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Hello brains!

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I say that to you because...
if you think about it.

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It wasn't really you
that decided to come here today.

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It was your brain.

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And whether you decided 
to walk or drive, take a taxi, ride a bike

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That decision was decided
by your brain.

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Behavior, all behavior,
is affected by your brain.

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This is a story about my brain.

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So, I was a smart kid. By 18 months I
was speaking in full sentences.

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By third grade I was scoring 
post high school on standardized tests.

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I had as all my teacher's agreed,
so much potential.

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I was also struggling.
I didn't have many... any friends.

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Outside of books.
I was easily overwhelmed.

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I spaced out in class.
I lost things, constantly.

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And trying to get my brain to focus on 
something I wasn't excited about...

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was like trying to nail Jell-O
to the wall.

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But I was smart.
So nobody was worried.

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It wasn't until middle school 
when I was responsible for

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getting myself to classes on time,
and remembering to bring my own homework.

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That being smart wasn't enough anymore,
and my grades started to suffer.

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My mom took me to the doctor
and after a comprehensive evaluation.

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I was diagnosed with
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

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ADHD.

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If you're not familiar with ADHD 
it has three primary characteristics.

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Inattention, impulsivity, 
and hyperactivity.

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Some people with ADHD 
have more of the inattentive presentation.

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Those are the daydreamers,
the space cadets.

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Some have more of 
the hyperactive/impulsive presentation.

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Those are the kids that usually
get diagnosed early.

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But, the most common presentation
is a combination of both.

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My doctor and my parents decided 
that given my shiny new diagnosis.

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Maybe stimulant medication would succeed,
where spankings and lectures had failed.

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So I tried it.
And it worked.

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The first time I took my medication 
it was like putting on glasses.

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And realizing I could see, 
without squinting.

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I could focus!

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Without changing anything 
my GPA went up a full point.

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Honestly it was kind of miraculous.
By 14 I had friends, that liked me.

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By 15 I had published my first poem.
I got a boyfriend.

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By 17 I knew I wanted 
to be a journalist.

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My local college had a program that would
guarantee admission to USC.

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They had a really 
great journalism program.

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So, I signed up at my local college
and I started taking classes.

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I moved in with my boyfriend.

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Things were going great!
...until they weren't.

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I started having trouble making it 
to class on time.

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I aced a statistics course, 
but I forgot to sign up in time.

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So, I never got the credit.

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I took classes so I could help
my boyfriend with his career.

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But I completely lost sight of mine.

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I never made it to USC...

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By 21 I dropped out of college
and moved back home.

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Over the next ten years I started
and quit, or was fired from 15 jobs.

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I ruined my credit.

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I got married!
And was divorced within a year.

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At this point I was 32, and I 
had no idea what I was doing with my life.

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Besides reading self-help books
that didn't seem to be helping.

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What happened to all that potential?
Was I not trying?

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No, I worked harder than anyone I knew,
I didn't even have time for friends.

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I was that busy.

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I had potential, though...

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So my failure was clearly my fault.

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I just hadn't done what I needed to do 
to reach it and honestly....

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I was tired of trying, putting more effort
into life than everyone else.

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And falling farther
and farther behind.

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At this point I could
have given up on myself.

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I could have decided that everyone who
thought I had potential, was wrong.

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But, I didn't, because I knew that it was
my behavior that had gotten me here.

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And behavior is affected by the brain.
And my brain has ADHD.

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Looking at my behavior
I knew...

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Even with medication, 
even as an adult.

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My ADHD was still interfering
with my life.

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What I needed to know
was how, and why.

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And more importantly,
what could I do about it.

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I started to do some research.
And I found a lot of great information.

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I found a lot of bad information too,
but that's another talk.

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But there's good information out there.
Websites, podcasts,

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talks, by researchers 
and medical professionals.

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Books that would of been way more helpful
than the self-help books I've been using.

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That were clearly written for normal...
well, there is no normal.

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Neurotypical brains.

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A lot of what I found though 
was either really technical.

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Or seemed like it was written for parents,
and teachers trying to deal with ADHD kids

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There wasn't a lot that seemed to be 
intended for us, the people who have ADHD.

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So, I started a YouTube channel.

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I had no idea how to start
a YouTube channel.

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But, I started a YouTube channel

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I almost called it "How Not To ADHD"
because that was all I knew at the time.

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But my boyfriend, Edward, 
talked me out of it.

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It turns out lots of people need help
understanding ADHD.

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Including, maybe especially,
those who actually have it.

