29: Get Out of Fight or Flight to Improve Executive Functioning ADHD

If your to-do list feels like a brick wall and you've decided "this is just how I am," your executive functioning ADHD struggles may be getting pushed down by fight-or-flight, and settling your nervous system can lift that weight so starting gets easier. This episode is for the ADHDer who keeps avoiding tasks and wants to know whether that can change.

I explain what executive functioning is and how fight-or-flight pulls blood flow away from the planning part of your brain. You'll hear why I once felt overwhelmed by putting on socks, and about a client who sat stuck on her dissertation for two years and handed it in four months after starting regulation work. I also walk you through a brick wall to brick path exercise you can try this week, a small way to ease ADHD overwhelm and paralysis, ADHD task avoidance, and ADHD and procrastination through nervous system regulation for ADHD.

Grab my free ADHD Regulation Guide for more ADHD regulation techniques.

00:51 – What Is Executive Functioning? ADHD Explained

05:20 – Stress, Blood Flow, and Executive Dysfunction

06:35 – Regulation as a Path to Improved Executive Function

08:21 – How Fight or Flight Shapes ADHD Task Avoidance

15:45 – Action Step: Turn Brick Walls Into Brick Paths

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