicles to keep the family dialogue supportive rather than clinical, and now donates books through a pay-it-forward program and speaks with community organizations to connect parents to local mental health resources.
About Kendall
Kendall's greatest adventures began at home, as a mother. Her stories are inspired by the curiosity, humor, and boundless imagination of her children, who often help shape the characters and moments that appear on the page. Alongside her husband Matt and their dog Kiaora, she fills her days with laughter, exploration, and just the right amount of playful weirdness. When she's not creating stories, Kendall can usually be found where the wild things are.

⏱️ Jump To
01:12 — From mental health struggles to becoming an author
02:07 — Postpartum depression and the birth of the cloud metaphor
03:26 — Inside the Cloudy Day Chronicles book
12:21 — ADHD tools for couples with different patterns
18:46 — Building a care kit for cloudy days
23:42 — How (and why) to ask for support out loud
27:12 — Publishing choices and drawing the family line
29:56 — Advocacy work and connecting parents to resources
33:36 — Community impact and closing thoughts
35:16 — Where to find the book

📚 Resources & Links
Cloudy Day Chronicles — Author's Website/Buy The Book
Follow Kendall — Substack/Instagram
Organizing an ADHD Brain is a podcast for humans with ADHD who are done with shame.
Share your thoughts with Megs!
Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start
The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain
You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com

If you've ever started a weight loss journey, tried to declutter your home, or attempted to quit a habit — and felt like you were doing it "wrong" because it wasn't linear or easy — this episode is for you. As an ADHD coach for women, Megs Crawford digs into why quick fixes don't create lasting change, and why going through the "messy middle" is actually what builds sustainability, self-trust, and genuine self-understanding — especially for an ADHD brain.
Using real stories from her own life, Megs shares her experience pursuing bariatric surgery and the required nutrition coaching, therapy, strict dietary changes, and body-image work that came with it; getting sober through a structured program, confronting depression and navigating triggers like ordering drinks in social settings, and maintaining sobriety for nearly four years; and decluttering her home through trial and error, selling items, lowering barriers, and discovering which organizing systems actually fit her ADHD patterns.
She also connects these lessons to parenting a child through uncomfortable transitions, showing how the messy middle isn't just a personal growth concept — it's a life skill. If you're a woman with ADHD looking for an approach to organizing, sobriety, or weight loss that meets your brain where it is (instead of shaming you for not fitting a neurotypical mold), this episode will feel like a breath of fresh air.
 
03:11 Cora And The Transition
04:17 The Quick Fix Trap
06:57 Weight Loss And Surgery
11:10 Body Image And Self Talk
13:07 Quitting Drinking For Good
16:15 Sober Struggles And Tools
19:05 Decluttering With ADHD
22:39 Trial And Error Systems
27:25 Fix It Mindset Shift
31:32 Small Steps Build Rome

Share your thoughts with Megs!
Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start
The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain
You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com