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I was no exception.

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I thought having ADHD
was kind of the same for everybody.

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I thought it was mostly
about getting distracted.

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I thought that maybe having ADHD was the
reason that I was failing at life.

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And I thought I was what needed to change
in order to be successful.

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I couldn't be successful,
and still be me.

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Spoilers.
I was wrong.

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So, lets go back for a second.
Back to what brought us here today

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The brain.
Understanding the brain you're

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working with, it turns out
is kind of important.

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And, that's true whether that brain is
your employees, your students,

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your kids, your significant others,
or your own.

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ADHD affects between 
5 and 8% of the global population.

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Which means statistically speaking there's
between 37 and 60 of us just in this room.

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You can't tell who we are just by looking
but its fun to watch you try.

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(Laughter)

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So at some point you're going 
to meet someone with ADHD.

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Work with them, give birth to them,
or fall in love with them.

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Chances are you already have.

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And at some point, 
you're going to ask yourself.

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What is going on in their brain?

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So, after two years of learning about 
ADHD and a lifetime of experience with it

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After having the honor of connecting with
researchers, and doctors, and ADHD experts

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and tens of thousands
of ADHD brains all over the world.

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What can I tell you,
to help you understand ADHD?

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By the way, many of them
helped with this talk.

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First of all its real.

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It's not bad parenting 
or lack of discipline.

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ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder.

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It's currently the most 
well researched mental condition.

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And, there are actually measurable
differences in the brain.

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These differences are larger in children,
but for most people they never go away.

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In other words,
adults have ADHD too.

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While rates of the ADHD diagnosis
are increasing.

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It's not because of an increase 
in sugar, or technology.

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Or... lack of spanking.
It's not.

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Anymore than people drowning in
swimming pools is because of Nicholas Cage

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Correlation does not equal causation.

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Those are real numbers.

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(Audience laughter)

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It's from both an increase 
in understanding that ADHD exists.

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That girls, adults, and gifted students
can have it too.

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And ironically a lack of understanding
that being hyper, misbehaving,

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or struggling in school
does not mean that you have ADHD.

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ADHD is more serious than I realized.

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The primary characteristics of inattention
impulsivity, and hyperactivity.

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Don't sound all that serious, 
and I didn't think that they were.

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But in real life they translate into
people getting into more accidents.

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Being more likely to get fired, 
get divorced.

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Significantly more likely 
to struggle with addiction.

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I learned that ADHD is on a spectrum.

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Raise your hand 
if you've ever lost your keys.

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Or spaced out in the
middle of a lecture.

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If you're not raising your hand I'm 
going to assume you spaced out

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in the middle of this one.

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(Audience laughter)

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The thing is while everyone experiences
ADHD symptoms sometimes.

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An actual diagnosis is based on how many 
of those symptoms significantly,

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and chronically impair
multiple aspects of your life.

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Just like you can get sad
and not have depression.

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You can get distracted
and not have ADHD.

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And just like you can have 
mild depression, or severe depression.

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ADHD can range
from mild to severe.

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I also learned ADHD is a 
terrible name for ADHD.

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It creates a lot of confusion.

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We don't have a deficit of attention.

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What we have trouble with
is regulating our attention.

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As ADHD coach Brett Thornhill puts it,
it's like your brain keeps switching 


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between 30 different channels,
and somebody else has the remote.

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Sometimes we have a hard time 
focusing at all.

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And other times we get stuck on a 
channel, and can't pull ourselves away.

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In real life this might look like we just 
don't want to do homework because we'de

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rather play video games,
and sure sometimes that's the case.

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But, the truth is, there are plenty of 
times we want to be able to focus, we try.

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And we just can't.
Current understanding is

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that this difficulty has to do with the 
way our brains produce,

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and metabolize neurotransmitters,
like dopamine, and norepinephrine.

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I learned ADHD is highly treatable.
Stimulant medication boosts

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these neurotransmitters, 
Which is why it helps us focus.

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It's very effective for around 80%,
of people with ADHD.

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And I learned that medication 
isn't enough.

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ADHD affects much more than our focus,
it impairs executive functions

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like planning, prioritizing and the 
ability to sustain effort towards a goal.

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It affects our ability to regulate 
our emotions, our behavior, our sleep.

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It's not one program in our brain
that it works differently.

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It's the whole operating system.
It can effect every aspect of our lives.

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And there are a ton of strategies
out there, that can help.

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Cognitive Behavior Therapy,
coaching, even meditation,

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or regular exercise can 
make a huge difference.

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Understanding your brain.
I knew I had trouble focusing,

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and I knew my medication 
helped with that.

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What I didn't know was that getting
overwhelmed all the time had to do

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with poor working memory.
And that making lists helps.

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Or that the reason that I ran late all
the time isn't because I didn't care.

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ADHDer's have a skewed sense of time.

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And that using a timer could teach me
how long thing's actually take.

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Mostly, I expected to learn
what I actually learned.

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That ADHD is real.
Addressing it is important.

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And medication is not enough.

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What I didn't expect to learn
that I wasn't alone.

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I had an ADHD tribe.

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What a difference it would make 
to connect with it.

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There are people with ADHD in every 
country, every culture across the globe.

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Yes, even in France.

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(Delayed laughter)

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And this tribe is awesome.

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Comparing myself to people 
with neurotypical brains,

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I felt really bad about myself.
Why couldn't I keep my house clean?

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Or, finish a project in time instead of 
waiting until the very last second.

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But seeing the positive 
in fellow ADHD brains.

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Helped me recognize,
and appreciate my own strenths.

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One's that I couldn't see when I was 
just staring at my weaknesses.

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Which is what I
had been doing for decades.

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But ADHD, ADHD brains 
have a lot to offer the world.

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We tend to be generous,
funny, creative.

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ADHDer's are 300% more likely
to start their own business.

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We not only think 
outside the box.

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We're often not even aware 
there is a box.

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(Audience laughter)

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We may struggle when 
our brains aren't engaged.

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But ADHD brains are great 
at tackling tasks that are urgent.

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Working with ideas that are new.

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Wrestling with problems
that are challenging.

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And dedicating themselves to projects
that are of personal interest.

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This YouTube career I'd stumbled 
into was all of those things.

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At 32 I was divorced, miserable and had
no idea what I was doing with my life.

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At 33 I started my own business
and was connecting with ADHD experts.

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By now, at 34 I have a team of volunteers
helping me with the channel.

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And I'm engaged to this amazing man,
who helps me produce the channel.

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Works right alongside with me
is doing the slides right now.

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And as we discovered
also has ADHD.

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(Audience laughter)

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I'm working on reaching out to schools
so that kids don't have to wait

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until they're 32 to learn
about their brains.

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And I'm doing my very first Ted X talk
here with you today.

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(Audience applause)

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But wait there's more.

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That did sound like the end of the speech.
I'm sorry it's not.

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I'm happier and more successful 
than I've ever been in my life.

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So what happened?
How did I reach my potential?

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Three things. 
One I learned about my brain.

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My ADHD brain both on my own
and by connecting with others who have it.

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If you judge a fish by it's ability
to climb a tree.

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It will live it's whole life
believing that it is stupid.

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Unless it happens to chat 
with another fish.

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And realizes fish aren't great
at climbing trees.

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And that's okay.
There's plenty of ocean.

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Two, In learning about my brain I found
and stumbled into a job that engages it.

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If you spend all your time trying to 
get a fish to be able to climb a tree,

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you'll never see how far it can swim.

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It turns out, I can be me
and still be successful.

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I just had to find
my ocean.

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Three, I learned strategies for 
the challenges I still face.

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I have no fish analogy for this one.
I am sorry.

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I guess I learned how to swim.

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Once you know what
your brains challenges are.

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You can find solutions to them.

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Once you look past the stereotypes and
assumptions about people with ADHD.

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And dig deeper.
You learn what ADHD actually is.

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It's not people who wont stop fidgeting,
or getting distracted.

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It's brains that are 
chronically under aroused.

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Trying to get the basic 
stimulation that all brains need.

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It's not about procrastinating
or not caring.

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It's having executive function deficits
that make it hard to get started.

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And it's not people being lazy,
or not trying enough.

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It's kids and adults struggling to succeed
with a brain that doesn't

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always want to cooperate.
In a society that wasn't built for them.

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Society is our user's manual.

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We learn how our brains and bodies work
by watching those around us.

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When yours works differently,
it can feel like you're broken.

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So what I'm trying to do,
is reach out to these people.

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Wherever they are in the world,
and tell them you are not weird.

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You are not stupid.
You do not need to try harder.

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You are not a failed version of normal.

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You are different, you are beautiful,
and you are not alone.

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If you don't have ADHD yourself chances 
are you know somebody who does.

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Their your employee, your boss,
your friend, they're in this room.

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I hope this talk helps you
understand them better.

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If you do have ADHD.
Welcome to the tribe.